# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/81 "2008-02-29T08:27:04Z")
Oh yeah, good one Sublight. They were a great, diverse rock band, going as far as even flaunting that they didn’t use synthesizers. And then suddenly they started being a very cheesy 80s synthesizer band. Is it really the same band who made The Prophet Song and Heaven for Everyone? ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/82 "2008-02-29T08:46:52Z")
Another example is Presidents of the United States of America. In the beginning they were a fun band, with the hit song “Peaches” for instance. But then with Freaked Out and Small they took a totally different direction and made a pop-rock song about Jupiter. Needless to say the audience was not amused. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/83 "2008-02-29T09:28:05Z")
Not that she had much of a fanbase to begin with but [Anita Bryant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Bryant) seriously upset a lot of folks when in the mid 1970’s she was politically involved in working _against_ gay rights, repealing pro-gay legislation etc. In 1980, she divorced her husband who actually got her involved in that political activism in the first place. As if that wasn’t enough career destruction, From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Due to her divorce, many fundamentalist Christians shunned her. No longer invited to appear at their events, she lost a source of income. Later in the 1980’s she stated > [@](#): > > she felt sorry for all of the hateful things she had said and done during her campaign. With all the varying anti-gay, pro-gay attitudes she has shown over the decades does she have any fans that she _didn’t_ alienate? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/84 "2008-02-29T09:38:22Z")
Traci Lords ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/85 "2008-02-29T13:51:50Z")
When **William Shatner** went on Saturday Night Live and told all of the Trekies (at the time his only fans) to “Get a life”, he really upset a lot of people. But since then he has achieve demi-god status and most have overlooked his stumble. ---
**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 29, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/86 "2008-02-29T13:54:25Z")
Linda Lovelace. When she spoke out against the porn industry, she lost her entire fanbase. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/87 "2008-02-29T14:17:43Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Chris Carter made a lot of fans hate him with the last 4 episodes of the X-Files. Most of it amounted to petulant character assassination of most of the major characters, culminated with a frickin’ finale that was 85% _clip show_ that punished people who’d actually watched the last two seasons by only using David Duchovny’s final appearance that season to make him look like a broken wuss afraid of a date of all damn things. Jesus. [/QUOTE] My take on it was that the writers glommed on to some fanboy website that had a detailed timeline and decided to use the final episode to explain to _themselves_ what had gone on before. However, my wife was completely alienated a few episodes before when Scully gave up the baby (William). Being a new mother at the time, it just broke her heart to see that (my wife also will go through the rest of her life never seeing _A. I._ again for the same reason). ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/88 "2008-02-29T16:04:05Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Axl Rose. I’m sure that will turn around as soon as the album comes out. [/QUOTE] So…um…never? 🙂 > [@TV Time](#): > > When William Shatner went on Saturday Night Live and told all of the Trekies (at the time his only fans) to “Get a life”, he really upset a lot of people. But since then he has achieve demi-god status and most have overlooked his stumble. My timeline might be wrong, but wasn’t he doing quite well with T.J. Hooker at the time? And I don’t think there was anyone who **didn’t** see that sketch as a friendly poke…but then, I wasn’t a hardcore Trekker (to use the correct term! 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/89 "2008-02-29T16:12:02Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] I haven’t been in the US for a long time and don’t see any American daytime TV, but based on what I read here and elsewhere, once Rosie O’Donnell became the main host of _The View_, she steadily became more extreme in her opinions and generally nastier to anyone who questioned her. The change was pretty striking to me. The last time I’d seen her was in _A League of Their Own_ and on various talk shows in the early '90s, and she always reminded me of one of my aunts: loud and opinionated, but quick to laugh about anything and always totally lovable and sweet to everyone. That was the image of her I had until about a dozen years later when I watched a YouTube clip of _The View_ where she was wishing Anna Nicole Smith would disappear for good (a few weeks before Smith died), and I couldn’t believe how completely she’d changed. ‘Mean’ was probably the only was to describe how she looked. Mean and angry. [/QUOTE] Back when she had her own talk show, people used to call her “The Queen of Nice,” which kind of illustrates how her public persona has changed. Don’t think anyone would give her that nickname these days. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/90 "2008-02-29T16:14:04Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] So…um…never? 🙂 My timeline might be wrong, but wasn’t he doing quite well with T.J. Hooker at the time? And I don’t think there was anyone who **didn’t** see that sketch as a friendly poke…but then, I wasn’t a hardcore Trekker (to use the correct term! 😉 ) [/QUOTE] Most Star Trek fans loved the skit. _They_ weren’t getalifes – it was some other Trek fans. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/91 "2008-02-29T16:25:30Z")
