Comments on: Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

By: Mordy

Mordy — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:53:49 +0000

[www.absolutepunk.net]

I didn't mind Deryick (deryck? derick? whatever) bitching so much as the Sum 41 fans on his blog who threatened to hurt me, made anti-Semitic remarks, and were otherwise foaming at the mouth.
Actually, I didn't really mind that either. I kinda liked the brief pop-punk infamy.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:33:09 +0000

we ran a review of the last kid rock album @ my college paper and predictably gave it an awful rating, and somehow it got back to his ppl and his publicist sent the writer a scathing, illegible and error-ridden email w/ your typical “kid is more successful than you”, “kid gets more girls than you”, “kid has sold 6 million albums” etc. it was great. if i could find the email i would post it here.

By: Michaelangelo Matos

Michaelangelo Matos — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:10:06 +0000

Nate Patrin has a great Ryan Adams story for this (but who doesn’t?)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:05:37 +0000

When I was doing college radio at 19, the local paper did a story about the “wild success” of an online show where me and a co-host attracted 30 listeners an episode (eh, it’s Wisconsin). During it, I made a comment about Clear Channel DJ’s, waving foam fingers, playing pre-recorded sound effects, and watering down already tame Jay Leno jokes. Three days later, at the station’s CD sale fund-raiser, two balding goons in shirts advertising a local affiliate tried to strong arm my address out of the wheelchair-bound blues DJ that was manning the booth.

By: Cam/ron

Cam/ron — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:01:54 +0000

I’ve never had any physical threats against me but one gentleman and scholar wrote me a nasty e-mail for dissing his abuse of gabber techno. And then there are the blokes to complain to me about their appearances in the week’s police logs saying zingers like “I didn’t use a hammer to hit that guy, I used a crowbar!”

By: BakerStreetSaxSolo

BakerStreetSaxSolo — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:38:24 +0000

I have a colleague who was actually assaulted in the toilets of a local venue after he gave a band a bad review. They bashed his head against a urinal and then kicked him on the floor a few times. He didn’t tell the police, but venues are refusing to give the band gigs now, and we certainly won’t cover any.

By: gofreescout

gofreescout — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 04:55:18 +0000

Took a gob of spit in the face from a homeless man at my old day job (doorman), but as a critic I think the worst was getting called a “fucktard” or something similar by a Blitzen Trapper fan. But I could be repressing something.

By: beta.rogan

beta.rogan — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 04:02:30 +0000

@GovernmentNames: Nice. I wanted to make sure I didn't know anyone in said band.

After reading all of these comments, it makes writing about cars seem like the safest job in the world...

By: unperson

unperson — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:56:53 +0000

I got an angry email, including threats of physical violence, from Dimitri Coates of Burning Brides after I called him a douche in Alternative Press. Admittedly, the CD review in question was 50 percent favorable, and 50 percent asinine “we are the future of rock/we are the saviors of rock” type quotes from him, straight from the band’s then-latest press release. I was kinda curious how he got my email address, though.

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:01:41 +0000

@beta.rogan: If you really must know:
[weblogs.baltimoresun.com]
The best part is that to be exact it says "Check us out on iTunes! and fuck Al Shipley," which makes the latter part sound like a command.

By: natepatrin

natepatrin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:52:47 +0000

@Matos: Well, I don't know the specifics of what he said, but apparently during a notorious First Ave show circa 2003 Adams paused from his non-stop rambling about the vagaries of Paul Westerberg to gripe about the fact that I gave opening band The Stills a pan in the local alt-weekly for sounding like generic Interpol knockoffs. I just wish he would've followed it up with a tirade on my answering machine.

By: Chris N.

Chris N. — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:06:48 +0000

No physical threats, although we’ve received numerous letters demanding that I be fired. Since I also edit the letters page, this is not a problem.

By: encyclopediablack

encyclopediablack — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:58:37 +0000

@Weezy F Baby: That was bound to happen. The odds of getting called a "faggot" at any fast food restaurant while in your teens, I believe, are 1 to 1. It happened to me after I made the mistake of calling the Grateful Dead lame at McDonald's. The name-caller missed the irony of the situation.

By: R. Morast

R. Morast — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:51:41 +0000

let’s see, i’ve had a local hip-hop group tear up my writing on stage. gene simmons threatened to come to my home and beat me up if i said “dude” one more time during a phoner. an unstable caller said he wanted to kill me after i wrote that janes addiction was a “fashion band.” and, unrelated to music journalism, a police officer had to be restrained by his peer after i asked him why he thought there were gang wars in a local high school. yes, these are the delights of small town journalism.

By: Virgil Tracy

Virgil Tracy — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:48:18 +0000

I heard that Mike watt had threatened to kick my ass if he ever was in the same room as him, after I wrote a bad review of his show at ATP for the NME. Still stand by how dire it was & it deserved a bad review. And i think Mike Watt is a champion in terms of the overall pantheon of rock history. But he is a pretty scary guy, when you think about it, to have gunning for you.

By: beta.rogan

beta.rogan — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:44:27 +0000

@GovernmentNames: I'm kind of dying to know what band that is.

By: Clevertrousers

Clevertrousers — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:22:07 +0000

My aunt who drinks and watches Access Hollywood once called me on a weeknight and tore into me for like 20 minutes on the topic of: "All you know-it-all critics who are so mean to Clay Aiken and who don't know anything about him."

I have never written about Clay Aiken.

By: Weezy F Baby

Weezy F Baby — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:14:22 +0000

this was for a high school paper, by the way.

By: Weezy F Baby

Weezy F Baby — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:00:18 +0000

when i was 17, i wrote a really scathing review of that first Used cd, and because of Utah's close proximity to my home state of nevada, i guess the review somehow got back to the dudes in the used. supposedly they were pissed and trying to get some people to beat me up, but all that amounted to "faggot" being yelled at me at an in and out burger.

really strange.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:51:27 +0000

Oh you poor, poor music writers.

Try writing about politics. I've had to call security more than once.