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"I try not to throw this terminology around lightly, either, as I've witnessed a fair amount of mental incapacity and inebriation in my life.\u00A0 This is the only explanation I can proffer that seems to make any sense, though.\nOf course, as everyone knows (and contrary to an assertion by Ars Technica today), Metallica absolutely hates the Internet and everyone on it. Ever since their ill-advised vendetta against Shawn Fanning and Napster, Metallica has been stepping in deep doo-doo ever since when it comes to relating to the shifting modern music culture. This was their modus operandi up until recent weeks, when they appeared to change their tune, or so I thought.\nA few days ago, I found a story that I thought would be up fellow Mashable blogger Sean P. Aune's alley, for his personal blog.\u00A0 Sean has a way with words, particularly when he's ranting about pop culture, and his rant about the upcoming DRM-free digital release of Metallica's Mission: Metallica was no exception:\n\n...in short, Metallica is releasing their new album via a special website, Mission: Metallica, and it will be DRM-free.\u00A0 It actually took me a few days of thinking to decide how I felt on this because it is such a turn around from their previous decisions, but I pretty firmly decided it meant they still don\u2019t get it.\n[...]\nIf it wasn\u2019t a band I used to care about so much, I was a big fan up through 1991\u2019s Metallica, I probably wouldn\u2019t care as much.\u00A0 I would have shrugged off this story and moved on with my life.\u00A0 This is a band I would like to see regain some of their former glory, and most of all I want them to actually release an album I like, but this just doesn\u2019t seem to bode well for what is to come. Nice try guys, when you catch up to 2008, let me know.\n\nWhen I saw that Metallica was releasing their album DRM free, though, I thought it was at least a move in the right direction.\u00A0 As it turns out, Sean was right. They don't get it, and they're going one step further in the wrong direction.\u00A0 Metallica's management has sent out a number of journalists and bloggers advance copies of the new album for review, and then once the reviews went up, the band went around and requested the reviews come down:\n\nBut when bloggers wrote reviews of what they\u2019d heard at the listening party, Metallica went ballistic, demanding that the reviews be taken down. One site in particular, The Quietus, has reported that the band\u2019s management asked the site to remove the blog about the new album, even though Metallica\u2019s management did not ask the blogger to sign a non-disclosure agreement (which would have legally prevented attendees from writing about the listening party or the six songs they\u2019d heard previewed there).\nOther publications whose reporters attended the listening party and wrote reviews \u2013 including Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, and Rock Sound \u2013 were reportedly asked to remove their reviews, as well.\nIronically, none of the now-removed reviews were negative.\n\nThis reminds me of the same sort of foolishness that Prince has been engaged in for the last twelve months, asking his fans to remove images of him from their fan-sites. It's as if these artists don't read the news about acts like Radiohead or Trent Reznor (or even Charles Manson). That, or they have infused their bodies with so many drugs that they're incapable of analytical thought any longer.\nThere really is no other discernible excuse for continuing to sabotage your career and image with the very people responsible for buying and marketing your artistry for you, particularly if you have a 10-year history of being a heel to the whole of the music loving consumers of the world."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2008/06/10/metallica-retarded/>