Fair point about the career possibly stalling. And I find the sell-out claim a cheap shot to be honest. Do you remember in the Gillingham days when Brighton's general manager was an ex- music industry guy called Nick Rowe? I met him for a few beers one evening and we spoke about his time as the product manager (I think this was the title) for Metallica s Black Album. He told me that Lars is quite a character, and had a huge vision about what he wanted Metallica to be and where he wanted them to go. He was also utterly focused and determined on what he wanted the Black album to be and what he wanted it to achieve with it. They wanted to be huge, and for everyone to know Metallica, but they always wanted to remain as Metallica. Putting such a grand vision into effect and pulling it off is admirable imho. I think we should all celebrate this sort of attitude in music....not criticise it. And if you don't like it just listen to something else; there's way too much good music out there to dwell on something you don't like.
