Some sites prefer to steal our news and pointers PLEASE give a link and line of credit if you use our News stories.. that's all we ask! Check News Archive at the bottom of this page for last month updates. Got a scoop? E-mail Zach, our News Director and fill us in!  JANUARY 2000 NEWS
100 YEARS OF BASS
The January 2000 issue of Bass Player magazine celebrates "100 Years of Bass," and names the top bassists from each decade of the last century. Jason Newsted is inlcuded for the 1990's. The magazine includes an image and says: Metallica is the most successful heavy metal band of all time - and Newsted has become a keystone to its sound. When he joined in '87 to replace the deceased Cliff Burton, Newsted didn't do much more than double the guitars - but by the early '90s he came into his own, with a bottom-heavy style based more on his main influences, Gene Simmons and Geezer Butler. A pickstyle master, Jason puts his whole right arm and shoulder into his playing, which relies almost entirely on downstrokes. The result is an exceptionally heavy sound. Congratulations to Jason on being one of the most important bass players of the last 10 years! JAMES AT HARLEY FEST
James attended the "EasyRider Bike Show" on January 15th. The show took place in
Sacramento California. You might remember James is a Harley rider, his "hog" is featured in the S&M documentary video. BLOODHOUND GANG
Curious to hear the Metallica sample in the Bloodhound Gang's latest album? Head over to BloodhoundGang.com and head over to their Audiography, and click on Mope, from their latest album called "Hooray For Boobies." S&M VID
Mark down February 7, 2000 on your calendars for the worldwide release of S&M on video in both regular and limited edition formats, with the DVD to come later. Universal will not be releasing the video but instead Warner will be. FAN MEETING
Dennis of The Belgium Devildancers lets us know about a Metallica Millennium Fan Meeting in Europe...It will take place on Saturday, April 8, 2000 at the Brussels "Pyramides" in Belgium, at
11° Records and CD Fair from 10-18 p.m. For more info, call 00/32-2/203.32.83 (Europe). SAD BUT TRUE
The next album from Kid Rock will feature a new cover of "Sad But True," which will also serve as the album's first radio single. The as-yet-untitled compilation will consist largely of material from Rock's second full-length album, "The Polyfuze Method" and the 1996 follow-up, "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp." The compilation is scheduled for a March 21 release. KNAC INTERVIEW
Check out KNAC.com for a very revealing and interesting interview with Kirk conducted by Robyn Doreian, Editor of Metal Hammer magazine. Click here for the article. S&M RELEASES
The S&M video will not be released in Australia until late February/early March because the distribution rights were not picked up on time so that a release today could be possible. However, reports have been coming in that the video was not released worldwide today as it was supposed to have been. Perhaps distribution problems with the new label, Universal, are plauging more areas than just Australia. Let us know! ...In related news, the S&M DVD, according to Amazon.com is scheduled for a February 29, 2000 release - the same date is quoted at DVD.com. UPDATE: While we have received reports from Germany that both versions - "2 versions: "normal" 1 tape and limited edition 2 tapes (including a 35 minute "making of S&M")" - are availible, it has not yet reached Spain and other parts of Europe. We received this information from Scott in Australia: I was talking to a manager of "The Record Market" (a music store) about the videos release. They informed me that both versions of the video will be released on the 7th February 2000. I am not sure whether or not this is just the Queensland release date or the Australian date. The Concert video will be around A$40 and the Concert and Documentary version will be around A$50. The lady also said that there is going to be a special give away or something if you purchase the video from that particualr store. Thanks to everybody who helped out on this story! THE RECORD INDUSTRY
Last year, the music industry was shocked by the "consolidation" of many record labels. Polygram, which produced Metallica CD's on the Vertigo imprint outside of North America, was swallowed up by Universal Records. Now, the same thing is in danger of happening in the US. Metallica's US label, Elektra, is owned by entertainment giant Warner, which merged with Time a few years ago and only within the last few weeks merged with AOL in one of the biggest corporate mergers ever. Details are now coming out regarding another merger: Warner and EMI. As this report is being posted, Warner and EMI are the fourth and fifth largest music corporations in the world, and when the merger goes through the resulting corporation will have a clean hold on the top spot. As these mergers are just happening now, it remains to see how they may or may not affect Metallica, if any labels drop out... CHAT TRANSCRIPT
A transcript of the recent TWEC chat with Kirk can be seen by clicking here. Thanks to TALLICA97. WOODSTOCK DVD
The Woodstock '99 experience will be released in DVD format on February 15. The already released album and video contain the track "Creeping Death": the same track will be on the red disc of the DVD. Thanks to Mark. S&M CERTIFICATION
According to Billboard's latest weekly multi-platinum ceritification chart, S&M has been certified platinum (1,000,000 units sold) four times over. Check out the complete list by clicking here. Thanks to Dan. TOWER RECORDS CALIFORNIA MUSIC AWARDS
