Lars Ulrich said he didn’t know about Metallica’s secret plan to fire him in 1986, and that there’s always been tricky points in their history.
The band hatched the plan during the Master of Puppets tour, but it went away before bassist Cliff Burton died. Ulrich told Metal Forces, “It’s certainly not something that I was ever aware of. But I can tell you that there’s been other times as we’ve cruised along where there’s been some friction with this band member or that band member, and where things were a little awkward with this particular guy, or whatever.”
Ulrich added that over the band’s 35 years there have been difficult eras. He said, “There were times when Kirk [Hammett] was kinda floating out there, and there were a couple of times when [James] Hetfield was kinda floating out there, and there were different times when I was kinda floating out there, so it was very possible.”