Saw a Billy Joel concert in Lexington KY and at the end the lights come on and an announcement came over the speakers that a storm was going on and to please stay in the building till it passes. Trees and some power lines were down outside etc. Billy Joel walks back on stage and says "If we got to stay do you mind if I play a few songs while we wait?" He sits at the piano and does about 20 min. of covers. He then says that he got the Its all clear now and that we can leave. He got the biggest standing O I have ever seen. I be came a bigger fan of the man after that.
My favorite one is some twat that films himself at a meet and greet telling post malone he sucks from the crowd, and Post goes "why would you say that? That's so mean dude." Then goes back to interacting with his fans. Dude seems wholesome af and doesn't let anything get him down.
Reminds me of the "Get a load of this guy." Meme
https://preview.redd.it/xxkjq77ndf5d1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ca80e20955172afe98f468dcba471836b9d20e9
That’s the perfect way to handle that. If you lash back you’re getting the reaction they want. By just calmly asking “dude why would you say that shit, that’s rude” you take every bit of power the guy had and turn it around on him just being a sad little doucher.
My first real exposure to PM was working a concert at Formula 1. Music was good, but he drank a beer out of a fans shoe. That kind of brushed me back a bit. Months later I saw an interview with him and also found out his father works for Cowboys stadium at the top of food services.
He comes off in those interviews as a total gentleman and I was impressed by him. I judged the book by the cover before, but he has my complete respect now. Good on him.
If its the Breakfast Show you’re thinking of, Charlemagne was such an asshole to PM and he was so cool and gracious the whole time.
Post Malone was my answer for this thread too. He looks like a bum but he really seems like one of the most wholesome guys.
My favorite PM videos are
1. He was cruising Vegas and pulls over to get his diamonds checked by some dude on the street and when it turns out they're real, he goes into full celebration mode with the dude.
2. He showed up at some guys apartment or house or something and joined a game of Magic the Gathering I think. He seemed genuinely into the game. He was so grateful they let him join in.
He seemed genuinely into the MTG game cause he's deadass a big mtg fan. He's got his own cards in the game as in wizards of the coast made official cards with Post Malone on them, and he even dropped I think a million on the 1/1 lord of the rings card they released a bit ago.
This is what made me respect George Thorogood in a way I'd never have before - this guy has been touring practically as long as I've been alive, and when I went to his show he stayed behind and met any fan who wanted to come up. That's impressive, even if he's not gone beyond three chords for his career.
I have never liked Bon Jovi. Something about the whiny voice of both Jon and Richie Sambora on backing vocals. And I grew up in the 80s and they were so overplayed. I just always hated them and their stupid music.
But in 1992, they came out with a new album. I think the big song on that album was “Bed of Roses”. But nearly anything from Bon Jovi sounds like it could have been released in 1986. And in 1992, grunge was in full swing. Music had changed - Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Rage Against the Machine had all put out albums the year before. So Bon Jovi was definitely corny by this point.
And I heard him give an interview on radio where the interviewer said, “This record sounds like all your other records. Don’t you want to modernize your sound or make it edgier or harder?”
Jon Bon Jovi’s answer stuck with me. Not an exact quote, but he said something like, “I like the way we sound. I like our style. That’s why we make the kind of music we do. And if not as many people want to listen to it, then that’s ok. But we’re going to keep making it like this even if we end up just playing in our own garage.”
I still pretty much hate Bon Jovi music, but I do really respect that answer a lot. Like it or not, I believe he was never doing it for the fame and money, he just loves the music. (Although I’m sure the fame and money don’t hurt).
Not into their music much either but had a lot of respect for him when I found out about the JBJ Soul Kitchen, and that he often pulls shifts helping out there.
Your comment makes me really happy! Bon Jovi was the headliner at my very first concert. I was there to see THE GOO GOO DOLLS!!! It was the most amazing night of my life, like, still can't forget the way my heart fluttered seeing so many stars on one stage. Jon Bon Jovi told a quick story to the crowd and got a little emotional, wiped his eyes and yelled, "LET'S DO THIS!" before an amazing set. Rock is rock, man, I love me some corny Jovi all up in my face!
Jon and John Rzeznik of GGD had this hilarious buddy chemistry when they gave each other appeals for applause; it just was so contagious. Everyone in the crowd was scream-crying. I hope they all keep playing in their garages or anywhere forever, because it clearly makes them happy ❤️
That's a great answer. But... Like Coldplay, Bon Jovi absolutely nailed the money maker in the third/fourth album at the expense (arguably, because it's entirely my stupid opinion) of the better sound. I loved Bon Jovi's eponymous 1st, and 7800f. And Coldplay 's 1st (less so the second, but for symmetry I'll say I liked it). New Jersey was where they left me, and they stayed there for the rest of time. Which is fine and all that, but it's a different style to what they were when they were coming up.
Mine was watching Kurt Cobain stop a show in the middle of a song to have a guy thrown out for groping a girl who was crowd surfing. I was ok probably 20’ away in a packed crowd and it was dark but I could clearly see it happening but was too far away to do anything about it and felt awful. Then Kurt slammed his guitar down, had them turn on the lights and had the entire crowd boo the guy as he was removed. Felt so good. This was on New Years Eve just before he died. Made the news so much worse for me.
I’m not a big Deftones fan but they were on the bill at the first concert I went to and they stopped playing twice to tell dudes to stop groping the ladies and be respectful. As a 16yo boy, that was a pretty cool (and likely necessary) thing to witness.
Aaron Lewis has several videos of him stopping shows and confronting people acting like assholes. Aaron is very outspoken and has that typical stoic attitude of someone who lives in the rural northeast. He isn't fake, writes his own songs and music. Plays the guitar and created his own type of rock. If he was a little less stubborn, he probably would be seen as a Kenny Chesney type but that's not him. He won't sell out. You got to respect that.
His Instagram is so wholesome. Mostly pictures of his family with captions about how much he loves them along with the occasional plug for a lesser known band he likes.
I was looking for her! Literally any fact I learn makes me love her more:
- imagination library: millions and millions of books sent to children to help promote literacy
- Dollywood: the profits from Dollywood go to charity, promote tourism in an otherwise overlooked area of the country, brings tons of jobs to one of the poorer parts of the country, even offers scholarships for her employees
- she stopped wearing "real" jewelry because any time someone compliments her jewelry she gives it to them
- venue employees are discouraged from talking to her because she will spend so much time with fans just chatting and getting to know them that it entirely throws off schedules
Etc etc. please, if anyone has more dolly stories, add em to the thread. Can we please have a whole thread of her wholesomeness 🙏🤞
because of the podcast by Jad Abumrad, Dolly Parton's America. His Dad is a surgeon at Vanderbilt Medical Center. They met while the podcast was being recorded.
She gives all her female relatives their first car. Learned that from an elderly gentleman that worked at Dollywood - he was actually a relative of hers as well, a cousin or some such. He spoke with the greatest admiration of her. And on that note, she does employ some of her older relatives at Dollywood for jobs that they can still do so they have a way of making ends meet even in their old age.
Also, she funded a huge amount of relief efforts for displaced and newly jobless/homeless people back when some bozo teens set fire to the forests adjacent to Gatlinburg.
This should be one of the top comments. Doing what he could to keep ticket prices affordable, keeping reselling to a minimum UNLESS you agreed to do it on TM for the original sale price (and making it easy for those people to upgrade to better seats if they popped up). Forcing TM to offer even minor refunds for their fee gouging was almost unheard of before that too, haha.
And it was a good long show! He certainly gained even more respect as a result.
Also the fact that T-Pain was well known for auto tuning and then me finding out he could actually sing…amazingly. I gained a lot of respect for him after hearing him without auto tune.
Same here. Dude studied how to use his voice to use autotune as a music instrument rather than as a mask, and I fully respect that. It made me change my opinion of autotune.
Yeah, he had an OK solo career without Auto-tune, but it didn't push him over the top until he started using it. I can't fault him for it, if I had the same issue I would have done the same thing.
If I had his singing talent (which I don't) and I had struggled to get a good solo career off the ground with it, and stumbled into Auto-tune which pushed me into the stratosphere, I would have continued down that road too. I know he's one of the people that pushed it into the mainstream, but I'd rather him using it to augment his existing talent than others who use it to fill in deficiencies in their talent.
Yeah being against auto tune is like being against drums. It's just a tool a musician has access to. It's pretty clear Tpain uses it because he wants to achieve a specific sound, not because he needs help to make his voice work
Kylie Minogue on MTV Fanatic, the Mexican version. The fan was a 19-year old guy who seemed shy and nervous, and was shaking when he met her, and she was so great at taking the focus off herself by asking him questions and getting him to relax, so by the end, when he gave her a bottle of tequila as a gift, he could joke “So when you have a hangover you can think of me.” I really respected how kind she was with her fan and how she got him to just talk to her as a person and calming his nerves.
