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The news story looked real enough:

MONTREAL - Metallica are taking legal action against independant Canadian rock band Unfaith over what they feel is unsanctioned usage of two chords the band has been using since 1982 : E and F.

Metallica filed a trademark infringement suit against the indie group at the US district court for central California on Monday. According to the drummer, the continued use of the two chords causes "confusion, deception and mistake in the minds of the public".

And although it "looked" like it was at the MTV.com website, it was really hosted at scoopthis.com - clevely linked to - and a complete fake.

Well, it sucked in my on-air partner and myself as it did hundreds of other Radio people and millions of other Net users.

Who could blame us? Given Lars Ulrich and Metallica's recent rage against Napster a couple of years ago, it seemed possible (though insane) that the band just might think they had a case.

We were incensed. We ranted on-the-air. Callers chimed in with their outrage. How could they possibly think this would work?

It wasn't until the next day it began to become evident that we had all been hoodwinked. Punk'd. Taken for a ride. Fooled big time.

When I found out, I laughed because it reminded me how wonderfully amusing the Internet can be - and how gullible I still am. It's always good to get a smack on the head to keep you in-line.

I have got to learn to be a little more wary of things I see online. But, the story still served our purposes: it entertained the listeners for a little while and after all, that's what I get paid to do.

- Corey Deitz

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