Lady Gaga is the “perfect 5th member” of Metallica

Metallica with Lady Gaga
Metallica with Lady Gaga

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has praised Lady Gaga and called her the “perfect fifth member of this band.”

They teamed up at the Grammy Awards on Sunday evening in Los Angeles to perform Moth Into Flame from Metallica’s latest album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.

And while some have questioned the collaboration, Ulrich reports Gaga has “the spirit of hard rock and metal flowing through her veins.”

Ulrich tells Rolling Stone that she’s the “quintessential perfect fifth member of this band” and adds: “Her voice, her attitude, her outlook on everything is so awesome.

“The performance was so effortless and organic and she just has the spirit of hard rock and metal flowing through her veins. It comes really easy for her. There’s nothing contrived – she just has this super warm, easy energy.”

The start of the performance was marred by technical difficulties, with frontman James Hetfield experiencing microphone issues. But Ulrich was quick to shrug them off.

He says: “There was a slight technical snafu, but that’s not really something you can do much about. You just learn to live with that side of it. It happened to Adele last year – I guess this year was our turn.”

Metallica this week announced the North American leg of their WorldWired tour in support of their 10th album – but Ulrich is already thinking about another possible collaboration with Gaga at some point in the future.

He adds: “We already started fast-forwarding to the next chapter when we can do more of this.

“It’s not one of those ’20 lawyers, strategists and managers trying to force two people from two different worlds to figure out how to spend four minutes together on a national telecast.’

“Of any of these undertakings, this is about as organic and authentic as there’s ever been one. We’re just getting started.”

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Metallica will appear in the upcoming new series of Carpool Karaoke.

Metallica 2017 tour dates

Mar 01: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Mar 03: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Mar 05: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Mar 25: Sao Paulo Lollapalooza, Brazil
May 10: Baltimore M&T Bank Stadium, MD
May 12: Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field, PA
May 14: East Rutherford MetLife Stadium, NY
May 17: Uniondale The New Coliseum, NY
May 19: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA
May 21: Columbus Rock On The Range, OH
Jun 04: St Louis Busch Stadium, MO
Jun 07: Denver Sports Authority Field at Mile High, CO
Jun 11: Houston NRG Stadium, TX
Jun 14: San Antonio Alamodome, TX
Jun 16: Dallas AT&T Stadium, TX
Jun 18: Chicago Soldier Field, IL
Jul 05: Orlando Camping World Stadium, FL
Jul 07: Miami Hard Rock Stadium, FL
Jul 09: Atlanta SunTrust park, GA
Jul 12: Detroit Comercia Park, MO
Jul 14: Quebec City Festival D’Ete de Quebec, QC
Jul 16: Toronto Rogers Centre, ON
Jul 19: Montreal Parc Jean-Drapeau, QC
Jul 29: Los Angeles Rose Bowl, CA
Aug 04: Phoenix University of Phoenix Stadium, AZ
Aug 06: San Diego Petco Park, CA
Aug 09: Seattle CenturyLink Field , WA
Aug 14: Vancouver BC Place, BC
Aug 16: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, AB
Sep 02: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark

James Hetfield: How Amy Winehouse inspired Moth Into Flame

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.