Metallica Disapperring? - Impossible!

Hey, I'd like people thoughts on something....Now, I'd consider myself a Metalli-fan, so for that reason I don't take too kindly to people slagging them off for no reason - "You're entitle to your opinion, just don't voice it near me" sorta thing, hehe....But, I'm sure you'll all agree, (fan or not) in recent times, the band have really changed...Take their new single for Mission Impossible II - Not a bad song, quite catchy....but a little too.....MTV for what Metallica are....were, all about....They're getting caught up in the popularity fuzz...Don't get me wrong, I know they're doing what they want with their music, that's a good thing, I know....but why must it be so **** mainstream?!!! Metallica were part of the four (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and....urrrr...Slayer I think....D'oh!) who difined thrash, gave us those melodic, crunching, kick-ass riff we all like to play from time to time...and now, pop sinks in and takes away there edge.....What do you guys think?....Like I said, you're entitled to your opinions, feel free to voice them, but please explain why you feel that way, I'd like an intelligent discussion (which I'm sure I'll get from this paticular board) not a "Metallica are s**t, it's about fu***ng time they rolled over!!.....Korn 4eva!!!!....." sorta thing....

There you go....

BTW - Metal's only one of my interests in case your wondering, I do listen to some VERY different styles.....just in case...

i think what everybody says is backwards about selling out. i know some people don't like when a band gets popular, tell me what's wrong with gettng yo cheddar. i think peoples styles are more what they think people want to hear before they get big and then when you get your name and popular you can do your own thing and what you like instead of writing songs for you're fans. we'll you guys may think i'm backwards but that's my take on it.

peace out,

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Jake Sommers

Fair enough, but the thing is - Metallica never wanted to be popular....Thrash metal ISN'T mainstream, it's not meant to be played in discos, parties - it's for real live gigs....also, Metallica are HUGE!!! why do they need to sell out to a world were all they really get in return is money....I makes me wonder, is this the way it inevitably goes?....Admittly, if you don't want it to happen, and you try enough, it won't - but is that really enough?....
Also, what's all the stuff with them suing everything?...Why?! They've got loads of money in their bank accounts, they were still cabable of packing out hordes of stadiums across Amercain, Europe, The East....Why do all this?....

An interesting perspective though, unfortunatly, one I can't PERSONALLY!!! agree with....doesn't mean its wrong!!!

Metallica... before i knew about them, i wasn't really interested about learning guitar. But as many have noticed, One can't be compared by any means with Fuel. The earlier tune is the perfection of the metal! And when I heard Fuel, it was like MmmBop or something like that. Pop is eating them. And I like them so much that I can't tolerate it! They're a huge band, but they're slowly falling down...

Maybe my point of view is skewed, because i dont particularly like the old or new metallica, but i really think that you guys are missing the point about the new one. First of all, very very few metallica fans i know like the new metallica, and i'm sure metallica knows that a lot of their fans prefer their old stuff by far. Selling out would be to keep making black album clones so they could sell more records. Granted, they are way too interested in money (this whole napster thing proves it. Direct lars ulrich quote: "I hate to see our art being traded like a comodity when its art." Stupidest quote I've ever heard, beats out anything dan quayle ever said. I mean, what is selling albums for 20 bucks a pop, if thats not trading like a comodity than I have no friggin idea what is. But that's a side track.)
If they only cared about popularity they would be doing korn stuff, because that's the type of metal that's popular right now. They're doing something new, and its what they want to do. You may not like it as much, but at least its being true to themselves, and not making new stuff in the same style as the old stuff cause they know you will buy it. I dont think sell out is an appropriate term to use. They are greedy as hell, at least lars, but aren't changing their music because of it.

Sarx, you're full of it. Metallica have been around long enough to prove that they are the masters of their style, but they're musicians, dammit, not music producing droids. They have a right to go where the music takes takes them, and they've certainly earned it. I would hate it if someone criticized me for playing a different style than my main one. That's their ignorance speaking. I get tired of playing metal and instrumental rock sometimes, and then I mess around with jazz or classical. Kirk said in an article that many people have told them to do another Master of Puppets, but he said its been done and they want to move on and evolve as musicians, and I agree with him.

To say that they've succumbed to mainstream music is invalid, as well. No one except them knows how they feel about what they're doing or why they're doing it, and to call them greedy is just rediculous.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!! daniel has summed up basically what i tried to say. if you say there new stuff isn't as good as there old why should they produce stuff that sounds like their old stuff that's selling out to try to emulate there old sound just to keep fans or market to old fans Epitomizes selling out any time you change what you want to do for someone is selling out. maybe they don't wan't to write songs that have the same style or meanings as there old. there in a different part of there lives now and you have to respect that. that like having a 40 or 50 year old making songs that sound like blink 182 it just isn't the same after a while after you're life changes. It wouldn't have the same affect on people. and i think people need to lay off artists cause their songs don't cater to a certain purpose. Nobody's calling carlos santana a sellout, why is that? He does a whole album totally different from all his old album if you want to attack someone why not him? he's the perfect candidate. See this isn't about selling out if you just don't like the band's sound don't listen to them. And i'm not a big metallica fan but i do listen to them and as long as there are guitarist who are learning to play, metallica is gonna be making money.

peace out,

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Jake Sommers

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT 2. i see eye-to-eye with you ekstasis. You can't always go through life with the same styled music, well some can some can but the man who proves our point is the great "slowhand" otherwise known as my main man Eric Clapton he has been in about ten different bands all with different styles and on to his blues career and the 90's with one of the greatest songs ever composed, tears in heaven. Do you think he would have had that much success if he would have stayed in the Yardbirds for 15 or 20 years? I don't think so he would be remembered as a great guitarist but not the music icon he is if he stayed there he would not have been able to entertain the world with his beautiful voice and varied styles of guitar playing.

peace out,

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Jake Sommers

[This message has been edited by jake sommers (edited 05-03-2000).]

