Metallica slowly realizing that P2P wasn't the reason....

[Loonman]

....that no one was buying their albums, anymore.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=3839437


Could be.................they suck now?

LOL!

[La_Serpiente]

1. I think they hurt

a lot of their fans here in the US when they came out strongly against PTP.

[Blue_Chill]

2. Just Metallica?

The entire record industry will soon understand that charging almost $20 for the crap they've been putting out is why the customers vanished.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

3. i like the part

where James says (paraphrasing) "we had hoped we wouldnt have to tour as much to make money". i wonder if they are going into a fresh round of bitching about new technology, sounds like they are. They'll probably say that if this were 1995,they would have sold eleventy-billion dollars worth of Metalligear! I hope they choke on all the cash they make, maybe they can write a song about the suffocation they feel - ya know, replete with the typical Metallica high-school social statements.

[xJlM]

4. I wouldn't buy their stuff before...

They couldn't give it to me, now. It's pretty depressing, what the music industry has come to. Thank HP there's still plenty of older artists who don't compromise their principles over money.

[TriadLeftist]

5. Not familiar with their music

Maybe I should go on Kazaa and download a few songs to see if I like them before I buy?
Probably not ... oh well. I'll just get a few WHOLE concerts from Gov't Mule.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

10. Metallica? They had that one song Sandman

They were a one hit wonder band with a video. After they were hired as the corporate spokesband for the RIAA, their career was over.

:evilgrin:

[Character Assassin]

11. Like them or not, they are most definitely NOT a one hit wonder

Taken from www.allmusic.com

Metallica was easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the '80s, responsible for bringing the music back to Earth. Instead of playing the usual rock star games of metal stars of the early '80s, the band looked and talked like they were from the street. Metallica expanded the limits of thrash, using speed and volume not for their own sake, but to enhance their intricately structured compositions. The release of 1983's Kill 'Em All marked the beginning of the legitimization of heavy metal's underground, bringing new complexity and depth to thrash metal.

With each album, the band's playing and writing improved; James Hetfield developed a signature rhythm playing that matched his growl, while lead guitarist Kirk Hammett became one of the most copied guitarists in metal. Lars Ulrich's thunderous, yet complex, drumming clicked in perfectly with Cliff Burton's innovative bass playing.

After releasing their masterpiece Master of Puppets in 1986, tragedy struck the band when their tour bus crashed while traveling in Sweden, killing Burton. When the band decided to continue, Jason Newsted was chosen to replace Burton; two years later, the band released the conceptually ambitious ...And Justice for All, which hit the Top Ten without any radio play and very little support from MTV.

But Metallica completely crossed over into the mainstream with 1991's Metallica, which found the band trading in their long compositions for more concise song structures; it resulted in a number one album that sold over seven million copies in the U.S. alone. The band launched a long, long tour which kept them on the road for nearly two years.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

15. they are now

After Corbijn and their fellating of the RIAA, no one will remember MOP. They dug their own grave. Besides, most Lollapalooza fans wondered why we were letting the metalheads headline our festival anyway.

[Character Assassin]

18. Because Perry Ferrel lasked them to headline?

Or possibly because Metallica and Soundgarden were better bands than third stage leftover tripe like You Am I and Cornershop.

Hard to say. At the time, they were great.

[BigMcLargehuge]

19. please remember to keep outside sources to 4 paragraphs or less

thanks

Big McLargehuge
DU Moderator

[Character Assassin]

20. Actually, that was all one, big paragraph.

I had to parse it myself.

[Neoplatonist]

23. Metallica has declined to suckdom

I used to be a Metallica fan. But, lets face reality, they are absolutely horrid now. I'm going to sell my whole Metallica CD collection on Ebay soon. I abandoned them.

Dream Theater is the best heavy metal band on the planet. Their new album, TRAIN OF THOUGHT, is awesome. For all you old Metallica fans who've kicked that bad habit, check out Dream Theater!

[Red_Storm]

24. I would keep...........

Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets and Kill 'Em All, great albums that have stood the test of time.........