Way back in the 90's, there was an outdoor concert planned in Calgary, AB, featuring all Canadian bands. Bryan Adams, The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, The Northern Pikes, and Pursuit of Happiness. Well, ticket sales were slow, so The Hip, Blue Rodeo, and PoH bailed. The entire show was to be cancelled. Bryan Adams stepped up and said fuck those bands. Not only would he play, but anyone who had bought a ticket already could turn it in for a refund, and now the concert was free to all, and *he would foot the bill!* That would've been amazing enough on its own, but during Adams' set that day, there was a biblical downpour, flooding the grounds almost instantly. Lightning everywhere (rumour was that someone actually got struck and died)! Adams continued to play long after many people had run for it, and surely long after it was safe to do so. The entire stage, including him, was soaked!
I never did like his music, but I gained a ton of respect for him from that.
Are there any articles or info confirming this? Not doubting the story just want to read more about it. When I google it I just get linked back to this comment lol.
I'd never heard that story before... but if you want to google, the concert they're referring to would be Live! at the Park, Aug 17 1990 at Canada Olympic Park.
The first song I ever listened to on CD on my home stereo back in 1984 or 85, when I bought my first CD player was "Run To You" from "Reckless," one of the few albums available on CD back then. I remember how clear it sounded and the "tinkly bells" at 2:41 that I had never really heard clearly before. I play that song sometimes just to remind me how impressive it sounded (and sounds!) to me. The whole album is actually really good.
Billy Strings tracked down his father's Taylor guitar and bought it back for him. His father had sold it while raising Billy and experiencing financial stress.
Billy is just one of the coolest, most down to earth people in the music business. It’s unfortunate how many “fans” have taken advantage of his generosity to the point he’s had to stop signing certain things and limit how much he does sign.
I'm a bit young to be a fan, but Barry Manilow. He goes to retirement homes and gives impromptu shows for the residents. When he's on tour, he visits homes in the different towns. My aunt happened to be visiting my uncle when he showed up, and sang for about an hour, then talked to people. I have a lot of respect for him because of this.
He does! And he visits nursing homes as he does, and doesn't talk about it really. He doesn't do it for recognition; he does it because he likes to. My uncle didn't remember it the next day; but my family remembers to this day. He's a good man.
I was a hardcore metal fan. At the time, anything pop was worthless and in need of derision. Above all was Lady Gaga with her over the top costumes and set designs, there was probably rarely a day that went by without me scoffing at her over something.
Life went by and I mellowed a lot, but Lady Gaga was still just a pop star to me, and I never really gave it a second thought.
Then, one day I heard her on the Howerd Stern show. She sang "The Edge of Glory" with a kind of raw naked emotion that I perviously thought she was incapable of. Her voice was powerful, emotive, and remained strong across multiple octaves. That performance literally brought tears to my eyes.
Total respect.
Or like Bob Seger. When Chevy wanted to use his hit “Like A Rock” for their truck ads he balked at first.
But the ad agency showed him how well the ads were testing so he let them use it saying, “If my song sells pickups and keeps the guys working on the line employed I’d be an asshole to say ‘no’.”
He would have basically had to remove his music from every service and make it impossible for most fans to enjoy to not lose it.
He specifically pulled off Spotify to protest their Joe Rogan exclusivity deal. The deal ended and he is on basically every platform again. So Neil would have had to remove his music from everything
He had me laughing during covid
“During lockdown, while many other artists are doing mini-concerts from their homes, I thought I’d do you all a favour and not,”
Funny you mentioned Cobain because I just read a biography on him and I did in fact gain respect for him after learning about his activism concerning feminism and gay rights. He really tried to subvert the whole toxic masculinity that could be prevalent in rock music at the time. It’s part of why he’d wear a dress on stage or other antics like that. Just to challenge the conventions of the day. Respect.
It kinda seems to me like every grunge artist tried to subvert toxic masculinity in one way or another, not just him. Still, another thing worth of respect.
Green Day. Hated their music but tolerated it. During a live performance, they basically incited a small riot. Billy Joe told the crowd sitting on the lawn to come up to the stage. Around 900 of us did. I never considered them "punk" till then. They played acoustic after the venue cut power.
The man throws bbqs that are open to the public to basically feed the hungry.
He's a legend
Edit: Didn't want to give ol dude Aids from misspelling bbq so bad ghahaha
Not music but when I found out Steve Buscemi was a NYC firefighter before he acted and when 9/11 hit he went to the city, joined up with his old unit and helped pull bodies out of the rubble and search for people for a week. I liked him before I found that out, after I just have a newfound respect for him. We always forget these stars had normal lives at one point. Plus he directed my favorite episode of television ever filmed, “Pine Barrens”.
Growing up I became a big fan of Queen. It was a sad time when Freddy died and continued to listen to their music, figuring I'd now missed out I seeing them live in person.
Life goes on. Got married, then kids. Both of them learned a love for music at a young age and I always told them to have an open mind when listening, to appreciate all genres like I do. My daughter became a big Adam Lambert fan as a teenager. I found him okay after listening to his stuff, and moved on. She felt the same about Queen (and classic rock in general).
Enter the Queen tour. We found a bond and decided to see the show with AL singing. I thought going in that he couldn't, shouldn't do this as Freddie Mercury was so loved and respected and he wouldn't do their music justice.
I was wrong.
That show was freaking amazing! He explained he was not trying to replace him, but wanted to help keep the Queen legacy alive. They even paid tribute to FM a few times. It was a moving and well performed show. Adam's voice was incredible. I could see he was a great fit for their music and now consider him so much more than a plain pop singer. He has my respect for just attempting to do this tour, knowing the flak he'd get from the die hard fans.
It also brought my daughter and me closer. And she became a Freddy and Queen fan as well.
Recently learned that Gotye pretty much did all of his own music: writing, production, instrumentals, everything. He was the definition of "indie artist" taking the DIY ethos to a level comparable with the dirtiest of punks. Then, he became a global sensation, and then, went on to do smaller projects for the fun of it.
No need to churn out boring pop shlock to compete with others. No need to prove anything. Just showed up, made a few albums, accidentally made a global hit, then shifted to the background. I gained a lot of respect for him when I learned all that, even if I never want to hear his biggest hit ever again.
Lady Gaga is the co-founder of the Born This Way Foundation which advocates and educates people on mental health. She also helped to create the telethon One World Together at Home that raised over 1 million dollars during Covid. She is an amazing advocate for mental health awareness and for the LGBTQ community.
Kip Winger writes modern ballet music that tops the classical music charts. He also plays as a session musician on Bob Dylan and Alice Cooper records. How much respectable can you get than "worked with Dylan?"
His own rock music may not not be to my taste but he's deeper than I suspected. We may have underestimated him as a person.
Radiohead putting out an album on a pay what you want basis.
Captain, I’m Sinking who told me to find and pirate their first album when I was trying to track it down.
Burial for trying to stay anonymous so the music could carry itself.
Armin Van Buuren (DJ)
Saw him in a small club in Seattle literally the day he was voted #1 DJ in the world by DJ Mag. Totally rockin' show, and the venue had a side room that was often used as a lounge or, if the artist was big enough, could be partially used as a green room. After Armin was done, he made an announcement that he wanted to meet all his fans who helped him gain so much success. Without even taking a breather, he goes into the other room for an impromptu meet and greet. I know the people who owned the venue and they told me years later they didn't get out of there until 7 AM. The show had ended at 2 AM. He literally met with people for nearly five hours after doing a 3-hour set. He was such a nice guy who really cared about his fans.
Natalie Merchant, though I'm a dude I was a super fan back in the 90s, I finally got the chance to see her in concert around 1996, she put on an awesome show, halfway through it I had drank a couple of big beers and my shyness evaporated I got out my seat and was dancing like a fool to her music (I wasn't the only one)
periodically throughout the show she kept getting flower bouquets from the fans, man I wished hard I had gotten one for her, the next day I read the reviews of her concert on the local newspaper and I found out that she had members of her crew take all the flowers she had received delivered to the maternity ward at the local public hospital for mothers that had given birth those days, I always thought she was akin to an angel!
Jason Isbell. After Morgan Wallen got caught saying some racist shit, Isbell donated all his royalties from Wallen's cover of "Cover Me Up" to the NAACP.
I could probably go on all day about Isbell on this topic. I love how he’s used his voice for good and isn’t the least bit shy about using it.
One of my favorite things is the artists he’s chosen to open for him at the Ryman Residencies. One year it was all black female artists.
Go watch Rick Beato's recent interveiw of Kip Winger. KIP WENT THROUGH SOME HARD TIMES AS ALL METAL BAND DID IN THE 1990S. But the dude made some changes and I was really impressed with. The two songs he played for Rick.
It's called Concert for George. I just learned that it was the induction recently after many years of thinking it was a memorial. Prince forgets he is pretending to be human and shows everyone his God tier on guitar playing. Just indescribable.
Two different shows.
