There’s nothing wrong with having one sound and sticking with it.
In his autobiography Does the Noise In My Head Bother You, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler got on the defensive about always changing up the Aerosmith formula. Even though he maintained that Aerosmith liked to reach for new sounds on every record, he also felt the need to drag Metallica through the mud saying,
“You can’t put your finger on what we do, because we do a lot of different kinds of music, unlike Metallica, which does only one genre. Have you ever heard a slow Metallica song? Is there one that you could dance to at prom? If you asked them, they’d go ‘Why would we?’”
Then again, Metallica does have its fair share of slow songs like ‘Nothing Else Matters’ and ‘Until it Sleeps.’ And let’s not forget the Load and St. Anger, both of which went in new directions that most of us weren’t ready for.
If you actually asked the guys in Metallica, the band has always made it a point to innovate on every album.
Around the time that the band were working on S&M, Lars Ulrich seemed to be happy about changing their sound saying, (45:24)
“Nowadays it’s just about doing it…the creative process. You don’t think about success or sales or any of that stuff. I was really preoccupied with that stuff.
“It’s just about coexisting as a band and have the freedom to make albums with classical orchestras and make records full of cover songs. That’s the core of a successful rock band. Just listening to your instincts and your heart.”
Steven is a legend in his own right, but he might be a little out of his depth throwing Metallica under the bus. Do you think Steven Tyler has a point? Let us know on Instagram.
