Has Metallica sold out?
I guess it depends on what you consider a sell-out. I’ve heard quite a few people talk about Metallica selling out in the past, usually because they suddenly became popular and relatively mainstream. These hardcore fans seem to think that once their favorite band is discovered by the general public and they no longer have the band for their own, that they’ve sold out. Personally, I think that’s a load of crap. When a little-known band I like becomes popular, that just means that the band is good, and that there are quite a few people who share my taste in music.
I think I’ve defended Metallica in the past because they seem to have become popular in spite of themselves. They didn’t set out with this grand plan to become the biggest hard rock band in history. They just liked listening to metal music, and liked making metal music even more, and were good enough to get a record deal.
I even respect the band for taking a stand against the sharing of their music over Napster. There was a bit of fan backlash at this move, but when you stop to actually analyze the situation, they were in the right from the beginning. The songs that were being downloaded were copyrighted works, and the band was receiving no royalties for any of it. Regardless of how rich the members of the band already are, they still have the right to make money from the work they put into their music.
So I bought “Some Kind of Monster” on DVD recently, the documentary on the band and the making of their most recent album, “St. Anger”. In a way, I was hoping that I would be able to watch the movie, and arm myself with more ammunition to throw at those who are quick to cry “sell-out”. Instead, I think I may have joined their ranks.
Though it’s not a big point that is made in the movie, it is very obvious that they are all wealthy. Lars is shown making several million dollars auctioning some of his art collection, Kirk owns a large ranch in Northern California, etc. Being rich is definitely NOT evidence of selling out, but it helps illustrate a point I’ll be making soon.
At some point during the movie, when the album is nearing completion, the band’s management company tells them that they are to take part in a cheesy national radio promotion. Each member of the band is to record some voice-overs that will play on radio stations across the country. It’s very clear that the band hates this (and it’s pretty funny watching them squirm through recording the hokey dialogue.) They again ask their management company why they are doing this, and they are told that the radio stations can “make things difficult for them” if they don’t do this. It’s made clear that the radio stations are threatening to not play their new album without the band’s participation in the promotion.
Now the band has to know that there is a huge number of people who love their music, and will buy their latest album as soon as it comes out, radio air play or not. There is no doubt in my mind that there is no way the album could lose money even if these loyal fans were the only ones to buy the album. They also are obviously financially secure enough that they don’t need to sell millions of albums just to pay the bills. They could just go on making the music they love, put it in a music store, and they’d have a huge hit, stupid radio promotion or not. So why didn’t they just tell the radio stations to take their promotion and cram it with walnuts?
Has Metallica sold out? Unfortunately, yes, they have. Will I still buy their next album as soon as it comes out? Absolutely.
1 comment February 20th, 2005