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

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

gofreescout — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:55:18 EST

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.

gofreescout

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

beta.rogan — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:02:30 EST

@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...

beta.rogan

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

unperson — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:56:53 EST

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.

unperson

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Mordy — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 07:53:49 EST

[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.

Mordy

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

BakerStreetSaxSolo — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:38:24 EST

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.

BakerStreetSaxSolo

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Al Shipley — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:01:41 EST

@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.

Al Shipley

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

natepatrin — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:52:47 EST

@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.

natepatrin

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

jordan_s — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:33:09 EST

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.

jordan_s

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Michaelangelo Matos — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:10:06 EST

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

Michaelangelo Matos

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

StuntKockSteeev — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:05:37 EST

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.

StuntKockSteeev

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Cam/ron — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:01:54 EST

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!"

Cam/ron

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Chris N. — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:06:48 EST

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.

Chris N.

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

encyclopediablack — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:58:37 EST

@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.

encyclopediablack

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

R. Morast — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:51:41 EST

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.

R. Morast

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Virgil Tracy — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:48:18 EST

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.

Virgil Tracy

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

beta.rogan — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:44:27 EST

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

beta.rogan

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Clevertrousers — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:22:07 EST

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.

Clevertrousers

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Weezy F Baby — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:14:22 EST

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

Weezy F Baby

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Weezy F Baby — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:00:18 EST

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.

Weezy F Baby

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

slowburn — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:51:27 EST

Oh you poor, poor music writers.

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

slowburn

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Chris Molanphy — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:37:59 EST

Also, yes, but if you're really lucky, you'll piss off a musician and get a song written about you, joining the ranks of greats like John Leland and, uh, Guccione, I guess.

Or Neil Young!

I once got called out in the CMJ letters page for dissing a Pearl Jam album -- in a generally positive review of a different Pearl Jam album. Let's just say it didn't keep me up at night.

Chris Molanphy

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

RGve — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:37:15 EST

I spent 20 or so words dismissing a local live hip hop/jazz (I know) group, who responded by writing & releasing a song called 'the critic', in which they threatened to beat me up, and hassled me about my day job, and so on. Became their biggest hit. As a 22-year-old with no profile it was about the best thing that could happen to me. Also heard that a West Auckland sports metal band wanted to smash me, but that never came to anything, unfortunately.

RGve

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Al Shipley — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:19:14 EST

I note with no small amount of professional pride that a local band prominently displays the words "fuck Al Shipley" on their MySpace page.

Al Shipley

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

mike a — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:13:43 EST

(whoops, "reading...from my old zine onstage at a show, where I was in front.")

mike a

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

mike a — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:13:13 EST

Other than the above, the worst that ever happened to me was Allison Wolfe from Bratmobile sarcastically reading a review (which I didn't write) of her band from my old zine. It was kind of like Bratmobile's customized cover of "Thurston Hearts The Who." I guess I could have gotten off worse; didn't they once torch a magazine onstage, or was that Bikini Kill?

mike a

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Jess Harvell — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:10:02 EST

@GovernmentNames: i actually forgot about the clap your hands say yeah lady! (especially since one of my closest friends is a fan and i've been steadily getting shit for hating on them for two years now.)

Jess Harvell

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

mike a — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:09:21 EST

This has happened to me exactly once. The guitarist for a local NJ hardcore band once threatened to "rip my lungs out and nail them to the floor" for an essentially positive review I wrote of his band. (I did call his guitar solos "annoying.") I spent the whole summer of 1986 trying to avoid this guy. He never did get around to beating me up, not even the one time I ran into him in person...although he was a violent dude and I wouldn't have put it past him.

mike a

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

encyclopediablack — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:07:09 EST

I'm still waiting for R. Kelly to get at me for this.
[forcesofgood.blogspot.com]

But then I realizes two things. One, it's quite possible he doesn't/can't read. Two, he's got other things to worry about.

encyclopediablack

Music Writing: Hazardous To Your Well-Being

Al Shipley — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:03:20 EST

I'm impressed that you got through that list without bringing up the deluge of Tool-related e-mails or being berated by a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah fan.

Al Shipley