# Band of NON-Assholes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657 "2019-12-10T18:12:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/41 "2019-12-16T18:10:58Z")
Steve Hackett. Actually, I could probably say that of all the members of Genesis including original guitarist Ant Phillips. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/42 "2019-12-16T22:20:42Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > You mean the Dave Grohl whose wife divorced him after a well-publicized string of marital infidelities? The Dave Grohl whose drummer accused him of bullying, plagiarism, and denial of songwriting royalties? Goddammit. Figures. Never meet your heroes, they say. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/43 "2019-12-16T23:31:31Z")
Vocals: Peter Noone has always been known as a genuinely nice person. Guitar/Violin/related intruments: David Lindley. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/44 "2019-12-17T01:17:54Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > You mean the Dave Grohl whose wife divorced him after a well-publicized string of marital infidelities? The Dave Grohl whose drummer accused him of bullying, plagiarism, and denial of songwriting royalties? Yeah, I know it’s Wiki, but this says that his first marriage ended in divorce and he’s still married to his second wife, the mother of his 3 children. > **[Dave Grohl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Grohl#Legal_issues)** > > David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, for which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of the rock band Nirvana from 1990 to 1994. > At 17, Grohl joined the punk rock band Scream after the departure of their drummer Kent Stax. Grohl became the drummer for Nirvana after Scream broke up in 1990. Nirvana's second album, Nevermind (1991), was the first ... ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/45 "2019-12-17T07:00:51Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Yeah, I know it’s Wiki, but this says that his first marriage ended in divorce and he’s still married to his second wife, the mother of his 3 children. Yeah, the first wife is the one I was referring to. But even if you feel that his starting a family with his second wife nullifies any assholishness arising from his treatment of his first wife, then that still leaves the matter of the bullying allegations and credit disputes. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/46 "2019-12-17T14:41:02Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Steve Hackett. Actually, I could probably say that of all the members of Genesis including original guitarist Ant Phillips. Well… anecdote time! One time I saw Hackett, back in '93, he played at the club (200-300 people) where all the lesser-known and unknown prog acts played. Every time I’d seen a show there, after it was over the crowd would go outside and around to the side entrance, and the band would come out and chat with people, sign autographs, and whatnot. I missed Hackett when he played there the year previous, but my friend told me that Hackett had done exactly that. The show was absolutely fantastic! Afterwards, many of the crowd went around to the side entrance, and waited. And waited. And then, someone yelled from near the front of the club. Hackett had snuck out the front and gotten into a limo(!). We all swarmed the limo, but the driver forced us out of the way and took off. I don’t hate Hackett for it or anything - far from it, I am still a huge fan. But it was an assholish thing to do. He came across as the high-and-mighty star who doesn’t have time for the fans, when he should have been grateful that a few hundred people wanted to see him play. It’s not like he was Phil Collins, playing an arena with 20,000 people. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/47 "2019-12-21T00:01:45Z")
Just remembered (hence the bump)… Talked to Adrian Belew on a number of occasions and always found him to be very obliging, kind, humble, and funny. dude rules Krisiun. Three totally chill dudes. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/48 "2019-12-21T00:18:17Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Well… anecdote time! > > One time I saw Hackett, back in '93, he played at the club (200-300 people) where all the lesser-known and unknown prog acts played. Every time I’d seen a show there, after it was over the crowd would go outside and around to the side entrance, and the band would come out and chat with people, sign autographs, and whatnot. I missed Hackett when he played there the year previous, but my friend told me that Hackett had done exactly that. > > The show was absolutely fantastic! Afterwards, many of the crowd went around to the side entrance, and waited. And waited. And then, someone yelled from near the front of the club. Hackett had snuck out the front and gotten into a limo(!). We all swarmed the limo, but the driver forced us out of the way and took off. > > I don’t hate Hackett for it or anything - far from it, I am still a huge fan. But it was an assholish thing to do. He came across as the high-and-mighty star who doesn’t have time for the fans, when he should have been grateful that a few hundred people wanted to see him play. It’s not like he was Phil Collins, playing an arena with 20,000 people. I get the feeling that Hackett is one of those people, like Neil Peart of Rush, who just isn’t comfortable interacting with fans. Some friends of my brother ran into Hackett at a Wishbone Ash show years ago, when they were in town the night after a Genesis show. They approached him and asked if he was Steve Hackett, and his response was something along the lines of “Yes but please don’t make a big deal about it.” ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/49 "2019-12-21T00:47:10Z")
How did we get this far without mentioning Dolly Parton? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/50 "2019-12-21T02:50:55Z")
