Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster

I had read quite a bit about this documentary for several months - it was universally acclaimed. It was made by the guys who made Paradise Lost, about the West Memphis 3. I really enjoyed that movie and its sequel (even though I personally think the WM3 are guilty). So, when I heard that M:SKOM would be broadcast in its 2 1/2 hour entirety commercial free on VH-1 last night, I made plans to watch.

The premise of the movie is that Metallica is going through a rough period, they hire a therapist, and they film everything. (I can't remember the name of it, but there is some "principle" that dictates that you won't act the same way with a camera present as you would without it -- I think that was a major factor here).

I was unmoved. Am I supposed to feel sorry for these guys? They were paying a guy $40,ooo.00 a month to hang out with them and help them explore their "feelings." Boo hoo. I was glad to see that Lars was suffering over the Napster thing. Whether I was right or wrong for feeling this way, I felt betrayed by the band over the Napster issue. I knew about these guys long before they hit it big. I had their first CD on the Megaforce label. I bought "Ride The Lightening" and "Master of Puppets." I was at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis cheering them on at two in the afternoon in 100 degree + weather at the Monsters of Rock festival when 20,000 Dokken fans couldn't have cared less. I spread the word about this great new band. I was happy for them when they started to get radio airplay and when they kicked into overdrive with the Black album. I saw them again in Little Rock with my wife and actually felt proud of them - I had spent money on them and spread the word about them and one of "my" bands had hit the big time.

If I remember correctly, when Napster came along, Metallica had a new song from the Mission Impossible soundtrack. The song wasn't on a new Metallica album. I downloaded it. I didn't download a lot of Metallica because I already had nearly everything they had recorded!

But Lars & Co got me banned from Napster and made comments to the press that those of us who had downloaded their music weren't true fans. Sure, it was easy to get around the ban and be up and running again in a matter of minutes. That wasn't the point. In some small way, I had helped these guys get where they were and now they had turned on me.

I haven't bought a single Metallica product since then, nor have I gone to see them since then. I love the South Park episode where Lars got skewered.

So, Lars and James (Kirk still seems to be relatively cool, but he also doesn't seem to be the brightest guy in the world), I am so sorry that all of your success and money has not brought you happiness. You seem to be doing fine without me - you could pay a therapist $40,000.00 per month and you gave your new bassist a $1 million signing bonus. It seems like every other song on one of our local stations is a Metallica song (although it is always your old stuff; never your new songs). And I'm sorry that I watched this self-indulgent movie.