One time Metallica and Lou Reed got together and took a whole bunch of laxatives, packaged the end result up, and called it Lulu. It was so bad that our review of the album literally consisted of two words. It was so bad it spawned an Internet meme that's still going pretty strong today. It was so bad that… Kirk Hammett liked it? Wait Kirk, are you serious dude?
In short; yes, he is extremely serious. In an interview with The Verge, Kirk strung together a string of words that nobody thought they'd ever hear about Lulu:
"Lulu (Metallica's collaborative album with Lou Reed) is a really good example. I think that Lulu is some of the best stuff we've done. I mean, the song "Junior Dad" moves me to tears, and working with Lou Reed was such a cool, unique, and special thing for us. Maybe it's not for everyone. Maybe it's a challenge for our fans, but for us — Lars (Ulrich, drums), James (Hetfield, guitar/vocals), Rob (Trujillo, bass), and myself — we loved doing it and it was such a great experience. We look back at it very positively."
Part of me read that and thought that he's just looking back on the idea of experimenting with music as a positive experience, but no. Even the band's bassist Rob Trujillo, who was pretty new to the band at the time, admits that the record is pretty terrible. Hammett enjoys the thing. Does this worry me about upcoming Metallica material? No. Maybe a little. I guess if Lou Reed isn't anywhere within a hundred-mile radius of them, then no. Hell, even drummer Lars Ulrich said to Spin Magazine (by way of Blabbermouth):
"…when Metallica do impulsive riffing and Lou Reed is reciting abstract poetry about German bohemians from 150 years ago, it can be difficult to embrace."
And:
"'I swallow your sharpest cutter / Like a colored man's dick.' I understand that to some 13-year-old in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, it can all seem a little cringe-worthy, but to someone raised in an art community in Copenhagen in the late '60s, that was expected"
Not that the record hasn't been set straight, but I think Hammett and Ulrich need a wake-up call. "Artsy" doesn't equate to quality, and I think the entirety of the Internet has made that pretty apparent. Maybe subjectively they're enjoying their work, and good for them! But the bottom line is objectively, it wasn't that great (at best).
