Azaras wrote:
This ignores my point that many of us who dislike MOP like RTL and KEA.
Two things: first of all, who are these people? Speak for yourself. I am prepared to accept that some people genuinely don't like the record, but I am adressing the possibility that there's another mindset at work at the same time, it doesn't have to go for you, it's a more generalised statement. Can you admit that I'm not just making shit up?
Second, RTL and KEA didn't break open the band, MOP did, and as we know purists hate the 'selout' moment. This moment for Metallica for the longest time has been considered to be the black album, but as purism does, it is retconned closer and closer to the beginning of the band. 10 years from now there'll be people that say they only love the metallica demos, and Kill 'Em All was a huge selout. That's just the nature of obscurity-based fandom.
There's people that only listen to the first two Iron Maiden LPs and hate the rest of the stuff. Now, stay with me,
I also listen to the first two, but I don't
hate the rest of their material, it just doesn't do it for me generally (7th son does). It's the extremist points of view I find unjustifiable. If I were to say the moment Bruce came on board Iron Maiden just begin to FLAT OUT SUCK SUCK SUCK FUCKING SELOUTS then I'd be equally ridiculous, right?
What changed for metallica in the span of a year? Nothing. As they've said many times, they didn't even think MOP was any more special than RTL. They said it was 'business as usual'. Wrote songs, toured, went to the studio and recorded. It came out - as usually the greatest heavy metal albums do - without anyone knowing they had made one of the greatest heavy metal albums. Fates Warning were doing 'business as usual' when they made 'Awaken the Guardian' too if you ask Jim Matheos (Arch has different point of view on that one, heh) and it's one of the best heavy metal albums there will ever be. Keep that in mind.
You're right, a record that is more obscure definitely will get more praise; but a band that is famous is necessarily hated by collectors just because it is so. It's often just the music.
It's not just that they're famous. Sadly,
we feel we know Metallica personally. What with the documentary and all the press coverage and all the interviews, we think we know James and Lars and Kirk personally. We feel we have the right to judge them. For christ's sake, go read UltraBoris' review of Master of Puppets on the Metal Archives and tell me if he's overstepping a simple review into an actual psychological analysis of James Hetfield, as if he knows him, as if he confided in him.
Metallica have been demystified. They're not metal gods, we know everything about them. That makes them small, that makes them petty. It's
a method of revenge by the betrayed listener to disvow Metallica's art because they've been demystified. It's almost embarassing to like Metallica now that they're shit and we know all about their shit. Similarly, a lot of people don't give a lot of note to Ozzy 'Prince of Darkness/Sharon slave' Osbourne regardless of how much they like Sabbath. See what I mean? Metallica are a very special band with a very special set of circumstances surrounding them. And I say besides all the bullshit, once this band was
great and we shouldn't feel they're our cousins we are berating. Once they made MOLTEN STEEL that is timeless and will never dull.