Hi guys,

First off, let me say the following three things:

1) I am not posting to discuss the Napster thing. I know very little about it.

2) "Load" and "Re-Load" are my two least favorite Metallica albums.

3) I am not posting this to start an argument or flame war or anything.

Now, having said that, I just want to say that I think I have a hard time swallowing the whole greed/lack of integrity thing. See, I believe that these guys could have continued selling a HUGE number of albums and rocking pretty much everyone's world if they had simply continued to produce the same kind of thrash they created in albums like "Ride the Lightning," "Master of Puppets," etc. But they didn't. They chose to experiment with different sounds, and we got stuff like the black album and "Load" & "Reload." And, with all due respect to both of you and your opinions, I don't think they produced albums like these in an attempt to suddenly garner commercial success (ie., radio play, etc.). I really don't. I think that this band tends to have... hmmm, how shall I say this?...."unique" taste in music (ie., Case in point: while other metal bands who were recording an EP of cover tunes like "Garage..." would likely have wanted to pay tribute to metal legends like Priest/Maiden/Purple, etc. these guys chose to ignore those bands and record stuff by relative unknowns like Diamond Head, Misfits, etc.). To me, "Load" and "Re-Load" sound like they are fairly influenced by recent/modern musical trends. And I have a feeling that Lars and co. probably like(d) that sound when they recorded those albums. I don't think they were intentionally jumping on bandwagons or anything. I really don't. On the contrary, I'm sure they realized that they would have been safer to leave their hair and musical styles alone. But they didn't. Instead, they did what they wanted, and they've been getting flak for it ever since. Once again, I can't honestly say I like their "new" sound, but I don't disrespect them for adopting it. I honestly just thing they're making music that suits their own tastes and trying to grow as artists. But hey, what do I know?
Don