Music Banter - The Metallica Paradox.

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You're failing to take into account that Metallica had a massive European fan base and that western europe combined has more album sales than the U.S., Canada, Mexico & Brazil combined.

And that's not even taking Japan into account which is the 2nd biggest market.

Yes you are right, individual preference counts !
The funny thing is that I hear the same thing about Nirvana...when people brag about how they already appreciated the band when they were still with Sub Pop!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ? (Post 1295305)

I know that Metallica had fans all over the world in the 80's. I'm just thinking that too many people claim to know them before they became really famous.

You wanted to know where all these people came from. I'm just telling you.
Metallica were far from being a small band in the mid to late 80s.

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Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ? (Post 1295305)

Which reflects popularity in the U.S. vs. abroad.

I was reflecting their popularity worldwide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by edwardc77 (Post 1295227)

Regarding Metallica I always heard lot of people (everywhere) saying things like :“Oh, I was so disappointed when the black album came out” or “I quit buying their records when they sold out with Bob rock” or even ”I stopped listening to them after Master of Puppets”.
So I decided to do some quick research, and I found out a few interesting things.
The first thing is that very few people bought the band’s first three albums when they came out.
When Cliff Burton died in 1986, Metallica hadn’t managed to achieve a single Gold Record …and that’s just 500 thousand copies.
Mostly they didn’t even headline tours back then but they were just a supporting act.
So how is it possible that so many people have this strong nostalgia for the good old early days of Metallica?
It just doesn’t add up.
Second thing, since we are talking about records that came out almost 30 years ago, I really doubt that most people under 40 knew about Metallica when Cliff Burton was still alive regardless of album sales.
Unless they were listening to Ride the lightning in kindergarten.
Cool but improbable.

But Metallica were a big band from the word go with their first album, they were a big heavy metal band and I think this is what you're not taking into account. All the Black album did, was to sell them to the non-metal masses around the world, so they just went from being a big band within a certain music type, to a huge worldwide band. These new fans probably would've then explored their earlier stuff.

To put my reasoning in perspective: to this day almost nine million people claim to have attended Woodstock in 1969. When in reality only half a million people attended. Why would so many people lie? For the "wow, how cool!" factor. Maybe something similar happened with Metallica. Even if I underestimated the number of fans they had in the 80's surely there are a lot of people who falsely claim that they were at their concerts back in the old days, when the band was still “hardcore” and known by only the selected few.
But hey ,mine is just a theory..I never said that I was 100% certain!

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Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ? (Post 1295316)

I was reflecting their popularity worldwide.

Well I realized that much. Surely you already assumed that before hand. :D:

Quote:

Originally Posted by edwardc77 (Post 1295227)

They were already a platinum-selling, Billboard-charting, Grammy-nominated band prior to the black album. And, as others have pointed out, that was in the US alone. So your paradox certainly doesn't apply to the statement, “Oh, I was so disappointed when the black album came out”.