Tower Records, the world's largest independent music and entertainment retailer in partnership with IOM (Integrated Outsource Marketing) have announced the nominees for this year's 23rd "Bammies", officially renamed the Tower Records California Music Awards.The gala awards ceremony recognizing the significant musical contributions made by California artists will be held Saturday, April 8, 2000, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Metallica was among the top nominees, notching 4. This year's nominees were selected by a panel of music journalists and other music industry professionals and are intended to reflect the California groups and performers who excelled in music in 1999. The final winners will be determined by public votes. Tower Records will provide ballots in all of its California music retail outlets for public voting, as well as online at TowerRecords.com and in Pulse! magazine (Feb 2000 issue). MI:2 UPDATE
Steve reports that: "the dj here in orlando, fl on 101.1 WJRR (diamond dick sheets) says he has heard the whole song for mission impossible 2 and says it sounds very much like "old metallica." he also said the soundtrack should be out between april and may this year. he didn't mention a name for the song." CONTEST IN AUSTRALIA
Metallica.com reports on their news page that Universal Australia is holding a contest open only to Australian residents. The prize package, including the S&M album, shirt, wallet (with chain), vest, binoculars and keychain, along with the "Nothing Else Matters"
CD single. To enter, you must state in 25 words or less, why Metallica has had such an impact on the metal scene in the last decade. If you'd like to enter, click here. Good luck! METALLICA SETTLES
CDNOW reports that Metallica has ended their year-long suit with Victoria's Secret in which they cited trademark infringement, false designation of origin, unfair competition, and dilution over lip pencils bearing the mark "Metallica." Sources report that Metallica is happy with the settlement and that a mutually
agreeable compromise was made. Click here for the whole article. S&M REVIEW
Check out another great review of S&M by Paul Hanson by clicking here. WWF HOUSE SHOW
Utarefson6@aol.com send us this from the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter: "Billy Gunn missed last Saturday's WWF house show in Minneapolis, Minn. because he missed his flight Saturday morning coming out of Puerto Rico. By the way, James Hatfield of Metallica attended the WWF house show in Minneapolis. Metallica played the same arena Friday, Sunday, and Monday. It cost $50,000 extra to tear down and rebuild the stage for the WWF event, which was booked for Saturday long before Metallica booked the weekend dates." LARS SAYS...
At the end of the last M2K show: "This is our last show on this tour and the last for 2000. We will be back in 2001 with a new album and tour." MI:2 UPDATE
MTV Online reports about Metallica and Mission Impossible 2: The venerable metal outfit has completed a new studio track which is intended for possible use on the soundtrack to "Mission Impossible 2," tentatively due out in the spring. A publicist for Elektra Records indicated to MTV News that the new Metallica song was "in the can" but hadn't yet been accepted for use in the John Woo-directed sequel, which will once again feature Tom Cruise starring as U.S. espionage agent Ethan Hunt. Metallica's "Mission Impossible 2" song will mark a new avenue of sorts for the group, as it will be the first time that Metallica has specifically written music for a motion picture." ANOTHER GUEST SPOT
Kid Rock and his band (Joe C. included) came on stage at last night's show in Minneapolis, along with the guitarist of Sevendust, Clint Lowery. All-together, they produced a once-in-a-lifetime version of 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' to close out the show and the M2K tour, and most likely the last Metallica show for a while ... Also, the band opened with a different Misfit's cover tune, this time Last Caress instead of the standard for this tour, Die, Die My Darling. Also, as at the previous show, Kid Rock, this time joined by his guitarist, came out to join the band for 'Turn the Page' as well...Seek and Destroy replaced Phantom Lord early in the set, and they played Outlaw again. METALLICA.COM
"The official Metallica website is experiencing technical difficulties. This is not a problem on our end of the site. The Metallica web staff is aware of the problem and is working on correcting the problem. GUEST SPOT
Kid Rock came out to sing Turn the Page along with James at last night's show in Minneapolis, MN...Check out MetOnTour for the latest tour news! MAD-ALLICA
Saturday night's episode of MAD TV showed two of their stars interviewing musicians as
they entered the Billboard Music Awards. One of the groups they interviewed was Metallica
along with Michael Kamen, and asked them, "You have been using the name Metallica for a while now - maybe you shopuld change it." To this, Kirk replied, "Yeah to Madallica," after which the female comedian got on her knees in front of James and held up the mic and said, "Oh here is what you guys are used to..." Also, check out an interesting article on the band featured in the Star Tribune. METALLICA CHAT TONIGHT!
Just a reminder that tonight, The Web's Entertainment Center will be hosting a live chat with the band at 9pm EST. Also, in conjunction with RadioWoodstock, TWEC.COM will air a special audio broadcast during the chat consisting entirely of Metallica music! Don't miss it... S&M DVD UPDATE
IGN reports on the DVD: "I spent the better part of the morning trying to get the scoop on this one, and Elektra Records told me that Metallica S&M has been pushed back to an early March 2000 release. I haven't been much into Metallica for quite a while, but this DVD looks like it ought to be really cool. Elektra assures me they will get a copy to me ASAP, and I'll let you know the dillyo soon after." Thanks to Sicfuk.
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