artists who plausibly appear to be good people

meant as therapy after this thread Albums you own or used to own from artists that turned out to be awful people.

Janet Weiss seems fucking rad

I guess some people hate him but having seen Elbow again last night, I think Guy Garvey is probably really as nice as he comes across. dunno. maybe he's a twat but I don't think so.

Phil Collins personally tracked down a guy who drowned another guy and orchestrated an arrest of the man at one of his own concerts.

totally true, a real hero

Mac McCaughan

Animal Collective

always heard that Gary Numan was a quality bloke

kristin hersh

david yow was so sweet when i talked to him once after a jesus lizard show years ago. i couldn't believe it was the same guy i had seen on stage.

david yow sexually harassed sexydancer's wife tbh.

Is the bar lowered at this point to include anyone who simply refrained from shitty behavior? Not in reference to any specific posts already above.

also everyone in bardo pond is like the nicest person on earth. but i could say that about a lot of freakfolkterrascope people i know. they are ALL so nice.

Animal Collective

how does Maligate fit into this

well, with someone like david yow obviously i don't know him! he was really nice to me anyway. a fan.

yo la tengo are nice people.

jeff rosenstock

I talked to Ira Kaplan once after a Yo La Tengo show, and he was very nice.

ha xp

Gerard Way (and MCR in general AFAIK)

Animal Collective

how does Maligate fit into this

― the Hannah Montana of the Korean War (DJP), Tuesday, November 14, 2017 2:54 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha good point! ok, just the other 3

Van Dyke Parks

Christine Goerke is a bad-ass dramatic soprano AND one of the coolest people I've ever met.

xxp someone told me at a record show on Sunday that Deakin gave all that money back and eventually released the record? idk.

as far as thread title, I nominate Leonard Cohen

(cue avalanche of terrible Cohen stories I was unfamiliar with)

yea yea that's right he did, he put the record out 6 years late

Jens Lekman seems to be a really sweet guy. Lots of nice stories about him offering his fans advice when they reach out to him and then there's that video of him playing that wedding in Australia. He was really cool when I met him briefly earlier this year.

George Michael appeared to be a very wonderful and generous person. One guy over on the Popjustice forums said they got to know him over the years and he was totally down to earth and really funny.

I know someone that interviewed Marc Almond and said he was such a joy to talk to.

I've come across a fair few people who have met Johnny Marr. Nobody has a bad word to say about him. Basically the opposite of Morrissey.

Ira and Georgia are indeed incredibly nice.

tarfumes the escape goat is super nice. and so is ian's wife.

kendrick lamar, i assume?

Danzig!

...Ringo Starr?

mike watt

You know who belongs on any "holy shit, that musician was actually a decent guy" list? Lemmy. Yes, he collected Nazi memorabilia. But there are no quotes, either on the record or "you know what I heard?", from him speaking negatively about anyone because of their race or religion, and while he was apparently in Gene Simmons territory as far as sleeping with women on the road, there are also no stories of him assaulting or even being crude to anybody, and actually the opposite is true - he had a tremendous respect for female musicians (he collaborated with or wrote songs for Lita Ford, Doro Pesch, Wendy O. Williams, Girlschool, Skin from Skunk Anansie and Jill Janus from Huntress, and there are probably others). As insane as this may sound on at first, Lemmy was pretty much the model for how to be a total rock star without being a piece of shit or a predatory asshole.

aaron dilloway is a great guy. so is that one guy from matmos. and that guy from the mountain goats.

A lot of Leonard Cohen stories were shared on the poll thread that made him out to be a sweet, cool guy

Herbie Hancock seems genuinely lovely.

gotta add in Fred Cole here (also, I vehemently disagree with scott and unperson's assessment of Dead Moon on that other thread, they are the best band to ever come from Oregon including The Kingsmen and The Wipers)

so is that one guy from matmos

both of them are great!

Glenn Jones

(guitarist)

Dan Deacon

Edwyn Collins has a really great reputation. He appears to be as sweet as his music.

Weird Al Yankovic

I know next to nothing about Dawn Richard aside from what I remember from Making the Band, I do remember her as being super funny and entertaining on that show and have built a persona in my mind of a really nice, sweet person with a spine of iron.

I have a terrible feeling that this thread won't age well.

Don't want to search for the video at work, but I was specifically inspired to cite MCR after seeing the onstage video of them viciously berating the (opening act?) for asking female fans to flash them

As a teenager I talked to Kid Koala and asked if I could send him my new CD. Not only did he provide an email, but he wrote back his thoughts on it. Truly cares about his fans

As far as other bands that are real decent to fans - the dears, stereolab and broadcast

A friend of mine who was a big R.E.M. fan ran into Michael Stipe at a music festival and impulsively pressed some of her fiction on him. I didn't overhear their brief conversation but she was upset and teary about it and we left soon thereafter. A few hours later he phoned her at home to apologize.

my ex and I used to talk to bands after shows a lot; in that context, at least, I can report that Ted Leo, Will Sheff, the Blood Brothers, and McLusky were all lovely folks

that John Darnielle is a nice man

Michael Stipe threw my friends stuff on a table and stole their seat at a bar and pulled a 'don't you know who I am' when they tried to get their table back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMB1EOnUwX8

kurt vile doesn't seem so vile

I have a terrible feeling that this thread won't age well.

― emil.y, Tuesday, November 14, 2017 3:16 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

AGF seems quite lovely to fans, if not a little overwhelmed they seem to care about a sound poet

I generally don't mind Phil Collins but there was a part in a Genesis documentary where they discussed their lack of female fans in the Gabriel era (there was footage of one young woman who followed their early tours) and Collins seemed to suggest it was too difficult for them.

weird thread, idk. all these people have private lives that we know nothing about

I saw a similar thread to this on twitter recently, and it really grated on me. As these things are arising out of an environment of sordid revelations about predatory/violating behaviour, giving examples of artists being nice to fans seems to be greatly missing the point. I'm pretty sure most famous rapists would have been pleasant to their fans at some point. You can't tell an abuser from the face they choose to show to strangers.

but why hadn't he already offered his seat to the women before the stop, GARBAGE HUMAN etc

kurt vile doesn't seem so vile

I've heard a thing, sorry.

Only make friends with bass players, that way you will never be disappointed.

I remember something about Steve Albini organising Christmas gifts for poor families in Chicago?

Mentioned this before but Tori's work with RAINN since the early 90s has done a great deal of good

Never heard a negative thing about Andrew W.K., his "persona" is apparently pretty legit

except how he kidnapped and killed the original awk

Isn't Dave Grohl supposed to be The Nicest Guy In Music (TM) ?

It would shake my faith in humanity to learn that Robert Wyatt wasn't just the nicest guy around...

Isn't Dave Grohl supposed to be The Nicest Guy In Music (TM) ?

I've heard that...he is not.

Chance the rapper?

Also ....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2956597/Iron-Maiden-frontman-Bruce-Dickinson-piloted-XL-rescue-planes.html

I know next to nothing about Dawn Richard aside from what I remember from Making the Band, I do remember her as being super funny and entertaining on that show and have built a persona in my mind of a really nice, sweet person with a spine of iron.

― the Hannah Montana of the Korean War (DJP), Tuesday, November 14, 2017 1:13 PM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

having met her i can back this up

Britt Daniel. Very friendly and smiles all the time.

Ariel Pink - oveeheard a conversation with a female fan. He was very nice. But she is a female so who knows.

Neil and Rachel from slowdive.

Janes Weiss wasn't so nice behind the merch stand at a Quasi show one btw.

