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.
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!)
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
Cool answer, but ignores the question, no?
I wanted to inject a bit of wholesome into a question that will be littered with pedos, murderers and white supremacists. In the modern world it’s way too easy to focus on the negative and forget that some people actually do live up to your expectations.
I didn’t just want to troll with an off-topic response but make sure there was a glimmer of hope.
So, I’m the moderator of !ClassicRock…how do you want me to start the list? Chronologically, quantity, severity??
Severity Top 5
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.
Well, if it’s shitty things you want: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Matthews_Band_Chicago_River_incident
never forget
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
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.
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
More than a few of the musicians whose music I like have gotten in trouble for grooming, being pedos, and abusing minors. Two come to mind immediately because I found out recently: BoyInABand and Geoxor. There’s probably more musicians like that whose news I haven’t heard of.
edit: I don’t follow this band but seems like lostprophets had an even worse situation.
Edit2: I read a bunch of the comments and a very prevalent trend is musicians getting in trouble for being pedos. Why so common?
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 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.
Iced Earth guitarist was one of the first ones in the door on January 6th. The band pretty much said they disagree with his actions,but not his intent.
Guitarist from Manowar in trouble for being a pedo.
Years ago, Zazz Blammymatazz had a song about getting head from a 14 year old.
The time Josh Homme kicked that lady in the face
Also this fucker (bassnectar)
Andrew Wood, lead singer of Mother Love Bone, recorded a song ostensibly about how he’ll always love heroin more than his long time girlfriend/fiancé then ten days later he overdosed and died.
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).
I like the Beatles, and there’s the obvious clique joke of “John beats his wives, ya know?”
I like a grand total of one Megadeath song, “Hanger 18”. That bad is very troublesome. I feel bad for enjoying it, but I don’t pay for it, so I guess that’s better? But it’s nostalgic for me, and I like the words “Military intelligence, two words combined that can’t make sense.”
I’d have to go through each bands’ wikipedia page, but I think some of the worst things are;
-
Disagreed on who wrote what, leading to members leaving or the band breaking up
-
Disagreed on who owns the name, leading to court battles and the band splitting in two
-
Important members leaving, and while the band is still fun to listen to both new and old songs, its not the same
And of course the dreaded sin of “Why does no one know who I am talking about, they need more fans.” but that’s not really a thing of their own.
-
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.
