Let’s put this in perspective, you’re Metallica. You’re one of, if not THE biggest rock band in the world. Your music was something you had absolute control of; you’d never even licensed it out for movies. Then Tom Cruise calls, he’s shooting Mission Impossible: 2, a movie that is guaranteed to be close to the biggest of the year, and it just so happens that Tom is a fan and wants a Metallica song for his high-energy action flick. What do you do? You go visit the set of the movie and talk to Tom Cruise himself, obviously. Here’s what Lars Ulrich said:
“Met Tom and met the director John Woo, and Tom actually showed me like about three-quarters of the movie. I wouldn’t say that there’s sort of a direct correlation between what I saw and the song. But to me, what I saw was about size and energy and movement and just about the most over the top movie you could put together in the year 2000.”
The song “I Disappear” went on to be rock radio staple, and is still in the set list from time to time to this day. That’s where this story should end, but it doesn’t. In early 2000 an unfinished demo version of the song showed up on the file sharing website Napster. We all remember what happened then. Metallica became the face of anti-Napster lawsuit, pissing off millions of their fans in the process. The lawsuit successfully shut Napster down and the creator had no choice but to sell it off. Almost 100 other musicians like Dr. Dre and Bonnie Raitt joined Metallica in that suit, but Metallica, and more specially Lars took the brunt of the backlash. Looking back 26 years later we can all agree Metallica was right, but it did open the door for iTunes, Spotify and streaming music sites like it. That technology changed the music industry forever and it is a fact that the artists do not make as much money off of their music as they once did.
Love it or hate it the song “I Disappear” changed music history forever.
That was hilarious.
Going back to the soundtrack for Mission Impossible 2 real fast, it was an amazing soundtrack. Limp Bizkit did the theme song and it featured songs from them, Metallica of course, Rob Zombie, Godsmack, Butthole Surfers, Foo Fighters covering Pink Floyd, and even Milwaukee, Wisconsin based funk metal band The Good Year Pimps. Highly recommended for a fun listen to remind of you the hard rock at the turn of the century.
