Also This Happened: Metallica Sells Suits

Talk about bizarre. The members of Metallica are now models for the Brioni fashion house. The Italian house has launched a luxury men's line and decided that no one was better to sell suits than Lars Ulrich and co, apparently. It's not exactly ...And Justice For All, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy looking at high fashion photos and ads. I mean, I never met an Hermès boutique I didn't like.

Comments

[Him]

Well, I suppose it was about time.

I do seem to recall, however, how irked Hetfield was around the time of _Some Kind of Monster_ by the antics of Hammett and Ulrich to "glam up" their look and get all "artsy."

I guess some things _do_ change.

[Bob]

These guys will do anything to make a buck. Now, having said that, it's a free-market economy, and its their lives, so they can do whatever they want. What I resent is that they won't just flat out admit it. they still insist upon sticking by the nonsense notion that what they do is all about the fans. It hasn't been that way since the Black album.

[texjay]

"posers"...lol. :')

[Kenny Ozz]

Metallica died on September 27, 1986.

[Him]

I agree and disagree with you, Bob. They can be rather disingenuous re: their motivations. On the other hand, the main person behind the curtain--Ulrich--has been, even since Napster (which, in some ways, history has shown him to have been prescient about), fairly straight-forward about what drives him and, by extension, the band.

He collects art. James trends conservative (see my other post) and enjoys his sobriety. Hammett collects horror stuff. Trujillo works on his Jaco project (not bad) and thanks goodness that he isn't still playing "Possessed to Skate." They experiment. They try alternative approaches to music. They launch failed, if eclectic, festivals and release odd and costly movies. They work on their schedule and savor the right to do so. In other words, what once was a passion is now a job, and a lucrative one at that. I mean, some people pay good money to follow this band around and wait, fingers-crossed, for the next slab of "meh" to squirt from their ho-hum orifices.

I don't think they have truly cared about what the old-school fans think since they brought Bob Rock on board, at least in terms of the albums they release. When you chase the brass ring of sounding more like Motley Crue, then you are seeking something that is outside your given sub-genre. Others have done this, sure. But with Metallica, it was a calculated move to expand their fan-base . . . that worked. They, as the cliche goes, reaped the whirlwind. They also added to their coffers and left behind a host of bands--Exodus, Testament (to a degree), Death Angel, Overkill, etc., who stuck to their guns and eke out an existence with more cred but less cheddar. Megadeth, as a relevant counter, tried to do a bit of the same, but got nowhere near as far, even if they still stuck closer to their origins.

So I at least given Ulrich credit for being fairly transparent. And I give the others a partial pass for jumping on board. I never expected, post-Load, a return to the old days (and couldn't understand fans who thought that _Death Magnetic_ was that sort of thing). Nor did I ever suggest that Burton not dying would have held off this sort of transition (though they certainly did change after he died, even if he was more experimental than a lot of fans realize). I just hoped that they might find a way back to something close, a thrash version of Ratt's _Infestation_, if you will (or their version of _Dystopia_).

What I did do was stop caring and stop buying (which is different from _not_ following them with some interest, a thing that knuckle draggers at other sites can't seem to fathom). You are right, Bob. The market decides. When it comes to 'Tallica, it seems the market still supports them. Which is fine. I wouldn't want to banish a band because I didn't like them. Then again, I don't understand why people like them (as a band creating music, not as people).

But I doubt that Ulrich ever has trouble getting to sleep thinking about us fans. Which is the point, in some ways, isn't it?

[Bkallday]

What a bunch of pu$$/es.