How wonderful to read an intelligent, mature, and clear-headed opinion on this topic, instead of “Metallica sucks cuz of Napster”.

What I DON’T respect is an act who started out with an explicity pro-”bootleg” stance when they were “on the way up”, turned a 180 and got all aggressive during their “major label” heyday, and, now that they’re arguably on the way down — not out, by any means, but way less trendy than, say, Slipknot — NOW they come out with a Youtube channel explicitly encouraging people to engage in “public performance” of their works. Admittedly it’s “authorized” public performance, but still…..

Yeah, they are not what they were in 1986, but no one good ever is. That’s the reason that all these artists that died before their time are so popular now. They never had the chance to grow away from what their fans loved about them initially.

So, yeah, I can see how Lars could have been puzzled and dismayed by Napster. But the thing of it is, prior to signing with a major label, they were extremely “taper-friendly”, encouraging fans not only to record their shows but — more importantly — to TRADE (”share”, you might even say) those tapes around. Hell, half of the fanbase of Metallica came from people turning other people ONTO them via mixtapes and bootlegs and such.

Why is this important? Well, let’s be honest: if you’ve built your entire fanbase on a particular set of principles and then suddenly decide to get all pissy when those same principles are put into practice on a larger scale, you’re gonna lose at least a sizeable chunk of your fans.

Add the fact that “St. Anger” was total crap, and you have Metallica in total free-fall.

Let’s not forget that what the actions Lars is “thanking” Youtubers for are the exact same actions which would otherwise get them slapped with “cease and desist” threats and/or having their accounts revoked. So, this whole “Do your own metallica covers” deal on Youtube rings a little bit hollow to a lot of people.

(Add to that the fact that Lars didn’t even really seem to know what they’re Youtube channel was called, but by his own admission “had been told” what it’s name was, and the thing looks like what it is: an attempt to get back into the good graces of the very same “Internet Culture” they shit on back in 2000.

Another really weird wrinkle in Metallica’s downright schizophrenic approach to this stuff is — as I mentioned before — their response to the parody/cover-band “Beatallica”, after they were slapped with “Cease and desist” threats. Lars especially leapt to that group’s defense, so it’s pretty weird all the way around.

(And no, I’m not a “hater” — “justice” was — and is — one of my favorite albums of all time. But you can’t shit all over your fanbase and then expect to just “walk it off” with a “do your own cover-version” contest.

But hey, it was $8.99! If it were $16.99 I might have had second thoughts.