Metallica is a great band, even those guys have become...hm...maybe old? Well, Metallica was the biggest influence for me when I started to play guitar.
That 80's Metallica is still really "kicking ass"! But about their new products - i Don't comment. I you know what I mean...>-)

Demoralizer

Didn't it occur to y'all that maybe they're just trying to prove to everyone that they're great musicians (and not just fu**ing good metal-musicians).
Maybe I'm wrong, but a band like Metallica has already proved to the world that their own metal-music is among the greatest metal ever made (maybe even THE greatest ever made). And now they're just exploring their own gifts as musicians...

The 'new' metallica sound is a thing that maybe i won't be able to like for a few years. Those guys are doing what they want, as everyone has said before. If that's good or bad none of us has the right to say it. But we can tell what we feel, what we know, and what we wish. It is hard to let go something that you loved, right? And i'm sad, people. 'Cause the best music on earth will only remain on a damned plastic disc.

Heart felt words I'm sure....You're right, it's difficult to give up something you feel strongly for...You're right, the guys are doing what they want, fair enough, it's not for us to tell 'em what they can and can't do...but wasn't it they who used to say they wouldn't go in for MTV stuff...(or was that just Nirvana?....) haven't they gone against almost everything a young and impressionable mind was taught by them?...Don't get me wrong, they didn't warp my mind, (that was all those late nights, hehe) but they open my mind and ears to heavy, emotional music, feeling behind those notes, they gave me something to aspire (?) to...something to believe in....then they became mainstream...perhaps they didn't sellout, but they became mainstream...something I'm not, something many of us are not...something we thought Metallica'd never do....It's hard to let go, but it looks as though we have no choice...it's those plastic frisbees (not that I use Metallica albums as frisbees of course....) that we have to take with us....oh well...

"The Horsemen are drawing nearer,
On leather steeds they ride,
They come to take your live

On through the dead of night
With the Four Horsemen ride
Or lose your head a die"

think maybe the guys didn't ride...

[This message has been edited by Willdridge (edited 05-08-2000).]

Willridge, you read my mind. Everything that you state in your post is 100% true! Man, those hyper fast metal solos... I wish they were like they were... Well, at least let's buy S&M.

Willdredge, you forgot to mention Exodus in the influential thrash bands, they were around if not before Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.
It all depends on how old you are and when you started listening to Metallica. Personally I was a big fan until the Black album came out, and even that album had some decent tunes on it, in my opinion.
I think that what gets the old Metallica fans is the fact that Metallica now seems to be everything that they used to detest and speak out against. This could be an endless debate that I'd rather not start, if you enjoy the new stuff great, but just respect the fact that the old Metallica fans have a point of view as well.

Exodus was around before Metallica - Kirk was originally their lead guy.

While I love old and new Metallica stuff the same (just in different ways), they have the right to change their views over time. I know some of the stuff I said in the pastI don't agree with now; maybe it's the same for them.

Yeah - I knew Exodus were around before Metallica and I knew Kirk was their lead guitartist...I, probably incorrectly, thought though that they were only really that bigger influence in the San Fransico type area, where as Metallica, Antrax, Megadeth and Slayer were huge the world over...I could be wrong, but I'd sau that anyone remotely interested in the metal scence would know those names, it's probably only the really fans who'd say, "Hey, Exodus - I know them!"....You're right about it being the time you got into it though..I started when I was 14, I only turned 15 yesterday..."The Black Album" was my first album...I pinched my bro "Kill 'Em All" album for a while (and fell in love with "The Four Horsemen")..I'm playing on buying "Ride The Lightning" soon...we'll see....but, the point is it wasn't so much I didn't know of Exodus, just didn't really think they were a huge influence...I can see now I was perhaps wrong....sorry!

Willdrige,

Don't plan on buying Ride the lightning, DO IT, DO IT NOW!!! (Beg, Borrow and in an extreme circumstance as this, consider stealing the money for it)

Every single song on the album is a masterpiece (My particular fav being "Creeping Death")

I started listening to Metallica back in the 80's when I was still at school. I have listened to them evolve as a band, and whilst the "New Metallica" is not to everyones taste, they are still great musicians.

They are certainly more "Radio Friendly" nowadays, but S & M is still a good album, and gives an interesting new slant to some old favouirites.

Well thats my piece said, you may or may not agree, but if we were all the same wouldn't the world be a boring place!!

Take it Eazy

Dave

I heard their next album is supoosd to be kind of a return to their metal roots. I hope that's true, the new stuff is pretty boring compared to the old. I don't think they sold out, though.

I haven't heard a thing about the new album.

I think I heard they're planning on recording it after they finish the Sanitarium tour.