Nike Gimmick Fail

Sometimes I'm a sucker for something so clever that it seemed like no one would ever do it. And when I heard that Nike was creating a shoe based on the Slayer album "Raining Blood", I was hyped. And let's be clear, I have NEVER been a fan of Nike.

So after finally viewing the promo for the shoe, I am given comfort in the fact that they still suck as much as they always have:

Brooklyn Projects Nike SB from Glenn PP Milligan on Vimeo.

Oh, WOW!!! They played "Raining Blood" for the promo commercial!!!! That's so...........

Really? That's your shoe Nike?

I've been a fan of Slayer since 1990 and if you are going to market a shoe based of the music of Tom, Kerry, Jeff, and Dave, then you've got a LONG way to go.

If anything, I want a black shoe with a blood red sole with the eagle/sword/pentagram emblem on the ankle that lights up when I take a step. Your marketing/design department really dropped the ball on this, big time. Fire them NOW!!!

For reference to the Slayer uninitiated, here's a video of the track Nike used. My only real fear is that Slayer signed-off on this at some point. But something tells me this was a "record-management decision". Can we get an interview with Tom and Kerry, please?



So what's next, a Nike shoe based off of Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire" that's all blue? Give me a fucking break.

Lunchtime Music feat. Metallica

The new album - Death Magnetic - comes out tomorrow and, I must admit, I'm pretty curious how the remainder of the tracks on the new LP are going to sound.

The first single - getting airtime virtually non-stop in my little radio market in Western Kentucky - seems to be an amalgam of several elements from previous Metallica albums.




The energy and speed of Kill 'Em All hasn't been around for years. The dark, almost malevolent, spirit of Ride The Lightning might be in there somewhere. The flow of the song, the changes and the almost proto-typical "thrash-metal-breakdown" half-way through smacks just a little of And Justice For All.

The top-40-over-produced drivel ( a la Bob Rock ) is gone, thankfully. But, this most certainly isn't Master of Puppets either. All that is left is a striped-down, raw style - you can really tell that in Lars' drum track.

The most notable change in Metallica over the last 10 or so years has bee James Hetfield's lyrics. His prose seems to have lost a lot of its power, though the delivery is still there. But, this is only a judgement from the first track that has been released.

I'm not going to by the album tomorrow, I'm going to just "find" a copy and listen to it.

Metalli-Marketing

I can honestly say that when I look back at Metallica's musical lexicon, I am more than just slightly disappointed in how their music has progressed over the years.

Load, and it's subsequent sister-release Re-Load, do more than just pale in comparison to previous music endeavours - they outright suck.

Truth-be-told, the albums aren't completely unlistenable, they just seem overtly "safe". But, that seems to be what Bob Rock ( producer ) was going for when he began remolding the band when they were working on the "Black" album.

Metallica has since changed producers ( they were working with Rick Rubin for the new album ) and they've decided on some new marketing strategies:

DENVER (Billboard) - Every song from Metallica's upcoming album "Death Magnetic" will be available for gamers to download and play on "Guitar Hero III" and its sequel "Guitar Hero World Tour" on the same as-yet-unannounced day it is released to retail, the band said on its Web site.

Microsoft also mentioned the availability during the E3 gaming conference underway in Los Angeles. A dedicated Metallica "Guitar Hero" game in the vein of the recent Aerosmith title is also in the offing, but it's unknown when it will see the light of day

Some may regard this as selling out ( they more than likely accomplished that business-goal years ago ) and some see it as a new way to reach new fans.

I'm just wondering what the new album sounds like.

Can Metallica Do Anything Now Without Acting Like Little Brats?

I used to be a huge Metallica fan - HUGE.

Ask any of my friends from high school or any girl I dated between the years 1990 and 1998. It could almost have been classified as a mental defect at one point. I would eat, sleep, breath, memorize, and regurgitate any and everything associated with the band. But, like so many things in my life that tended to occupy far too much of my time, it faded away.

It wasn't until the NAPSTER episode in early 2000 that it was slowly becoming apparent that Metallica might just be more concerned with their bottom-line than their music earning them new fans.

Of course, I can see how piracy and music can be bad, but I can also see why people would do it inthe first place. But, that's old new now and i'm sure that Lars was able to get his pool accessories he wanted.

But now, it appears that Metallica is upset that someone said something nice about them.

Metallica held an album listening party for selected music journalists in London this Wednesday past," Quietus editor Luke Turner told Blinded by the Hype (via Idolator). "One of the writers was kind enough to write a piece about the album which, if you were lucky enough to read it before it was taken down, was full of praise about a return to form. At no point was the writer ask[ed] to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The Quietus and other websites ran pieces on the album, but were quickly contacted by Metallica's management via a third party and told to remove the articles.

It seems that Metallica doesn't seem to understand how PR really works. You invite music journalists to listen to your new album and there's a pretty good chance that they are going to write about it too. I mean, that's what they do.

And it's not like it was a review claiming that the album sounded horrible - it was a good review.

As an interesting aside to all this ( but mainly the NASPTER issue ) did you know that Lars Ulrigh stole the name Metallica from a friend of his? It was the title of a music 'zine in the San Fransisco area in the early 80's created by Lars' friend Ron Quintana.

Bonnaroo 2008

So, I'm going to be offine for a few days later this week as I travel to Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN ( June 12-15th ).

Bonnaroo

Last year was amazing -- Tool, Sasha and John Digweed, The Flaming Lips, The White Stripes ( I could go on - though, The Police were just outright horrible and that kind of disappointed me ).

This year might not be as grand.

Kanye West? Really? That guy that whined like a 12-year-old with a skinned-knee at the MTV "music awards"!?!?!?!

Metallica?!?!?! I mean, those guys really haven't been a relevant musical source since 1988's ...and Justice for All.

However, there are tons of acts that are going to be great regardless of who is playing on the 'main stage'.

Oh, and Chris Rock is gonna be there --- fucking sweet!