Copy and Paste Con Job: McSweeney’s “Borrows” From Metal-archives.com

By FLANNERY CASHILL

In a case of art imitating the internet, McSweeney’s exquisitely packaged coffee table compendium, All Known Metal Bands, may be copied and pasted directly from the metal-archives.com, a less exquisite but exhaustively researched Encyclopedia Metallum. All Known Metal Bands lists over 50,000 metal bands in alphabetical order, the same 50,000 plus bands listed alphabetically on metal-archives.com without the $22 cover price. The similarity has ignited flame wars across the internet, pitting die-hard hashers against tongue-in-cheek literati. Who will come out on top? A resounding “no one.” Metal-archives does not own its list of bands and cannot pursue legal action; McSweeney’s and author Dan Nelson have invited the wrath of church-burning Norwegians. All those wishing to make an ironic buck off black metal might want to think twice.