by George Ziemann

If any band bought into the RIAA's twisted viewpoint, it was Metallica, first out of the box to persecute its own fans by having people that swapped Metallica songs banned from Napster.

For this reason alone, I usually don't even give them the service of negative publicity by mentioning the band's name in print. But we talked about Michael Jackson yesterday, so what the hell?

ldjollyroger submitted an article about the band's current outlook on life, offering the following comment:

"Did you really think we'd forget? I certainly haven't -- the day you went on your Napster jihad was the day I stopped spending a dime on your second-rate, premium priced product. Apparently a lot of your other fans have done the same."

I'd go further than that. "The RIAA and bands like Metallica" was offered to me by a customer service rep as a reason for eBay's ban on CD-R sales (an explanation later denied by an attorney who pointed out that the "real" reason was because no legitimate acts used CD-Rs to publish their own music).

So how did this approach work?

"U.S. sales of Metallica's latest album, which fell off the pop charts earlier this month, are a 'bummer,' according to the veteran rock group's singer, James Hetfield."

Metallica performed at the American Music Awards but lost the race for favorite alternative music act to Linkin Park, who now sounds almost exactly like Metallica.

"St. Anger" has sold about 1.5 million copies in the United States since it debuted at No. 1 in June.

"It's a bummer," Hetfield said. "In Europe it's doing really good, and some other places ... It is what it is. We can't change that. We do our best and that's all we can do."

To all the DMusic acts... doesn't it just break your heart that Lars only sold 1.5 million copies?

Let's see, you had your fans kicked off of Napster, you helped shut Napster down, disappeared for a couple of years, then came back to whine at Apple that you didn't like it if people only bought one song -- it was the whole album or nothing and you chose nothing.

Now you whine because you only sold 1,500,000 copies of a new record that is "constructed by a computer program and features no guitar solos"? And I'll bet it stuns Lars that "U.S. rock radio programmers seemed more interested in playing bands like Nickelback."

They still use guitars, Lars.

Of course, Lars still hasn't comprehended that fact that three years ago he told us to stop listening to Metallica. Let's see, the "Metallica" album sold 13 million copies, while the new disc sold 1.5 million copies.

So 88 percent of your fans heeded your words, Lars. They stopped listening, stopped trading your music, stopped buying your CDs.

I hope the RIAA is watching Metallica's progress these days. Because that's where the rest of the industry is going.

We stopped listening. We stopped buying.

It's a bummer, eh? We're just getting started.

But there are still people who don't understand what Lars and Cary Sherman want to see happen. Sue a few more children, Cary. Open everyone's eyes.

I agree fully with this great article, I was a Metallica fan from the start, and ALOT of my friends too, this is exactly what happened, I don't know anyone who bought thier last album... we're all p.o.'d at them, and we've often talked about what idiots they are... this is proof of what a boycott can do, it started with these fools...
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!

I don't think I'll ever forget an interview done by the Metallica drummer, where he's explaining why it's stealing by using some "if a mechanic dl my songs, i expect my car to be fixed for free" metaphor. Behind him was his 10 million dollar mansion...

*shakin' my head*

Metallica are tainted forever as far as I'm concerned; and I won't be buying any of their stuff or going to the concerts, even if their future releases are good, which their latest album wasn't.

I have never liked this band or any of its members. They did have a few standout songs in my opinion, but I have seen and done interviews interviews with them from their begining until 1995 - and they make it real obvious what theyare about. From my side of the table they are spritually bankrupt and yes, it's only the begining of the end!

Yeah, the REAL Talent in this band got kicked out for being an alcoholic (BAG THAT) and started a better band...
MEGADEATH.....

A co worker of mine sent an email through their website after the napster episode and told them he would buy no more of their albums. They tried to pacify him with complementary tickets to their next concert. he wouldn't take them.

BLAH, I don't think it goes that deep. Metallica sucks, they always have. Just another power chord band with a load voice. They were never any more than one step over greenday in my book. They should just through in the towel. They suck.