Heard stories about Kurt as Vile too.

Steve Shelly nice and humble.

oh god, no on Ariel Pink

Can confirm that Dan Deacon is super nice and open and just great though. I was just thinking about this last night, after opening for some somewhat douche-y bros. The last time I opened for someone at this venue was for DD, and it really highlighted how cool he was.

Oh and Jeff Tweedy. All of wilco really. Nice..

weird thread, idk. all these people have private lives that we know nothing about

yeah idgi either. I would only say this about people I personally know well, otherwise we're just left discussing people's (often carefully curated) public personas. That being said the only ones I would vouch for are Quitty and Jared from Tight Bros From Way Back When and Owen from Casiotone/Advance Base. Doug Paisley was a v nice dude. None of these people are huge celebrities or anything lol

yeah glen from wilco is a great guy.

Phil Collins personally tracked down a guy who drowned another guy and orchestrated an arrest of the man at one of his own concerts.

Tory wanker.

Heard stories the Charlie Watts is nice and down to earth too

Don't forget the time Andrew Lloyd Webber made an Atlantic crossing just to vote for Gideon's tax credit cuts. And then felt slightly bad about it afterwards and threatened to leave the Tories and never follow the whip again. Fucking stand up guy! No actually, gulag the cunt.

someone's gonna say mac demarco and they'll probably be right

the Future Islands dudes

on second thought I'm going with emil.y here, this is pure speculation and will not age well (and there have already been several jarring disconnects)

prob safe to assume every person you don't personally know is a serial killer until they provide reason to believe otherwise

I guess some people hate him but having seen Elbow again last night, I think Guy Garvey is probably really as nice as he comes across. dunno. maybe he's a twat but I don't think so.

But he comes across as a twat anyway, doesn't he? From what I've heard of his radio show, which admittedly (and thankfully) isn't much.

heard unsavory stories about demarco tbh

Mary Steenbergen and Jason Schwartzman and Dave Matthews are both super friendly in person, and even in repeated interactions over time.

I don’t know if fame has gotten over her head nowadays but I met Shakira like 15 years ago and she was super nice to everyone of her fans and staff. She also started her Pies Descalzos foundation when she was like 21 and she is a member of a gazillion NGOs and is constantly doing PR for benefits. So if she is not a great human she is pretty good at faking it.

She still has that charm in interviews so I secretly hope she is still awesome.

Phil Collins said in early 00s that he never voted Tory.

I think that Uncle Tupelo broke up because Tweedy was hitting on Farrar's girlfriend.

I've heard a lot of really nice stories about Chester Bennington

I was listening to a short program about Kathleen "Pannonica" Rothschild who fucked off her bad posh marriage to go to NYC to meet her hero Monk, and became his benefactor + close friend. Someone said: Did Thelonious ever sleep with her? And the answer was an equivocal no because "he was a deeply loyal + moral person" and it was a platonic friendship based on mutual respect and her important financial support towards his artistic endeavours. Maybe a bit quaint or even puritanical or whatever, but surely more charming than the current Hieronymus Bosch gropeageddon landscape. And also I find it really moving the way he copped for a drugs rap that impacted badly on his ability to earn, to protect his his extremely damaged + vulnerable pal Bud Powell.

unequivocal no , I mean obv.

Spent an afternoon with Nina Nastasia and her husband? (I forget his name) a few years back, I was recording an interview and some songs for a radio session, I brought along a bottle of nice whisky and we all got slowly drunk, they were both very nice and hung out for ages afterwards.

WEIRD FUCKING AL

Phil Collins said in early 00s that he never voted Tory.

Still a Tory wanker.

He wanks tories?

Never heard a negative thing about Andrew W.K., his "persona" is apparently pretty legit

― frogbs, Tuesday, November 14, 2017 2:47 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I met him once and we had a great conversation about how Lungfish was the greatest band and how he'd offered Lungfish a decent amount of $$$ to reunite but Higgs wouldn't

Robert, most Tory wankers didn't need to vote Tory in early 00s.

The mention of the Linkin Park dudes trying not to make too much work for the janitors seemed like a good sign.

Neko Case appears to generally be a rad person.

All of the Mekons seem like solid, friendly people who have consistently supported good/doomed causes. My (female) friend who recorded with Jon Langford has nothing but great things to say about him, Lu Edmonds helps teenagers in the Caucasus record music, etc.

Collins was on Room 101 and he said he was sick of people (Oasis in particular) assuming he was a Tory and said he'd never voted Tory.

scooby doo

Robert, most Tory wankers didn't need to vote Tory in early 00s.

A moot point as he'd followed through on his promise to leave the country if Labour got in and was living in Switzerland by then.

co-sign on Kristin Hersh, add Courtney Barnett

I've met Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick. Rick was a bit curmedgeonly at first but altogether a very nice, smart and funny guy.

Robin Zander was super friendly and outgoing. Way more than he needed to be around the likes of me.

And, secondhand but true. Maybe 3 or 4 years ago my good friend was waiting tables in Los Angeles. Bono and The Edge plus a few publicists came in. My friend, who will say anything to anyone, told them "It's not too late guys, you can still release Elvis Presley and America as a single." He said they were laughing really hard and Bono told him something like "Thank you! That's the move we need right now."

Lostprophets seem to be really close to their fans

Bono has been mentioned on a "good people thread". Think we can bury this one now and act like this thread never happened.

Bono's not a good person?

Bono helped rescue my mom from a crowd crush at a U2 show (she was 57 at the time, she's 5'2" and 95 lbs, front row in GA, first time seeing them.)

I'd be much more interested in this thread if it were more 'I or someone I'm very close to has known ___ for a decade or more and can reliability confirm that ___ is a good person'. Otherwise this is basically 'Vanilla Ice has a nice smile so he must be a good person'.

xp

so he protected her like he was protecting his money from taxes

Bono's not a good person?

Delete thread.

Laetitia Sadier is a class act all the way

"Mary Steenbergen and Jason Schwartzman and Dave Matthews"

I don't think I'd see that band

I've met Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick. Rick was a bit curmedgeonly at first but altogether a very nice, smart and funny guy.

Terre Thaemlitz begs to differ

Mattheim Steenburgen

remember that time when bono paid £1,000 for a first class air ticket for his hat so that he could wear it at a charity concert?

http://www.contactmusic.com/bono/news/bono-pays-.1.500-to-get-forgotten-hat

Laetitia Sadier is a class act all the way

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, November 14, 2017 10:50 PM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Isn't she in with the Living Marxism crowd? I mean, I hope she isn't, but have heard as much on here.

LM the zine?

You might be confusing her with Rosie Cuckston of Pram?

Xxxxxpost:

Ah yes Weird Al Yankovic! I love that man, it would break my heart if it turned out he’s secretly evil.

From a 2012 interview on her influences:

Living Marxism Magazine

At the time there was the war in Serbia and a huge fabrication to keep people in their place and keep the systems of Germany and France and their economic hands in those markets. It was well-investigated and although it came from a Marxist background, was always just. It went against the grain and the widely agreed-on political points. They would predict where things would head. What was also good about it was that when things were explained, the root of things were explained. It gives you hope. We don’t have to just sit there and go, “Oh it’s horrible.” It is horrible but defeatable.

I assume she's not as stupid as that quote makes her seem.

I've never heard anyone say a bad word about Deathprod.