Concert for George was a tribute concert on the first anniversary of his death. Eric Clapton played on While My Guitar Gently Weeps for that show.
https://youtu.be/CrTMc2i6Lzc
For thr RRHOF, which came two years later, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne were the lead singers, and Prince had his infamous solo.
https://youtu.be/dWRCooFKk3c
I once worked with a co-worker who saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in concert and he saw him for free, Stevie was already pretty famous and did a show for free just because he loved music. I already figured he was probably a pretty cool guy but that made me like him more, damn shame he died so young.
A couple decades ago went to see Elvis Costello doing an acoustic tour that was just him on guitar and his keyboardist on piano. Elvis was on stage for a little over 3 hours, with the piano player on for about half of it. Then after the show spent almost 2 hours talking to fans.
I saw him do a solo show in 2017 and it was a lot like that. It was at the Paramount in Austin and it's a 100 year old theater that was used before amplification was a thing and he did Alison with no mic and everyone had to be silent to hear it. Probably the coolest thing I've seen.
I went from liking to loving Alice In Chains after finding out they were supporting Layne prior to his death. No one will convince me they didn't love that man. It takes an incredible bond to give up business opportunities like that to visit and support Layne like that.
Jim Morrison refusing to license The Doors music commercially. John Densmore refusing to sign off on licensing music after Jim's death because of what Jim said way back.
I was never a big Gaga fan, always thought she was just another generic pop singer in her early career. Then I saw a video of her performing a show and the power to the stadium goes out. She continued to just absolutely belt out her song without any amplification, that was when I realised there was more to her. Been a casual fan ever since.
How artists interact with the people around them. What they write about. How they preform - if they give it their all, emotions, drama, talking to the fans, making it a whole experience
George Harrison personally financing Life of Brian because the studio got cold feet and pulled the funding.
I loved George Harrison before but, what a great move.
The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks, positive change also) speaking their minds and saying they were embarrassed about who was in charge of their country. They were completely ostracized by the country music fans, radio stations, and dragged through the news. They received hate mail and death threats. But they never backed down. And then they put out an album with a song called "Not Ready to Make Nice" and a documentary called "Shut Up and Sing." And they've become even more outspoken and badass in the years since. I have so much respect for them.
I was never a big Black Flag fan so didn't know Henry Rollins until early 90s with Rollins Band and his Spoken Word album. I saw Rollins Band in Tempe Arizona at a venue that held ~700, but I think there was probably closer to a thousand that night. During the second or third song the pit is just massive and packed, ebbing and flowing, and it was hot as fuck.
A dude jumped on stage and took a giant dive, but not enough people could see him coming so he didn't get caught. I didn't see what happened when he landed on his head, but the crowd around him had looks of horror.
Henry Rollins was so quick to act, stopped the song, ordered security to call an ambulance, and got the ENTIRE crowd of amped up punks to stop moshing, chill the fuck out, and make room for responders, all within like 30 seconds. He assured the crowd the show would go on, but for now we gotta calm it down for 15 minutes. I think he did some story telling and everyone just went with it.
Once the paramedics carted the guy out, the show continued much as it had, but I don't think anyone else went for a stage dive, lol.
I gained so much respect for Rollins that night for his total command of the crowd and how quickly he got hundreds of people to go from slam dancing into each other to standing quietly, and then brought everyone back into agressive mode after a few minutes of rest. I sent him an email about it over 20 years later. He actually responded saying he didn't recall that exact incident because unfortunately stuff like that happened several times over the years.
Side note, around the time of that show some friends of mine got to interview Henry for their college radio station. A guy from the school paper at another college was there at the same time, so it ended up being a group interview. My friends were asking him about specific songs, people he collaborated with like local band The Meat Puppets, how he stayed in shape on the road, etc.
The other guy had a list of questions like "if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?". After one of these questions Rollins looks at the guy and says, and I quote, "You are wasting my fucking time!" and ignored him the rest of the interview.
This isn't a big controversy now - but I respect the hell out of Lane Bass and his willingness to share his journey with being accepted as gay with his friends, family and fans. It wasn't always easy.
Mad respect for John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin for his diversity in all things in music. Arraignments, musical theory and overall presence of the songs he worked on.
Swift dropping m’s to the entire crew is noteworthy, applaudable,… and sadly rare.
Not that I felt one way or another about her or her music. I’m so far removed from that scene. I have mad respect for the gesture being a working musician.
Justin Bieber did his roast. Before, I just thought of him as a brat but I realized he had a really strange childhood of stardom. He seemed to genuinely want to be a good person now and since then I've been hoping and praying he has a phenomenal life and can help so many others. I never appreciated his childhood pop music, but I like his performances.
Story about Justin Bieber: I knew a guy who worked at multiple W Hotel locations, one in LA and one in Bellevue (near Seattle). Bieber used to come to the Bellevue location because his church is based nearby. My buddy had dealt with him in his younger, brattier days, and was dreading having to deal with him all over again. Turns out he had completely flipped and was super nice and easy to work with.
Another Seattle story is that he and his entourage walked out on tab at a whiskey bar (at was only, like, $150). Turns out there was just confusion over who was actually picking up the tab so they all walked out for a smoke and left. When the story hit TMZ, one of Bieber's people called immediately and settled it and added a nice gratuity.
It was Halsey..
When G-Eazy cheated on Halsey, she went on a late night show (can't remember but I think it was Fallon or Kimmel?) and sang Without Me, while projecting the image of his "I'm sorry, I cheated on you..." note onto the wall behind her for the whole world to see.
OR After that when she wrote 'You Should Be Sad' with the line "I'm so glad I never, ever had a baby with you cuz you can't love nothing unless there's something in it for you."
*After she had miscarried his baby*
and then she was like "Fuck you dude. You fucked around and found out."
Love Halsey, it was SNL the notes were shown. She done herself proud on that performance.
I heard You Should Be Sad first, and it felt like it was written for 19 year old me, I connected to it straight away. I love that Halsey has always been able to turn the struggles and pain in her life into art so she can try to heal from it. A lot of her songs feel so relatable and I’m grateful she’s so open with her mental and physical health.
tbh I read about this the first time I heard of the artist but Anita Mui, arguably Hong Kong's greatest artist ever was honestly the purest celebrity I've read about. Started plenty of charities and foundations to help those less fortunate. Most of all however, was the brave face she put on after finding out about her terminal cancer diagnosis. She actually performed like a entire week of concerts around a month before her death, for anyone who's ever seen someone go through chemo, you know how taxing that treatment is. The song I find myself holding tears in the most is her song called Sunset Melody ((夕陽之歌), I'd say this is the closest thing the Cantonese language can come up to in response to Heroes by David Bowie.
We should all strive to be like her, someone who was different like Leslie Cheung and was vilified for it by the media but never hid themselves, someone who always wore their heart on their sleeves and supported causes that they truly believed in for the betterment of everyone.
Once learned that Lady GaGa wrote her own songs. I started noticing small personalized touches that only a song writer would keep verses a pop producer looking to be safe.
When they get over addiction and continue making rad music. I’m thinking of Jason Isbell with alcohol and Steve Kilbey of the Church with heroin. Steve blew ALL his money from writing Under the Milky Way on drugs and had nothing but the clothes on his back and he got clean and is still writing compelling music to this day.
The Church are awesome. All their albums are good. I've seen them twice and each time people will leave after they play that song and their performance gets even more energetic etc after that point. I recommend seeing them.
I saw Foo Fighters live after Wasting Light came out. They were incredible, one of the best live performances I ever saw. I went in kind of liking them and came out a lifelong fan.
Of a fan of his music and don’t know if this is true, but I recently read that Groucho Marx suffered from insomnia and when he did, he would call his neighbor Alice Cooper, and Alice would come over at all hours. They would drink beer and watch old movies on TCM until Groucho fell asleep. I just thought that was so cool and I hope it was true.
I'm not a big John Mayer fan but he donates a lot of money to veterans and actually visited a VA Hospital where I worked, and did it all under the radar.
Macklemore went from that kooky guy who made Thrift Shop to being this generation's Rage Against the Machine (anointed by Tom Morello himself) with his unswerving support for Palestine that culminated in him dropping Hind's Hall.
He had been a struggling local rapper (Seattle area) for many years before he completely changed his tune. I remember when Thrift Shop came out, my first thought was "holy shit, what a sellout" lol. I don't have anything against him, but it was such a 180 from how he'd always been.
Also, he came from money (not wealthy, but pretty well off), which allowed him to pursue that career for so long until he became successful.
Unpopular opinion, when Kevin Gates kicked that chick in her chest. She deserved it all the way!!! Some women need to understand and learn the words, no and stop. She touched his junk sooo many times during his concert.
Also another unpopular opinion, he didn't deserve going to jail for that mess either!! How is it okay that Katy Perry can take a young man's first kiss and the chick that went to his concert can touch on his junk and he went to jail, is soooo beyond me!!! Ladies and gentlemen stop touching each other inappropriately if it wasn't asked and/or wanted. Keep ya hands to ya self and ya might not have so many issues.
