METALLICA’s guitarist KIRK HAMMETT has admitted he was “shocked” by the reaction the band received from some of their fans over their NAPSTER stance.
In an interview in this month’s issue of Playboy, drummer Lars Ulrich, who became the band’s mouthpiece over the issue last year, also said that he and Fred Durst – who took a pro-Napster stance, with Limp Bizkit headlining a free Napster-sponsored US tour last summer – have kissed and made up after their high-profile war of words.
“I said some things that were borderline silly,” Ulrich conceded. “When Limp Bizkit embraced Napster and took $2 million to play this ‘free tour’ – it is possible to play free shows without taking sponsorship money, because we do that – I said it was total bullshit. I know a lot of people hate Fred Durst, but I think he’s really fucking talented. Me and Fred kissed and made up. When I open my mouth, most of the time something somewhat eloquent comes out, and once in a while I talk a bunch of fucking bullshit. I’m aware of that.”
Frontman James Hetfield also admitted that he “cringed” when he was reading some of Ulrich’s interviews on the issue, while he was taking time out to spend with his wife, who gave birth to their second child in May last year.
Speaking about the reaction of fans, Hammett said: “I’m still shocked at the reaction people have. I thought it was so obvious – people are taking our music when they’re not supposed to, and we want to stop them. Computers make it seem like you’re not stealing, because all you’re doing is pressing a button. The bottom line is, stealing is not right.”
Ulrich: “If you’d stop being a Metallica fan because I won’t give you my music for free, then fuck you. I don’t want you to be a Metallica fan.”
Ulrich also defended the band against accusations that they were just being “greedy rockstars”. He said: “It becomes about ‘these greedy rock stars’. But understand, 80 million records later, I don’t know what the fuck to do with all the money I have. So now can we talk about what the real issue is? The real issue, for me, is choice. I want to choose what happens to my music. It’s pretty clear that the future is selling your music online. But common sense will tell you that you cannot do that if the guy next door is giving it away for free.”