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lars ulrich's death wish: metallica v their fans by Robert Sterling (robalini@aol.com) - October 18, 2000 |
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| Looking at Metallica now, it's hard to believe they were once really cool. Three thrashing albums (Kill 'Em All; Ride The Lightning; Master Of Puppets) earned a cult following with the zit-faced stoner set. The heavy metal quartet released . . .And Justice For All, which hit top ten in 1988 without radio airplay. They finally received MTV rotation with the epic anti-war song One (based on Dalton Trumbo's novel Johnny Got His Gun.) They hit paydirt in 1991: Metallica's eponymous disc (dubbed The Black Album) hit number one and earned Diamond certification for sales exceeding 10 million copies. Suddenly, Metallica were rock gods, winning the prestigious honor of having their name plastered on cartoon hero Beavis' t-shirt. In 1996, they released Load (short for Load of Shit), and are now relegated to pathetic gimmicks like recording with an orchestra to sell records. Making music that sucks is one thing: viciously biting the hand that feeds you is worse - a business move which brings to mind Metallica's ode to suicide, Fade to Back. When Metallica recorded I Disappear for the Mission: Impossible 2 film soundtrack, outraged members discovered six different versions of the unfinished, derivative song available via Napster (makers of Internet file-sharing software which drastically eases MP3 files transfer). They hired lawyer Howard King, and filed for copyright violations. The case has some merits: Napster is not some noble non-profit cooperative, but a well-funded corporate machine that wants to become a billion dollar name brand, an Amazon.com for the music industry. If they want to play, they will have to pay. Usage of their network to transfer songs is profiteering without compensation, whatever their unconvincing denials claim. Would-be cyber titans making IPO gold from trading pop catalogs is not the same as fans wanting to share digitized versions of Enter Sandman. Yet, in their self-destructive vendetta, Metallica has gone after fans. On May 3rd, 2000, drummer Lars Ulrich, personally hand-delivered to Napster a list of over 300 000 Napster users who allegedly traded Metallica MP3 files (another 300 000 names were delivered on May 18th, 2000). Dropped from Napster's service due to supposed copyright violation (having Metallica's tracks on their computers), 30 000 inconvenienced fans disputed charges and were reinstated, or signed on under another name. The vast majority of fans already owned the songs via the original albums, or downloaded them out of curiosity. Assuming any serious portion of the 300 000 had cheated Metallica out of any money is pretty silly. Considering their immense wealth, Metallica is hardly a sympathetic victim of alleged thievery. During an online chat session with rapidly dwindling fans, Lars urged Congress to stop MP3-swapping services like Napster "before this whole Internet thing runs amok." This comment reveals a bigger agenda: the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) attempts to suppress anything it views as competition, frightened that MP3 makes them music food chain deadweight. Ironically, evidence is clear that MP3 and Napster helps the music business, which had albums by 'N SYNC, Britney Spears and Eminem sell over a million copies. Eminem's tracks were top Napster downloads: the entire album was available before its release, resulting in first week sales of 1.76 million. This is similar to how Metallica became a bloated corporate rock empire: encouraging fan-to-fan tape bootlegging in their early days, word of mouth rather than huge marketing campaigns. Instead of whining about being gypped by fans uneager to buy their dinosaur rock, how about making music people actually would like to buy? Nah, that'd be way too difficult! Metallica hurt itself far more than Napster ever could: an anti-Metallica backlash has arisen. Fans feel betrayed by a band that has lost touch with its listeners, rock music's number one no-no. When Newsweek terms you as "Cyber Narcs," your days are numbered. |
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Chuck D: 'Gotta Share The Tunes' Napster's Shawn Fanning: The Teen Who Woke Up Web Music Come On, Eileen RIAA Sues MP3.com Metallica Rips Napster Metallica Sue Napster For Copyright Infringement Napster Backlash RIAA Wins Suit Against MP3.com Metallica Target Napster Users RIAA 1, Napster 0 Napster Users Get The Boot Napster Throw Metallica A Curveball Shut-Out Napster Users Get In Napster Backlash Has Begun Napster May Not Matter Anymore Napster Fans To Metallica: Prove It Metallica Sends More Names To Napster Offspring Turn Tables On Napster, Selling T-Shirts Without Permission Metallica's Anti-Napster Crusade Inspires Backlash Madonna Single 'Leaked' Online Napster Shares The Wealth PayLars.com MetallicaSucks.com BoycottMetallica.org Metallicaisgreedy.com Metallica Sucks Ass Screwlars.com World's First Official Metallica Sucks Page Headbangers Against Metallica Asshole Of The Month: Lars Ulrich ScrewMetallica.org Zeropaid.com Napster Of Puppets OurLetter.org: An Open Letter About The Revolution Metallica's Integrity: For Sale Five Faces Of Metallica Napster 209 Encyclopedia Brown Parody SubtleHint.com The Metallica Manifesto Metallicster Fade To Black Metallica Kid Rock Starves To Death: MP3 Piracy Blamed MetallicaBlows.com MetallicaSucks Webring Gnutallica Master Of Profits Another Lost Fan Boycott Metallica The Silence Of The Sheep MetallicaSux Inc Big A's F*ck Metallica Site Screw Metallica Bye, Bye Lars MP3 Song $ueLar$.com If Lars Ulrich Had Founded America . . .And Justice For None Lawyerallica Cunt Of The Month: Metallica Drummer Lars Ulrich Metallica Narcs Ten Reasons Why Metallica Can't Score Metallica Fuck User Friendly On Metallica's PR Troma Boy Fuck Lars Metallisux Pay Lars To Shut Up Free The Metallica 600 000? Where Does The Greed End? Metalligreed F.U. Award: Metallica Mr. T Versus Metallica Hotlick: Metallica FuckYouLars.com BoycottMetallica.com Kill Metallica Lars Ulrich Sucks Camp Chaos: Metallica vs. Napster Camp Chaos: MetalliGREED Napster Mp3.com Gnutella The Official Metallica Website Recording Industry Association Of America Yahoo! Digital Downloading The Future: The MP3 Revolution: The End Of The Industry As We Know It Metallica Chat Transcript Wired News: MP3 Rocks The Web Rapstation: Lars vs. Chuck D Ice-T Interview Metallica/Napster Cognitive Dissident: John Perry Barlow On Napster |
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