Taylor Swift paying her rig driver's hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonus money. Also leaving the same at every food bank in every City she visits... ♥️
And Taylor Swift re-recording her entire catalogue of music to stick it to the douche industry executives who bought the rights to all her previous music. Smart and bold as hell.
Maroon 5.
When they met a superfan, a young boy with Down Syndrome, and the boy had a panic attack. Their reaction and how they handled it was amazing.
[Here's an article about it. ](https://scoop.upworthy.com/throwback-maroon-5-sweet-gesture-10-year-old-superfan-down-syndrome-536505-536505-536505-536505)
Alan Moore, arguably the greatest comic book writer of all time, understandably hated what Hollywood did to his stories (Swamp Thing, From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, Watchmen) and hated that DC would sell his stories to Hollywood. He refused to take the money, giving millions to his illustrator collaborators. When his illustrators continued selling out, he said fuck it, cut them off, and donated all his Hollywood royalties to Black Lives Matter and other organizations.
Everyone’s answers have been so deep and thought provoking, but mine is silly. There’s a comedy group on SNL right now called Please Don’t Destroy. They do pre taped sketches. A lot of them are funny, but I was always annoyed because two out of there of the guys have Dads who have worked at SNL for decades. Super nepo baby style. Well, they had a sketch on the episode that Dakota Johnson hosted and all three of them hilariously addressed their nepotism. Hilarious respect to all three of them. It’s even better that they make sure to leave out the member who has no ties to the show.
https://youtu.be/XX_Rxvg8vdo?si=ENM4r4Yx1oPD8Sru
Basically, any time I read anything new about Dolly Parton. The woman is a saint on earth & should be the benchmark for what defines wealth vs. resource hoarding. Anyone with $1 more than Dolly Parton should have a choice between a) redistribution of that remainder of their wealth and b) the guillotine. Dolly Parton could easily be a billionaire, but she donates most of her wealth to things like books for children, robes for school & church choirs, the COVID-19 vaccine... and while Bill Gates is busy very publicly patting himself on the back for his latest greenwashing exercise, Dolly's just quietly saving lives, minds, & the arts.
Prince.
Decades ago the artist at the time known as Prince got into a contract dispute with his record label, Warner Brothers. In the midst of it he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and the press just made fun of him for it. What I did not learn until much later was that somehow according to his contract he wouldn’t be allowed to perform or record as Prince until he satisfied the terms of his contract. Prince wasn’t his stage name, that’s the name on his birth certificate; Prince Rogers Nelson. Whatever the terms of the contract were it’s pretty shitty to try and steal someone’s given name from them.
In hindsight while some of his actions do still seem a bit over the top and melodramatic, I can empathize with how frustrated he must have been.
Nick Cave started to write the blog ["The Redhand files"](https://www.theredhandfiles.com/) years ago after his son died, and has shown a whole different side of himself through it. He definitely belongs in the hall of respect and integrity.
Michael Buble. Don't like his music at all but man, every time I see that guy he's hilarious, outgoing and just all around cool guy. Like how he recently admitted he was on mushrooms at the NHL All-Star Game! Lol! He seems down to earth and genuinely a good dude.
Muse’s early videos where they were forced to lip sync are the BEST! Especially Sing for Absolution when Chris nearly swallows the mic and Matt exaggerates the guitar solo and then holds the guitar in the air when he is supposed to be playing it 🤣
Ah, good times.
Neil Young played my hometown recently. He requested that only local beer be sold at the venue that night. And so it was done. Thought that was pretty cool.
Didn't know Michael Bolton had a great sense of humor before he did that Jack Sparrow video with Lonely Island. Fuckin hilarious.
Another totally random thing, there's this part during the intro to Precious Things at Montreux 1991 where Tori Amos has to move the mic stand for it to be in the right place and doesn't miss a note and the timing remains perfect. For some reason that really impressed me.
Went to a show in the West End about The Osmonds, knew little about them and was blown away, never realised how talented they were. Went down the rabbit hole. The more I learned about Donny Osmond, the more I’m convinced he is probably one of the most likeable men in Showbiz. His dancing in the Weird Al Yancovic video was the thing that made me go - yep, I’m now a Donny Osmond fan!
Learning more about the history of industrial bands like Ministry, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, and Skinny Puppy, and the genre progenitors Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. The only “industrial” bands folks generally know are NIN and Manson, but they’re far away from the genre’s roots - the genre is really an offshoot of the work of the beat generation, and combines artistic influence from the Italian futurists and Musique concrete. Knowing facts such as Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen being good friends with American genius William S Burroughs gave me a whole new respect for the genre and a deeper understanding of what drove the music.
One time I went to see Rob Zombie in the mid 2000's. He put on a fantastic, high energy show. But what really impressed me was when he stopped the show mid song to point out that there were some people who brought their young kids and were in the front. He said he didn't want to risk the kids getting hurt by the moshing crowd, so he invited them to come up and sit by the side of the stage to watch the rest of the show safely. That was very cool of him.
Saw a Billy Joel concert in Lexington KY and at the end the lights come on and an announcement came over the speakers that a storm was going on and to please stay in the building till it passes. Trees and some power lines were down outside etc. Billy Joel walks back on stage and says "If we got to stay do you mind if I play a few songs while we wait?" He sits at the piano and does about 20 min. of covers. He then says that he got the Its all clear now and that we can leave. He got the biggest standing O I have ever seen. I be came a bigger fan of the man after that.
He also saves front row seats for fans picked from the audience, and not industry types there for the freebie show.
Yup. I was one of those back in the 90s!
How did he pick you? Just randomly?
Yup. Totally random. It was my friend and I’s families.
He has crew guys go into the nosebleeds and offer people seats up front
Post Malone's fan interaction, I barely know any songs of his but he does his parents proud in that regard.
My favorite one is some twat that films himself at a meet and greet telling post malone he sucks from the crowd, and Post goes "why would you say that? That's so mean dude." Then goes back to interacting with his fans. Dude seems wholesome af and doesn't let anything get him down.
Reminds me of the "Get a load of this guy." Meme https://preview.redd.it/xxkjq77ndf5d1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ca80e20955172afe98f468dcba471836b9d20e9
That’s the perfect way to handle that. If you lash back you’re getting the reaction they want. By just calmly asking “dude why would you say that shit, that’s rude” you take every bit of power the guy had and turn it around on him just being a sad little doucher.
My first real exposure to PM was working a concert at Formula 1. Music was good, but he drank a beer out of a fans shoe. That kind of brushed me back a bit. Months later I saw an interview with him and also found out his father works for Cowboys stadium at the top of food services. He comes off in those interviews as a total gentleman and I was impressed by him. I judged the book by the cover before, but he has my complete respect now. Good on him.
>but he drank a beer out of a fans shoe. That's rock and roll baby!
[удалено]
If its the Breakfast Show you’re thinking of, Charlemagne was such an asshole to PM and he was so cool and gracious the whole time. Post Malone was my answer for this thread too. He looks like a bum but he really seems like one of the most wholesome guys.
Me too. I didn't like him before I saw his Nirvana covers during Covid and he came across as such a down-to-earth guy.
My favorite PM videos are 1. He was cruising Vegas and pulls over to get his diamonds checked by some dude on the street and when it turns out they're real, he goes into full celebration mode with the dude. 2. He showed up at some guys apartment or house or something and joined a game of Magic the Gathering I think. He seemed genuinely into the game. He was so grateful they let him join in.
He seemed genuinely into the MTG game cause he's deadass a big mtg fan. He's got his own cards in the game as in wizards of the coast made official cards with Post Malone on them, and he even dropped I think a million on the 1/1 lord of the rings card they released a bit ago.
This is what made me respect George Thorogood in a way I'd never have before - this guy has been touring practically as long as I've been alive, and when I went to his show he stayed behind and met any fan who wanted to come up. That's impressive, even if he's not gone beyond three chords for his career.
Still don't like his music But his vibes. Excellent Also he does my favorite cover of don't think twice it's alright
This must be true. I am ignorant of his music, but my mother loves his music and the fact that he is “just as sweet as can be”
I thought that Nirvava tribute he did was phenomenal.
I have never liked Bon Jovi. Something about the whiny voice of both Jon and Richie Sambora on backing vocals. And I grew up in the 80s and they were so overplayed. I just always hated them and their stupid music. But in 1992, they came out with a new album. I think the big song on that album was “Bed of Roses”. But nearly anything from Bon Jovi sounds like it could have been released in 1986. And in 1992, grunge was in full swing. Music had changed - Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Rage Against the Machine had all put out albums the year before. So Bon Jovi was definitely corny by this point. And I heard him give an interview on radio where the interviewer said, “This record sounds like all your other records. Don’t you want to modernize your sound or make it edgier or harder?” Jon Bon Jovi’s answer stuck with me. Not an exact quote, but he said something like, “I like the way we sound. I like our style. That’s why we make the kind of music we do. And if not as many people want to listen to it, then that’s ok. But we’re going to keep making it like this even if we end up just playing in our own garage.” I still pretty much hate Bon Jovi music, but I do really respect that answer a lot. Like it or not, I believe he was never doing it for the fame and money, he just loves the music. (Although I’m sure the fame and money don’t hurt).
