Twitch users were in stitches Friday night (Feb. 19) when the gaming channel of the live streaming service placed lame music over Metallica rocking out at BlizzCon 2021.
The iconic heavy metal band was part of the opening ceremony of the annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment.
And as soon as James Hetfield and the gang began rocking their classic song “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” Twitch piped in generic, boring (free) music to avoid a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown order. It appears only the Twitch gaming channel replaced the music.
The moment was enough for viewers to be in hysterics, the incident trending on Twitter Saturday morning. The event, dubbed “BlizzConline,” was streamed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between the laughs, fans pointed out Metallica was one the most outspoken acts when it came to creating musical streaming laws, suing Napster in 2000.
Last year, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett said the band’s battle against streaming was in hindsight a lost cause.
“We didn’t make a difference — we did not make a difference,” Hammett told Dean Delray on the Let There Be Talk podcast. “It happened, and we couldn’t stop it — because it was just bigger than any of us, this trend that happened that f—ing sunk the fucking music industry. There was no way that we could stop it. … What had happened was all of a sudden, it was just more convenient to get music and it was less convenient to pay for it, and there you have it.”
Watch Metallica’s censored performance at BlizzCon 2021 here.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
