Hi Bob,

It’s interesting to see how my local daily newspaper, Sydsvenskan (Swedish for "the south Swedish"), gets worldwide recognition. The canceled Metallica interview was commented by the editor-in-chief and legally responsible in his weekend editorial:

"I can understand the record company’s anger, but it would at the same time be odd if the reviewers should pretend that internet did  not exist – and the reflections in the Metallica review are completely relevant. In reality nothing strange."

http://blogg.sydsvenskan.se/danielsandstrom/ (full column in Swedish)

Btw. the mentioned editor-in-chief, Daniel Sandstrom, was once guitarist in Swedish band "Beagle" and label mates at Polar (distributed by Universal) with ABBA;)

Cheers,
Morten D.
Malmo, Sweden

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I was at that Metallica 02 show; I wrote that NME story you quoted. I was also at the tiny shows they did at the BBC on Sunday and Tuesday and watching Metallica three times in three nights only one thing became clear: they are a hungry, hungry band.

James wasn’t appealing specifically against YouTube, he was trying to whip up the fervour and excitement he and his band obviously feel after being re-energised by ‘Death Magnetic’. Like they’ve been quoted as saying, Rick Rubin wanted to get them back to the days of ‘Master Of Puppets’ – when shows weren’t characterised by thousands of luminated screens popping up around you every few seconds – and to imagine they’re still trying to impress and win new fans rather than consolidating the ones they already have.

They’re a band reborn. I don’t think anyone expected ‘Death Magnetic’ to be this good or their live shows to be this ferocious. I for one welcome them back.

Ben Patashnik

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I ordered two tickets to see Metallica at the Forum after their fan club sent me the info that the tickets had gone one sale. After paying for the tickets, I got two more emails from Metallica, one giving me two vouchers to have the new album mailed directly to my  house, yes on CD, for no charge. The second email was from Metallica LIVE (best live music band site EVER) sending me two vouchers to download the show that I AM GOING TO SEE AT THE FORUM! Well, Like em or not, like the new record or not, this is about the coolest thing I have EVER seen a band do for their fans. It wasn’t part of the sales pitch and I had NO IDEA they were going to send me these two free-b’s. I am extremely excited to get a copy of the very show that I am going to see at the LA Forum. SOMEONE is paying attention in the Metallica camp as this is something I have never seen anyone else do. YOu can buy ACC files that come with set lists, ticket stubs, videos, etc. at http://www.livemetallica.com/ for shows going back to the beginning of their career. They are Metallica and are still doing things their way – right or wrong.

Chris Johnson

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http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html

http://mastering-media.blogspot.com/2008/09/metallica-death-magnetic-sounds-better.html