Not necessarily who has committed the most heinous act/deed, but who, for what ever reason, you once really admired and appreciated but now are either indifferent to or outright do not like anymore?
For me, it’s Paul Simon. I understand (something I learned from SDMB) that the dispute between him and Los Lobos over songwriting credits for the Graceland sessions is still a “he said/they said” situation (see interview with LL’s sax player Steve Berlin here), but my gut tells me that Paul ripped those guys off. Consequently, Mr. Simon went from being one of my favorite all-time artists to someone I could take or leave. He just played live near me a few weeks ago (with Sting, another artist I’m not a big fan of anymore), and, whereas I would have spent a large sum of money to see PS when I was younger, I really have no interest currently.
Al Pacino. He went from a master of understated menace, to the man who never met a set he couldn’t eat. Even in his more acclaimed roles of the past 20 years (lookin’ at YOU here, The Devil’s Advocate) I find him hard to watch these days.
Was a time when I hung onto the man’s every word, listened to the albums all day, talked about the lyrics and riffs with a friend. Now that friend occasionally sends me an article about whatever bullshit Billy’s up to that day, like an 8-hour long keyboard performance of Siddhartha. Christ.
That’s a great choice… although Al is still capable of delivering a great performance when he has a director who does more than just let Al do his schtick.
I’m sorry to say Johnny Depp. I still think he’s a fantastic actor, and he may redeem himself in upcoming movies, but Dark Shadows & Lone Ranger really tarnished his brand.
Prince - He hasn’t put out a decent album in almost 15 years, he’s cruising on the vapors of his former hits and he is suing his FANS for rights infringement. Watching him today makes me wonder why I ever enjoyed his music in the first place.
Robert DeNiro - Seriously, this guy will act in any piece crap for which they’ll send him a script. He has done at least eight terrible films in a row and, considering that his personal wealth approaches if not exceeds $200 million, there’s simply no need for this to happen. He should seriously consider given back his Oscars as he just giving the movie-going public the finger.
Ron White - Formerly one of the funniest comedians out there; now just a shill pimping around his talentless third wife whose singing is reminiscent of a scalded cat. Tells the same six jokes repeatedly and intersperses them with profanity to make them seem uniquely edgy and less funny.
Starting to seem like an older version of Dane Cook with a Texas accent.
That’s not a compliment.
Dave Chappelle - Could have been the next Richard Pryor; now he isn’t even the next Dave Chappelle. It’s truly sad that his funniest bits are either in his 15 year old stand up concert or on his 12 year-old former Comedy Central skit show. And the worst part is that he is STILL whining that the $50 million that CC offered for his show “compromised him.”
The best way I can sum up Ron White is that ten years ago he was way too clever, funny, and talented for the Blue Collar Comedy Tour; he stuck out like a sore thumb from those clowns.
Since then, he’s pretty much come down to their level. He’d fit in just fine on a reunion tour. :smack:
Ben Folds. I used to follow Ben Folds Five around and be part of their whole fandom, spent a ton of time and money on the band and collected every bit of media I could get my mitts on. But then they broke up. Also had some personal quibbles with the man, being friends-of-friends with him. Didn’t like his first solo album too well but I will admit I fell head-over-heels for his second one, after seeing him play an amazing piano-only live show at an orchestra venue.
But since then I just don’t care anymore. The band got back together for an album and it was sooooo forgettable. Ben is on some TV show and I don’t care.
It’s utterly hilarious to think of telling my 20-year-old self “some day you will not care.” I remember when one of the “big fans” got a BFF tattoo and me thinking “wow I’d want one, but maybe maybe some day I won’t like them. I don’t see that happening but you never know.”
I’m gonna go with Rush. When I was a teenager in the '80s, getting into progressive rock, I worshiped them. They didn’t do anything (aside from putting out sucky albums for the past 20-odd years) to change my attitude, the music just doesn’t grab me the way it used to.
My love for many other bands that I first got into back then (Genesis, Yes, and Marillion, to name a few) is just as strong today. I guess Rush hasn’t stood my personal test of time. I don’t mean that I dislike them now, but I wouldn’t put them in my Top Twenty Bands of All Time list. I can take 'em or leave 'em.
Spider Robinson. He started out as a reasonably solid writer of reasonably good SF, and then he decided he was going to be the next incarnation of John D. MacDonald and Robert Heinlein, and he just ain’t all that.
Radiohead. I fell in love with them when they came out with OK Computer, then went back and bought The Bends and Pablo Honey. I rushed to the store to buy Kid A when it was released and it just didn’t work for me. Hey, more power to them for ‘reinventing themselves’ but we parted ways that day. I did see them in concert on that tour, but they’re really not for me anymore, I’m strictly a pre-Kid A Radiohead guy.
Musician - NZ singer Dave Dobbyn. Other than the Gawd awful “Loyal” he hasn’t done anything wrong, its just easy to get overexposed in a small country.
Kevin Smith. I was (and am) a huge fan of everything he made up through Clerks II, and I’ll even give him partial credit for Zack and Miri Make a Porno (though in return I’d take some back for Jersey Girl). The epic Q&A/storytelling sessions he did in the early-to-mid 2000s were brilliant and hilarious.
Then he took a hard turn toward the suck. Cop Out and Red State were awful, and his shtick hasn’t transferred as well as he seems to think it has to the podcast and third-tier reality show formats.
