LACUNA COIL singer Cristina Scabbia has criticized “Lulu”, METALLICA‘s controversial collaborative disc with Lou Reed, saying “sometimes experiments fail.”
Released in 2011, “Lulu” polarized fans around the world and earned METALLICA some of the most scathing reviews of its career. The effort featured the late THE VELVET UNDERGROUND frontman’s spoken-word poetry and lyrics combined with METALLICA‘s musical assault for a jarring experience that didn’t sound like anything METALLICA had ever attempted before.
Asked by Metal Hammer magazine to name one album “that should not be,” Scabbia picked “Lulu”, explaining: “I hate to bash other people’s art, because it’s their expression and everyone should be free to do whatever they want. I really appreciate the fact that they tried to do something different. I’m convinced that they did it because they wanted to have a good time, and they wanted to experiment. But sometimes experiments fail.”
During the same chat, Cristina credited METALLICA‘s self-titled 1991 album with getting her into heavy metal. “The music, the attitude, the spirit of it,” she said. “It was one of the first albums that really changed music. Before that, it was different in terms of riffs, rhythm, lyrics — everything was different.”
Cristina is not the first metal musician to be publicly critical of “Lulu”. Back in 2012, MACHINE HEAD guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn told Metalshrine: “Well, the ‘Lulu’ thing sucks. It’s fucking horrible… If those guys need to do that stuff to get their ya-yas out, that’s cool and I respect them, but eeehhh… was Lemmy not available? Was fucking Iggy Pop not available? [Laughs] I think there are so many people that might’ve been a better choice. I don’t know the dude [Lou Reed], but maybe he’s the most charismatic guy in the world, I don’t know.”
The collaboration between METALLICA and Reed was sparked by their performance together of Reed‘s “Sweet Jane” and “White Light/White Heat” at the 25th anniversary of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame at Madison Square Garden in October of 2009.
The songs were all written by Reed with extensive arrangement contributions by METALLICA.
Only two songs on the album are under five minutes in length, while two are more than 11 minutes long and the closing cut, “Junior Dad”, clocks in at 19 minutes.
Reed died in October 2013 at the age of 71, five months after he had a life-saving liver transplant, according to his wife, Laurie Anderson.
