# Artists who most alienated their fanbases **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452 "2008-02-28T02:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/1 "2008-02-28T02:10:32Z")
In a Game Room discussion on Guitar Hero, one poster mentioned how Metallica is supposed to make an entire album available on the game. He mentioned “if it’s Load or Reload, they’ll be a lot of annoyed people”. It remined me how badly Metallica has alienated their thrash era fanbase. Early Metallica fans were so devoted they’d supposedly have their backs to the stage flipping the finger when any band beside Metallica performed. But with everything from the Black Album to the Napster controversy, lots of early fans seem to hate the band. There’s even a tribute band pointedly billing itself as a “before the 90’s Metallica tribute band”. What other bands or artists have seemed to alienate a huge chunk of their fanbase? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/2 "2008-02-28T02:17:48Z")
Michael Jackson? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/3 "2008-02-28T02:19:00Z")
Michael Jackson seems to have put everybody off his music, what with the kiddy-diddling and all. The Anniversary release of _Thriller_ only sold 55,000 copies last week, and Neverland is going on the auction block next week. Anybody want to bid on a chimp? ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/4 "2008-02-28T02:38:42Z")
I was never a big fan before or after, but I remember a lot of grousing when Liz Phair’s self-titled album a few years ago was more of a poppy Avril Lavine-esque kind of sound (as opposed to the old lo-fi seriously indie stuff). She got some radio play (and TV/movie work too I think), but the fans didn’t seem to like it. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/5 "2008-02-28T02:52:43Z")
Jonathan Franzen. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/6 "2008-02-28T02:53:01Z")
After his meteoric rise to fame in the mid-1970s, [Andy Kaufman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_kaufman) refused to repeat himself or to be tied down to anyone’s preconceived notions of what a comedian should be. (As Wikipedia notes, he denied being a comedian, calling himself a “song and dance man.”) The last half of his career was virtually dedicated to alienating his fanbase (and anyone else he could irritate). Starting with the annoying and abusive character of “Tony Clifton,” continuing with the live appearances in which he did nothing but read _The Great Gatsby_ aloud in a fake British accent, and culminating with his challenge to wrestle women, Kaufman lived to infuriate fans and strangers alike. But he enjoyed himself! His final stunt in this campaign was to die of lung cancer in 1984 at the age of 35. Large numbers of people (including myself) were convinced that 1) he didn’t really have cancer and 2) hadn’t really died. And when it became clear that he really was dead, I think that a fair number of former fans probably weren’t quite as upset by his death as they might have been a few years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/7 "2008-02-28T02:57:22Z")
Avril Lavigne. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/8 "2008-02-28T03:13:35Z")
The Dixie Chicks? Their remarks about Bush and the war in Iraq didn’t go over well with their traditional fanbase, although the Chicks didn’t really seem to care. And there were enough who agreed with the Chicks that their sales may not have suffered much. Tough call–maybe their anti-Bush remarks picked up new fans? Cat Stevens? Another tough call–he didn’t record much after his conversion to Islam, and he may have fallen off most people’s radar because of that. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/9 "2008-02-28T03:52:09Z")
George Lucas ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/10 "2008-02-28T04:48:21Z")
Tom Cruise. I don’t know what his male fanbase thinks but every woman I know actively _loathes_ him. ---
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/11 "2008-02-28T05:00:46Z")
The Mellencamp - Cougar - Mellencamp fiasco. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/12 "2008-02-28T05:23:07Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Avril Lavigne. [/QUOTE] What’d she do? ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/13 "2008-02-28T05:26:49Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Avril Lavigne. [/QUOTE] How? Bob Dylan upset a lot of people when he switched to the electric guitar. Then he upset a few more people by saying that he doesn’t write protest songs. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/14 "2008-02-28T06:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] The Dixie Chicks? Their remarks about Bush and the war in Iraq didn’t go over well with their traditional fanbase, although the Chicks didn’t really seem to care. And there were enough who agreed with the Chicks that their sales may not have suffered much. Tough call–maybe their anti-Bush remarks picked up new fans? [/QUOTE] I saw them about the time of their first album. The band line-up changes still piss me off and I won’t listen to them. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/15 "2008-02-28T07:11:46Z")
There were a lot of Lou Reed fans who were not amused by _Metal Machine Music_. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/16 "2008-02-28T08:22:53Z")
Gary Graham. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/17 "2008-02-28T08:31:18Z")
Bob Dylan seems determined to piss off as many people as possible before he kicks the bucket. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/18 "2008-02-28T08:33:54Z")
Liars are perfect for this discussion. They debuted with an amazing dance punk number, that wasn’t all that fresh or original but it was good enough to garner them international attention. Their second was a giant middle finger to anyone who liked the first, as it was a brooding, intentionally dada affair about witches, the occult, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/19 "2008-02-28T08:39:05Z")
I’ve read a lot of strong words on the Dope expressing anger against Stephen King. Specifically for the conclusion of the Dark Tower series. I stopped after the shitty first book - but I’m guessing these are alienated fans; they read all 29 books over 30 years or whatever. (No if it’s King it’s more like 48 books over 20 years) I know! Spinal Tap’s ‘new direction’ Jazz-funk Oddysey! Do I win? MiM ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/20 "2008-02-28T13:35:00Z")
[Jason Donovan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Donovan#Post_pop) had a good theatre career going until he sued a magazine for libel because they falsely stated that he was gay. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452.md?page=2)