I never liked Metallica. To me, you wanna rock, crank up AC/DC..
Highway to Hell

I couldn't resist... Sowwie

Metallica's latest album St Anger is doing poorly on our servers even. I Know I know, don't support riaa; ahem.. anyhow, The results of dls are so bad; Conway Twitty has them beat by over.. umm, 20 downloads (albums). The album is so lousy, we can't even give it away. LOL!

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I used to be a Metallica freak. My nickname was Mr. Metallica. I was always seen with Metallica T-shirts. I had Metallica tattoos (currently being removed.) Hell, I even enjoyed Load and Re-load, though I longed for the day the old Metallica came back. Then the whole napster thing happened, leaving me feeling betrayed, hell, these guys used to tell people to take thier concerts! Then, James went in rehabt, and they had a multitude of problems. I hoped all this might have refuled them, gave them some anger again after all the growing rich and fat. Despite the fact that I wasn;t going to spend money on St. Anger, I was hoping it would be good. Hell no, this was one of the worst pieces of sh*t I had ever listened to, with "Frantic" being the only song on the album I could even listen all the way through. I keep hoping they may one day find the fire that drove them in the early days, though that hope is dwindling away fast.

code, you get to watch it yet?

What a great veiwpoint on this article! I agree, we should NEVER listen to anything Metallica puts out again!

They will NEVER get a dime from me, because if they don't want me to listen to their music, I won't. Same goes for every other artist out there that KEEPS their mouth shut, because that's the same as SHUTTING DOWN NAPSTER!

So which side of the fence is your favorite artist on?

I for one used to be a big matallica listener and buyer until they helped take down napster that did it for me when they went to capital hill I saw the greed in their eyes they were done there.
the earlier matallica days they would have taken anything to get attention and notice and gain new listeners as well as maintaining the listeners they have or should I say had.

Lars-the biggest hypocrite ever.

"We got known far and wide because of bootlegging, but I'll be damned if I will tolerate anyone else trying the digital equivalent! I got mine-the hell with you!"

Mindless, useless, irrelevant has-been.

Lars is a jerk. I'll never buy anything from that band again. They suck. Theyre greedy bastards who sleep with the RIAA. I hope they rot in hell.

compmore...I apologize. I started to watch it last night, but have to crash, and have been doing some stuff that is time sensitive and have to get it done today. I will watch it and get back to you asap, and am sorry I didn't get it done earlier today. Thanks for your patience my friend.
~Code

CD's I would buy if I wasn't boycotting:

Let It Be Naked

The Very Best of Sheryl Crowe

Blonde on Blonde (SACD)

And if I was in the record store, I would probably find other things I wanted to buy.

I'm not going to download them either.

The RIAA show know this.

no prob. I'm just curious

NAPSTER BAD! NAPSTER BAD!!

Sheryl Crow-another RIAA bi+ch. Not one penny to her, ever.

I'm not sure if the RIAA likes Metallica either, it was Metallica that sued Electra to get about 4 dollars per album sold, and they won.

Another way to look at this is that Mr. Ulrich and his compadres were (and are) the proverbial "useful idiots" as per the comments of Vlaidimir I. "Nikolai" Lenin about apologists for the Soviet Union as the Iron Curtain was going up. But notice that once the band served their usefulness for the RIAA's vendetta -- that is, when Napster (Mach I) was dismembered -- I don't think the RIAA called them again in follow-up to aid and abet the chicken outfit's current pile-on of digital consumers. Even though Ulrich and company still serve to perpetuate the tyranny of the few against the many.

hm. I can login from work and post but not from home. Interesting.

compmore..that video ROCKS!
You have email.

Whether Lars likes the RIAA or not is irrelevant-he became their tool, very willingly. I do find it funny he sued to get $4 per album and then made sure his albums sold like DeLoreans.

The irony with Metalica is that their success was founded upon tape trading. The bands first three albums: Kill Em All; Ride the Lightning and And Justice for All did not sell very well (however, they are the only three decent albums). Metalica made all of their money off of touring and selling t-shirts. Only one out of ten of their fans bought the records but they all bought the t-shirts.

