Popular Culture Review 30.2
The resources used to fund these endeavors , without which there would be no high-production world tours , merchandising , music videos , or a host of other fan benefits , comes almost exclusively from fan purchases . Shutting down the record companies thus means eviscerating the bread and butter upon which our rock and metal heroes exist .
WHY THE FANS WERE WRONG AND METALLICA WAS RIGHT
Understanding why the fans ’ actions and beliefs were then ( and remain to be ) fundamentally misguided requires an exploration into both the purpose of copyright law and the phenomenon of what it means to be metalhead , or steadfast follower of loud , powerful , in-your-face bands like Metallica . Within the vast historical framework of copyright law , the practice of Internet file sharing is a relatively recent technological phenomenon . While the available technology used to copy music continues to morph and develop through the years , the practice of trading music has been key to the metal scene since its roots in the 1960s . One undeniable characteristic of a true metalhead is keeping up with the discography of all of the popular contemporary and iconic bands . Throughout the early decades of rock and heavy metal , this was a rather daunting , if not expensive , task�especially when the mega bands in the heyday of the record industry would attempt to put out an album a year . Led Zeppelin is one band that accomplished that task ( at least early on ) under the brilliant leadership of Peter Grant as manager and Jimmy Page as visionary , writer , artist , and producer .
In order to ensure that we stayed in step with such musical progress prior to the so-called “ digital revolution ,” those of us growing up in the early metal scene turned to making cassette-taped copies of the albums that we bought at our
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