SOPA and PIPA Vote on Hold as Rockers Offer Mixed Feelings on the Bills

Big news for the entire entertainment world - government voting on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) have both been postponed and possibly dropped after an overwhelming amount of online protesting. Among the most vocal opponents of the bill were hard rock and metal musicians including Lamb of God's Randy Blythe, Trivium's Matt Heafy and Disturbed's David Draiman.

SOPA and PIPA caused tremendous outrage within the online community, with the fear that some of the Internet's most popular and resourceful sites could be taken down without notice. Websites such as Wikipedia, Reddit and thousands more famously blacked out their service on Jan. 18 to protest and educate the world regarding the proposed bill. It seems, at least for now, that the tactics have succeeded.

“Would I like to live comfortably in a nice house as an indentured servant or would I like to live in the ghetto as a free man? I’ll take the ghetto any day.” Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe commented regarding SOPA.

Trivium mastermind Matt Heafy also shared his opinions via his personal blog. "We all still need to make “a living” to stay living," wrote Heafy. "But a movement like SOPA? That will cripple and kill a big part off of this free country we all live and love in.”

Disturbed frontman David Draiman has been going ALL CAPS about the bills on his Twitter page. “I am against SOPA and PIPA because they limit people’s freedom of expression and freedom of speech, not because they are trying to protect the rights of artists everywhere," tweeted Draiman.

On the other hand, certain musicians were in full support of the bill, including former Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan. “When I turned to the Twitter and Facebook, I saw an overwhelming dog pile of support against the bills," McKagan wrote on his Seattle Weekly blog. "Excuse me, but where were you all when piracy started to decimate the music industry? Why didn’t you take a stand against that? Those free records felt good, huh?"

DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara reacted positively to SOPA and PIPA on his Twitter page, also sharing his support for the recent federal takedown of content-hosting site, MegaUpload. “Feds shut down “MEGA-UPLOAD” ! Good ! Shut down all sites pirating COPYWRITTEN material ! F--- your PC view ! It’s illegal & it’s killing underground art-taking the food from my kids mouths & putting thousands who create distribute and perpetuate art out of business.”

What do you think of SOPA, PIPA and the reactions from these musicians? Share your first amendment rights in the comments section below.