Fans Rip Metallica a New One

Ya know...the first time their politics on Napster and mp3 downloading were spouted out from Lars's self-appointed band representative mouth came forth, i just mentally let them slide a bit, as this was all new territory at that point, and far be it for me or anyone to see exactly how all the music lock-down would be coming down the pipes. But twice, no, three times now....Lars has demonstrated that he is not a prodigy of forethought, nor even self-awareness.

It IS a shame too, because I actually like James and Kirk and respect that they forced the industry to take a longer look at metal as a mainstream commodity. Translation: and on a lot of their earlier stuff- yeah, they rocked.

It is a shame that when we now say "metallica", we will from this point on think next:
"self-pretentious, money-grubbing egoism' [Ie: Lars].

For my part, I will still listen with curiosity [just like with their St. Anger album] to see if there are any songs that rawwk, but it will be a tough sell for me to run any credit card numbers to obtain the music.
NIN and radiohead, on the other hand, not only remain prime examples of emergent behavior in the industry, but their success is attributed to not just the method of how they give fans their music, but the fact that (with a few slips here and their [year zero])it is still good music worth listening too.

That is ultimately what will keep me paying for their efforts.
BTW: i highly recommend both NIN and radiohead's awesome new albums.

Read the article here:

WIRED

**For the cached, now-removed first-hand review of the new metallica album:
the Quietus