Graeme Thomson wrote an excellent biography of Kate Bush called _Under The Ivy,_ and he talked to nearly everyone who ever worked with her, and nobody had anything bad to say about her. He said that it was plain that pretty much everyone who worked with her had fallen in love with her. My own interactions with her backs this up. I made a video to one of her songs, _The Infant Kiss_ by editing down the film that inspired it, _The Innocents_. I managed to get a copy to her via someone who knew her brother. She called me to thank me and chat about editing. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/51 "2019-12-21T03:31:16Z")
Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors, is Internet friends with me, and he’s a great guy, so I nominate him. I am fond of telling the story about the time I unsuccessfully tried to pick up Alanis Morrisette, but although she shot me down she was nice about it and we chatted for awhile. She seems lovely. Also internet friends with Lisa Loeb, who is very nice, although she never swears and I’m weirded out by that. My parents were friends with the parents of Paul Langlois, The Tragically Hip’s bassist, and the Langloises are very nice so I’d assume their son is too. I can stitch a band together with that. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/52 "2019-12-21T03:38:47Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors, is Internet friends with me, and he’s a great guy, so I nominate him. Cool! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/53 "2019-12-21T06:04:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Chris Barron, lead singer of the Spin Doctors, is Internet friends with me, and he’s a great guy, so I nominate him. > > I am fond of telling the story about the time I unsuccessfully tried to pick up Alanis Morrisette, but although she shot me down she was nice about it and we chatted for awhile. She seems lovely. > > Also internet friends with Lisa Loeb, who is very nice, although she never swears and I’m weirded out by that. > > My parents were friends with the parents of Paul Langlois, The Tragically Hip’s bassist, and the Langloises are very nice so I’d assume their son is too. > > I can stitch a band together with that. This post is super Canadian. Edit: NM, thought the Spin Doctors were Canadian. Only 1/2 then. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/54 "2019-12-21T15:00:27Z")
One of the greatest conversations of my life was talking to Rudy Isley of the Isley Brothers about touring Europe with the Beatles in 1962. He is not an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/55 "2019-12-21T15:18:43Z")
Robby Krieger from The Doors ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/56 "2019-12-22T04:16:01Z")
Michael Anthony. By all accounts one of the good guys. He refuses to talk shit about his time in Van Halen even though the brothers and DLR absolutely shit all over him. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2019, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/57 "2019-12-22T05:57:51Z")
Tim McGraw seems to be a down-to-earth, genuine guy. I don’t know if that’s accurate or just a persona, but a few years ago I accompanied Mrs. SMV (who’s a big fan) to a concert of his at Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta. Mrs. SMV had won admission into a private preconcert, where McGraw’s band took center stage, to show off their vocal chops, while he played backup for them. Seemed like a cool thing to do, to let his band have a moment in the spotlight. Likewise Paul Simon was on stage backing up each of the three opening acts in his _Graceland_ tour (which is to this day the best concert I’ve ever seen). I can also attest from personal experience that Emily Saliers of The Indigo Girls hands out candy to trick-or-treaters who come to her door at Hallowe’en. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2019, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/58 "2019-12-22T07:31:35Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Likewise Paul Simon was on stage backing up each of the three opening acts in his _Graceland_ tour (which is to this day the best concert I’ve ever seen). Posters here on the SDMB seem to love repeating stories about how Paul Simon is one of the biggest dicks in the music business, even [in threads where dickish behaviour is not the topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=644102). (That thread is just the example that springs to mind, as I’m the one who started it. But I’ve observed this Paul Simon-bashing to be a general pattern here.) If this trait of Simon’s is so salient that people feel the need to bring it up all the time, then this rather strongly suggests that he doesn’t belong in a thread about non-asshole supergroups. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/59 "2019-12-22T12:01:27Z")
Pete Seeger (I know, too easy) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657/60 "2019-12-22T17:22:14Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Posters here on the SDMB seem to love repeating stories about how Paul Simon is one of the biggest dicks in the music business, even [in threads where dickish behaviour is not the topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=644102). (That thread is just the example that springs to mind, as I’m the one who started it. But I’ve observed this Paul Simon-bashing to be a general pattern here.) If this trait of Simon’s is so salient that people feel the need to bring it up all the time, then this rather strongly suggests that he doesn’t belong in a thread about non-asshole supergroups. Yes, I saw him mentioned in the “Band of Assholes” thread. And I don’t know enough, or care, to know whether he is a shit or a saint (although I am a huge fan of his music). Nevertheless, the fact that a star like Simon was willing to play backup for three obscure (at least to Americans) South African acts - Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, for the record - impressed me at the time. Additionally, there’s [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXBlY5CImUU) For those who don’t want to click on the link, it’s a YouTube video of a Paul Simon concert where a fan yells out that she learned to play guitar from his song “Duncan”. So he invites her up to the stage to play it with him. So, asshole or nice guy? I suspect the answer is, sometimes one, sometimes the other. Just like all the rest of us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-of-non-assholes/844657.md?page=4)