[QUOTE=Slacker] Oooh, great one. I can’t believe I didn’t think of them. I loved the first two albums (the second one had to grow on me, but still). Then after five years not only was it 28 minutes long, but the music (while somewhat catchy) was really plain and really lazy. Every single guitar solo was just the melody from the verse. Boring! Maladroit was ok, and I started to have a bit of hope for the future, but then BAM came Make Believe, and all was lost. At that point I reclassified Weezer as not a great band with a couple duds, but as a mediocre band with a couple of good ones. [/QUOTE] You hit the nail on the head. This was my post about Weezer, right down to the slow burn of Pinkerton. They were one of my favourite bands based on the Blue Album and Pinkerton and ever since I keep waiting for them to find “it” again. I’m hoping for positive things out of the new album. My sister has completely given up on them but old habits die hard. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/92 "2008-02-29T16:26:59Z")
Mel Gibson. Ezra Pound. Both for similar reasons – turning toward the right-wing end of the political spectrum (or maybe by publicizing views they always had had.) ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/93 "2008-02-29T16:27:11Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] Back when she had her own talk show, people used to call her “The Queen of Nice,” which kind of illustrates how her public persona has changed. Don’t think anyone would give her that nickname these days. [/QUOTE] I believe, IIRC, that started changing about the time she had Tom Selleck on her show and hammered him over his membership in the NRA. Again, this is from a distant memory, but Tom was upset because she basically ambushed him when he thought he was there to do a movie/TV promo and talk about the basic afternoon fluff and it turned into an argument on air. People tuned in to watch Magnum and Rosie do some friendly banter and ended up feeling uncomfortable, no matter if you agreed with her or not. I think this was her beginning of “screw it I’m not that nice and going to say what I think” slide that took her from nice to opinionated to mouthy and argumentative. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/94 "2008-02-29T16:29:25Z")
[QUOTE=ShelliBean] I believe, IIRC, that started changing about the time she had Tom Selleck on her show and hammered him over his membership in the NRA. Again, this is from a distant memory, but Tom was upset because she basically ambushed him when he thought he was there to do a movie/TV promo and talk about the basic afternoon fluff and it turned into an argument on air. People tuned in to watch Magnum and Rosie do some friendly banter and ended up feeling uncomfortable, no matter if you agreed with her or not. I think this was her beginning of “screw it I’m not that nice and going to say what I think” slide that took her from nice to opinionated to mouthy and argumentative. [/QUOTE] You are right…I’d totally forgotten about that Tom Selleck incident. I think a lot of people thought it was a really unfair blindside, since he seems like such a nice person, and not pro-gun because he’s on the side of the criminals, you know? ---
**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 29, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/95 "2008-02-29T17:07:36Z")
Woody Allen. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/96 "2008-02-29T18:26:17Z")
[QUOTE=JKellyMap] Mel Gibson. Ezra Pound. Both for similar reasons – turning toward the right-wing end of the political spectrum (or maybe by publicizing views they always had had.) [/QUOTE] Getting drunk and calling a police officer “sugar tits” is a not a political statement. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/97 "2008-02-29T18:30:01Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Laurell Hamilton. She wrote more than half a dozen great books in the Anita Blake series, and then used both of her series as an opportunity to write her own erotic fanfiction. Really bad, boring repetitive erotica interspersed with 30 pages of plot each her last 8 or 10 novels. [/QUOTE] Good call. I used to look forward to her books. Then I found myself skimming over the sex bits. And I like sex bits. Now I won’t even pick up one of her books. She is only plying to the “I wish I had a vampire boyfriend” crowd. No thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/98 "2008-02-29T18:37:39Z")
What? No one’s said Britney Spears? ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/99 "2008-02-29T18:43:33Z")
[QUOTE=Mr Bus Guy] What? No one’s said Britney Spears? [/QUOTE] Her last album still sold out the wazoo didn’t it? Even after that “performance” at the MTV award show? And apparently I’m the only one who doesn’t know all these stories already, because no one else is asking for explainations of these two word answers. 😛 What did **Traci Lords** do? I assume **Woody Allen** is the whole step-daughter fiasco (hey I knew one after all). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452/100 "2008-02-29T18:50:10Z")
How about **Paul Weller**? Granted, he’s still pretty popular over there, but when he broke up **The Jam** and formed the (ptooey!) **Style Council** , he pretty much gave the finger to Jam fans, IMHO. He hasn’t written a single interesting thing since about halfway through _The Gift_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-most-alienated-their-fanbases/439452.md?page=6)