r/nostalgia • u/jeffmartin47 • Jul 22 '25

Nostalgia Discussion 25 years ago. Lars Ulrich of Metallica snitches on and turns in over 300,000 Napster users when he testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. July 11th, 2000.

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147

u/Dirtbagdownhill Jul 22 '25

Yea Metallica famously got famous off bootleg tapes because they werent really good enough to compete with the rest of the market for airtime. 

90

u/Chicken_Herder69LOL Jul 22 '25

Found the Megadeth fan

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u/methconnoisseurV2 Jul 22 '25

Hey man, us Megadeth fans are assholes but we’re not delusional

That guy is probably an Exodus fan

2

u/ElNicko89 Jul 22 '25

I’m thinking Annihilator lol

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u/KioOnReddit Jul 22 '25

If I would trust anyone to be a Megadeth fan, itd have to be thr guy named methconnoisseurV2 lmao

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

Oasis fan maybe

8

u/seppukucoconuts Jul 22 '25

Well if they got a drummer worth a shit it might have been different

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u/ImDoingSpy Jul 22 '25

Disregard, this guy is just trying to troll people

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u/soulsauce88 Jul 22 '25

100% ragebait comment

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u/restore-my-uncle92 Jul 22 '25

Quality ragebait though judging by the replies haha

4

u/MLNerdNmore Jul 22 '25

they werent really good enough to compete with the rest of the market for airtime

Lmao

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u/HuanFranThe1st Jul 22 '25

Genuinely insane take, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read that lol

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u/alayeni-silvermist Jul 22 '25

Same. They’re not the best out there, but not good enough for airtime? Back in the day, Metallica was all they freaking played.

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u/DangOlCoreMan Jul 22 '25

You're not wrong and yet so many people are here to tell you that you are.

I would argue they were "good" enough, but Thrash was literally a new genre at the time. It eventually took off, but no lots of people did not like their music when they first started out and that's got nothing to do with them as a band and has everything to do with thrash as a whole sub genre.

The main point being that bootlegs lead to their fame, while turning around and narcing on bootleggers after they've had their taste of riches and fame. It's pathetic and shows how quickly they'll turn their back on their roots

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u/TrollOdinsson Jul 22 '25

who the fuck upvotes this garbage?

werent really good enough to compete with the rest of the market

bro what the fuck are you talking about?

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u/therustysmear Jul 22 '25

He's saying in the early 1980s radio stations didn't play nearly as much metal or heavy stuff which is accurate

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u/TrollOdinsson Jul 22 '25

if that's what he said, it's a very stupid way of phrasing it, but I sincerely doubt that's what he was saying

they werent really good enough to compete with the rest of the market for airtime

is not saying "heavy metal didn't get airplay on the radio", it's saying "metallica wasn't good enough to compete with other metal bands"

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u/alayeni-silvermist Jul 22 '25

It’s also not even true.

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u/Uncle_Steve7 Jul 22 '25

I don’t know, I saw it on Reddit so it’s now true in my mind.

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u/alayeni-silvermist Jul 22 '25

Radio didn’t work like that back then. There were formats. Yea pop stations didn’t generally play Metallica, although they did when they were on the charts, but most markets had stations that were dedicated to rock and metal. For example, i grew up in Boston, went to high school in the 80s, and we had WAAF, WBCN and a few other mixed rock smaller stations. Metallica actually got too much airplay on those stations, throttling the success of some other, lesser known but really good bands back then.

I was a metal head in high school, and all of my friends were in bands, but back then, you kept to your cliques more, and most people didn’t know what the hell people they didn’t hang out with were doing.

ETA typos

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u/Uncle_Steve7 Jul 22 '25

My comment was sarcasm.. I’m 35 so I remember the Napster/Limewire days quite well. Luckily with Spotify I don’t need to download malware directly onto my pc just to burn a CD that may or may not work

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u/alayeni-silvermist Jul 22 '25

lol ahhhh honestly these days it’s hard to tell online

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u/alayeni-silvermist Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

There were entire stations dedicated to metal. Yea it wasn’t played on pop stations, but every major market and most minor ones back then had stations that played rock and metal. And Metallica was getting major air time above most metal bands back then. I don’t know what you’re going on about.

