Napster Bad
From FamousPictures
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Created by Bob Cesca from Camp Chaos in 2000 the success of the video started a series of Flash animations that can all be see on the Camp Chaos website. The video not only captured the feelings of people at the time but was also highly Influential on Flash animators at the time. Aaron Simpson, a famous Emmy-nominated animation producer and founder and editor of *Cold Hard Flash listed Napster Bad! as #5 in his Top 10 Most Influential Online Flash Shorts.[1]
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Video Breakdown
The video opens with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich & singer/guitarist James Hetfield discussing their intentions of their lawsuit against Napster. They explain the their problem is mainly due to the fact that Napster downloads are free, and as a result, Metallica gets no profits. They state that while they hate Napster users who "share" their music they love the Metallica fan who buys all their merchandise as they make Metallica rich. Backing up this fact, the room Lars and James are in is filled with bags of money.
The grunting of the James Hetfield character "Napster Bad!" is apparently a nod to Phil Hartman's portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in a sketch on Saturday Night Live called "Succinctly Speaking." In the sketch, the characters of Tonto, Tarzan and Frankenstein's monster (referred to as "Frankenstein") appear on a talk show to discuss various topics, which starts with "fire." Tonto and Tarzan agree "Fire good," but Frankenstein's monster is emphatic: "Fire bad!" By the end of the sketch, he's repeatedly told everyone "Fire bad!", destroyed much of the set, and walked off camera.
The video shows two characters Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield:
Lars Ulrich
Drummer for Metallica. The cartoon portrays him as a short, high, and greedy man who talks way too much. He is frequently seen running, crawling around for no reason. His last name in the cartoon is pronounced as ul-riCH, instead of ul-riCK, making light of the fact that he's flaunting his wealth. He is depicted wearing very short shorts, no shoes, and a tight tanktop.
James Hetfield
Singer & guitarist for Metallica. He is depicted as a caveman-like giant, who rarely says anything other than "___ bad!", or "___ good!" (while moving one of his arms in a straight-line movement). Hetfield has a dislike of fire and the Lars character mentions how he burst in flames for the fans, which parodies his pyrotechnics accident in 1992.
Special edition of Napster Bad!
A special edition of Napster Bad! was released in 2003, featuring pop up facts, a deleted scene, hate mail, and a game where you tried to shoot flying naked Lars'. The deleted scene features Lars complaining on how him and James had to live off of Dave Mustaine's "stagnant piss" before they hit it big.
Series
"Napster Bad!" was first in a series of Metallica vs Napster videos including these episodes:
- Napster Bad!
- Metalli-cops
- Metallica Millionaire
- MP3 Music - Good Or Goblin?
- Camp Chaos - Sue All The World
- Bizarro Napster Bad
- Fire Bad! - Actually a game where you have to put out the fires spontaneously appearing on James' body. If you get a bad score, James will burn up into ashes.
- Napster Dead?
Metallica's Reaction
In their documentry, Some kind of Monster during the commentary, the real James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich comment defensively about their attack on Napster during its appearance.