So it was particularly dumb for them to sue their fans.

you know whats so funny about Metallica........when they first started out as a group they didnt get no radio play or nothing it was all underground and how did they become popular......by kids share their demos, tapes ect. They are against everything that basically made them the greedy bastards.

"Fuck 9 Mefuckllica"

Metallica was done the day Cliff Burton(real bass player) died. Without him, Metallica became a shell of thier former selves. What they stand for now, goes against everything that Cliff and the band beleaved in, back in thier early days.

It has been such a shame year after year, to watch a band with such potential, wash themselves down the toilet. Album, after album, they have continually gotten worse. I'm glad I jumped off the bandwagon long ago(when the overrated Black album came out). I couldn't stand the direction Bob Rock had taken the band, and felt Jason Newsted was an inadequate replacement for Cliff. Lar$ drumming seemed to be becoming a bit lazy, and thier music was starting to lack any balls.

My dislike for Matallica grew though, when the Napster issue came about. All of Lar$ whining, and maoning struck a nerve with me. For me Napster was a revival in music. I had for some time been disenchanted with the the way the industry was being run. I put my guitar down, and shelved most all of my albums. I stoped buying music almost entirely, fed up with all the comercialism, high prices, and loads of pure crap, that the industry was trying to force on me. It was Napster that resurected my love for music, and now a band that used to ask thier fans to make tapes of their music ,and give them to thier friends, wanted to take it away from me. I couln't beleave it!! This was a band that used to preach to us about not giving in to the system, and not selling out, when I was a young and empressionable teenager, back in the early 80's. What have they become!!!???

Now they are moaning about selling 1.5 million albums, just in the U.S.!!!?? Give me a break!! They are lucky they sold five copies of "St. Wanker(Anger)". It has to be the worst Metal album ever made. Maybe even the worst overall album ever to have been released by a band from any genre. There are a lot of bands out there who would love to have the promotion Metallica gets, and sell 1.5 million copies of thier album, and I'm sure they would be more appreciative about it, than Metallica are being.

I'm finding it hard to beleave, that after all this time, all I had to do was make a bunch of down-tuned noize, while bashing on a bunch of garbage cans, and singing about how angry I am, to sell 1.5 million albums. Well I guess there would also be talking a couple of dipshits, who own a big record label, and don't know didly about music, into thinking it's good enough ot back it with a multi-million dollar promotion, and a free DVD(without this DVD, I personaly think the album "St. Anger" wouldn't even have sold 1 million copies). I really feel for the people, who bought that CD/DVD, and I really truely feel sorry for the poor few, that fooled themselves into thinking it was actually good. "St. Wanker(Anger)" is proof, that the industry doesn't care about the qulity of the product they put out. They know that with enough hype, and a brand name, no matter what kind of music it is, the sheep(the average American consumer) will flock to buy it.

Guess they thought ...

"Their sh*t didn't stink"

But on the other hand,

Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted ...

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=18998

I remember growing up in the early 80's and Metallica was the heavy metal band of that age. They weren't considered mainstream, and that's what made them so popular as a heavy metal band. Then they gave up there roots and went mainstream. That's where all there problems began.

They turned there backs on there hard core fans and decided to go for the bigger piece of the pie. There music started sound like everyone else. Music that will appeal to all the masses. The greatest heavy metal band started turning into a 1 hit wonder.

Then they started going after there fans, calling them pirates and stealers. They went after and sued Napster and there fans for enjoying there music. They made a cd, St. Anger, that isn't even worth making into a cup place mat. Now they won't even sell there music on ITunes, saying that people have to buy the whole cd or nothing at all.

If it's a choice between getting hte whole cd or nothing at all, I will take the nothing at all. Metallica isn't the band I remember from way back. They lost there hard core base, there musical insight, there whole sense of what being a heavy metal band truely is. Since they decided not to change, they have lost most of there fans completely including myself.