[dolo amber]

25. That's all that's worth keeping

"And Justice for All" has it's moments, but they totally jumped the shark with *The Black Album* (whatever :eyes:). Then the big stink they made against p2p...tsk tsk boys, you should've had better PR guys with all those piles of cash you have...:P

[Red_Storm]

28. And Justice For All ..........

does have it's moments but I dunno, it's never been a favorite of mine.....You're right about their p2p fight......suing their own fans.....not a brilliant move Lars.....anyways, it's too bad they fell off musically, they're just a nostalgia trip now .......

[jus_the_facts]

26. Me too.....and ....And Justice For All.....

:thumbsup: :D

[madrchsod]

6. yup -they suck

oh well, i don`t feel sorry for them after all they started the whole filesharing battle..next up -felony -up to five yrs,250 thousand fine for sharing any movie or music not released. even if you don`t share the file you still can be arrested. other p2p/filesharing laws are on the way thanks to our democratic and republican senators / congressmen and women.

[Loonman]

7. I'm just amazed...between "...justice" and the new stuff

At some point between the two, Metallica became supreme buttheads.

[Skip Intro]

8. That's what rehab will do for ya

Oh come on, I'm just KIDDING.

Seriously, Metallica lost me, maybe for good, with the "Turn the Page" remake. I mean, that's almost as bad as Bruce Dickenson (Iron Maiden) doing a cover of "All the Young Dudes."

There was a time when I'd have rushed right out to buy the new Metallica. I wasn't moved to do so with this one, and it had nothing to do with the P2P issue.

Now I read there are NO guitar solos on the entire album???!!!
I'm glad I saved my money.

But gotta give props to 'em - From Kill 'em All thru the Black Album, they really, really did metal a service. They get a second chance from me now. And a third, if they need it.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

17. I would LOVE to hear Iron Maiden do "All the Young Dudes"

That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!

[Az]

9. Lets just put it this way

20 years of collusion, marketting, prepackaging, manipulating, corpratizing, and in every other possible way destroying the art of music has finally come home to roost.

The current music scence Sucks. Period. Loss of sales has everything to do with the fact that in the end you cannot absolutely manage art. To manage it is to kill it.

[el_gato]

12. that's what happens when you screw your own fans

they can go rot in hell

i won't ever listen to them again

[Red_Storm]

13. No could be ............

their recent music does suck .....

[Castilleja]

21. Yep, what I have heard of St. Anger...

is *not* good. In fact, I detest the songs I have heard so far, I mean they are bad. It may be partly due to their settled married w/kids lifestyles, now. I think it would be hard to keep up the anger and angst that fuels alot of songs, when things have gotten all domestic and kid friendly in your life. I have liked everything they've done up to this CD. Except for the second unforgiven, yuck!

[Loonman]

14. New LP should have been called "Stanker"

Instead of St. Anger.

[Kamika]

16. metallica the country n western group

I swear they should stop bitching. I have never liked Metallica.. I like REM, U2 etc.. but I have heard stuff like enter the sandman (or something) One, and unforgiven and they were great. Then they release Load and they put out some countryn western single

[Heddi]

22. They didn't just sue b/c of P2P

i heard that they sued a french cosemetic manufacturer for creating a silvery-coloured lipstick calling it "metallica". Despite the fact that the word 'metallica' has been used for OTHER things besided the name of a band. they successfully got the company to stop using the word 'metallica' as the name of their lipstick.

Their reasoning was that they didn't want fans to think that they had approved of that particular cosmetic :eyes:

I find it amusing how blatantly money changes everything.

I remember when Metallica was a no-name metal band. I remember them encouraging fans to bring tape-recorders to their concerts, encouraging fans to dub their albums and tapes to give to friends so that their fan base could widen.

In fact, many of metallicas earliest fans heard metallica ONLY through the dubs and bootlegs of concerts and records made by friends that were passed around the schoolyard.

But then they got big, and started making money.

Then they got big enough to start DEMANDING more money, and more lucrative record deals.

I remember $8 Metallica shows.

I saw a metallica concert with some friends in 1992 or so, and the price of the crappiest crap seats was $32. Front row was over $50.

Now they've got their money, and a dedicated fan base. THey don't NEED to create fans anymore.

Therefore, what worked in 82 doesn't work in 02.

Once they had to BEG people to listen to them, now they just take their stardom for granted.