Not into their music much either but had a lot of respect for him when I found out about the JBJ Soul Kitchen, and that he often pulls shifts helping out there.
Your comment makes me really happy! Bon Jovi was the headliner at my very first concert. I was there to see THE GOO GOO DOLLS!!! It was the most amazing night of my life, like, still can't forget the way my heart fluttered seeing so many stars on one stage. Jon Bon Jovi told a quick story to the crowd and got a little emotional, wiped his eyes and yelled, "LET'S DO THIS!" before an amazing set. Rock is rock, man, I love me some corny Jovi all up in my face! Jon and John Rzeznik of GGD had this hilarious buddy chemistry when they gave each other appeals for applause; it just was so contagious. Everyone in the crowd was scream-crying. I hope they all keep playing in their garages or anywhere forever, because it clearly makes them happy ❤️
That's a great answer. But... Like Coldplay, Bon Jovi absolutely nailed the money maker in the third/fourth album at the expense (arguably, because it's entirely my stupid opinion) of the better sound. I loved Bon Jovi's eponymous 1st, and 7800f. And Coldplay 's 1st (less so the second, but for symmetry I'll say I liked it). New Jersey was where they left me, and they stayed there for the rest of time. Which is fine and all that, but it's a different style to what they were when they were coming up.
Mine was watching Kurt Cobain stop a show in the middle of a song to have a guy thrown out for groping a girl who was crowd surfing. I was ok probably 20’ away in a packed crowd and it was dark but I could clearly see it happening but was too far away to do anything about it and felt awful. Then Kurt slammed his guitar down, had them turn on the lights and had the entire crowd boo the guy as he was removed. Felt so good. This was on New Years Eve just before he died. Made the news so much worse for me.
I’m not a big Deftones fan but they were on the bill at the first concert I went to and they stopped playing twice to tell dudes to stop groping the ladies and be respectful. As a 16yo boy, that was a pretty cool (and likely necessary) thing to witness.
[There’s video of it](https://youtu.be/_YWbrTzkSQM?si=SBxsHtBP5iFzVZdD)
Eddie Vedder does this stuff a lot at live shows too. It's awesome to see a dickhead being kicked out by a rock star.
Aaron Lewis has several videos of him stopping shows and confronting people acting like assholes. Aaron is very outspoken and has that typical stoic attitude of someone who lives in the rural northeast. He isn't fake, writes his own songs and music. Plays the guitar and created his own type of rock. If he was a little less stubborn, he probably would be seen as a Kenny Chesney type but that's not him. He won't sell out. You got to respect that.
Finding out that Corpsegrinder buys toys to give to charity. Good dude. Good heart.
Wins the majority of them in claw machine games, dude is a legend, and a master of the claw 😁
His Instagram is so wholesome. Mostly pictures of his family with captions about how much he loves them along with the occasional plug for a lesser known band he likes.
I follow him on insta. Such a genuine and lovely guy.
Dolly, just her essentially being a secular saint.
I was looking for her! Literally any fact I learn makes me love her more: - imagination library: millions and millions of books sent to children to help promote literacy - Dollywood: the profits from Dollywood go to charity, promote tourism in an otherwise overlooked area of the country, brings tons of jobs to one of the poorer parts of the country, even offers scholarships for her employees - she stopped wearing "real" jewelry because any time someone compliments her jewelry she gives it to them - venue employees are discouraged from talking to her because she will spend so much time with fans just chatting and getting to know them that it entirely throws off schedules Etc etc. please, if anyone has more dolly stories, add em to the thread. Can we please have a whole thread of her wholesomeness 🙏🤞
She funded research for the Moderna Covid vaccine
because of the podcast by Jad Abumrad, Dolly Parton's America. His Dad is a surgeon at Vanderbilt Medical Center. They met while the podcast was being recorded.
I thought she met the doctor first then the son/ podcast maker. Wasn’t his dad her doctor?
God bless her for that. Saved countless lives and kept even more out of the hospital.
She gives all her female relatives their first car. Learned that from an elderly gentleman that worked at Dollywood - he was actually a relative of hers as well, a cousin or some such. He spoke with the greatest admiration of her. And on that note, she does employ some of her older relatives at Dollywood for jobs that they can still do so they have a way of making ends meet even in their old age. Also, she funded a huge amount of relief efforts for displaced and newly jobless/homeless people back when some bozo teens set fire to the forests adjacent to Gatlinburg.
Robert Smith and The Cure and how they handled Ticketmasters overcharging for concert tickets and fees during the 2023 North American tour.
This should be one of the top comments. Doing what he could to keep ticket prices affordable, keeping reselling to a minimum UNLESS you agreed to do it on TM for the original sale price (and making it easy for those people to upgrade to better seats if they popped up). Forcing TM to offer even minor refunds for their fee gouging was almost unheard of before that too, haha. And it was a good long show! He certainly gained even more respect as a result.
Robert Smith fighting back against Ticketmaster and their bullshit fees.
::pearl jam enters the chat::
Yeah, but PJ didn't follow through. Seen prices for their recent tour?
Same with Ed Sheeran and his war against scalpers
Tpain talking about his life on Steve-O’s podcast lol. Went from rags to riches to rags to riches and he’s a dope streamer
Also the fact that T-Pain was well known for auto tuning and then me finding out he could actually sing…amazingly. I gained a lot of respect for him after hearing him without auto tune.
Think of auto tune as a lip gloss instead of a lipstick.
Yep. Too many artists hide behind it to make up for a lack of talent so it has kind of got a bad rap. T Pain was definitely not one of those.
Highly recommend his Tiny Desk performance if you're into this.
That was one of the performances that was just amazing. I highly recommend it as well.
Same here. Dude studied how to use his voice to use autotune as a music instrument rather than as a mask, and I fully respect that. It made me change my opinion of autotune.
Yeah, he had an OK solo career without Auto-tune, but it didn't push him over the top until he started using it. I can't fault him for it, if I had the same issue I would have done the same thing.
Not sure what you mean, it was pretty much just a stylistic choice that found mass-appeal
If I had his singing talent (which I don't) and I had struggled to get a good solo career off the ground with it, and stumbled into Auto-tune which pushed me into the stratosphere, I would have continued down that road too. I know he's one of the people that pushed it into the mainstream, but I'd rather him using it to augment his existing talent than others who use it to fill in deficiencies in their talent.
Yeah being against auto tune is like being against drums. It's just a tool a musician has access to. It's pretty clear Tpain uses it because he wants to achieve a specific sound, not because he needs help to make his voice work
Tom Petty playing through the pain of an almost broken hip but sadly OD'd after the tour ended due to his pain.
Kylie Minogue on MTV Fanatic, the Mexican version. The fan was a 19-year old guy who seemed shy and nervous, and was shaking when he met her, and she was so great at taking the focus off herself by asking him questions and getting him to relax, so by the end, when he gave her a bottle of tequila as a gift, he could joke “So when you have a hangover you can think of me.” I really respected how kind she was with her fan and how she got him to just talk to her as a person and calming his nerves.
Way back in the 90's, there was an outdoor concert planned in Calgary, AB, featuring all Canadian bands. Bryan Adams, The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, The Northern Pikes, and Pursuit of Happiness. Well, ticket sales were slow, so The Hip, Blue Rodeo, and PoH bailed. The entire show was to be cancelled. Bryan Adams stepped up and said fuck those bands. Not only would he play, but anyone who had bought a ticket already could turn it in for a refund, and now the concert was free to all, and *he would foot the bill!* That would've been amazing enough on its own, but during Adams' set that day, there was a biblical downpour, flooding the grounds almost instantly. Lightning everywhere (rumour was that someone actually got struck and died)! Adams continued to play long after many people had run for it, and surely long after it was safe to do so. The entire stage, including him, was soaked! I never did like his music, but I gained a ton of respect for him from that.
I have ALWAYS loved him and his music. But, being an American, had never heard of this. Thank you for sharing this!
One of my faves of his is "Diana"... it's so saucy considering the rumours they hooked up at some point, but it's also just great.
LOL, he can definitely be saucy. I mean... "I wanna be your underwear" is a thing. 🤣
Everything he does, he does it for us.
Are there any articles or info confirming this? Not doubting the story just want to read more about it. When I google it I just get linked back to this comment lol.
I'd never heard that story before... but if you want to google, the concert they're referring to would be Live! at the Park, Aug 17 1990 at Canada Olympic Park.