I will not buy Metallica's music again. They lost there way with there music and don't approve what they stand for.

I wonder why those people didn't return those albums or maybe they did :> I never liked Metallica.. sorry all I'm in to the old stuff 60's and 70's I do like a few things here and there between the 80's to today but it's not the same Even though I didn't like AC/DC when I was younger I have found that I can listen to their music now and enjoy it compared to bands like Metallica
Keep boycotting everyone WE WILL WIN

Metallica fans: If you want to hear the funniest thing ever listen to this St. Anger "Tribute". It is so funny!!!!


http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/mp3/MattSmith-St.AngerTribute.mp3

It's good to hear a story about how bands that go after file sharers that end up destitute because they are too stupid to figure out that downloading is good and that they can't alienate their fans unless they want to go out of business... Did you learn your lesson Metallica? Well good, now go back into obscurity. Maybe if you endorse file sharing and wait a couple of decades when the next generation comes along that you haven't been able to screw yet will embrace your garbage music... I wouldn't hold my breath though..

raoulduke1... just to set the record straight... the 1st 3 albums were kill em all, ride the lightning, and MASTER OF PUPPETS, One was the album they started to get real commercial on, notably making a video for it after cutting down everyone else making video's and saying they'd never do that. I know it doesn't matter much now, just take it in for a second... then forget it, don't leave any memory of these schmucks for posterity!

Without the MUSIC FANS buying your cd's a band or artists is nothing!!!!!IT'S time Metallica LEARNED that !!!!!!!!!!!Same goes for WACKO JACKO!!! SAME GOES FOR THE RIAA!!!!!!!!!! TOO many Major Label atrists have a GOD complex!!! I can do anything I can't be hurt no one can stop ME!!!!!!!!!! BIG HEADS= LITTLE SALES DON'T support the MUSIC FANS= LITTLE SALES!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T take a STAND= NO SUPPORT for the MUSIC FAN!!!!!!!!!

Metallica got me into the Heavy/Speed/Thrash Metal scene of the 80's. I loved all the albums (even the Black album). Then came Load. I was so disappointed with it. I thought I might grow to like it in time. Never happened. Metallica/Slayer in the same breath...until Load. Slayer still kicks the A.., while Metallica would rather sound like Korn. Metalli-korn - St. Krap is the biggest rip of all time. Makes one wonder if it was ON PURPOSE. A kind of, In-your-face for stealing our songs. Of course, I downloaded it. A friend told me it really sucked, so I wanted to see for myself. Someone said Lars was banging on trash cans (above post), and sure enough, that's what it sounds like. Why he thought tightening the snare so much would sound good is beyond me. Of course, I'm no music god.

Load, Reload, S&M, and St. Anger are all terrible albums, but S&M is the worst. They took all those great songs from the 80's and killed them. I'm not against Symphonic Metal at all, I like (Symphony X, Nightwish, Luca Turilli, etc.), but those Metallica songs were fine the way they were. "Am I Evil?" on the Garage II album...sensored...they sensored their own song on a cd. Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap.

Poor Robert Trujillo, from Suicidal Tendencies, to the most disappointing band of the 90's and 00's. Robert really is an awesome bassist and I hate to see him waste his talent with the likes of Metalli-riaa.

Stupid Metallica makes me so mad. They were so good to me, I loved their music. Now that all this crap has happened I have no intention of listening to them until they give up. You'd think MP3s would help PROMOTE them? How retarded. They just had to be the greedy bastards that they are and say, "hey! we don't care if you're too damn poor to go out and BUY our cd, you're not getting it for free!" Either way, the person can't buy it... I'm not rich, in fact I have a low-paying job. I have things I absolutely NEED to buy, and now Metallica's not on the list! It makes me so mad....

Metallica dug their own grave.

I admit I bought Metallica's latest alblum. Despite how the treated napster and their fans. I listened to it once and now it is a lovely coaster. Oh how I miss the early Metallica. I want to ride the lightning once more.