I don’t know if it’s fair to judge her by only one interview but Lady Gaga seriously impressed me on her Graham Norton interview. She was very kind to June Brown constantly complimenting her and telling her she was beautiful every time June used self-deprecating humor about her old age, and she was geniunely excited when Graham presented a live feed with one of her fans. Like SERIOUSLY excited. She loves her fans and seems to promote diversity a lot not just to sell records but because she believes it.

You might be right about Sadier and the LM kru, looks like she’s down with Spiked:

Rape culture? There’s no such thing | Feminism | spiked http://t.co/Y5yeL4JNyk

— Lætitia Sadier (@SadierLae) November 24, 2014

Paris and beyond: Europe is at war with itself | Europe | France | Religion and atheism | spiked http://t.co/3kb7bGfaK4

— Lætitia Sadier (@SadierLae) January 13, 2015

Right, so strike her off the good people list.

JIm Duckworth seems really sound.
So does Kid Congo

& Jule Cruise, Annie Bandez, Linda Perhacs

almost said pj harvey but apparently she's defended fox hunting in the past

tbh i'm american and the only fox hunts i've seen are in old cartoons, but sounds p fuckin horrific

So this is basically just gonna be the "awful artists" thread w/ the additional layer of hope first being introduced before it's struck down

This thread is veering into moral McCarthyism fast.

Plus a few acts with like six-person fandoms who are so far out of the public eye that even if they were terrible we'd probably never hear about it

xp, idk at this point I feel like putting a "sin list" in the public square isn't entirely unmerited

in fairness the other thread was about ppl who've actually committed horrific crimes, having bad politics or being a jerk in person or being annoying on twitter or w/e don't really compare

A "sin list", really now? Sadier is "bad people" now because she reads Spiked? As evidence presented by some tweets from 2014?

Newsflash: there are no "good people". We are all, in our own way, flawed, awful and bad, at least. Let's not kid ourselves.

xp

"artists who plausibly appear to not be actual demons"

And yeah "sin list" was just me leaning into the moral panic aesthetics a bit
Let's not make this the "music criticism in video form" thread

is prince bad? susan rogers had only nice things to say.

A "sin list", really now? Sadier is "bad people" now because she reads Spiked? As evidence presented by some tweets from 2014?

Newsflash: there are no "good people". We are all, in our own way, flawed, awful and bad, at least. Let's not kid ourselves.

I couldn't care less either way, tbh, being a fool is no crime after all.

Champiness, tell me your twitter handle, and I'll tell you why you too are "bad people".

It's easy if you try.

Sadier is "bad people" now because she reads Spiked?

Was just trying to answer the question of whether or not she was one of the Living Marxism crowd tbh.

Oh I know, wasn't directed at you! But something about this turning into some witch hunt def rubbing me the wrong way.

You will not find a single artist/human being that is inherently good, is my point.

So this thread is silly then.

But, I suppose the criterion is only plausibly good though.

Who's judging who is a good person? Maybe we need a recursive thread: 'ILM posters who seem like good people and therefore able to judge if other people are 'sound' (on the basis of secondhand rumour or a 90 second chat), and a 'sin list'.

I think it's a silly thread, yes. But I'm bad people tbh.

Plausibly appear, even.

xp

Maybe a better thread might have been ‘yr favourite good deeds done by musicians’. I liked the Danzig anecdotes in the other thread and could bear to hear more.

Hey Le Bateau Ivre, hat in hand, no hard feelings. Just been a tough time lately, is all.
(Plus I barely use my Twitter so, sorry, not much of a paper trail there.)

anchorman-escalated.gif

Maybe a better thread might have been ‘yr favourite good deeds done by musicians’. I liked the Danzig anecdotes in the other thread and could bear to hear more.

― plp will eat itself (NickB)

Yeah agree with this. The other thread is filled with sex criminals, women beaters and racists. Saying an artist isn't a good person because he/she has controversial views on certain things doesn't seem fair to me.

always heard that Gary Numan was a quality bloke

― frogbs, Tuesday, November 14, 2017 11:51 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oooh hello, this is Gary Numan...

Going back to Shakira I love this anecdote of her:

When she was on Mexico city doing a tour like 12 years ago or so, she spent a whole morning on the children's hospital with cancer patients. My cousin was an intern in that hospital and he told me this one: A girl that was undergoing chemo was very depressed because she lost all her hair and she told Shakira almost crying that she was in love with her hair and wished she had hair like that. Shakira asked for scissors and cut down a lock of her own hair and gave it to her saying "your hair will grow back and it will be beautiful, and here take this, we will grow our hair together." - something along those lines.

I don't know if I translated that one properly hope it makes sense hehe it sounds better in spanish.

i submit Ric Ocasek, with trembling

The other thread is filled with sex criminals, women beaters and racists.

being a Tory is on a par with this

It depends. I mean yeah conservatives are usually concealed assholes but it doesn’t mean they’re 100% supportive on each and every point of the agenda.

*trying to be optimistic here*

The other thread is filled with sex criminals, women beaters and racists.

if we are going to start playing the "this person is bad because they consume this media" game then i'm out

Paul Stanley is a sentimental softie, so I’ve heard.

by "plausibly appear" I meant people who's life is really well documented by this point and there doesn't seem to be anything demonic to it. lemmy seems to be a good example. should have been more clear agree.

pink seems cool

snoop dogg appears to be good people

Really?

no

i don't know

that rosie cuckston stuff was depressing to learn a while ago. TBF the one time I met her she was perfectly unpleasant and I spent the entire night with her then husband/boyfriend drunkenly explaining how they were going to break up (they never did apparently from my FB investigations, though he seems to have rational policital ideas unlike her)

I can't imagine Cyndi Lauper not being a completely wonderful human being.

Céline Dion is probably one of the friendliest, most generous megastars out there.

these two threads are like "famous people who kinda acted nice once" vs "psycho criminal rapist murderers"

CARLY RAE JEPSEN

snoop dogg appears to be good people

― brimstead, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 1:13 PM (four hours ago)

Really?

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, November 15, 2017 1:21 PM (four hours ago)

no

― brimstead, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 1:24 PM (four hours ago)

i don't know

― brimstead, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 1:24 PM (four hours ago)

Snoop Dogg, actual pimp

We cool Champ, I get the idea, but who could've thought a thread of naming people not awful turns into ppl bringing up arbitrary 'evidence' to the contrary etc.

My step-dad once shared a Daily Star front cover with Snoop in the 90's. The Snoop headline was "Kick This Evil Bastard Out" and my Step-dad's sub headline was "Sicko Bookie". I think Snoop's criminal record revealed he'd shot someone dead, my step-dad was running margin betting on how many corpses they were going to exhume from Fred West's house in the independent bookies he worked for.

this is going to be bragalicious but most of my current favourite artists would fit happily here

i guess it's 'easy' for a relatively obscure artist to be a wonderful human being because they haven't been idk corrupted by the trappings of fame (read: forced to deal with everyone on earth wanting a piece of them) or w/e

should we limit this thread to huge artists though? not like ilx to celebrate the little people overly but this could be a good chance to

people I've met: literally everyone connected to the wider Cardiacs universe has been astonishingly lovely. Richard Dawson is an incredible man. Sadie Dupuis from Speedy Ortiz seems ultra nice. MC Dälek was an extremely solid dude. fgti hasn't been mentioned here yet and he is great. no bad things will ever emerge about any of these people because they're all giving, conscientious people with a natural curiosity about the world. there are probably way more examples but really it shouldn't be hard for all of you to think of examples

as for huge famous current music stars who are still wonderful people.....uh, JME seems cool?

