Pop Quiz: Metallica

Pop Quiz: Metallica

Aidin Vaziri | For a band that resisted the idea for so long, Metallica sure ended up loving music videos. Earlier this month, the venerable Bay Area hard rock band released its first promo retrospective, "Metallica: The Videos 1989-2004." The DVD set features 21 clips, starting with the single "One" and following the band's career straight through to its most recent release, "St. Anger." Along the way there are contributions from big-name directors such as Anton Corbijn, Samuel Bayer and Jonas Akerlund, plus a few unexpected cameos. We asked drummer Lars Ulrich to take a look back with us.


Lars Ulrich of Metallica
Q: Do you have a favorite clip?
A: I would say the "One" video has aged pretty well. It still plays pretty unique, so I'm obviously pretty proud of that.
Q: Is that because you're barely in it?
A: That might have something to do with it. It was literally like one of those things where we were in a warehouse in Long Beach for a couple of hours and it was, like, done, and all of a sudden, months later, this whole thing came out of us just standing there.
Q: What else do you like?
A: "I Disappear" plays pretty good. At least my 8-year-old thinks so, because Tom Cruise is in it.
Q: Tom Cruise was in a Metallica video?
A: Yeah. They asked if we would write a song for his movie ("Mission: Impossible II"), so I spent a whole day on the set with him in L.A., met John Woo, saw some of the footage and got the whole treatment, which was very cool. But we never interacted with him in the video. That was all cut together.
Q: Exactly how crazy was he at that time?
A: Tom Cruise? He's super cool. He instantly makes you feel like you've known him his entire life. He has that effect on you. I've seen him a couple of times since, and he always remembers my name. Good vibes.