AOL is shutting down it’s dial-up internet service. Time to resurrect their Metallica commercial.

You young’uns never had the joy of dial-up internet access. Every time you wanted to go online, you had to commandeer the house’s landline, fire up the US Robotics modem running at a blistering 56K, and hope that WinSock was properly configured. If all worked out, you heard this.

Success! You were now online and able to access the information superhighway that was the World Wide Web. Or maybe you logged into CompuServe or America OnLine.

Now we go online with connections that are hundreds, THOUSANDS of times faster than we could back in the 90s. But you may be surprised to learn that dial-up services still exist. However, at least one is about to disappear: AOL’s dial-up connections. As of September 30, it will be shut down. AOL itself will continue on. (Second surprise! AOL still exists!)

The announcement has conjured up some interesting nostalgia for those old days. That includes a 2003 commercial featuring Metallica promoting their new album St. Anger. Anyone remember this?