That's the equivalent of listing all of your neighbours who are sound

They haven't the opportunity nor have they a media/wider public interested in ferreting out their secret sins

Like, a bit of cop on

A thread where we remind ourselves that all humans are fallible and we shouldn't start hero worshipping anyone - that sounds like potentially a good thread. Many of the problems we are going through are exasperated by talented people always getting the benefit of the doubt.

Or thinking that it matters? idk

i could read calzino posts all day long

truth

http://images.donttalktomeaboutheroes.com/DT000000009%20-%20Snoop%20Dogg%20Daily%20Star%20Newspaper/DT000000009-MEN-BASL-WHTBLK.jpg

Craig Finn was great when I met him after a show on his first solo tour, in podcasts/interviews he seems all right.
I generally assume Ian Svenonius is a good dude

i guess it's 'easy' for a relatively obscure artist to be a wonderful human being

oh, there are quite a few rapists, neo-fascists, abusive sociopaths, and racists shitlads among that lot

A thread where we remind ourselves that all humans are fallible and we shouldn't start hero worshipping anyone - that sounds like potentially a good thread.

Yeah. I mean I can completely understand why this thread was started but think that emil.y's points are OTM. I don't know, I'm probably not thinking straight about all this at the moment.

My friend, who will say anything to anyone, told them "It's not too late guys, you can still release Elvis Presley and America as a single."

On a positive note, this is hilarious.

I know people make fun of Moby because of his artistic pomposity, but based on the interviews and stories I've read, he seems to be an utterly decent person. I still remember some MTV award show where Triumph the Insult Comic Dog spotted him in the audience and started roasting him, and Moby just politely answered all his questions and kept picking up his cigar and putting it back into its mouth as it kept dropping. After that Triumph tried to interview Eminem, put Eminem punched the puppeteer or something and they had to cut away from the scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc_39aTxsP0

Found that clip on Youtube.

Is that Moby of "knob touch" fame?

What's that?

For the next four years, the world's most famous vegan lived out his wildest rock'n'roll fantasies. He toured relentlessly, he drank heavily, popped pills, frequented strip bars. He gave engagingly revelatory interviews, and once admitted to playing a game called "touch knob" at densely crowded celebrity parties that involved removing his penis from his trousers and seeing how many unwitting stars he could touch with it. Unsurprisingly, he became a staple of New York gossip columns.

Ok, I didn't know that. :(

moby dick touch

judge didn't know whether to send him to rehab or ahab

If we held a party on the border of Finland and Belgium (NB no I won't check if one exists tyvm) would stanm and tuom still be a year later to it

Whichever of the Beach Boys wrote 'Never Learn Not to Love' must be a saint among men, such a beautiful song.

Yeah, I heard he took time out of his busy schedule to help a budding songwriter from a commune in the countryside, such a nice gesture.

lmao

these two threads are like "famous people who kinda acted nice once" vs "psycho criminal rapist murderers"

tbf the title is "plausibly appear" not "definitely are"

Didn't MOby eventually say that the whole "Knob touch" thing was a .... (presses button)... Lie?

grimes seems pretty cool

i don't think i'd like art angels any less if it turned out she was some kind of axe murderer though

a little less

Britt Daniel. Very friendly and smiles all the time.

Uh, no.

all of Citizen Fish, Zygote, Bettie Serveert, Monster Magnet, Motorpsycho.
Dave Doughman from Swearing At Motorists, Lou Barlow, Henry Rollins, Damo Suzuki.

henry rollins was a jerk about suicide recently (although he did apologise sincerely)

Lou Barlow lol

Witnessed one AP (whose music I loved up until PomPom) concert, and that was a trainwreck even without the misogynist bullshit as of late. One of the worst concerts I ever saw. On par with a disastrous Sebadoh concert, where Lou Barlow walked off after 10 mins and fuck you'd the whole audience. Don't ever buy a ticket for your favourite lo-fi artist concert, kids.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, October 16, 2017 10:46 PM (four weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I saw Barlow and he was engaging and fun.

honestly this gets to be some bullshit of X famous person didn't feel like talking or might have been in a bad mood or after getting interviewed one zillion times said something wrong like think about yourself and how your life would stand up to this microscope

It's the only logical conclusion on a dumb thread like this tbf

the only kinda famous person I feel comfortable putting on this is Har Mar Superstar because over not heard a bad word about him and if there was a bad word I would have heard it, always seems like a great dude

Ian Mackaye has run a record label for over 30 years and I've never heard of any artists having beef with him or saying they got ripped off which is a hell of an accomplishment

phil elverum seems good imo

I will never not be in awe of ariana grande for the stuff she did after the Manchester bomb

Most people who seek fame do so because they are selfless and giving and generally want to spread their message of beneficence and brotherhood as far as possible. How they manage to find time to do the regular spiritual upkeep to make sure that they're engaging with the world in a morally healthy way is beyond me, but it's clear that they must.

xp Fully behind that.

m@tt, did I ever tell you that I did a couple of operas where Har Mar's brother-in-law was playing a lead role?

Shonen Knife is the only thing I believe in

Jon Anderson of Yes claims to have seen all good people. Perhaps he can help us sort through this?

xpost, oh cool was that in Mpls or Boston?

Stormzy and Skepta both seem to be nice blokes. Always thought Jarvis cocker seemed sound.

isn't Dave Grohl supposed to be The Nicest Guy In Music (TM) ?

If you ignore all the weird AIDS conspiracy theory shit.

yeah when I mentioned JME upthread I probably did his brother a disservice not including him too

jarvis cocker though........i'm less sure about that, much less sure

Britt Daniel. Very friendly and smiles all the time.

Uh, no.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Wednesday, November 15, 2017

saw him in cargo shorts in a Chipotle queue in 2008, shook me to core.

propose to retitle thread "Indie Bros Who Haven't Been Outed as Scumbags Yet"

"and Some That Probably Already Have Been"

I did a fair number of interviews with artists back in the day and two who stick out in my mind as being exceptionally nice were Jason Molina (RIP) and Steve Earle.

In the offing: 'ILXers who plausibly appear to be good people', followed by 'I have a terrible feeling that this thread won't age well'.

Jon Anderson of Yes claims to have seen all good people. Perhaps he can help us sort through this?

― henry s, Wednesday, 15 November 2017 14:30 (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I lol'd

artists I met who seemed super nice:

Mark Eitzel
Mike Watt
Erykah Badu

I don't know a whole lot about him, but I've never seen an artist as vigilant as Ian McKaye about making his show safe for the female fans in the audience

Can vouch for X, he’s always struck me as a sound "meat-and-potatoes, straight-up-and-down, Beef-Wellington, Don’t-trust-the-Argies, dick-in-the vagina, cheddar-cheese and chicken-tikka-masala-man"

As far as people who were not just actual rock stars but actual rock stars in the debauched 70s and early 80s go, Rush are pretty damn clean. Even Lifeson's New Year's fighting incident seems to mostly come down to wanting to stand up for his son.

Also, John Cage.

Britt Daniel. Very friendly and smiles all the time.

Uh, no.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Wednesday, November 15, 2017

saw him in cargo shorts in a Chipotle queue in 2008, shook me to core.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, November 15, 2017 9:46 AM

Seriously, though, it's not my story to tell and I'm not going to divulge it here out of respect for the person who confided in me, but he is the opposite of good people.

Isn't Dave Grohl supposed to be The Nicest Guy In Music (TM) ?

― StanM, Tuesday, November 14, 2017 3:54 PM (yesterday)

I've heard that...he is not.

― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, November 14, 2017 3:57 PM (yesterday)

holy shit

xpost, oh cool was that in Mpls or Boston?

