Saw a fan on the Underground last night - all in black, tats, baseball cap - resplendent with a large sleek black 'boutique' retail bag with yellow Metallica logo. It was quite a thing and made me wonder where they had been (pop up?). Designing for fashion brands and RTJ alike, I truly concur - this a band exercising it's brand in full live effect. Where they might appear commercial, they square this by their charitable outlay and 'gifted' real world experiences for the fans. Hope you're good! Jim
It wasn't always so. The Napster case was a low point for them and fans and only 26 years ago. They took a while to recover. Can't wait to see them Sunday in Stratford (5th time).
Really good point re Napster, I'd actually forgotten about that. The irony is that I'm not sure history judges their actions quite so harshly these days.
Speak as by no means a fan (perhaps worse than that, I only own one record by them, and inevitably it's a 12" of Enter Sandman) but someone who's admired them since that episode for taking that stance, I often wonder how much of their longevity and ongoing presence/success/importance is linked not necessarily to that furore and its aftermath, but to the underlying ethos that drove them to take that stand back then? It certainly seems linked to the points you make, Darren, about how they prioritise and understand the vital importance of in-person and in-the-moment connection.
As far as I can recall it, back then, the "battle lines" were - broadly - drawn as being between the evil record business and the perceived victims of it (audiences being fleeced by prices for recorded music kept artificially high to inflate corporate coffers; artists whose creative integrity was being distorted or destroyed by corporations supposedly looking to prioritise profit over art). And Napster and other file-sharer/torrent sites were seen as being the vanguard of the resistance. Metallica's perceived "sin" was to implicitly side with the big bad corporations against the plucky upstarts fighting for the benefit of the little people. A quarter of a century on, we can see that this wasn't just a glib over-simplification, but a canny piece of early marketing/myth-making by what has become the tech/streaming/"disruptor" industry. They fooled sufficient people for long enough to establish themselves as the new gatekeepers, and now cream a much bigger percentage off artistic creativity than record labels do (and have destroyed many vital parts of the music infrastructure in the process).
So maybe, among some of the older fans at least, some of the loyalty Metallica's audiences are showing is because we now can see that they were right...? They took an unpopular and even a career-damaging decision on a point of principle, and because they believed it was necessary that someone of their stature spoke up about it, because artists on less solid commercial ground couldn't afford to do so. At the time they were cast as corporate stooges but today they look like heroes for it.
Also, Darren, I keep meaning to send a recommendation, and with all the issues you raise it has to be this. But I've held off because I assume you'll know all about it already. But in case not...:
Saw a fan on the Underground last night - all in black, tats, baseball cap - resplendent with a large sleek black 'boutique' retail bag with yellow Metallica logo. It was quite a thing and made me wonder where they had been (pop up?). Designing for fashion brands and RTJ alike, I truly concur - this a band exercising it's brand in full live effect. Where they might appear commercial, they square this by their charitable outlay and 'gifted' real world experiences for the fans. Hope you're good! Jim
It wasn't always so. The Napster case was a low point for them and fans and only 26 years ago. They took a while to recover. Can't wait to see them Sunday in Stratford (5th time).
Really good point re Napster, I'd actually forgotten about that. The irony is that I'm not sure history judges their actions quite so harshly these days.
Speak as by no means a fan (perhaps worse than that, I only own one record by them, and inevitably it's a 12" of Enter Sandman) but someone who's admired them since that episode for taking that stance, I often wonder how much of their longevity and ongoing presence/success/importance is linked not necessarily to that furore and its aftermath, but to the underlying ethos that drove them to take that stand back then? It certainly seems linked to the points you make, Darren, about how they prioritise and understand the vital importance of in-person and in-the-moment connection.
As far as I can recall it, back then, the "battle lines" were - broadly - drawn as being between the evil record business and the perceived victims of it (audiences being fleeced by prices for recorded music kept artificially high to inflate corporate coffers; artists whose creative integrity was being distorted or destroyed by corporations supposedly looking to prioritise profit over art). And Napster and other file-sharer/torrent sites were seen as being the vanguard of the resistance. Metallica's perceived "sin" was to implicitly side with the big bad corporations against the plucky upstarts fighting for the benefit of the little people. A quarter of a century on, we can see that this wasn't just a glib over-simplification, but a canny piece of early marketing/myth-making by what has become the tech/streaming/"disruptor" industry. They fooled sufficient people for long enough to establish themselves as the new gatekeepers, and now cream a much bigger percentage off artistic creativity than record labels do (and have destroyed many vital parts of the music infrastructure in the process).
So maybe, among some of the older fans at least, some of the loyalty Metallica's audiences are showing is because we now can see that they were right...? They took an unpopular and even a career-damaging decision on a point of principle, and because they believed it was necessary that someone of their stature spoke up about it, because artists on less solid commercial ground couldn't afford to do so. At the time they were cast as corporate stooges but today they look like heroes for it.
Also, Darren, I keep meaning to send a recommendation, and with all the issues you raise it has to be this. But I've held off because I assume you'll know all about it already. But in case not...:
https://steamdown.bandcamp.com/album/i-realised-it-was-me
Touches on a lot of what you often write about here, in lots of ways. And it's just a fabulous record.
Always a pleasure to read your thoughts Angus - thanks! And I shall check that Stream Down release in the morning!