Lars Ulrich: ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ Is a ‘Horror Film’
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich admits he’s lived through so many rock concert clichés that This Is Spinal Tap now plays like a “horror film.” The musician laughs about the landmark mockumentary during a debate with veteran music journalist/Rolling Stone contributor Alan Light and comedian Tom Papa about history’s “most influential band,” sampled in the above clip from Craig Ferguson’s History Channel series Join or Die.
“Every single functioning band out there has sat and looked at that movie and cringed because we have all lived every one of those ‘Hello Cleveland’ moments,” Ulrich says. “You can’t find the stage; you’re stuck inside the stage prop.”
Another highlight from the episode finds the group marveling at indestructible, 72-year-old rock god Keith Richards. “[He] will outlive us all,” Ulrich says. “He will be the last person standing.” Ferguson adds, “Keith Richards is actually the same DNA as roaches – he will survive the apocalypse.”
The quartet also discuss how Nirvana’s influence as part of the revolutionary grunge movement morphed into formula. “When Nirvana came along, music was Wilson Phillips and Vanilla Ice,” Light says. “It was bleak. And Nirvana shook it up. But very quickly what Nirvana did turned into, like, Candlebox and Bush.”