It turns out that some London-based music journalists got an official preview of the upcoming Metallica album this past Wednesday. Cool. But here’s the kicker: despite not having signed non-disclosure agreements and giving the album mostly good reviews—one of which praised it as a return to form—the writers were asked by the band’s management to take down their posted comments on the album. Huh?
OK, guys? Listen...we defended you to the bitter end during and after the whole Napster fiasco because we thought you were on the side of righteousness. Because it was common knowledge that you’d been generous and gracious to your fans over the years, and that just because you’d made a good living you weren’t obliged to give away your work for free to please some misguided, freeloading, pseudo-utopian-thinking college kids, who’d later become greedy investment bankers the moment they got out of school. But this is ridiculous. C’mon! What the hell are you guys smokin’ anyway?!
