30 Day Song Challenge - Day 12

Day 12 - A song from a band you hate.

Metallica - Master Of Puppets

I'm not even going to bother embedding this video - just click if you want to watch.  On the one hand, metal rarely does it for me, but my distaste for this band goes way beyond personal taste.  It goes to ethics.  They're native to the Bay Area, and even more native to the radio station I was a part of.  Their legacy was built on "The Garage Tapes," the bootlegs that were passed around, copied from vinyl to cassette and shared with friends in a blaze of piracy. 

Then, at the height of their success, the music world was turned on its ear by a little thing called Napster.  Napster brought to light what people had been doing for decades - from the 50s, at "record parties," where albums were traded, to the 80s when the tape recorder ruled as we all copied songs from the radio to play on our own time.  Or the greatest piracy of all - every minute of every day when someone is the victim of that loud out-of-tune birthday song. 

But Metallica wanted their due. 

I agree, an artist needs to be compensated, to earn a living.  But true passion comes from sharing our words, our thoughts, feelings, and melodies.  Sometimes the sacrifice of our creations being shared, networked, without a dime coming our way - if true talent is there, your reward will be much bigger, and in the end, generally, so will your wallet.  Metallica still sells.  But in my mind, and in the minds of many others, they're forever tainted because they forgot their roots.  To climb the mountain, then shit on everyone else climbing up to follow - their fans - is dishonorable as can be.