What's the worst thing that ever happened to you after giving a bad review?

RCA REP: "What did you think of the Republica album?"
ME: "I thought it sucked." (or words to this effect)
RCA REP: *pause* "...Well, a lot of other people liked it."

As you can see, 'worst' here means 'pathetic.'

the worst so far is a. creepy internet stalker types and b. some angry jockey slut fan boycotting the voice

Sure dude. You gonna close my hand in your laptop?

We had a special name for him: Promosexual.

Meaning: if it was free, he took it.

Whatever happened to that guy?

!!

What did you say? I'm interviewing him on Monday.

Earnest local band/artist hands me a CD and says, "I just want your honest opinion." If said honest opinion is unfavorable and appears in print, the inevitable pained and outraged letter to the editor invariably contains the phrase "personal attack."

Now that I think about it, I did once write an exhaustive scourging of Phish and got virulent hate mail from stirred-up fans across the nation for months, nay years. Not a bad experience, necessarily, though a bit wearying after a while.

How about those New England Patriots? Who would have thought? But let's get to the point. Who hired XXX XXX and why is he reviewing albums? I'm sorry, but anyone that compares Trent Reznor to Shania Twain is a moron. Personally, I think the Downward Spiral and The Fragile are two of the better records of the 90's and the fragile may be one of the most complex albums I've ever heard. 
"Reznor's psuedo-rebellious posturing is just as vapid as the suburbia he supposedly rails against." I don't care how many big words you use in a review, if you don't know what you're talking about you're review really isn't credible. Aside from maybe "Starfuckers", The Fragile isn't a rebellious album by any stretch. If anything he's rebelling against his own  personal demons. The lyrics on that album, deffinitely seem more personal than rebellious in my oppinion. 
I don't know if XXX XXX has ever sat down and listened to a Nine Inch Nails album, but to say that their music is as crassly contrived as Brittney Spears and Sugar Jones is retarded. The next time Brittney spears takes five years to make a record as original and complex as The Fragile you let me know. 
I'd be willing to bet if Nince inch nails wasn't hugely popular he'd be calling them the most underrated band in music. I hate to jump to conclusions, but he's probably one of those guys that hates everything comercial and thinks that only indie cds are worth listening to. 

Oh yes, the "indier-than-thou" accusation. My favorite!

Irish Connection? Whoa.

My boyfriend back in the early eighties had a boston area fanzine. He had some review of the latest Black Flag in there and used a Black Sabbath comparison. Black Flag were playing in town and for some reason I was in the dressing room. I think I thought it was "my room" since I spent so much time there. Anyhow, Henry Rollins was reading the review and my boyfriend was not in the room at the time. Henry got to the part about Black Sabbath and went nuts..."ANY MONKEY WITH A FUCKING TYPEWRITER" and picked up a fairly heavy chair (I think he was already "working out" at this point) and violently flung it against the far wall.

I quietly exited the room without assessing the damage and stood clear of Mr. Rollins for the evening. Funny thing was, the Black Sabbath reference was a COMPLIMENT!

The only thing that comes close recently was a review of a local-ish Beatles cover band that I published:

http://www.sanfranciscoartmagazine.com/02/july/music/rue/rue.html

The guy sent me some er, angry email (see editor's note at the bottom of the article) and the only thing I could agree with him on was that I didn't notice "Something" being credited to the wrong Beatle...but I couldn't feel too bad since each Beatle was referred to "NOT"-"Whichever Beatle" due to their having to avoid somekind of trademark/copyright infringement which precludes them from referring to themselves as John, Paul, Ringo and George. So, "Something" is by Not Lennon I suppose.

Then he seemed to get more angry by the "editor's note" that I posted and that I was sticking up for my writer in that she was entitled to her opinion and all...it IS a review, right? I know I am just a publisher and a poor speller and fact checker of an editor (which I happy and proudly admitted to him), but I thought a review was an OPINION PIECE...

