In praise of...

In metal circles it seems popular to slag off Metallica for:

• "selling out" - no, I don't know what it means either.
• releasing Load and Reload which a lot of fans didn't like - not me, I liked them very much...Bleeding Me off Load is absolutely one of Metallica's finest tracks.
• making the St.Anger album and accompanying movie "Some Kind of Monster".
• the crusade against Napster.
• simply not being as good as they once were.

All of the above may or may not be valid. But to me, a band that did Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets is entitled to do whatever the fuck they like and follow whatever path they choose.

I was listening to RTL and MOP on headphones last night. Probably the first time I've listened to them all the way through for two or three years.

Hetfield was still only 20 when RTL came out, Hammett was 21. They produced music that changed metal forever.

Without Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets there wouldn't have been...well, almost every metal band that has ever been since.

Something to bear in mind.