Metallica vs the Internet (again)

June 12th, 2008

When I was about 7 years old I saw the video for Metallica’s “One” on MTV. It was about a war veteran who lost all his limbs, sight, hearing, and speech and was left to twitch in a hospital bed trapped inside his own mind for the rest of his life. It was the coolest damn thing I’d ever seen. This wasn’t the Motley Crue/Poison/Paula Abdul I was used to seeing. This was something special. I was in a second grade and I knew it then.

(”SOS - Kill Me” — Brutal)

Jump to 1999. I’m a senior in high school and a magical new program called Napster is released. You could now share your friend’s (and anybody else’s) playlists to download and listen to music. It was a great way to learn about new bands. It was like exchanging cassettes on the playground except so much more efficient. These were great times even with the dialup speeds we were using.

Unfortunately my old favorite band Metallica caught word that they’re newest song, “I Disappear” from the MI:2 soundtrack had been leaked to Napster in advance of the album release. Apparently this pissed drummer Lars Ulrich off to no end because he ended up suing Napster and a few universities where students were using Napster. Lars testified before Congress and made several PSAs telling us we were “stealing” by sharing our favorite music. WTF? How could he accuse us of stealing? We were fans of his band. Because of Napster Metallica’s music could reach an even wider audience. He just didn’t get it and it pissed everybody off.

(Metallica Good. Napster Bad.)

Eventually Napster has to close up shop and move toward a pay for play model. Metallica releases another subpar record, 2003’s St. Anger, and I forgot about how upset I was about the lawsuit in 2003. I just wanted my old band back.

The newest record is supposed to be released this fall and I was shocked to find out that Metallica was planning to embrace the online community this time around. Mission:Metallica will allow you to download the full album without DRM and create a Metallica social network among other things. Sure they’re just trying to make more money and copy off of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails but it was a start. Maybe we didn’t have to be pissed at Metallica anymore.

Not so fast. News this week broke that Metallica had allowed a group of journalists to listen to a pre-release mix of the album. Fine and dandy so far but when these journalists wrote their reviews on various websites Metallica’s management demanded they be taken down. What the hell? The writers weren’t even required to sign an NDA. This was troubling indeed.

A few days later Metallica came out and said they had nothing to do with the request to delete the posts and they were giving Q Prime Management an “ear spank”. I hope that’s true. I just can’t understand what this band has against people being excited about their music.

I’m a sucker. I still look forward to the newest album and I’ll get it. Napster or not.