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Metallica Climbdown After Major Internet Backlash

14th June 2008 | by Ross Riley

You'd almost think that a hybrid combination of Mister Bean and Frank Spencer would be able to do a better job than Metallica's PR agency.

It was Metallica who initially gained widespread notoriety for their endorsement of the legal action that led to Napster being shut down but even now the band have been trying to embrace the modern age they still manage to shoot themselves in the foot.

The initial trouble started when the band's label invited a small group of journalists to listen to previews of the new album, only to demand that blog articles reviewing the tracks were taken down.

In a further twist the band have issued a climbdown blaming their management for the foolish decision to try and censor articles. In a statement published on Metallica's website they said:

"While we occasionally enjoy reading the various comments, rumors, speculation, reviews, gossip and all the good that the internet brings, rarely do we feel the desire/need to respond to the “blogosphere” . . . hey, everyone is entitled to have their thoughts and opinions, right?

"However, once we re-surfaced on Tuesday after a few weeks on tour in Europe, we were informed that someone at Q Prime (our managers) had made the error of asking a few publications to take down reviews of the rough mixes from the new record that were posted on their sites.

"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!”