Lars was never a great drummer, but he used to be at least pretty good; his live performances from the mid-1980s, for instance, were very solid, and I will readily admit that he was once a decent thrash metal drummer. He was never in the same league as Gar Samuelson or Nick Menza or Ventor from KREATOR- never mind Dave Lombardo from SLAYER- but he wasn't bad.

He has, however, seriously let his game down. This comes back to the point about respecting one's craft and one's art- he has no respect for either, which is really sad when you think about true legends of the art of drumming, like Neil Peart or Nicko McBrain, who are always striving to do something better or differently. Neil Peart in particular is just amazing in this regard- he was a machine in the 80s and early 90s, but he got frustrated with his lack of "flow" and freeform style, and completely changed his drumming under Freddie Gruber's instruction. Unless you're a real music nerd, you'll hardly even notice the difference, but it's definitely there.

Lars, on the other hand, just… gave up on drumming and self-improvement. This is a big part of the reason why I have so little respect for him.

Definitely hear you about the band leaving you- it's the same for me. I used to love their work. Nowadays, I can't freakin' stand it. It's gotten REALLY bad with their latest album, which is a complete sonic catastrophe- everything literally louder than everything else, it's unlistenable.

And yeah, if you can't play well in the studio- which Lars cannot- there's no way you can play live properly. That is one big part of the reason why I love IRON MAIDEN so much- they don't record albums by doing different takes and then stitching them together, for the most part, especially on the last four albums. Instead, they play the entire song, as a band, in several full takes, and then they'll take the best one and sort of add a little bit here and there to clean up the sound a little. But for the most part, what you hear on a MAIDEN record is what the band will sound like playing live- the same level of musicianship, the same incredible tightness, the same skill, except pushed to far greater heights by the joy and stress of a live environment.

That's real musicianship right there.

Whether or not Lars has always been a bad drummer is not something I've looked (or listened) into. However, it's now obvious that drumming is not his calling and think this is true with a very large number of people and not just musicians. Your initial drive and desire to make it is your reason to practice, improve and become the best. When that peak is achieved and your are floating in the riches that come with it, the fact that you were never truly into it surfaces rather quickly. At that point, it is often easier to drift along on the level of competence you are at, or even let yourself regress somewhat.

Neil Peart is someone who lives and breathes drumming and so it is not unexpected that he continues to practice and hone his craft to even greater heights.

As for Metallica itself, I don't own anything past the Black Album and I haven't seen them live in years. The last time I did, it was during the tour for Load (or Re-Load?). Their performance was lack luster and the place was filled with teenage girls holding "I LUV JAMES" signs. I didn't leave the band, they left me.

I did watch "Through the Never" recently though (yay Netfilx) and I was very surprised at many of the mid-song tempo changes that aren't there in the album versions.

As a side note, I remember the first time I found out that music albums are generally not recorded live but instead stitched together from a whole pile of takes. My first thought was "well, how in the hell are they going to play it live if they can't hold it together for a single recording?".