"Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica (Part One: Born to Die)" by Mick Wall

 

    Metallica performed on Friday, November 3rd at the Dome At America's Center in St. Louis. I had already read chapter one (The Prince) of Enter Night before going, so the origins of the band, specifically Lars, were stuck in my head. 

    Lars Ulrich, born 1963, is the drummer of Metallica, which one of the biggest metal bands still performing today. However, in Enter Night, Mick Wall details how his origins were as a child of Danish athlete named Torben. Torben Ulrich was a professional tennis player, but he was also thoroughly engrossed in music. He had an extensive record correction and would have neighbors who were commonly musicians come over to listen to jazz.

    Lars's love of music originally stemmed from his parents, but he grew to love music in his own right. A pivotal moment in his musical journey was going to a Deep Purple concert with his friend when he was nine. He said it "blew his mind! I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks!" His obsessive personality made him fixate on Deep Purple, often waiting outside their hotel in Copenhagen to try and see them.

    Seeing Metallica live, I definitely understood how Lars felt seeing Deep Purple for the first time. Seeing bands live with a whole stadium of people who wanted to see their performance as much as you makes you feel connected, and also like a nerd, in the best way possible. It felt like payoff to have read about the Deep Purple performance blowing his mind and having my mind blown a week later by how amazing his drumming was live. Enter Night reminded me that, as much as we can put artists on a pedestal, Lars was once a teenage heavy rock nerd who played tennis. And that love of heavy rock inspired him to be in the biggest thrash metal band of all time.