Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has described watching the new documentary about his band’s impact as a “mindf**k” that left him and his bandmates “crying, weeping, proud, just appreciative, grateful.” Speaking at a screening of the film, “Metallica Saved My Life“, on Thursday, he reflected on the “insane” 42-year longevity of the band, a career that was simply unimaginable when they first started.
The comments came during a post-screening Q&A at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California on October 9. When asked for his reaction to the film, which documents the profound, life-changing effect Metallica‘s music has had on its fans, Ulrich gave a deeply personal and emotional response.
“When James and I started [Metallica], I was 17, and so this is the only thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he explained. “And so when you watch this movie… it’s basically like your whole life flashing in front of your eyes… This is everything I’ve ever done… So it’s kind of a bit of a mindf**k.”
He expressed his disbelief at the band’s enduring success, a career that has far surpassed any expectations they had in the early 1980s.
“If you and I were sitting here… in 1983, 42 years ago, going, ‘In 2025… we’ll be sitting in a movie theater looking at all this and we will be winning Grammys and playing in sold-out stadiums,’ that would just not be an option of how that was gonna play out,” Ulrich said.
He provided a stark historical context, noting that when Metallica started, the elder statesmen of rock were still relatively young. “When we started Metallica, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, all those guys, they were still in their thirties,” he pointed out. “So the idea that you could play rock and roll in your sixties, much less play rock and roll in your eighties, like those guys are doing now… that didn’t exist.”
For Ulrich, the secret to the band’s lasting connection with their audience is simple: they are, and always have been, fans themselves.
“I guess the first thought that comes to mind is because we are fans. And that will always be part of who we are,” he said, recalling his own youth spent waiting for autographs from his heroes like Ritchie Blackmore and Phil Lynott. “All of us really just so identify with the fans and the people that are out there, because we’re just the ones up on stage, but we’re all the same… If there’s anything that Metallica certainly strives for is to try to break down that barricade, that barrier that exists between a band and an audience and try to have us all just be one of sharing an experience together.”