In Boston. He was in the production of Mahagonny I did (I thought he was also in La Vie Parisienne but apparently I made that up, oops.) Super nice dude and FANTASTIC singer. His wife (Har Mar's sister) is also super nice and a great soprano.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/express/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/COPY167733680.jpg&w=480

anecdotal experiences where artists were sociable that one time

Can’t believe Ted Leo hasn’t been mentioned yet.

Thread still surely not as bad as that "positive allegations" twitter thing, not that I've looked at the latter beyond what's popped up in my timeline but man what a lamebrained response to all of this "I allege that bill murray is epic!!!"

bacon your favorite artist :(

Dr Alex Paterson and Mixmaster Morris seem nice.

Bacon is one of my favourite artists that's the tragedy

Tombot, Ted Leo HAS been mentioned! By simon h.

Never met Ted Leo as far as I know but I was reasonably friendly with the drummer from Chisel (we worked together).

Anyway this thread: "What about (person X)?" "Sure, if you are okay with ignoring (sin Y)."

Personally I'm tempted to fall back on the "never admire anyone ever" plan. Enjoying and admiring and celebrating artworks, cool. People, broadly speaking appear to be no damn good (as Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor once said), myself included.

Liszt seems to have been the most utterly decent of the 19th century composers, though he did sleep around quite a bit and earned some bad blood that way (Marie d’Agoult never forgave him). But he was friends with arch-POS Wagner, and liszt’s longest lasting romantic partner, princess Caroline, was a horrible bigoted ideologue (he let her publish a book on Chopin under his name which he didn’t even read, and she ran with it, turning it into an anti-Semitic screed). Basically Liszt was too tolerant of asshole friends if they were intellectually/artistically brilliant, but he himself was fucking solid as hell in a century of giant assholes.

Ligeti has always struck me as a decent chap in a post war modern music scene full of, quote, giant assholes.

George Enescu appears to have been a pretty swell guy. Béla Bartók too, as far as I can tell.

As far as the postwar composers go, granted, Boulez was a provocateur, but he mellowed over the years, whereas Stockhausen just sank further and further into guruism.

Re: Grohl, who knows, but here's a podcast where the dude who was the first FF touring drummer talks about how he was a bully and that it was a generally miserable experience for him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Md8htksIA

a post war modern music scene full of, quote, giant assholes.

"Assholes" in the sense of elitist or arrogant, right? I can't think of many examples that are as bad as the stuff we see on the other thread.

The Cult of Stockhausen always struck me as kind of gross, especially in light of his pseudo-polygamy, but I can't think of any other examples offhand.

i have no real negative opinion of Grohl but a lot of the purportedly hyper-positive in your face types tend to flip to extreme negativity and aggression quickly ime.

Biographies def reliable

Jilted drummers also

XP otm, rarely moreso than on ilx

herbert von karajan was a giant asshole

Sure, I think he was even mentioned in the other thread, but he mostly despised modern music anyway.

But he was friends with arch-POS Wagner

― harbinger of failure (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 15 November 2017 16:36

Wagner turned into a vampire and then into Hitler. I saw it in Lisztomania.

AFAICT, no one ever had a bad word to say about the Paleolithic human who first knocked two rocks together to keep a beat.

AFAICT, no one ever had a bad word to say about the Paleolithic human who first knocked two rocks together to keep a beat

Geir?

Nick Cave is one I hope puts his demons into songs and is upstanding outside of that.

except i heard once that dhurk mashed rock in groc's face to make other wet sound

Ha, what was pseudo about Stockhausen's polygamy?

I mostly get the impression that Schoenberg was a good sort btw.

That much-championed story about Grohl throwing a Taylor Swift album in the trash and making his daughter listen to Slayer or whatever kinda confirmed to me that he was kind of a jerk

Jesus was a dick to market traders and underperforming fig trees can we lock this sorry ass thread now

refuse to believe bono is a nice person tbh

Ha, what was pseudo about Stockhausen's polygamy?

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r)

Oh, just in the nitpicky sense that he wasn't legally married to all of them (at least I assume so since it's forbidden in Germany). But for all intents and purposes…

refuse to believe bono is a nice person tbh

― i n f i n i t y (∞)

He is, after all, a tax dodger, which is all you need to know about him.

i hope we've reached Peak Judgementalism

Hasn't this place always been about passive-agressive judgmentalism? I'm sure we've still got a ways to go before the zenith is attained.

snoop dogg appears to be good people

― brimstead, miércoles 15 de noviembre de 2017 2:13 (sixteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post

Snoop, the feminist champion. I remember back in 2003 watching him arriving at the MTV awards with two women in dog collars and leashes

Yeah, that was around when he was pimping just for the fun of it: http://www.theroot.com/that-time-snoop-ran-an-actual-brothel-1790896418 . I'm guessing brimstead was kidding?

POLL: Days until the "artists who plausibly appear to be good people" thread is milkshake ducked

It seems like the answer is "zero"

As far as the postwar composers go, granted, Boulez was a provocateur, but he mellowed over the years, whereas Stockhausen just sank further and further into guruism.

Boulez was more than just a provocateur, also I don't think he mellowed too much, he was still dismissing composers he didn't like as amateurs in his dotage.

I don't mind any of that though, it's quite entertaining. Stockhausen's increasing guru complex was more silly than anything else, the fact that the music wasn't as good was what was important.

There's a story in a recent book called When Rock Went To College about the Who's only appearance in Lancaster (UK) in the spring of 1970. After their show at the university, they were driven back to their hotel, where they requested coffees, teas, and plates of sandwiches. The hotel staff brought out trolleys of food, which Pete and Roger wheeled outside and down the street to an all-night antiwar vigil. They fed the protesters and stayed talking with them til dawn.

It seems plausible that Kurt Wagner is a good person.

Boulez was more than just a provocateur, also I don't think he mellowed too much, he was still dismissing composers he didn't like as amateurs in his dotage.

― Terry Micawber (Tom D.)

To me that's part and parcel of being a provocateur. But I'm sure Dutilleux would disagree if he were still among us – it is true that Boulez used his institutional leverage to prevent divergent aesthetics from developing. Yet part of me admires his bullheaded commitment to evaluative objectivity, misguided though it may be.

And, speaking of Dutilleux, Boulez's later works have far more in common with his contemporary's than he would have liked to admit, at least to these ears.

it is true that Boulez used his institutional leverage to prevent divergent aesthetics from developing.

So Xenakis claimed. Pierre you were a bad man, you are banished from this page.

MF: For most composers, Boulez is Napoleon, right?

(I respond that not everyone lives under the control of Boulez; there was also Stockhausen.)

MF: So what! Stockhausen is just Bismarck, that’s all!

http://www.musicandliterature.org/features/2015/10/28/away-from-the-big-cities-brmorton-feldman-interviewed-by-jean-yves-bosseur

Second Weird Al and Jeff Tweedy. Adding Bruce Springsteen

I've heard so many great stories about Weird Al that it makes me wish I liked his music more

do we no longer presume a person's decency?

'Someone must have slandered Josef K, for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.'

I think Morton Feldman probably belongs on the other thread

i think he quite possibly does, yeah

but i like to read him moaning about his enemies list in the same way i enjoy it when Boulez did the same

How so? Genuinely curious, I don't know much about his life.

xp

POV - Morton Feldman Recordings

scroll down to posts from 2015

Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe.

the original Italian interview with Marcus is still online, not a lot else

i wd add that there's no reference on her own website, but that means basically nothing

Thanks, sarahell. I had no idea.

