[HeavyG]

Originally Posted by the man cable

Ouch! Another shocker! Yep, too much time counting greenbacks not enough time playing. His grip and feel and groove and ... well, everything is shoddy. Why they would post this stuff is beyond me, but at least they're not hiding behind anything. Trujillo seems to be the only ripper in the bunch of them, I guess they bought him into the band with their offer of a fat million!

It sounds like Lars on the fast track to the land of hasbeens. And let's not get nostalgic about old metalheads, please!

...hey, let me be clear...I stood up for Lars cuz a lot of opinions started going down the "he was always overrated" and "he gets paid the big bucks for that?" road. I steadfastly admit his chops are less than stellar in these clips and when you play in a band that made it's name on fast, aggressive riffs executed with fierce precision...it makes for a rough ride. Its hard to reinvent yourself when you are metal...you cant hardly go "unplugged" when you get older and do jazz stuff...you cant became the very thing that you loathed when you were young...or you lose credibility. Then you try to rock...and you are a "has been". He is in a no win situation...

I will say this in closing...Metallica was as influential on the last evolution of hard rock as Sabbath and Zeppelin were in the first. Lars, although not the greatest technician, held his own and supported the songs well (and he was rather understated for a speed metal / hard rock drummer). If you are going to give him a beat down for letting his chops slide and living the life of a rock star...ok...fair enough. However, his middle aged slide doesnt erase all the ground breaking things he did...and I would suggest that many of us would do the same thing Lars is doing (enjoying his life and focusing less on drumming).