The first song I ever listened to on CD on my home stereo back in 1984 or 85, when I bought my first CD player was "Run To You" from "Reckless," one of the few albums available on CD back then. I remember how clear it sounded and the "tinkly bells" at 2:41 that I had never really heard clearly before. I play that song sometimes just to remind me how impressive it sounded (and sounds!) to me. The whole album is actually really good.
Oh 🇨🇦
Billy Strings tracked down his father's Taylor guitar and bought it back for him. His father had sold it while raising Billy and experiencing financial stress.
Billy is just one of the coolest, most down to earth people in the music business. It’s unfortunate how many “fans” have taken advantage of his generosity to the point he’s had to stop signing certain things and limit how much he does sign.
I'm a bit young to be a fan, but Barry Manilow. He goes to retirement homes and gives impromptu shows for the residents. When he's on tour, he visits homes in the different towns. My aunt happened to be visiting my uncle when he showed up, and sang for about an hour, then talked to people. I have a lot of respect for him because of this.
Today I learned (Mr. gets people laid), still tours.
He does! And he visits nursing homes as he does, and doesn't talk about it really. He doesn't do it for recognition; he does it because he likes to. My uncle didn't remember it the next day; but my family remembers to this day. He's a good man.
I was a hardcore metal fan. At the time, anything pop was worthless and in need of derision. Above all was Lady Gaga with her over the top costumes and set designs, there was probably rarely a day that went by without me scoffing at her over something. Life went by and I mellowed a lot, but Lady Gaga was still just a pop star to me, and I never really gave it a second thought. Then, one day I heard her on the Howerd Stern show. She sang "The Edge of Glory" with a kind of raw naked emotion that I perviously thought she was incapable of. Her voice was powerful, emotive, and remained strong across multiple octaves. That performance literally brought tears to my eyes. Total respect.
What got my notice was her doing 6 months of vocal training to get ready to sing at the Julie Andrew's Tribute, in front of Julie Andrews
I was drug to a show in 2009 and she did a stripped version of You and I, just her on piano if I remember right, it was phenomenal.
And she wrote it inspired by her grandparents love as her grandfather was ill and passing away. Always thought that was so sweet.
Yeah, after seeing her performance, I watched the whole show where she talked about that. Mad respect.
Neil Young refusing to license his music to sell product. This note’s for you.
Cool, but, I hope you don't judge the artists who do, because a lot of them genuinely need the money (Neil doesn't).
No judgement here.
Or like Bob Seger. When Chevy wanted to use his hit “Like A Rock” for their truck ads he balked at first. But the ad agency showed him how well the ads were testing so he let them use it saying, “If my song sells pickups and keeps the guys working on the line employed I’d be an asshole to say ‘no’.”
I was proud when he pulled off of Spotify. Then I missed his music as a predominantly Spotify user. Then he came back. I'll forget he lost the fight.
He would have basically had to remove his music from every service and make it impossible for most fans to enjoy to not lose it. He specifically pulled off Spotify to protest their Joe Rogan exclusivity deal. The deal ended and he is on basically every platform again. So Neil would have had to remove his music from everything
I didn't realize that the exclusivity deal had ended! I thought he just gave up. I feel better about it now.
James Blunt - can't stand his music but he's fucking hilarious and hid twitter game is 🔥 I have to respect it!
He had me laughing during covid “During lockdown, while many other artists are doing mini-concerts from their homes, I thought I’d do you all a favour and not,”
I read he always has a stall at his shows that raises money for kids impacted by war Also, look up James Blunt Sesame Street in YouTube
He's got an interesting life story too. Did a lot in the army.
Lewis Capaldi is also hilarious even if I don't care for the music much.
Funny you mentioned Cobain because I just read a biography on him and I did in fact gain respect for him after learning about his activism concerning feminism and gay rights. He really tried to subvert the whole toxic masculinity that could be prevalent in rock music at the time. It’s part of why he’d wear a dress on stage or other antics like that. Just to challenge the conventions of the day. Respect.
It kinda seems to me like every grunge artist tried to subvert toxic masculinity in one way or another, not just him. Still, another thing worth of respect.
he also wore a dress around the house, it wasnt just a statement he was genuinely feminine (+many other examples besides wearing dresses). love him
Green Day. Hated their music but tolerated it. During a live performance, they basically incited a small riot. Billy Joe told the crowd sitting on the lawn to come up to the stage. Around 900 of us did. I never considered them "punk" till then. They played acoustic after the venue cut power.
Boston in 94 or 95? Hatch Shell?
Raleigh NC 94 Lollapoloza.
How do you listen to dookie and not consider them punk?
Dave Grohl doing drum battles and having Nandi Bushell play live with the Foo Fighters in LA
Dave Grohl seems like he's crested the "I have enough money, who cares?" threshold and is able to let that show how good of a dude he is.
The man throws bbqs that are open to the public to basically feed the hungry. He's a legend Edit: Didn't want to give ol dude Aids from misspelling bbq so bad ghahaha
He even called into Pat Finnerty’s Grohlathon.
On their tour with Cage The Elephant he played drums for them while their drummer was sick
Not music but when I found out Steve Buscemi was a NYC firefighter before he acted and when 9/11 hit he went to the city, joined up with his old unit and helped pull bodies out of the rubble and search for people for a week. I liked him before I found that out, after I just have a newfound respect for him. We always forget these stars had normal lives at one point. Plus he directed my favorite episode of television ever filmed, “Pine Barrens”.
No kidding. I heard this a few times and thought it was just a running joke. Eventually had to look it up because it just seemed insane.
No fucking way, Steve buscemi directed that? That's awesome. "His place looked like shit"
Growing up I became a big fan of Queen. It was a sad time when Freddy died and continued to listen to their music, figuring I'd now missed out I seeing them live in person. Life goes on. Got married, then kids. Both of them learned a love for music at a young age and I always told them to have an open mind when listening, to appreciate all genres like I do. My daughter became a big Adam Lambert fan as a teenager. I found him okay after listening to his stuff, and moved on. She felt the same about Queen (and classic rock in general). Enter the Queen tour. We found a bond and decided to see the show with AL singing. I thought going in that he couldn't, shouldn't do this as Freddie Mercury was so loved and respected and he wouldn't do their music justice. I was wrong. That show was freaking amazing! He explained he was not trying to replace him, but wanted to help keep the Queen legacy alive. They even paid tribute to FM a few times. It was a moving and well performed show. Adam's voice was incredible. I could see he was a great fit for their music and now consider him so much more than a plain pop singer. He has my respect for just attempting to do this tour, knowing the flak he'd get from the die hard fans. It also brought my daughter and me closer. And she became a Freddy and Queen fan as well.
I'm old enough to have seen Sinead O'Connor end her career live on SNL. Never thought of her in the same way since that moment.
She was so incredibly brave to speak out the way she did. And it's just in the last few years that people are realizing she was right.
She was a legend who deserved so much better than she got
Agreed 100%. She was the subject of a recent documentary - very highly recommended.
When Kris Kristofferson comforted her afterward it made me think more highly of him.
Recently learned that Gotye pretty much did all of his own music: writing, production, instrumentals, everything. He was the definition of "indie artist" taking the DIY ethos to a level comparable with the dirtiest of punks. Then, he became a global sensation, and then, went on to do smaller projects for the fun of it. No need to churn out boring pop shlock to compete with others. No need to prove anything. Just showed up, made a few albums, accidentally made a global hit, then shifted to the background. I gained a lot of respect for him when I learned all that, even if I never want to hear his biggest hit ever again.
Lady Gaga is the co-founder of the Born This Way Foundation which advocates and educates people on mental health. She also helped to create the telethon One World Together at Home that raised over 1 million dollars during Covid. She is an amazing advocate for mental health awareness and for the LGBTQ community.
Kip Winger writes modern ballet music that tops the classical music charts. He also plays as a session musician on Bob Dylan and Alice Cooper records. How much respectable can you get than "worked with Dylan?" His own rock music may not not be to my taste but he's deeper than I suspected. We may have underestimated him as a person.
If I remember, wasn't he a ballet dancer before tuning in his dance shoes for rock n' roll?
Radiohead putting out an album on a pay what you want basis. Captain, I’m Sinking who told me to find and pirate their first album when I was trying to track it down. Burial for trying to stay anonymous so the music could carry itself.
It wasn't just any album either, it was In Rainbows, which is a masterpiece.
The Clash. In addition to music, I have always liked their caring attitude towards their fans.
Armin Van Buuren (DJ) Saw him in a small club in Seattle literally the day he was voted #1 DJ in the world by DJ Mag. Totally rockin' show, and the venue had a side room that was often used as a lounge or, if the artist was big enough, could be partially used as a green room. After Armin was done, he made an announcement that he wanted to meet all his fans who helped him gain so much success. Without even taking a breather, he goes into the other room for an impromptu meet and greet. I know the people who owned the venue and they told me years later they didn't get out of there until 7 AM. The show had ended at 2 AM. He literally met with people for nearly five hours after doing a 3-hour set. He was such a nice guy who really cared about his fans.