Like NV said, there's surprisingly little about this online. Aside from the Italian interview, a few dead links and an article or two.

there's an EU data protection law regarding "the right to be forgotten" which has been invoked in this case to have some links removed, at least from Google. who made the request, why and when isn't clear.

John Cage belongs here, no? Intrinsically kind, curious and warm.

(now please don't prove me otherwise...)

Willie!

I'm sorry, everyone. Weird Al is the only good celebrity.

John Cage belongs here, no? Intrinsically kind, curious and warm.

He has been mentioned.

Isn't Dave Grohl supposed to be The Nicest Guy In Music (TM) ?

― StanM, Tuesday, November 14, 2017 3:54 PM (yesterday)

I've heard that...he is not.

― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, November 14, 2017 3:57 PM (yesterday)

holy shit

― jesus and figs and science and the foo fighters (unregistered), Thursday, November 16, 2017 2:15 AM (five hours ago)

Dave Grohl, former promoter of AIDS denialism

y'all should get into opera and follow Christine Goerke's career because a) she's incredibly talented, and b) she rules

best Grohl zing is still Courtney's "He’s just sub-mediocre type who does this ‘nice guy’ nonsense"

I know people who have witnessed first hand Grohl sleaze. But I'm not sure any worse than most rock stars. Or most people, for that matter. Just mundane sleaze.

grohl's gonna ride into the rock and roll HOF on being enthusiastically corny and rocking out in a hard + forgettable fashion.

Foo Fighters were at their best as a grunge Rentals

there should be a wing in the rock and roll hall of fame for dave grohl, keith urban and maybe jack white. they themselves would stand on pedestals 24 hours a day, ready to jam, on demand, with anyone who walks into the room, and to accept any and all awards offered. in between, they would do as many good deeds as possible. or bad deeds. whichever they prefer. with any remaining time beyond that, they would give speeches and make documentaries.

i feel like weird al has a slight but essential meanness at his core. like if you went in his dressing room and accidentally punctured a hole in his fat suit, he wouldn't yell or throw a tantrum or anything, but he might toss off a withering sarcastic comment that you'll remember forever.

b-but the Rentals were grunge

didn't they sound like Weezer?

founded by Weezer bassist Matt Sharp

if your point is that Weezer weren't grunge then I will fight you

Matt Sharp comes across like an egotistical knob who was known for not crediting his bandmates for songwriting contributions or indeed paying them

dolly parton seems like an amazingly wonderful person

xp a counterpoint to assessments like that is to consider some of their friends. for instance can you imagine Petra Haden consorting with assholes, I can't, but she's friends with Matt

Dr Alex Paterson and Mixmaster Morris seem nice.

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 4:11 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Dr Alex Paterson is not highly thought of by this former bandmate to say the least - https://web.archive.org/web/20140723181240/https://krisweston.com/index.php/rant/ (though who you believe on this kind of stuff I have no idea)

jonathan richman seems like a nice guy based on the ilm thread titles i have read.

REM are such dbags the only good bloke split 15 years ago

hmm Dolly is a good one, she does seem like legit good people

Grohl seems still too hung up on his high school notions of what’s cool and real, and too judgmental of those outside those parameters, for me to think of him as a mensch.

just sweet, funny, welcoming, generous, never a bad word about anybody

xp

Xp yup.

My love of Dolly presupposes her awesomeness as a human , so don’t nobody come in here and post any shit about her, y’hear now?

Yeah I didn't even want to bring up Dolly in case someone comes in and messes with my perception of the world.

Dolly is a sweetheart. One of my friends worked on the lighting for the musical version of 9 To 5 (she was around for the last few weeks as a musical consultant) and when they finished the dress rehearsal she brought out brownies she had baked for the cast and crew.

Re: Feldman, there seemed sufficient reason to reserve judgment on that one - Marcus appeared to be suffering some sort of psychotic break or something like it

Plenty of predators have been brought to light in classical music though. See Ian Pace’s blog

Isn’t Dolly constantly donating to charities? I know that only this year he gave money to almost 1000 families who lost their homes in the Tennesse fires.

Although then this bit came out after:

https://amp.usatoday.com/story/664460001/

Although it doesn’t appear that Dolly was involved?

Ariel Pink

I basically think he's alright.

Not that I think everyone else mentioned itt is a monster deviant who belongs in a cage, but Dolly Parton is the first one I feel comfortable signing off on sans reservations.

I read that the Grateful Dead arranged for their roadies/crew members to be paid as much per show as the band members.

(At least, that was the case in the '70s...dunno if that extended into the '80s or '90s.)

xpost Like many of her awesome and down-to-earth biographical details are stuff she downplays or keeps private (like the guy she's been married to for basically her entire adult life and her younger siblings who they raised together).

I feel like it’s harder to pinpoint the artists who are generally awesome people to the terrible ones. It’s hard to hide when you are awful, whereas genuinely decent people do good without expecting it to be a PR stunt and might actually be very private about it.

haha yeah it helps if you actually know them!

Ray Manzarek gets a lot of anecdotal love.

I mean if you bring up Dolly Parton why not bring up Emmylou Harris or Bonnie Raitt or Shelby Lynne etc

van morrison seems like a top bloke

I read that the Grateful Dead arranged for their roadies/crew members to be paid as much per show as the band members.

it is also my understanding that they offered health insurance to their roadies, which is so far beyond “good” i don’t even know what the word for it is.

godz must be nice surely

van morrison seems like a top bloke

Such a sunny happy-go-lucky fellow.

yeah lol, on a list of assholes, Van Morrison would be the first to come to my mind to add.

Fairly low-level everyday none of the wider public's business assholism tho, or the other kind?

The former.

I don't even know if he's an asshole so much as a stereotypical red-faced red-haired did-you-spill-my-pint Ulsterman.

whatever happened with bunita marcus? that's the first I saw of that; there seems to be little follow up on her mental state, etc after what sounds like a fairly public, sinead o'connor-esque meltdown.

Van is ridiculously unpleasant by all accounts. nothing major I guess but a weird inclusion

I want to believe that Brian Wilson is a good nom for this thread. I'm reading his memoir, I am Brian Wilson (with Ben Greenman), and he comes off as such a tender soul. I do know that he had some aggressive acting-out issues (supposedly he greeted Elvis Presley with a flurry of karate chops), but to me they seem less the mark of an a-hole than of a man unable to regulate the rage left in him by his abusive father. I realize these aren't mutually exclusive characteristics, but in him I definitely sense it to be a case of the latter.

Shirley Collins is definitely a good person.

anyone mentioning Ariel Pink should probably check the Ariel Pink thread :/

wonder what weyes blood sees in him. guess they're two california weirdos with an interest in retromodern folk, just that one's one of the great artists of our day and the other is a kind of creepy nutcase idk

I'm pretty convinced Hamilton Leithauser is a Very Nice Person.

Lol I was kidding re: Van Morrison

Kirk from Metallica seems like a good guy. Barney from Napalm Death seems like a nice dude, considering.

as far as loveable old dudes in rock go, van morrison is right up there with ginger baker

Van's not violent as far as I'm aware.

yeah i've not really heard much about Van being violent/racist/homophobe/women hating etc.... just being a majorly grumpy fuck in a neil young fashion.
but someone please feel free to enlighten/sadden me?

Less Neil Young, more this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEsFtiruIok

Lars Ulrich from Metallica and Phil Anselmo from Pantera.

Wait, wrong thread.

lol I'd forgotten about the time when Harry Enfield was actually funny.

