Confrontational Interviews

Well, I lived with one
Well, I lived with one, I lived with two,
I even lived with a third
I wanna tell you about number one
He was a miserable shitwringing turd
Like he reminded me of some evil gnome
Shakin hands was like shakin a hot, fat, oily bone
Holdin on for far too long
Yes he took me in, he took me in
He said that I looked pale and thin
I told him he looked fat
His lips were red and lickin wet
His house was roastin hot
In fact it was a fuckin slum
Scum! Scum!
Well then he hooked up with some slut from the same game
Black snow! Black snow!
Cocksuckstress, and I should know
Mean and vicious, her microphone always smelled suspicious
His and herpes bath towel type
If you know what I mean
I could not look at him, worm
He'd be takin a shower and who should walk in
He was the epitome of their type
Her middle name was Welcome, his was Wipe
Scum! Scum!
Well you're on the shit list
Thrust and twist, twist and screw
You gave me a bad review
And maybe you think that it's all just water under the bridge
Well my UNfriend, I'm the type that holds a grudge
I'm your creator
I think you fuckin traitor, chronic masturbator,
Shitlicker, user, self-abuser, jigger jigger!
What rock did you crawl from?
Which ..... did you come?
You Judas, Brutus, Vitus, Scum!
Hey four-eyes, come
That's right, it's a gun
Face is bubble, blood, and ...... street
Snowman with six holes clean into his fat fuckin guts
Psychotic drama mounts
Guts well deep then a spring is fount (?)
I unload into his eyes
Blood springs
Dead snow
Blue skies

Of course, looking back at the recordings, this may have been just a bit too squarely on the money. According to the same source, the female figure in the song is Antonella Black. Now her interview with a smacked-out and dribbling Cave in Zigzag was pretty hilarious.

"Bootsy? Is that one of them? Bootsy?"

DVD out now. Though I haven't had time to watch even a second of it.

What this poster doesn't get (well, among other things, probably) is that in politics and other areas of "hard news," reporters confront their subjects all the fucking time. It is hardly uncommon for a politician, religious leader, notable business figure or even an athlete to not get asked confrontational questions. Whereas in the world of the entertainment media, it is a lot less prevalent for whatever reasons (there are a lot of esily definable reasons, actually, but they're not important.)

Almost every politician or linebacker worth their paychecks can handle confrontational questioning because they are used to it and trained to handle it. We've all seen politicians deftly side-stpe hard questions by not really answering the question or pro athletes resort to "jock speak" in interviews.

Musicians are less likely to handle confrontational questions well because they are usually getting their asses kissed or are tossed softball questions like, "dude, tell me about your new album."

I'll type slower.

* Reporters asking Bush pointed questions about the guy he appointed for FEMA? Standard.
* Reporters asking Barry Bonds about being on the juice? Standard.
* Reporters asking Perry Ferrell about the guy he appointed to play guitar and about being on the juice? Not very standard.

Until you get that, shut it.

In any case, most music journalists wouldn't really see it as their need to get the "scoop." Since it's entertainment, a better comparison is with actors. Do people ask Tom Cruise tough questions? I think it's twofold - with bigger names, journalists are afraid of alienating the person they are interviewing and thus lose access to future interviews. With "lesser names", it might just be that the interviewer admires the musician being interviewed to the point of not wanting to offend them with any sharp or probing questions. It's sort of hard to be confrontational when - and I think this is the case of many music journalists - the interviewer want to be friends with the person being interviewed.

Why does it have to start with cynicism? It's almost like we've got a preconceived idea that everyone in public life is a liar and a sleaze. I prefer an artist to be asked about his/her work, not to be "confronted" about their private life.

rick derringer
edgar winter
ted nugent
andy warhol
truman capote

standing together at studio 54.
it's very strange.

"OMG I mean "Let's Impeach The President", that is very harsh VERY... harsh, indeed"

Well, I'm not defending anyone but I've known plenty of people who simply have difficulty expressing their thoughts in a logical or coherent way, especially when they're being 'confronted.' It doesn't mean they don't feel a certain way for a very specific reason. While I'm of the belief that anyone voicing a political opinion of any sort should be able to rationalize or explain their feelings, I'm not sure it's the same as saying they should be able to give a flawless and crystal-clear explanation on the spot when being hammered by a stranger. I would feel more strongly about the Babcock's position in the interview, for example, if the dude from Godsmack were allowed a day to compose a typed response to the questions (obviously without the help of handlers and lawyers). The downside is that this obviously that disrupts the flow of a two-way dialogue, so there would be a very serious compromise in this.

How's life on the other side?

Fight the real enemy

Every week on 60 Minutes they are grilling a wide variety of public figures just as intensely yet that's commonplace. Also see almost every talk show on cable news networks.

So why is it that this interview with Sully is garnering any interest yet when someone on CNN grills someone it's business as usual?

That's kind of my point.

NS: Lenny Kravitz wants to throw an Absolut Hell party. He doesn't want to dress as the devil but is a good sport about it. To simulate the flames, Lenny Kravitz covers his floor in gasoline, plays the guitar solo from "Getaway" five times, then lights the floor on fire by playing the drum parts from "Getaway." His apartment is now completely in flames. In the bathroom: the chick drummer from the "Are You Gonna Go My Way" video, shitting.

Lenny Kravitz is hanging out with the chick drummer from the "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" video. She tells him she wants to go his way. Lenny Kravitz tells her to go into the bathroom and wait for him--he wants to put something special on for her. She is so excited she flushes the toilet 450 times.

Lenny Kravitz wants to change his apartment plumbing from regular water to Kravitz water, which is just Absolut Kravitz vodka he's stolen from the Absolut Kravitz vodka factory. Because Kravitz doesn't get along well with the building super, he decides to take matters into his own hands. First Lenny Kravitz drinks twenty bottles of Absolut Kravitz vodka; his body is now flushed with the namesake liquid. Then Lenny Kravitz goes to the bathroom. He plans to pee out Absolut Kravitz in the small window of time between after you flush a toilet but before the bowl is refilled. "This is how Kravitz water is made," says Kravitz. Nobody is listening.

i honestly can't tell if this is meant in all seriousness. i can only assume it's not.

i honestly can't tell if this is meant in all seriousness. i can only assume it's not.

the reason i mention this is that, when I was working at Blender, i was compelled by my boss, who has been discussed on other threads here, to ask every interviewee, and i mean EVERY interviewee, about sex and drugs. my boss was from the sensationalist school of the British pop press, which holds that those topics are the only ones that any casual fan of music cares about (or at least they are the only topics that readers of publications Dennis put out care about—which may be true).

The point is that it often took drawing upon deep reserves of charm and skill to not feel like a complete douchebag, asking questions about shit that is no one else's business. One time, the editor thought an interviewee was boring (which he was, while a nice dude) and made me call him during dinner during his honeymoon to ask him inane shit. that was completely humiliating.

this interview today was for a guitar publication: just about guitars, the creative process, songwriting. it was not needlessly confrontational, which most of my interviews for Blender were, despite an sugar-coated interview technique. Man, am I glad i don't have to that anymore.

Marry me.

Let's go on to someone more well known, someone who has been portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (no, not Truman Capote!), a journalist with a much longer track record. Lester Bangs. Consider this tough and searing journalism by the gold standard of rock critics, the one book put together while he was alive, his hagiography of Blondie. "...96 slapdash pages of photos and profile that read like an interminable fanzine ramble..." is a description from Salon. But actually, it's 91 pages, according to Amazon. And Blondie didn't even like it. That really sucks.

man, i love these googlers sometimes :)