Metallica consists of two parts musician and three parts asshole. Led by their psychotic drummer, Lars Ulrich, they are now adding hypocrite to the list.
Remember that time when Napster reigned supreme and file sharing was a perfect blend of speed and seemingly endless amounts of music? Remember when Metallica ruined that? Or, at least tried.
I realize that they had a reason to be upset with people downloading their material without their consent, but they didn’t have to be shitheads about it. Ulrich sent a list of 335,435 people who illegally acquired their music to Napster so that they can be banned from the network. Dr Dre soon joined the bitching contest and another 230,142 people were banned. While systematically destroying their fan base, they also showed the world how money-driven they are. Music is about self-expression and not about maximizing profits. If that many people were listening to my music, I wouldn’t be complaining about it.
Now, considering they haven’t released a decent album since 1997 (ReLoad), Metallica is attempting to follow the paths of bands such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails and release their album online for people to download. They haven’t made it clear if the method would include people picking their price, like Radiohead’s In Rainbows, or even have it be free. I don’t think I need to explain the contradiction here.
It’s clear that they are only doing this because they see the success of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, which further proves my point that they are money-hungry scumbags. It’s perfectly alright to have convictions that are not popular, but stick to your guns and have some integrity.
<—Fart Factory
To the true artists:
Radiohead vs. Reznor