ever start disliking a band because of the musician's personality?
 

I recently came to the realization, judging from a couple of interviews, and from one net-correspondence, that a musician I highly respected comes off like a complete asshole, in every way a person could be... bitter, cocky, etc. This deeply troubled me, as I've been a fan of his music for years. I still enjoy the music, obviously, and you know, most musicians are probably assholes when it comes down to it, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

So, I figured it'd be interesting to ask on here, if you've met any musicians, and their personality had a negative impact in your listening of their music?

music is very personal so I can definitely see how his could be an issue.

I have never met too many of my rock legend heroes, but I woudl prefer not to to maintain the illusion!!!

Why should we say if you're not telling.

Heh.

Because said person probably reads this board... and I don't feel like dealing with the bullshit at the moment.

Mary Timony was a rude bitch when I asked her a simple question after a show once. She was not cut out to have fans of any kind.
Her music always reminds me of THAT now... almost unlistenable.

But that is the exception. Most musicians are pretty neat.

one of my friends gushed in front of lou reed a few months ago and lou just kinda stared and ignored him. i guess that would put me off VU or his solo work for a while, though i'm not sure i'd even have the balls to approach him in the first place.

haha, my girlfriend was backstage at a lou reed show when she was in high school and he was like a total prick to her and her friend, but was super nice to everyone else! she said it totally ruined the velvet underground for her. i thought it was hillerious

It's happened in the past. But generally I only tend to meet small-scale musicians, who have an added need to be not-cunts when they're playing to 20 people on a Tuesday night.

On the other hand, there are quite a few people whose music hasn't initially captivated me but did once I realised they were an awesome person. There's also a lot of musicians I know who I habitually have to lie through my teeth to because, although they're lovely people, their music is gash beyond belief.

Never anyone I was a huge fan of. Bright Eyes was a complete dick as was Sufjan Stevens. Still, it wasn't like I expected different. Most other musicians I have met have been pretty down to earth. Ches Smith was my favorite. One of the coolest people I've ever met.

Same here. There are a number of local acts I see on a regular basis whose music never really interested me and is certainly not my style, but since learning how great they were as people, the music seems much more inviting. I think it's moreso that I understand the music better after understanding the person.

I didn't realize Kurt Vile read the board.

Personally I'd be disappointed if Lou Reed WASN'T a dick to me, I mean, come on that's his thing!

I haven't met TOO many big musicians...Jamie Stewart is really nice, as are both members of Outkast. And Lee was of course super...J. Mascis was nicer than I expected him to be...Ludacris was really dumb and into himself, kinda expected....I grew up with the pop singer Ciara but I can't remark on how she is now. She was very nice when we were kids though!
That's all I can think of at the moment...

The musicians I've met have always been nice to me, but that's probably because I'm so charming

No.

i don't wanna say he was a dick, but jamie stewart had this certain pompous aura about him when i saw him (had his nose up in the air and all) and i didn't bother to talk to him because of that. caralee was extraordinarily nice, on the other hand.

didn't really change my xiu xiu listening habits.

Jamie was super nice when I talked to him. The drummer at the time, Ches Smith, was the nicest musician I've ever met. His percussion set was phenomenal as well.

thats what i told her. but i guess the kicker was that he was really nice to all these other people there. like there were some high school boys who were talking to him about some essay they wrote about his lyrics and he was like super amped and all they said was "hi" and he just looked at them and kept on walking. hahaha

Mmm, I've never really reversed the polarity of my interest in a musician after finding out he was a dickhead or not. The closest I came to anything like that I guess is with Metallica.

I never liked that band to begin with, but I really don't like them now after just seeing handfuls of interviews and stuff with them. Like in that classic albums thing on VH1 about the Black Album, and Lars is talking about when Kirk came in with the riff for Enter Sandman, but it was a little different at the time, and Lars tells him he should play it this other way, which is all fine. But then they just refer to Lars' suggestion like it was the most brilliant thing ever.

Those guys are just a bunch of pussies and way too into themselves. However, I seriously applaud them for putting out that Some Kind of Monster documentary, that took balls to show themselves as such idiots. Coolest thing they ever did was put that thing out.