Anyhow how, after a few back and forth emails from BurmaKitty, oh, I mean Sheilah, we seemed to sort it out - his blowing it out of proportion - and the fact that I didn't put him down or fight back with him. Hey, I don't like it when people tell me I suck, so why wouldn't I expect people's feelings to get hurt? So he ended up telling me that I could bring my friends to Tahoe and he would give us comps for the show, and basically seems like an ok guy.

BURMAKITTY <<----------- behind a big green curtain, flipping switches and knobs on a big computer/machine looking thing.
"Pay no attention to the link to the Mission of Burma preview article in the sidebar of that webpage"

There's no such thing as payola when no one gets, er, PAID!!!

On the other hand, a couple of negative reviews I've written have led to really good things & friendships with the artists in question. So go figure.

Brad Balfour: AIEEEEEEE!!!

One of Holland's best known rappers refused to shake my hand at a festival last year after I had written a bad review of his band four years previously. He continued to slander me in a recent interview in the magazine that I work for (article not by me).

Two years ago Sony Music cancelled my (aready scheduled) trip to New York to interview Ghostface Killah and someone else after I had said on a TV news show that Michael Jackson's new album wasn't very good and that his career was not what it used to be.

And I agree with Douglas - some of the harshest reviews I've ever written have led to long-lasting friendships. Funny how that works.

A week after Henry said "If I ever see that guy again, I'll bash his face in" or words to that effect, the Rollins Band played at Saratoga Winners in upstate New York, where I was attending school at the time. I decided to confront him on his remark (because hey, if he actually did hit me, it would be a story to tell my kids)and upon seeing that I was *not* male like he had assumed, he apologized profusely and then asked me where the guys in the band could get some "really good weed".

Hi Jodi - Joel here. How are you? I think the business card I gave you when I ran into you on the train has a major typo, oddly enough.

Didn't Weis get kicked outta RollinsBand for being a "druggie?"

"Whoever has not pissed off Henry Rollins, raise your hand!"

Sorry, I'm just sorta punchy today.

i get such limp haters if you go by this thread...it's kind of depressing

Well, he does have a lot of pseudonyms.

I got a funny but angry email from Mac Superchunk once when I criticized his jazz label on the chi-improv email list, but that doesn't really count.

http://www.artandlies.com/analog_roam/archives/000069.html

http://www.nrk.no/img/188895.jpeg

"Love ME!"

His last EP was much better.

The owner of the restaurant took offense at one or two comments I made in the review, which he interpreted as direct jabs at certain hygiene problems the restaurant had been having (which I was unaware of). He called the paper and threatened to sue them, then wanted my personal information so he could sue me individually. The newspaper owner/publisher laughed it off as a frivolous and unwinnable lawsuit, and indeed the lawsuit was never pressed, but a diktat was issued that no reservations would be accepted for the publisher.

The restaurant is still going strong several years later, and I've been back, anonymously of course, for a few excellent meals.

"Pretension this forced rarely makes it out of a sixteen-year-old's bedroom; here, we get an entire album of it."

Damn, that's cold.

some friends thought it was pretty funny though cause i wasn't much of a scenester and was kind of that "quiet guy at all the shows that not too many people know" and here i was getting egged by one of the bands and screamed at.

my friends thought it was an act until afterwards.

ah, good times.
m.

Yeah me too -- I was thinking we were going to talk about the time we got some key fact wrong & how humiliating it was & now the bad review will still be floating around the www even after they plant me.

(note: this will not work if the act in question plays instrumental stuff)

You would be quite wrong there.

A week or two later, the paper later ran a rebuttal. The gist of it was that the author wanted to tell the world that he used to listen to shit like Bon Jovi but had now truly evolved, and gee, if I wasn't such a heartless cynic and really listened to Automatic one last time, maybe I could see that the album was a really really meaningful masterpiece that spoke to the heart. His review was the cover story.

CLASSIC RESPONSE. Mind if I use it?