# Unpleasant people in rock **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823 "2011-06-17T12:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/1 "2011-06-17T12:49:07Z")
I keep on hearing what a nasty, vicious, unpleasant man Van Morrison is. Richard Carpenter hasn’t had a good press, and Roger Waters, by his own admission, has been a grumpy old bastard - an opinion shared by many others. Who else in the music world is - or is supposed to be - a thoroughly unpleasant person? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/2 "2011-06-17T13:00:02Z")
Axl Rose Alex and Eddie Van Halen Glenn Danzig Gene Simmons Lars Ulrich ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/3 "2011-06-17T13:29:33Z")
Need examples of their behaviour please, or this will be an uninteresting thread. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/4 "2011-06-17T13:39:37Z")
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth): at least according to [Kerry King](http://www.encircling.us/forums/archive/index.php/t-759.html) (Slayer). Any by golly, if Kerry King says it, it MUST be true! ETA: every interview I’ve seen of Dave, he ends up coming across as an ass - and I have always had a crush on him! Plus, if you google it, Dave always makes the top 10 list for “jerks in rock/metal”. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/5 "2011-06-17T13:39:48Z")
Most rock fans have probably heard of multiple examples of the unpleasant nature of the rockers on my list except maybe for Danzig. Here’s an example of Danzig being a dick and then getting what he deserves (video has foul language): [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEehtlKVKps) ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/6 "2011-06-17T13:41:03Z")
[Noel Gallagher is one shining example.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Gallagher#Controversy) > [@](#): > > The most infamous of Gallagher’s controversial statements was in a 1995 interview with The Observer, where he expressed a wish for Damon Albarn and Alex James of rivals Blur to “catch AIDS and die” Honestly, I couldn’t care one way or the other as a person’s private life should be, well, private. If they’re asses, fine, I can be too. Frankly, it’s more unfortunate that the bigger their egos got, the worse their music became. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/7 "2011-06-17T13:46:48Z")
Back to my “all Dave, all day” channel: he’s even got a [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Mustaine_feuds_and_rivalries) site about how much of a jackass he is. Do I win the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/8 "2011-06-17T14:14:44Z")
quote:In 1978, Nugent began a relationship with seventeen-year-old Hawaii native Pele Massa. Due to the age difference they could not marry so Nugent joined Massa’s parents in signing documents to make himself her legal guardian, an arrangement that Spin magazine ranked in October 2000 as #63 on their list of the “100 Sleaziest Moments in Rock”/endquote [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nugent) Sid Vicious was a tool of McLaren, and I reckon latter is the bigger asshole. Keeping in mind that Sid killed someone. Malcolm is a major fucking cunt. In a similar story, Elvis was the world’s fool, but the wife substitute that made him do it was Tom Parker. I pick Tom Parker as the great whopping cock of the arrangement, you may disagree. Gene Simmons because he’s really good at being Gene Simmons. Which is bad. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/9 "2011-06-17T14:30:24Z")
I don’t have any links but I do recall interviews with people who’ve worked with him and they all say that John Mellencamp is a tyrant. Impossible to work with / for, nothing’s ever good enough, and if it wasn’t done his way, it was done wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/10 "2011-06-17T14:36:42Z")
Lou Reed is famous for being a horrible dick to interviewers. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/11 "2011-06-17T14:42:54Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Roger Waters, by his own admission, has been a grumpy old bastard - an opinion shared by many others. [Yes](http://www.angelfire.com/va/battersea/spit.html), but I don’t care! ---
**Author:** ![Profound\_Gibberish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Profound\_Gibberish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profound_Gibberish)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/12 "2011-06-17T14:46:40Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > I don’t have any links but I do recall interviews with people who’ve worked with him and they all say that John Mellencamp is a tyrant. Impossible to work with / for, nothing’s ever good enough, and if it wasn’t done his way, it was done wrong. I saw one of his concerts on TV a few years back. He constantly insinuated that his band was not as good as him. I’m thinking there was not a lot of “dwelling in the pocket” with that group. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/13 "2011-06-17T14:58:20Z")
Not to be unpleasant, but I think the head-scratching would be more prevalent if the thread were about “Pleasant people in rock” instead. As it is, I predict two or three pages before the wind goes out of the sails. 🙂 The stories of trashed hotel rooms alone might spark dozens of instances to appear. If not, then the outlandish demands for this and that oddity in the dressing room might add another large group of replies. Seriously, who are some pleasant Rock Star types? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/14 "2011-06-17T15:19:56Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Seriously, who are some pleasant Rock Star types? In terms of serious superstars, \*\*Dave Grohl \*\*has the rep of being the Nicest Guy in Rock™. In terms of douchebags - didn’t\*\* Jim Morrison \*\*sit for the illustration in the dictionary for that one? Reading the book _No One Here Gets Out Alive_, he couldn’t come across like a bigger narcissitic, damaged idiot. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/15 "2011-06-17T15:35:21Z")
For unexpected dickishness, I offer Jonathan Richman. How could a guy whose songs sound almost like a kid’s album be such a jerk at his shows and in interviews? Pete Buck of REM’s ‘airline incident’ may be the most famous example of his bad behavior, but he’s been nasty to a friend of mine in the music industry. Some people apparently don’t deal with being on the road well. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/16 "2011-06-17T15:36:32Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Most rock fans have probably heard of multiple examples of the unpleasant nature of the rockers on my list except maybe for Danzig. Here’s an example of Danzig being a dick and then getting what he deserves (video has foul language): > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEehtlKVKps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEehtlKVKps) I don’t have anything in particular against him, but I could watch that video 20 times a day and still find it funny. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/17 "2011-06-17T15:36:44Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Not to be unpleasant, but I think the head-scratching would be more prevalent if the thread were about “Pleasant people in rock” instead. As it is, I predict two or three pages before the wind goes out of the sails. 🙂 > > The stories of trashed hotel rooms alone might spark dozens of instances to appear. > > If not, then the outlandish demands for this and that oddity in the dressing room might add another large group of replies. > > Seriously, who are some pleasant Rock Star types? It’s sort of being [done here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=612625). It’s what inspired this. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/18 "2011-06-17T15:40:40Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > In terms of serious superstars, \*\*Dave Grohl \*\*has the rep of being the Nicest Guy in Rock™. > > In terms of douchebags - didn’t\*\* Jim Morrison \*\*sit for the illustration in the dictionary for that one? Reading the book _No One Here Gets Out Alive_, he couldn’t come across like a bigger narcissitic, damaged idiot. I’ve just started reading Keith Richard’s _Life_, and someone who has finished it said that he comes out of it uncaring and narcissitic. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/19 "2011-06-17T15:41:30Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Gene Simmons I could not agree more. What a sanctimonious, royal twa\* that guy is. I heard a radio interview with him on NPR where I wanted to reach out and throttle him. He thinks he’s god’s gift to humanity. He came off so badly in the interview that he wouldn’t let NPR release it–but here it is on youtube. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xXMpo6rrUcI/hqdefault.jpg "Gene Simmons NPR Interview FULL Part 1 of 3") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXMpo6rrUcI) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823/20 "2011-06-17T15:46:27Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > It’s sort of being [done here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=612625). It’s what inspired this. So it is! I even posted there (Billy Graham! 😃 ). I just wanted to say “Hi” to you and thought this might work. It did! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unpleasant-people-in-rock/585823.md?page=2)