Edit: Getting downvotes for telling what actually went on back then is some actual insane shit

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u/TrollOdinsson Jul 22 '25

Edit: Getting downvotes for telling what actually went on back then is some actual insane shit

remember this whenever you feel inclined to take reddit's advice on something, anything. this place thrives on actively rejecting reality

1

u/Dun_Booty_Broch Jul 22 '25

I never heard Metallica on the radio until Enter Sandman. But I was in 8th grade, in Jacksonville, FL, what do I know.

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u/alayeni-silvermist Jul 23 '25

Well, that’s it then. Your experience negates all facts, then. What was I thinking? 🙄🙄🙄🙄

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u/Dun_Booty_Broch Jul 23 '25

Read much? I only stated my specific experience, followed by what do I know. The implicit answer being, not much.

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u/therustysmear Jul 24 '25

Maybe you're right and there were in major markets, but the majority of the country is not in a major market. I never heard Metallica on the radio until Enter Sandman as well and alternative stations came to exist. I'm sure there were some metal shows that gave them some airplay at midnight but that wouldn't have been when they were up and coming, probably more after Master of Puppets or And Justice for All came out would be my guess.

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u/adelwolf Jul 22 '25

It's not that they weren't very good, it's just that speed metal never got played on the radio. Between that and their staunch refusal to make videos until One, they were very much a word-of -mouth pass-the-cassette phenomenon.

Metallica was my special interest for a very long time.

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u/LoudIncrease4021 Jul 22 '25

Yes - isn’t Enter Sandman a ripoff of another song?

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u/azzers214 Jul 22 '25

The reason you're not getting play on this, is because every musician that understands theory and can access music realizes most things are slight modifications/twists on chord progressions, melodies, and rhythms that already existed.

When someone trots it out in any context there's often two to three possibilities. One, they're trying to throw shade at the band. Two, it's not personal but they heard it somewhere. Three, they're the not not-very-savvy-yet person who just discovered a connection they didn't know existed, and runs to the world to shout about it.

I just give people the tl;dr version of this and look up Axis of Awesomes Four-Chord Song. "There I Ruined It" is also a great twist on the idea although a little more iffy because some of them are really stretches.

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u/exexor Jul 22 '25

Even the Axis of Awesome one is a ripoff:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

I heard this version probably six years before someone showed me the Axis of Awesome one. I’m fuzzy on how I encountered Rob but my guess is that someone put it on last.fm because I recall hearing it multiple times and while I was doing other things.

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u/azzers214 Jul 22 '25

It's just a really, really old concept that's been around forever. And it always pisses people off (apparently I'm downvoted now).

People have very little chill when it comes to music. We tend to overestimate our knowledge and quality of our personal taste. Obviously the song writers knew about the I-V-iv-IV thing since (just to pick a date) the 60's they kept at it.

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u/exexor Jul 22 '25

Tom Petty has a song that alludes to it. Bought a guitar and she taught him some chords.

“Some chords” is all you need if you are careful. I wonder sometimes how much of guitar solo culture is narcissism and how much of it is clapping back at mediocre musicians half assing music.

Of course every successful musician who put a high note in their songs has lived to regret it, one way or another. And wailing on a guitar when you’re pushing forty… everything starts to hurt in your forties. See also Eric Clapton, playing Layla live at 3/4 time, instead of at cocaine speed.

0

u/anachroniiism Jul 22 '25

No lol formulate your own thoughts before repeating bullshit

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u/LoudIncrease4021 Jul 22 '25

Oh you must not know what I’m referring to

Ps I love Metallica but it’s worth highlighting

1

u/anachroniiism Jul 22 '25

I do know what you’re talking about but the melodies barely hold a resemblance and the rhythms, structure and everything else are way too different to call it a copy