Free of Record Contract, Lars Ulrich Considers Internet Album Release

Nearly a decade after suing Napster for posting their music online, Metallica are contemplating the possibility of an Internet release for their next album. "We're free of our record contract," Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone. "We have that element of complete freedom with the next record, so we can do whatever we want. We could do an Internet thing or even put it on Andy Greene's record label." (I, for one, think that's a great idea). They're in no rush to head back into the studio however. "I wouldn't hold my breath for another Metallica record," Ulrich says. "I'm still decompressing and coming down from the whole experience of the last one, but if we spit one out every four or five years that's not so bad." In the meantime, Lars and the band are reveling in the reaction to Death Magnetic and their ongoing American arena tour. "There's a tremendous amount of goodwill for Metallica right now," Ulrich says. "Not only from the fans, but from our peers and from the critics and from everybody, so it's just a good time to be out amongst it."

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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