I’m not familiar with the bad rap on Paul Simon (unless it’s the treatment of Art Garfunkel…) I have one personal anecdote about Simon that showed incredible, unnecessary kindness to a dying fan. It’s just one incident, but it sure made an impression me.
Crosby had a drinking problem but cleaned up by the time he was in his 40s. His first wife was also an alcoholic and that is likely why the children from his first marriage went on to have troubled substance-abuse plagued lives. (On a more positive note, my uncle once caddied for him and was rewarded with a big tip.)
Likewise, I’ve heard the same thing. Thus, I propose subbing Chet Baker with Miles Davis who, even after he got off heroin, maintained a reputation for belligerence and stand-offishness.
The mention of Miles Davis makes me ask the question: has anyone else mentioned how many absolute geniuses and innovators rightfully have been mentioned in this thread? Is there a pattern? I don’t think you HAVE to be and asshole to be outstanding in arts, but I guess it’s often not a disadvantage. Though I think there’s a thin line between a mere big ego and absolute assholery.
One of the sons wrote a book outlining the hell he endured. I believe every word. I’ve personally known ice-cold emotionless monsters like Crosby. The whole world loved them for talent, humor, accomplishments - though utter silent horrors at home. …Two of his sons committed suicide. I remember one of them said Crosby’s wife would be passed out from booze in the hallway, and he would just leave her there, stepping over her on his way elsewhere. Giving a peon a ‘big tip’ doesn’t mean he didn’t maim and beat his kids.
Only assholish if you didn’t get to do it!
Just sayin’.
Natalie Merchant needs to mumble in one of these bands.
Baker befriended people for the express purpose of having them procure drugs for him. When they balked, he dumped them. Like most addicts, he left a trail of devastation in his wake.
Miles Davis wrote in his autobiography about how he “slapped the shit” out of Cicely Tyson because she had a friend over whom he didn’t like. She called the police, and when they left he hit her again. He wasn’t ashamed or apologetic about it either; he said, “. . . she never did pull that kind of shit on me again.”
I’d like to ask why you consider Don Henley to be an asshole. I have always thought he is a fine human being. Are you familiar with the work he has done on his, “Walden Woods” project?
I must admit the primary source for my opinion is the film by Alex Gibney, “History of the Eagles”, which I think is one of the best music films I’ve ever seen. In fact, the only music film I think is better is Tom Petty’s, “Running Down A Dream”.
If you like movies about the music business, “Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Running Down a Dream” is very long (about 3 hours), but for people who like Tom Petty, it’s a great film.
One other film that I’d recommend on The Eagles is one of the series called, “Breaking the Band”. This is a series of short films that attempt to document the breakup of some of the better known Rock & Roll bands.
Some people will hate this series because they use actors to portray the members of the band and in many cases, when they try to find people who can act and who also look like the members of the bands, the results can be pretty terrible. If you ever get to see, “Breaking the Band - The Eagles”, just take a look at the actor who plays Glenn Frey. I thought he was a very unfortunate choice. But you may disagree.
In any case, these “Breaking the Band” movies do provide some info that help to shed some light on why people feel the way they do about members of various bands.
When it comes to The Eagles, I would have thought most people would have found Don Henley to be a very charismatic and well-liked individual and most of the bad feelings directed towards various band members would be directed towards Glenn Frey and Don Felder. But everyone may have a different opinion.
I would like to recommend that anyone who enjoys movies about modern rock bands might enjoy the two movies, “History of the Eagles” and “Breaking the Band - The Eagles”. Regardless of how you feel about their music, I think there may be some parts of those two films that you may enjoy.
But, I would very much appreciate if anyone could explain why they think people have some bad feelings towards Don Henley.
Don Henley and Tom Petty both have something in common that I thought were really amazing. They both have gone to war (so to speak) with their record labels over the way money is distributed between record companies and artists.
I recall one superb quote from some movie that went something like this, “Before Tom Petty went to war with his label, recording artists traditionally always got screwed by their labels in an extremely profound way. But after Tom Petty resolved his law suit, artists now only get screwed in a medium way.”
I believe that quote may have come from another good series of seven music films titled, “The Seven Ages of Rock & Roll”. For any fans of Rock & Roll, I think you might enjoy these seven short films. I believe they were produced by the BBC.
Per Natalie Merchant… I haven’t heard this before. I think she’s a great artist. Interested in this perspective.
I’ve heard she is a Bitch on Rails.
For a band to be truly assholish they must cancel concert dates outright or just refuse to take the stage. I see Mr. Assl Rose has been mentioned but I think we could get even more assholish of we enlisted Morrissey.
Yoko Ono, on … “vocals”?
Threadjack: Cicely Tyson was just on TV last night (“Madam Secretary”), portraying a woman who was born on the day the 19th Amendment was signed.
I’d also nominate Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying, who did time for trying to hire an undercover cop to kill his estranged wife.
It’s also pretty common knowledge that Mick Jones of Foreigner and Tom Scholz of Boston are very much “my way or the highway” and difficult to work with.
From everything I’ve ever read about Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty, he absolutely belongs on the list.
And Johnny Ramone.
I know nothing of Mick Jones, but I might give Scholz a pass for that. My memory of Scholz and Boston is that he never thought of Boston as a band, and had written and recorded most of the songs on the first album (save for vocals) before putting the band together. It was his project and the rest of the band were sidemen, and that was the deal from the beginning.
Of course, he may have been a major asshole in a million other ways for all I know.
Does it make me a bad person that I want to send Dave Grohl into a room with the Band of Assholes just so I can see the expression on his face when he runs back out?
Everything I’ve heard and read about Paul Simon indicates he is supreme asshole. The Broadway musical Capeman flopped because he insisted on doing it his way, despite having no background in or knowledge of musical theatre whatsoever.
If we need a banjo player, there’s always Steve Martin.
I hear Billy Joel isn’t doing too well, but it could be age related dementia.
Los Lobos, for one, are bitter about him taking all the songwriting credit for “Myth of the Fingerprints”; which they say was written nearly completely by Los Lobos. The story is that they didn’t know anything until the album came out with only Simon credited. Simon doesn’t return phone calls or anything, and when they finally got a reply from Simon, along the lines of '“so sue me; see what happens”. I think other musicians have had similar experiences.
The same could be said of Edward Van Halen. His band, his music, his name, his brother and son etc…
My band of assholes would have to include:
Elton John - keys
Morrissey - vocals
Noel Gallagher - guitar
Liam Gallagher - tambourine 
Ginger Baker - drums
Sid Vicious - Bass
Edward Van Halen- lead guitar
with special guest… GG Allin!
Dave Davies or Rich Robertson could sub in at guitar also.