I want to believe that Brian Wilson is a good nom for this thread. I'm reading his memoir, I am Brian Wilson (with Ben Greenman), and he comes off as such a tender soul. I do know that he had some aggressive acting-out issues (supposedly he greeted Elvis Presley with a flurry of karate chops), but to me they seem less the mark of an a-hole than of a man unable to regulate the rage left in him by his abusive father. I realize these aren't mutually exclusive characteristics, but in him I definitely sense it to be a case of the latter.

― never have i been a blue calm sea (collardio gelatinous), Thursday, November 16, 2017 3:01 PM (five hours ago)

i've read all the trashiest BBs biographies and offhand i can't really remember anything that cast brian in a bad light. carl seemed like a nice guy too.

Lars Ulrich from Metallica and Phil Anselmo from Pantera.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, November 16, 2017 12:21 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wait, wrong thread.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, November 16, 2017 12:21 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lool

that's so fucking unfair to Lars to compare him with that fucking white nationalist junkie

Brian Wilson used to sneak in the blonde in his coke shack behind Marilyn's back and then wrote The Night Is So Young about her!

not to mention perving on Marilyn's sister

I mean, he does seem like a genuinely nice (if mentally unbalanced) guy but his sexual escapades in the 70s weren't exactly pretty

xxxpost:

Yeah, Anselmo is a legit fucking cunt.

Vashti Bunyan surely

Vashti Bunyan surely

― Week of Wonders (Ross), Thursday, November 16, 2017 8:54 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah if anyone comes up contrary evidence I'm deleting myself.

I love her music but not some of her freak-folk US acolytes from the 00's, but she seems so sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVLavhf10UM

Paparazzi attack incidents aside (and tbh I feel paparazzi deserve being mistreated half of the time) I feel like Bjork is very sweet. She’s also bonkers so it can go both ways.

Has Kurt Cobain been mentioned? From what I’ve read he was a stellar dude.

surely giving us Courtney Love's career is some kind of crime

Grunge inherited a lot of cock rock imbeciles and Kurt was never happy about it. There’s also anecdotes like this:

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/watch_nirvana_sabotage_buenos_aires_stadium_show

Makes it look like he was a class act.

Björk I totally believe. Cobain is another story all-together iirc.

AURORA seems like a kind soul (though her fans are a little over-the-top with their praise. I'm pretty sure she isn't an angel or an astral being or "too pure for this world")

Cannot believe nobody has mentioned Gaz Coombes

Top, top bloke by all accounts

I'd do anything for Coombes, but I won't do that.

I love her music but not some of her freak-folk US acolytes from the 00's

is Devendra as much of a sleaze as I suspect he is?
his background as a pick-up artist doesn't really count in his favor, but Joanna Newsom seems to be cool with him so idk

From personal experience:

* Justin Broadrick of Godflesh
* Alex Paterson of The Orb
* Walter Becker

mary j blige

joan baez?

Mavis Staples

rascall flatts seem like genuinely good dudes... they do a lot of philanthropy... play music for hospitalized children.

who knows though

these guys, obviously

✞ CHRISAGIS BROTHERS ✞ TRIBUTE THREAD ✞

Suzanne Cianni
Alice Coltrane
Masami Akita
Iasos
DJ Harvey
Hans-Joachim Roedelius
Joanna Newsom

of course, who knows?

iasos seems to be into some suspect shit: http://iasos.com/services/index.html#GoddessCouncil

Frank Ocean
Yoko Ono
Gustavo Dudamel
Deerhoof

Oh, and "plausibly" doesn't feature here because I know him to be good, maybe the best person I've ever met: Dan Snaith

that is weird I listened to Andorra today for the first time in ages, it's great

as he is such a good guy maybe he would lend a sympathetic ear if you asked him to recapture whatever it was that made that album so good

my parents went backstage during a eurthymics concert when clem burke was drumming for them. they said he was extremely nice and friendly, talked with them a bunch.

oh wow, clem played on the garden too?? this would be on the revenge tour.

"would have been"

Jack Johnson

Janet Weiss seems fucking rad

― devvvine, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 6:12 AM

Ken Stringfellow (Posies, REM, etc.) disagrees: http://kenstringfellow.com/2015/02/common-decency/

(Kind of over-dramatic, tho.)

that really sucks for that guy, for sure, but i feel like i'd need to hear both sides of that story. i mean there could be any number of reasons why she decided not to go through with that project (from his telling i can't tell whether she cancelled at the last minute or literally stood him up without offering an explanation).

Leo Sayer is a really, really nice dude.

Alice Cooper Gibby Haynes Billy Corgan Johnny Ramone

Moe Tucker on drums

yeah that story up above isn't too bad, she did record an album with him anyways and plans fell through for further recording in 2003. Quasi released "Hot Shit!" that year and Slater-Kinney was touring with Pearl Jam. imo she kinda did have better things to do.

sorry Sleater-Kinney

yoko seems like a v nice person, espec considering all the shit she's been through

re upthread Bjork's very guarded about fans, but don't hold that against her. Imagine she's probably quite a good soul

Cosign Bjork.

Mastodon mostly come across as lovable dorks in interviews.

I think Bjork started being more private after a fan sent him a tape of him commiting suicide.

Wait I was misremembering he was actually trying to kill her:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_L%C3%B3pez_(stalker)

yoko seems like a v nice person, espec considering all the shit she's been through

Hmmmm, not so sure about that.

She might be nice now but I don't think that was always the case.

what did Haynes do?

Ted Leo... surely that guy's gotta be on this list

that ken stringfellow blog about janet weiss is fucking gross

feels like this is the key sentence

Yeah, I probably harbored hopes about a relationship that were beyond the reasonable expectations of our encounter, but…I kept that to myself, as best as I could do.

Leo Sayer is a really, really nice dude.

― triggercut, Friday, 17 November 2017 04:03 (nine hours ago)

Lol you are kidding right? His Big Brother appearance was narcissistic catatstrophuck

most of you are looking in the wrong places

that ken stringfellow blog about janet weiss is fucking gross

Agreed. He sounds like a horrible mess.

Paul McCartney?

LOL

most of you are looking in the wrong places

― imago, Friday, 17 November 2017 13:14 (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I heard that McCartney is such a penny-pinching stingy bastard that looks under his bed every morning to see if he has lost any sleep.

I was going to suggest me but then I remembered I'm an asshole. ;_;

Vince Gill seems like an ok guy: lots of charity work, married to Amy Grant for 17 years now.

Counterpoint: the Westboro Baptist Church pickets his concerts because he cheated on and got divorced from his first wife

Ted Leo is super nice. People I know who have bumped into Bjork said she was nice. I've actually heard really nice things about Sting! From multiple people! But ... I dunno about that. I think some really famous people are so desperate for normal relationships that they go out of their way to be chill/generous.

Alex Lifeson for sure. He's such a nice guy that when he was arrested that one time for hitting a cop or whatever, the universal reaction was "well, the cop probably had it coming." There's a great scene in the second recent Rush doc, an interview with their longtime roadie/driver iirc, and the guy says that Alex would always hang with him in the front of the bus all the time when others were sleeping or whatever, just having fun and keeping him company.

that ken stringfellow blog about janet weiss is fucking gross

you wouldn't hear his dad Peter carrying on like that, I can tell you

Aimee Mann said that when she worked with Rush Alex and Geddy were super funny.

bill ward is supposed to be an extremely lovely person

John Grant?

Aimee Mann said that when she worked with Rush Alex and Geddy were super funny.

