Discovered recently that Electric Wizard were kinda dicks back in the day. “At the time, we were pretty bad people. I got arrested for arson of a car, outside a police station. Tim [Bagshaw] went to nick a crucifix off a church roof so we could use it onstage…”
R. L. Burnside killed a man “possibly at a craps game.”
Varg of Mayhem Burzum burned a couple churches and killed a bandmate.
I could list other examples, but would like to hear from other people and other music genres.
Weird Al Yankovic is… really just an all around awesome person and probably won’t show up anywhere on this thread.
I dunno, him and Coolio had some beef in the 90s. When Weird Al parodied Coolio’s Gangsters Paradise with his Amish Paradise Weird Al didn’t do so with the consent of Coolio. Gangsters paradise was a deeply personal song to Coolio so he was understandably upset. As a direct parody it was protected under fair use but Weird Al didn’t feel right about it. So he reached out to Coolio, apologized and ever since then Weird Al has gotten the artist approval to parody their work despite the fact he doesn’t need to. Coolio did eventually come around and agree it was a pretty funny parody. Plot twist, (not really) that’s how humble Weird Al is, he didn’t do anything legally wrong and yet he still recognized he could do better.
That was all from a miscommunication- Al had his people reach out to Coolio’s people, and somehow wires got crossed. Al created it with the belief that he had Coolio’s blessing. Al has always asked permission, and a number of artists/songs have not been done because they would not grant permission. Examples include Paul McCartney (Live and Let Die/Chicken Pot Pie, because of his strict vegetarianism), Michael Jackson (Black or White, because he felt the message was too important), and everything by Prince.
While it’s never been tested in court, most of these parodies probably count as derivative works (i.e. permission is required) rather than protected fair use. A notable exception might be Smells Like Nirvana, since it was used to mock the original creator.
Edit: spelling
Al assumed that since Coolio’s people gave 100% approval they had cleared it with Coolio so it’s really on Coolio’s management…but Al being such a stand up human being felt bad as he wants artists to emotionally be ok with their art being used. I also suspected at the time Coolio manufactured a little outrage thinking he was being laughed at…wanting to seem tough. Although beefing with Weird Al is not very gangster lol.
I’ve always felt sad that Coolio didn’t appreciate (early on) how amazing the Amish Paradise phenomenon was, it kind of made him and his song even more immortal…and his life has always seemed kind of sad. Plagued by health issues, mental health problems, family and legal trouble, financial struggles, criminal involvement. He did keep making some music and touring, had 10 kids, was on some TV shows. Ran for President with a porn star. But he has never seemed like he was happy or enjoyed success. When he died of an overdose he was alone…like OD’s always are. They cremated him and didn’t even have a funeral. 10 children and none of them said no, we have to have a funeral for dad…? As a father that is devastating.
Don’t scare me like that!
weird al’s toxic trait is that he lost on jeopardy and hates bernie (he just wanted to see the twine ball!)
So, I’m the moderator of !ClassicRock…how do you want me to start the list? Chronologically, quantity, severity??
Severity Top 5
Yeah let’s go by severity
Well, if it’s shitty things you want: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Matthews_Band_Chicago_River_incident
never forget
deleted by creator
On August 8, 2004, a tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumped an estimated 800 pounds (360 kg) of human waste from the bus’s blackwater tank through the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto a passenger sightseeing boat sailing in the Chicago River below.
800 pounds?! How?!?!?!
Arguably their release with the most lasting cultural impact
Passenger boat Chicago’s Little Lady was hosting the 1 p.m. Chicago Architecture Foundation tour of the Chicago River.
all passengers were issued refunds.
The boat’s deck was swabbed by its crew, and service was resumed for its scheduled 3 p.m. tour.
This boat crew is the most metal thing in this entire post.
What probably happened is that the boat absolutely stank, and they decided not to tell the people at 3pm what had transpired
Stench? That’s just the river.
Oh… fuck
I grew up on a lot of metal bands, including Iced Earth. Absolutely loved them, even saw them open for Megadeth as a kid.
Then Jon Schaffer went and proudly participated in the Jan 6 attack, so now it’s kinda hard to listen to their music anymore.
Also hard to listen to Megadeth these days, too. Partly because they stopped being good after Risk, but also partly because Dave Mustaine turned into a born-again Christian nutjob.
In hindsight, Jon Schaffer might’ve been a total dick all along considering the huge turnover in IE’s lineup over the years. He’s probably horrible to work with.
Also, looking back, his lyrics about hidden societies fucking shit up for humanity leave a sour taste in my mouth given that he fell in with the whole Q bullshit.
Damn shame because I loved me some IE but now it’s hard to listen to.
Gotta watch out for “hidden societies” because it’s almost always a dog whistle for Jewish people
Oh yeah absolutely. It’s wild how much of this shit comes back to old-fashioned antisemitism when you know where to look.
Yeah, it definitely puts a bad spin on the Something Wicked story they’d been telling. Which is a shame, because it was cool thinking it was just about aliens and magic curses and shit, but now knowing that he probably believes there’s more truth to that story than he lets on, it just doesn’t feel the same.