Of course they blamed P2P software and Napster and Gnutella for their declining album sales and less than spectacular concert attendances. It would be too....hard...to admit that their music sucks, and their style of music 'went out' of mainstream tastes a long time ago.

Go to a metallica concert now and instead of seeing 99% under-18's filling the rows, you see ALOT of older people, in their 30's---old metallica fans....not the young people they used to attract.

Is that the fault of p2p? Or is it just the reality that sometimes, bands go out of style. Music tastes change and even the most die-hard fans get tired of the 29th album that sounds the exact same as the previous 28.

Or perhaps old fans don't like it when their fave bands 'change' and 'sell out' to become more mainstream.

Kind of like when Metallica went for the 'gothy-not-really-heavy-metal-because-that's-very-1980's' look a few years ago---short hair, black eyeliner.....no amount of style change can change the fact that these rockers aren't 20 anymore---they're middle aged men trying to appeal to a group of fans that don't exist anymore, and they're alienating their older fans. Or their older fans are just realizing that Metallica's sound was better long ago, and they don't feel it's worth spending $50+ for a ticket to a concert for a band they just don't feel in touch with anymore.

I mean, look at The Monkees---once, their concerts were filled with young people. Now, their concerts are filled with young people who have grown old with the band.

THey used to play stadiums and concert halls. Now they play smaller venues.

That's the way music works. Your fans grow older and more disinterested.

Metallica shouldn't take it so personally, and put the blame squarely where it lies---chalk it up to life. p2p did NOTHING to dilute their sales or their fans. Metallica's attitude towards p2p did, however, change the minds of many long-term fans who are now no longer interested in people who claim "It's about the music, maaaan!" when in reality, we all know it's plainly for the money, maaaan

[proud patriot]

31. I wish they would get political again

"Master Of Puppets" and "and justice for all" had
a great messege . With bush in office and James
sober, They could get angry all over again.

perhaps NOFX and System of a Down will let them
know about all the shit that's going down.

you wrote:
"I remember when Metallica was a no-name metal band. I remember them encouraging fans to bring tape-recorders to their concerts, encouraging fans to dub their albums and tapes to give to friends so that their fan base could widen.

In fact, many of metallicas earliest fans heard metallica ONLY through the dubs and bootlegs of concerts and records made by friends that were passed around the schoolyard."

I remember this too , I grew up in the same county
as Metallica I remember seeing them using a fake I.D.
at a club in oakland called the Omni . If I had 300 bucks
I could of hired them to play at my 16th birthday party..
*Damn I'm old * :D I helped pass dubbed tapes to the rest
of the Bay Area ...and if Metallica is out there reading
This ..KVHS was the first radio station to ever play
a Metallica song ...

Kind of Ironic how word of mouth put Metallica out there
mainstream like , damn they saved metal from extinction .

[Emboldened Chimp]

27. There is a silver lining to this...

"On the other hand, Ulrich relished the prospect of Metallica becoming "outsiders" again, as they were in their early days 20 years ago when no one in the industry gave the long-haired rockers the time of day."

Maybe they'll go back to playing REAL metal? One can dream...

[SmileyBoy]

29. Isn't it weird that their best-selling albums are from the early days???

Maybe it's also because their newer stuff sucks DONKEY BALLS.

[LTR]

30. Heh heh...I downloaded "St. Anger"

And the concensus is right - It does suck!

Easily worse than the cover album a few years ago. Worse than 'Reload'. Just awful.

The title track is nothing great, but it does grow on you very slowly. But still is one of their weaker efforts.

And the album was supposedly created by a computer program (according to the article)? Does not surprise me. Sounds like something a VIC-20 created.

Too bad, they were one of the best live bands I've ever seen. They blew the roof off the place! Hate to see what they're like now.

[madddog]

32. Yes

It sucks. St. Anger has to be one of the worst songs I've heard in years...it's like 3 songs, all going on at once, with no relationships to one another.

Ah, back to the good old days, when you expected Metallica and Megadeth albums to be GOOD hehehe. Maybe rock and roll IS for the young after all!

[onebigbadwulf]

33. If anything, their rant about napster...

makes me not wnat to buy their album on principle.