Metallica To Internets: No, We're Not Kidding, We Really Hate You - UPDATED

***UPDATE***

Since posting this story, Metallica has asked that the posts in question be restored. According to the band, their management group sent out the requests without notice to the band. So yeah, it seems they may not be completely stupid... they at least reacted quickly to the original stupid action... Still, my statements of love below hold true.

***ORIGINAL STORY***

To further solidify that they lost their cool back in the 80's, Metallica has decided that it doesn't like bloggers. Kinda. They recently invited a group of bloggers to come and listen to a few tracks from their newest borefest piece-of-crap album. Bloggers, that do what we bloggers do, went home after the listening session to furiously type up stories and reviews of the music whilst trying to post before the other bloggers that were there. Shortly thereafter, Metallica's management and PR team went on a binge and started demanding the stories be removed from the websites. Well, I suppose demanding is a light term... as one blog put it, the writer was so intimidated by Metallica's BS that he was afraid for his professional future if he did not comply.

Let's not confuse the issue here. There were no Nondisclosure Agreements signed. There was no prior discussion of not writing about the songs. In fact, since the room was full of bloggers, it lends credence to the idea that Metallica was hoping for them to write about the tracks. So these bloggers were bullied by an archaic, failing, pathetic excuse for a metal band into removing their journalistic efforts because... why? There was no official reason given, apparently. We can only guess that the tracks were crap and received less than pleasant reviews, and actually, Metallica's management all but confirmed this suspicion as the one reason they did list as reasoning was that the tracks the bloggers listened to were not studio finished....

This has got to be one the most crap-tastic things I've heard of in a loooong time. I stopped listening to Metallica when I learned that you can actually make chords and melodies with instruments, and I haven't looked back, and when the band does things like this, I can't help but wonder why anyone listens to them at all! To go after legitimate journalists, journalists they invited to listen to their music, for absolutely no reason and on unfounded grounds is beyond comprehension of sanity. Why is it that no one has heard of this new album until now? Maybe it's because, aside from the lack of effort they've put into their albums since the 80's, there are other bands making strong efforts to embrace the future of the industry (queue the NIN and Radiohead stories).

Metallica, it's time to wake up. Go away to the depths of whatever you call a home, retire, and the world we be glad to be rid of your repugnant sound and your ignorant, childish actions.