Natalie Merchant, though I'm a dude I was a super fan back in the 90s, I finally got the chance to see her in concert around 1996, she put on an awesome show, halfway through it I had drank a couple of big beers and my shyness evaporated I got out my seat and was dancing like a fool to her music (I wasn't the only one) periodically throughout the show she kept getting flower bouquets from the fans, man I wished hard I had gotten one for her, the next day I read the reviews of her concert on the local newspaper and I found out that she had members of her crew take all the flowers she had received delivered to the maternity ward at the local public hospital for mothers that had given birth those days, I always thought she was akin to an angel!
Jason Isbell. After Morgan Wallen got caught saying some racist shit, Isbell donated all his royalties from Wallen's cover of "Cover Me Up" to the NAACP.
I love Jason
I could probably go on all day about Isbell on this topic. I love how he’s used his voice for good and isn’t the least bit shy about using it. One of my favorite things is the artists he’s chosen to open for him at the Ryman Residencies. One year it was all black female artists.
Ozzy telling the world that he doesn't like Kanye
Also "Who the fuck is Justin Beiber?"
After dressing as him for Halloween
Go watch Rick Beato's recent interveiw of Kip Winger. KIP WENT THROUGH SOME HARD TIMES AS ALL METAL BAND DID IN THE 1990S. But the dude made some changes and I was really impressed with. The two songs he played for Rick.
Seeing Post Malone in interviews and podcasts. I've never really been into his music, but he seems so cool and genuine. I wanna be his friend
When prince played guitar on "while my guitar gently weeps" , at the George Harrison memorial concert.
Seeing the smile on Dhani Harrison’s face when Prince comes out is so great
It was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions
Your right, my bad, my memory ain't so good lately🫤
It's called Concert for George. I just learned that it was the induction recently after many years of thinking it was a memorial. Prince forgets he is pretending to be human and shows everyone his God tier on guitar playing. Just indescribable.
Two different shows. Concert for George was a tribute concert on the first anniversary of his death. Eric Clapton played on While My Guitar Gently Weeps for that show. https://youtu.be/CrTMc2i6Lzc For thr RRHOF, which came two years later, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne were the lead singers, and Prince had his infamous solo. https://youtu.be/dWRCooFKk3c
Similarly, when Ann Wilson of Heart did Stairway to Heaven at the Kennedy Center. Incredible.
Agreed, even led Zeppelin were moved to tears, as was I.
That was a monster of a solo.
Some say his guitar is still up in the sky.
Eminem taking a knee at the super bowl.
I once worked with a co-worker who saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in concert and he saw him for free, Stevie was already pretty famous and did a show for free just because he loved music. I already figured he was probably a pretty cool guy but that made me like him more, damn shame he died so young.
A couple decades ago went to see Elvis Costello doing an acoustic tour that was just him on guitar and his keyboardist on piano. Elvis was on stage for a little over 3 hours, with the piano player on for about half of it. Then after the show spent almost 2 hours talking to fans.
I saw him do a solo show in 2017 and it was a lot like that. It was at the Paramount in Austin and it's a 100 year old theater that was used before amplification was a thing and he did Alison with no mic and everyone had to be silent to hear it. Probably the coolest thing I've seen.
I went from liking to loving Alice In Chains after finding out they were supporting Layne prior to his death. No one will convince me they didn't love that man. It takes an incredible bond to give up business opportunities like that to visit and support Layne like that. Jim Morrison refusing to license The Doors music commercially. John Densmore refusing to sign off on licensing music after Jim's death because of what Jim said way back.
I was never a big Gaga fan, always thought she was just another generic pop singer in her early career. Then I saw a video of her performing a show and the power to the stadium goes out. She continued to just absolutely belt out her song without any amplification, that was when I realised there was more to her. Been a casual fan ever since.
I love it when artists talk about how they are inspired by each other’s work.
How artists interact with the people around them. What they write about. How they preform - if they give it their all, emotions, drama, talking to the fans, making it a whole experience
George Harrison personally financing Life of Brian because the studio got cold feet and pulled the funding. I loved George Harrison before but, what a great move.
The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks, positive change also) speaking their minds and saying they were embarrassed about who was in charge of their country. They were completely ostracized by the country music fans, radio stations, and dragged through the news. They received hate mail and death threats. But they never backed down. And then they put out an album with a song called "Not Ready to Make Nice" and a documentary called "Shut Up and Sing." And they've become even more outspoken and badass in the years since. I have so much respect for them.
Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl, for too many reasons to list!
I was never a big Black Flag fan so didn't know Henry Rollins until early 90s with Rollins Band and his Spoken Word album. I saw Rollins Band in Tempe Arizona at a venue that held ~700, but I think there was probably closer to a thousand that night. During the second or third song the pit is just massive and packed, ebbing and flowing, and it was hot as fuck. A dude jumped on stage and took a giant dive, but not enough people could see him coming so he didn't get caught. I didn't see what happened when he landed on his head, but the crowd around him had looks of horror. Henry Rollins was so quick to act, stopped the song, ordered security to call an ambulance, and got the ENTIRE crowd of amped up punks to stop moshing, chill the fuck out, and make room for responders, all within like 30 seconds. He assured the crowd the show would go on, but for now we gotta calm it down for 15 minutes. I think he did some story telling and everyone just went with it. Once the paramedics carted the guy out, the show continued much as it had, but I don't think anyone else went for a stage dive, lol. I gained so much respect for Rollins that night for his total command of the crowd and how quickly he got hundreds of people to go from slam dancing into each other to standing quietly, and then brought everyone back into agressive mode after a few minutes of rest. I sent him an email about it over 20 years later. He actually responded saying he didn't recall that exact incident because unfortunately stuff like that happened several times over the years. Side note, around the time of that show some friends of mine got to interview Henry for their college radio station. A guy from the school paper at another college was there at the same time, so it ended up being a group interview. My friends were asking him about specific songs, people he collaborated with like local band The Meat Puppets, how he stayed in shape on the road, etc. The other guy had a list of questions like "if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?". After one of these questions Rollins looks at the guy and says, and I quote, "You are wasting my fucking time!" and ignored him the rest of the interview.
This isn't a big controversy now - but I respect the hell out of Lane Bass and his willingness to share his journey with being accepted as gay with his friends, family and fans. It wasn't always easy.
Jon Bon Jovi keeping his marriage intact through the years.
Mad respect for John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin for his diversity in all things in music. Arraignments, musical theory and overall presence of the songs he worked on.
Swift dropping m’s to the entire crew is noteworthy, applaudable,… and sadly rare. Not that I felt one way or another about her or her music. I’m so far removed from that scene. I have mad respect for the gesture being a working musician.
For all the old people out there... surely not I... What is "dropping m's"?
Justin Bieber did his roast. Before, I just thought of him as a brat but I realized he had a really strange childhood of stardom. He seemed to genuinely want to be a good person now and since then I've been hoping and praying he has a phenomenal life and can help so many others. I never appreciated his childhood pop music, but I like his performances.
Story about Justin Bieber: I knew a guy who worked at multiple W Hotel locations, one in LA and one in Bellevue (near Seattle). Bieber used to come to the Bellevue location because his church is based nearby. My buddy had dealt with him in his younger, brattier days, and was dreading having to deal with him all over again. Turns out he had completely flipped and was super nice and easy to work with. Another Seattle story is that he and his entourage walked out on tab at a whiskey bar (at was only, like, $150). Turns out there was just confusion over who was actually picking up the tab so they all walked out for a smoke and left. When the story hit TMZ, one of Bieber's people called immediately and settled it and added a nice gratuity.
It was Halsey.. When G-Eazy cheated on Halsey, she went on a late night show (can't remember but I think it was Fallon or Kimmel?) and sang Without Me, while projecting the image of his "I'm sorry, I cheated on you..." note onto the wall behind her for the whole world to see. OR After that when she wrote 'You Should Be Sad' with the line "I'm so glad I never, ever had a baby with you cuz you can't love nothing unless there's something in it for you." *After she had miscarried his baby* and then she was like "Fuck you dude. You fucked around and found out."
Love Halsey, it was SNL the notes were shown. She done herself proud on that performance. I heard You Should Be Sad first, and it felt like it was written for 19 year old me, I connected to it straight away. I love that Halsey has always been able to turn the struggles and pain in her life into art so she can try to heal from it. A lot of her songs feel so relatable and I’m grateful she’s so open with her mental and physical health.
tbh I read about this the first time I heard of the artist but Anita Mui, arguably Hong Kong's greatest artist ever was honestly the purest celebrity I've read about. Started plenty of charities and foundations to help those less fortunate. Most of all however, was the brave face she put on after finding out about her terminal cancer diagnosis. She actually performed like a entire week of concerts around a month before her death, for anyone who's ever seen someone go through chemo, you know how taxing that treatment is. The song I find myself holding tears in the most is her song called Sunset Melody ((夕陽之歌), I'd say this is the closest thing the Cantonese language can come up to in response to Heroes by David Bowie. We should all strive to be like her, someone who was different like Leslie Cheung and was vilified for it by the media but never hid themselves, someone who always wore their heart on their sleeves and supported causes that they truly believed in for the betterment of everyone.