Possibly said this in an interview I conducted way back when. I think all the Rush dudes are funny, but Neil keeps to himself more. Those books aren't going to read themselves!

Hitler had dogs dinnee

I've heard great things about Robert Plant, but I have also heard horrible things about Robert Plant. I think it depends on the context.

Moka, the news clip about Bjork being targeted by that fan is sad as suck :-/

it’s almost like people can be both good sometimes and less good at others xp

someone should try writing a song or two about that concept

Nominating Owen Pallett in this thread. Great musician and seems one of the kindest people to come out of the Canadian indie scene in the past decades. I’m biased because I love Canadians, I’m sure there’s many good examples of cool people coming out of that scene.

Maybe Feist too? I’ve heard only good things about her.

Ah let’s not forget the Nardwuar parameter in this thread too. He’s a good way of telling if an artist is an asshole or not.

Top of my mind these were all pretty cool with him:

Grimes, Drake (see Canadians are cool!) and Pharrell.

Big Krit was super cool with Nardwuar

i've heard close to first-hand reports on Robert Plant thru a friend whose friend was dating him, and she said he was very chill, low-key, and liked spending a lot of time listening to old folk and blues.

I leaned recently that his son founded Beavertown brewery (no idea how famous it is outside of London).

Jason Isbell seems to be a pretty well grounded dude these days - idk all of what he got up to in his drinking days or what he was like way back when but now that he’s sober he seems to be in a v good place

Dolly Parton
Cyndi Lauper
Weird Al

and I’ll cast anx antipodean vote for Neil Finn

Mark Hollis

Neil Finn is nice, but sort of aloof. But Nick Seymour is a sweetheart.

Neil Finn is in the subset category of "artists who have stayed married to the same person for a really long time." Finn, Johnny Marr ...

...John Lydon too

i have never heard anyone say a bad thing about ya kid k

0 from 0

Paul Buchanan
Scott Walker

mad mike

i mean, i don't know, it's plausible, he seems like a generous soul

Bjork tripped me up by as we both made our way at the same time to the same unisex bathroom of a tiny thai restaurant. I'm sure it was an accident.

Tom Waits has also been married for decades now no?

That’s one that would break my heart if he was an asshole but I love him too much to care if he was.

Favorite Tom Waits story. (Per the Waits myth, did I hear this from someone? read it somewhere? read it here? is it made up?) Anyway, favorite Tom Waits. Someone was shopping at Amoeba and they came across Tom Waits, also shopping at Amoeba. Huh, thought this person, Tom Waits! That's pretty cool. So the person eventually leaves and heads to some other store, like a drug store or something. And there's Tom Waits again, running errands. The person thinks, huh, what are the odds? So the person leaves, goes to some coffee shop or something ... and sees Tom Waits again! The person thinks, wow, now that's just weird. So the person hangs back at the coffee shop an extra long time, until Tom Waits leaves and then even a few minutes after, and then the person leaves themselves. They walk around the corner ... where they bump into a very angry Tom Waits, who demands: "why have you been following me!!!!"

Never heard anything bad about Gruff Rhys.

Hitler had dogs dinnee

― fake pato is kind of racist, dude (darraghmac), Friday, November 17, 2017 7:34 AM (seven hours ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondi

According to a report commissioned by Joseph Stalin and based on eyewitness accounts, Hitler's dog-handler Feldwebel Fritz Tornow took Blondi's pups and shot them in the garden of the bunker complex on 30 April, after Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide. He also killed Eva Braun's two dogs, Frau Gerda Christian's dogs, and his own dachshund.

Right out of order was that ffs!

Not good people

Always supected those Nazis were bad people.

Street angels, Bunker dogkillers. I know their type.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in7yLZJ7A6Y

Danzig!

not sure if this is serious or not but dude tried to incite an audience at the show I was at to beat a fan's ass simply cos he was taking video of the song.

he's also xenophobic af but as far as I know hasn't ever *acted* on it....

and then this lemon of a quote: "Nature has its own cleansing processes -- AIDS may be one of them. Ebola, all these different things, nature controls what happens on this planet. The world always has its way of clarifying things."

Lol @ the idea of Danzig as an answer to the thread question

Nominating Owen Pallett in this thread

This is cheating btw

George Corspegrinder

he was p dece teh few times I met him.

Danzig remains the only good answer on this thread, sorry

Momus agreed with me once on ILM, he’s probably a good guy.

I'm all for hanging terrible-person artists out to dry but I really dislike thinking about what artists are like personally otherwise and am massively uncomfortable with that whole "what's he really like?" aspect of artist / reader relations

I had a nice chat with Momus before a show and he was super nice and generous with his time. Likewise John Vanderslice, Jason Molina and Sean Tillmann. Dean Wareham was politely tolerant, even when I stupidly said "Hope you have a good show" as a farewell. Note: I no longer stalk musicians before shows.

barbara manning

she's great. i love this interview with her https://sseennsseess.com/2015/08/01/barbara-manning/
and hope she's still as happy

years of attending the Bridge School Benefit shows always gave me a sweet but probably inaccurate measurement of 'good people'.
All of the developmentally challenged kids from the actual Bridge School sit on stage with their parents, and the bands play in front of them.
It can be weird for performers who are new to the show and while no-one's ever uncomfortable some offer merely polite acknowledgement while others take it as being received by the loveliest greeting party.
I always gauged the good ppl as the ones who took the latter reaction. Some interacted with the kids during their performances. They'll all acknowledge the kids when they walk out, and afterwards, but only certain types of performers ever truly interact with the kids, and only a few talk to them.

Pearl Jam played a ton of Bridge concerts, they were there almost every other year for well over 15 years. Over time, Eddie Vedder sparked a long-standing 'stage friendship' with a young Bridge School student named Maricor. HEr favorite song was Last Kiss, and every time they performed, he would sing it especially for her and talk to her between songs and even spend time after the set to talk to her and her parents. It was the coolest thing.

Florence from Florence + The Machine is the most memorable example. She spent at least 70% of her set with her back to the audience singing directly to the Bridge School kids, twirling and dancing for them, and when she wasn't facing them completely she'd stand off to the side so she could watch them and see the crowd. She made it her job to delight them over us. And she was beaming the whole time, like she was SO delighted to give such a unique performance. It was really cool to watch and still makes me a bit teary thinking about it.

So Florence gets my vote. And Eddie.

awesome

Lol I hung out with Barbara Manning before a Yo La Tengo (I think) show when I was like 18 and she WOULD NOT STOP hugging me. It was lovely. Gets my vote, for sure. Also around the same time Thurston Moore was amazingly fine with chatting with me and my equally dumbass teenage friends, even to the extent of letting me take a couple of shots with my SLR camera of him. I do think it says something about a musician if they're that willing to go out of their way to be kind to a fan.

Also he seemed (or faked) being impressed we were into Sparks

eddie veder has reputation of being a really cool guy to his fans

How is he to noncommittals

I mean shit it's easy to be nice to your fans I'm nice to my fans

I think he ate a Ticketmaster employee once

Ian Anderson

oh yeah, John Vanderslice authentically is one of the nicest people in the world.

eddie veder has reputation of being a really cool guy to his fans

and an asshole to his guitar tech

https://jorgefarah.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/ed-is-an-asshole.gif

Ian Anderson

Jethro Tull? Bit of a dick, is he not?

he invented the horse-drawn seed drill, you ungrateful little shit!

:)

Wow at that veder clip total dickmove

Vedder learned from his hero:
https://youtu.be/iHs_ojDJX04