You would think that Metallica would have learned their
lesson. Take on the internet, and you will lose.
Having previously had their goatees burned when they waged
war against peer-to-peer downloading sites, which ultimately lead to them achieving
nothing other than being seen more as dinosaurs of rock rather than the monsters
they had been, the poor, sensitive souls appear to have unwittingly landed themselves
in hot water again.
The band has been forced to issue a statement on its website
attempting to calm many thousands of angry young fans, who have been voicing
their disbelief that Metallica representatives Q Prime attempted to have early
reviews raving about their new album removed from music blogs, posted following an
invite-only listening session of a yet-to-be-released album last week.
"Our response was "WHY?!!! Why take down mostly positive
reviews of the new material and prevent people from getting psyched about the
next record. . . that makes no sense to us!"" (sic) reads Metallica's post.
Why indeed? Surely a band as sensitive to customer care as
Metallica have had to become can't have such misguided PRs that they thought that
a discrete phone call to a web editor would go uncontested?
If a previously wounded blogosphere is talking you up, for
God's sake don't shove a stick through the bars and poke it.
Related Links
http://metallica.com/index.asp?item=600942
http://www.thequietus.com/2008/06/metallica-and-reviews-for-all/