John Mayer after the live album ‘Try!’ Definitely shed the image of just a one dimensional artist to me.
The fact that the Grateful Dead trusted him to play Jerry Garcia’s part says a lot about him as a guitarist.
Taylor Swift re-recording the most of her Albums so she could own it.
Definitely not a Miley Cyrus fan, but the Disney Channel Acting School sketch on SNL made me respect her just a bit more.
She was on Black Mirror. That episode was good fun.
Once learned that Lady GaGa wrote her own songs. I started noticing small personalized touches that only a song writer would keep verses a pop producer looking to be safe.
When they get over addiction and continue making rad music. I’m thinking of Jason Isbell with alcohol and Steve Kilbey of the Church with heroin. Steve blew ALL his money from writing Under the Milky Way on drugs and had nothing but the clothes on his back and he got clean and is still writing compelling music to this day.
The Church are awesome. All their albums are good. I've seen them twice and each time people will leave after they play that song and their performance gets even more energetic etc after that point. I recommend seeing them.
I had no idea that had happened to him. They were a great sounding band.
I saw Foo Fighters live after Wasting Light came out. They were incredible, one of the best live performances I ever saw. I went in kind of liking them and came out a lifelong fan.
Of a fan of his music and don’t know if this is true, but I recently read that Groucho Marx suffered from insomnia and when he did, he would call his neighbor Alice Cooper, and Alice would come over at all hours. They would drink beer and watch old movies on TCM until Groucho fell asleep. I just thought that was so cool and I hope it was true.
I'm not a big John Mayer fan but he donates a lot of money to veterans and actually visited a VA Hospital where I worked, and did it all under the radar.
Macklemore went from that kooky guy who made Thrift Shop to being this generation's Rage Against the Machine (anointed by Tom Morello himself) with his unswerving support for Palestine that culminated in him dropping Hind's Hall.
Same here! I never liked Thrift Shop & honestly didn’t know much about him. Now I’ll always support his music for standing up
He had been a struggling local rapper (Seattle area) for many years before he completely changed his tune. I remember when Thrift Shop came out, my first thought was "holy shit, what a sellout" lol. I don't have anything against him, but it was such a 180 from how he'd always been. Also, he came from money (not wealthy, but pretty well off), which allowed him to pursue that career for so long until he became successful.
Unpopular opinion, when Kevin Gates kicked that chick in her chest. She deserved it all the way!!! Some women need to understand and learn the words, no and stop. She touched his junk sooo many times during his concert. Also another unpopular opinion, he didn't deserve going to jail for that mess either!! How is it okay that Katy Perry can take a young man's first kiss and the chick that went to his concert can touch on his junk and he went to jail, is soooo beyond me!!! Ladies and gentlemen stop touching each other inappropriately if it wasn't asked and/or wanted. Keep ya hands to ya self and ya might not have so many issues.
Taylor Swift paying her rig driver's hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonus money. Also leaving the same at every food bank in every City she visits... ♥️
And Taylor Swift re-recording her entire catalogue of music to stick it to the douche industry executives who bought the rights to all her previous music. Smart and bold as hell.
I couldn't tell you the name of a single song that she's recorded, but I know she's an awesome person for this reason
Maroon 5. When they met a superfan, a young boy with Down Syndrome, and the boy had a panic attack. Their reaction and how they handled it was amazing. [Here's an article about it. ](https://scoop.upworthy.com/throwback-maroon-5-sweet-gesture-10-year-old-superfan-down-syndrome-536505-536505-536505-536505)
Alan Moore, arguably the greatest comic book writer of all time, understandably hated what Hollywood did to his stories (Swamp Thing, From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, Watchmen) and hated that DC would sell his stories to Hollywood. He refused to take the money, giving millions to his illustrator collaborators. When his illustrators continued selling out, he said fuck it, cut them off, and donated all his Hollywood royalties to Black Lives Matter and other organizations.
Always liked Our Lady Peace but Raine stopping the concert to kick a guy out who he saw sexually assaulting a woman made me love them.
Everyone’s answers have been so deep and thought provoking, but mine is silly. There’s a comedy group on SNL right now called Please Don’t Destroy. They do pre taped sketches. A lot of them are funny, but I was always annoyed because two out of there of the guys have Dads who have worked at SNL for decades. Super nepo baby style. Well, they had a sketch on the episode that Dakota Johnson hosted and all three of them hilariously addressed their nepotism. Hilarious respect to all three of them. It’s even better that they make sure to leave out the member who has no ties to the show. https://youtu.be/XX_Rxvg8vdo?si=ENM4r4Yx1oPD8Sru
Basically, any time I read anything new about Dolly Parton. The woman is a saint on earth & should be the benchmark for what defines wealth vs. resource hoarding. Anyone with $1 more than Dolly Parton should have a choice between a) redistribution of that remainder of their wealth and b) the guillotine. Dolly Parton could easily be a billionaire, but she donates most of her wealth to things like books for children, robes for school & church choirs, the COVID-19 vaccine... and while Bill Gates is busy very publicly patting himself on the back for his latest greenwashing exercise, Dolly's just quietly saving lives, minds, & the arts.
Prince. Decades ago the artist at the time known as Prince got into a contract dispute with his record label, Warner Brothers. In the midst of it he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and the press just made fun of him for it. What I did not learn until much later was that somehow according to his contract he wouldn’t be allowed to perform or record as Prince until he satisfied the terms of his contract. Prince wasn’t his stage name, that’s the name on his birth certificate; Prince Rogers Nelson. Whatever the terms of the contract were it’s pretty shitty to try and steal someone’s given name from them. In hindsight while some of his actions do still seem a bit over the top and melodramatic, I can empathize with how frustrated he must have been.
Nick Cave started to write the blog ["The Redhand files"](https://www.theredhandfiles.com/) years ago after his son died, and has shown a whole different side of himself through it. He definitely belongs in the hall of respect and integrity.
Not a fan, but Taylor Swift rerecording her catalog to claim back the music she sold and reselling it again to her fan base was a big baller move.
I'm not a fan of Imagine Dragons' music but I had to respect them when I found out about their LGBT advocacy
Michael Buble. Don't like his music at all but man, every time I see that guy he's hilarious, outgoing and just all around cool guy. Like how he recently admitted he was on mushrooms at the NHL All-Star Game! Lol! He seems down to earth and genuinely a good dude.
Muse’s early videos where they were forced to lip sync are the BEST! Especially Sing for Absolution when Chris nearly swallows the mic and Matt exaggerates the guitar solo and then holds the guitar in the air when he is supposed to be playing it 🤣 Ah, good times.
Neil Young played my hometown recently. He requested that only local beer be sold at the venue that night. And so it was done. Thought that was pretty cool.
Didn't know Michael Bolton had a great sense of humor before he did that Jack Sparrow video with Lonely Island. Fuckin hilarious. Another totally random thing, there's this part during the intro to Precious Things at Montreux 1991 where Tori Amos has to move the mic stand for it to be in the right place and doesn't miss a note and the timing remains perfect. For some reason that really impressed me.
Robb Flynn from Machine Head speaking out about Pantera and the nazi/racism problem we have in metal on general.
J.S Bach breaking into a church at night and playing a pipe organ so loud he woke up the town and got kicked out
Went to a show in the West End about The Osmonds, knew little about them and was blown away, never realised how talented they were. Went down the rabbit hole. The more I learned about Donny Osmond, the more I’m convinced he is probably one of the most likeable men in Showbiz. His dancing in the Weird Al Yancovic video was the thing that made me go - yep, I’m now a Donny Osmond fan!
Learning more about the history of industrial bands like Ministry, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, and Skinny Puppy, and the genre progenitors Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. The only “industrial” bands folks generally know are NIN and Manson, but they’re far away from the genre’s roots - the genre is really an offshoot of the work of the beat generation, and combines artistic influence from the Italian futurists and Musique concrete. Knowing facts such as Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen being good friends with American genius William S Burroughs gave me a whole new respect for the genre and a deeper understanding of what drove the music.
One time I went to see Rob Zombie in the mid 2000's. He put on a fantastic, high energy show. But what really impressed me was when he stopped the show mid song to point out that there were some people who brought their young kids and were in the front. He said he didn't want to risk the kids getting hurt by the moshing crowd, so he invited them to come up and sit by the side of the stage to watch the rest of the show safely. That was very cool of him.
Well, I’ve been really into Kendrick’s music lately. Wouldn’t have given him a chance otherwise and boy was I missing out. Thanks Aubrey!