Otherwise no.

wasn't there a growing pains episode about this? ben wants to see some rocker dude and gets a backstage pass before the show. he sees said rocker fooling around with a woman who ben knows is not his wife. he is heart broken and goes home with his dad and then rips rocker dude's poster off of his wall. he has a talk with his pops and then decides that he does want to see the show regardless of the infidelity he saw. all is well.

ive never met a musician who was a dick so far. haven't met too many. but Nels Cline is an incredibly nice human being. when he was touring with mike watt in 98 i saw them in nashville. i met nels before the show and he invited me and my friends backstage and we hung out for about 40 minutes. he even let me play his beat up 59 black jazzmaster that he always plays. thurston played that same guitar at coachella when their gear was stolen.

mike watt is a very nice gentleman as well.

don't know if it would bother me if a musician was a dick. don't think so but maybe.

That's always been one of my favorite things about the noise scene, everyone is so cool and down to earth.

I've met Steve....he was nice as hell.

I can like or dislike a band solely on the basis of an interview.

Me, too. Sometimes I can't help it. It's probably stupid. Image is another thing for me, to a lesser extent. If you're a mediocre band but you've also got a stupid schtick or image, I'm apt to hate you.

Jamie Stewart and Justin Pearson were both very nice to me. The Melvins' drummer was a bit of an ass though. Oh well.

I'd love to give examples, but I've lifted the hex.

it's a kinder...gentler...me.

if some of you were my fans id be a total fucking dick.

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lol whatchu gonna do now???

that was obviously a clever ploy on my part to get blogfans

Not really.
I don't really care if musicians behind the music I like have a terrible personality or revolting political views etc.
Maybe I would if they'd be an asshole to me in person but I've never experienced that.


However, what does sometimes put me off listening/buying music is when bands are obviously screwing/disrespecting their fans, i.e. ridiculous ticket prices, godawful sloppy live performances, milking their fans by silly high priced ultra-limited releases, etc.

the only difference between now, and say, 10 minutes ago, is now instead of just reading it, I clicked "become a fan".

you cunt.

yeah pity i have no good posts up. arg

i launched too early.

i need some substance to draw in the readers before i loose them. can you take some pics of your unicorn necrophiliac orgys? i'll credit your name in the post.

currently, I'm illustrating the Major Arcana; the unicorns will have to wait.

Yes... The Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan. Siamese Dream, Adore and Mellon Collie are great albums, but I hardly listen to them anymore. I don't know if it's only because Corgan is a big fucking cunt or because I've grown apart from the music, but I do know that I have a hard time taking them seriously because of him.

yeah

oh yes, it would highly affect me. the worst case could destroy my love for an artist/band completely. the reason for that is that I dont just like the notes he/she produces, instead of that I like the whole package. the atmosphere, the emotions, the "message". and if this message will be delivered by an asshole I cant take it serious anymore, because I wont respect the person or her work anymore, no matter how much I adored it beforehands, (for the wrong reasons maybe? imagined something different?)
but Ive been on the lucky side so far. met the hairy guys from at the drive-in while being a big fan of them, met eddie vedder (yes, I know) while being a big fan. and some major minor "celebs" too.
the only one I was really afraid of was Lee. and it was the only one where I had thoughts about the "what-if-asshole-topic" before actually talking to him, because it ment such a shitload to me. plus the situation was the most intimate, no one else was around and a bigger time-frame then ususal in such situations like meeting eddie vedder and telling him how great the show was....what could ve happened that would be a big deal? he could have ignored me, but that wouldnt be too bad either.
the lee situation could have been the über-major-letdown. but I am glad it wasnt. maybe the most memorized 3- cigarette lenght-conversation Ive done so far, hahaha

I only remember one negative experience like that.
I saw Roger Turner play once, it was really great so after the gig I went to the merch table and started considering buying some of his CDs. Being a poor student back then (2001), I just stumbled around so he looked up to me and asked: "Are you going to buy some of these?". I replied: "I don't know, I'm still thinking about it".
So he said, in an almost inaudible fashion: "Then you can buy some food instead" and turned his back on me.
What an old prick.

pretentious dicks are the worst no matter what art they produce, agreed?

I can only imagine this applies to the American noise scene. I find more uppity pricks in noise circles than anywhere else.

I can dislike musicians for far more tenuous reasons than their personality.

How about when a musician has some heinous accusations about them? I'm thinking about Jason Crumer being called out as a rapist all over the internet. I guess any person in any band can be responsible for any type of terrible activity. So I gues it's essential to separate the art from the person. I still listen to Burzum. And I alluded to Kurt Vile earlier. Seems like he's full of shit and douchy but his music is great.