At least he fired Junior for uhhh… palm muting on his bass.
uhhhh if you’re going to mention Megadeth, it’s probably better to focus on how they kicked out their bassist for grooming underage girls in 2021.
deadmau5 used to be a massive internet edgelord for very much over a decade (think the targeted harassment of Krewella was particularly awful, even if their producer shared his lawyer) until he had some heated moments that forced him to realise he wasn’t all there and change his ways. He’s still very truthful about the world of EDM but he’s not the edgelord he once was, and he’s much better for it.
ED(M)dgelord
Wasn’t one of my favorite bands, but Iistened to them regularly.
Lead singer of As I Lay Dying hired someone to kill his wife. (Guy he hired was actually a cop, so he went to prison)
I was really sad when I had to stop streaming Austrian Death Machine.
I used to love Avenged Sevenfold back in like 2005/2006. They used to fly confederate flags at their concerts, and even had custom guitars with the confederate flag panted on them. Back then I didn’t understand the significance of that, but that’s really fucked.
At least they have apologized for it and said they regret doing it. I believe people are capable of learning from their mistakes, but tbh, I haven’t kept up with them so I’m not sure if they have truly become better people than they were back then.
There used to be tons of confederate flags in music, even Tom Petty had them on his stage.
The dude from Iced Earth and Demons and Wizards is a right wing terrorist. That’s a bummer.
That really ruined the day of my partner when it came to light, he is … was a huge Iced Earth fan for decades 😕
Yeah, the singer of Blind Guardian made it clear he wouldn’t play with him again after that. I respect that choice.
Demons and Wizards
Oh. Damn. I’ve been listening to those songs for a decade.
Me too, they’re one of my favorite power metal acts. I feel like it’s okay to pirate them though. Dude tried to steal my voice, so I’m gonna make unauthorized copies of his.
Let’s not forget the fact that Varg is a right-wing bastard. Fuck him.
Also a murderer and an arsonist, mind you.
Obviously.
Safe to say he’s a total piece of shit.
Karl Logan of Manowar. Currently doing 5 and a half for possessing CSAM. Hell of a guitarist, but a permanent stain on Manowar’s image. At least Eric Adams is alright.
csam?
CSAM = Child Sexual Abuse Material
thats not good to be in possession of
If I had a nickel for every time one of my favorite noise artists was accused of sexual assault by another artist I follow, I’d have two nickels. Which isnt a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice (Michael Gira from Swans was accused by Larkin Grimm and Alexis Marshall from Daughters was accused by Kristin Hayter).
try being a pop punk fan…
Learning that Rick Derringer and Billy Corgan were guests on The Alex Jones show was a big let down for me
Corgan also put the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on Tyrus who is a massive outspoken transphobe.
I was real excited to see smashing pumpkins live but ended up leaving 7 minutes into his opening rendition of the national anthem because fuck that.
dammit, billy what the fuck
Doesn’t Corgan also have a history of beating his partners, going all the way back to high-school girlfriends?
I’ve never heard that
Cheb Khaled, one of my favorite singers since I was a kid, fleed from France to Morocco after France legalized LGBTQ marriage.
Was he afraid he would get LGBTQ married?? What a rando.
Desperately trying to find that meme of Bernie Sanders where he says that he’ll make gay marriage mandatory if he becomes president. “And if you’re not gay, too bad. I’m your husband now and we’re in LLLLOOOOOVVVEEEEE”
Description/Caption
Three pane comic of Bernie Sanders speaking to you and saying the following while powering up like in a comic:
- “When I’m President, everyone will be married to me.”
- “If you’re not gay… too bad!”
- “I’m your husband, and we’re in love!”
bless you, sir
I’m sure I saw a hilarious skit similar to this, where some redneck dude reads that gay marriage is legalised and he is all ‘well shit, now I have to marry a man. I don’t even like men! Well I guess it will have to be my buddy Pete.’ and no one can convince him that that’s not what the law means.
I have never heard of that guy before three minutes ago, but your comment intrigued me and I couldn’t figure out why gay marriage legalization would make someone “flee” the country. So I looked at wikipedia. Supposedly the reason he left seems to be more related to legal issues involving his not paying child support, and it was to Luxembourg not Morocco.
It’s a pretty short article and maybe there’s an escape to Morocco as well that just didn’t make it into the article.
I posted my comment based on what I read few years ago, 2015 iirc. But its a nice thing thing to know that I (and the person who gave the info) was wrong.
Edit to add a source, it was in 2013: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/06/94509/france-same-sex-marriage-pushes-cheb-khaled-to-move-to-morocco
Thanks for digging that source up, that’s interesting
his album Kenza is pretty good
Oooof.
Arcade Fire: Win Butler is a sex pest.
Brand New: Jessie is a groomer of underage girls.
Marilyn Manson: his videos from 2009- pretty much lay it out in the open, but he’s the fucking worst physical and emotional abuser of women. Just a shit human being.
I have stopped purchasing these artists merch and they have all been removed from my Spotify. Their records now live in my basement. When I must listen, I listen to my personal rips, alone.
Marilyn Manson is if a venereal disease assumed human form
Aero Chord made some cool stuff, and then found out he sexually assaulted Mylk in 2014 when she was just trying to help him out… It fucked her up pretty bad, guy’s a complete asshole.
That one was awful! I was so bummed when I found out
