artists who plausibly appear to be good people

...Ringo Starr?

mike watt

You know who belongs on any "holy shit, that musician was actually a decent guy" list? Lemmy. Yes, he collected Nazi memorabilia. But there are no quotes, either on the record or "you know what I heard?", from him speaking negatively about anyone because of their race or religion, and while he was apparently in Gene Simmons territory as far as sleeping with women on the road, there are also no stories of him assaulting or even being crude to anybody, and actually the opposite is true - he had a tremendous respect for female musicians (he collaborated with or wrote songs for Lita Ford, Doro Pesch, Wendy O. Williams, Girlschool, Skin from Skunk Anansie and Jill Janus from Huntress, and there are probably others). As insane as this may sound on at first, Lemmy was pretty much the model for how to be a total rock star without being a piece of shit or a predatory asshole.

aaron dilloway is a great guy. so is that one guy from matmos. and that guy from the mountain goats.

A lot of Leonard Cohen stories were shared on the poll thread that made him out to be a sweet, cool guy

Herbie Hancock seems genuinely lovely.

gotta add in Fred Cole here (also, I vehemently disagree with scott and unperson's assessment of Dead Moon on that other thread, they are the best band to ever come from Oregon including The Kingsmen and The Wipers)

so is that one guy from matmos

both of them are great!

Glenn Jones

(guitarist)

Dan Deacon

Edwyn Collins has a really great reputation. He appears to be as sweet as his music.

Weird Al Yankovic

I know next to nothing about Dawn Richard aside from what I remember from Making the Band, I do remember her as being super funny and entertaining on that show and have built a persona in my mind of a really nice, sweet person with a spine of iron.

I have a terrible feeling that this thread won't age well.

Don't want to search for the video at work, but I was specifically inspired to cite MCR after seeing the onstage video of them viciously berating the (opening act?) for asking female fans to flash them

As a teenager I talked to Kid Koala and asked if I could send him my new CD. Not only did he provide an email, but he wrote back his thoughts on it. Truly cares about his fans

As far as other bands that are real decent to fans - the dears, stereolab and broadcast

A friend of mine who was a big R.E.M. fan ran into Michael Stipe at a music festival and impulsively pressed some of her fiction on him. I didn't overhear their brief conversation but she was upset and teary about it and we left soon thereafter. A few hours later he phoned her at home to apologize.

my ex and I used to talk to bands after shows a lot; in that context, at least, I can report that Ted Leo, Will Sheff, the Blood Brothers, and McLusky were all lovely folks

that John Darnielle is a nice man

Michael Stipe threw my friends stuff on a table and stole their seat at a bar and pulled a 'don't you know who I am' when they tried to get their table back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMB1EOnUwX8

kurt vile doesn't seem so vile

I have a terrible feeling that this thread won't age well.

― emil.y, Tuesday, November 14, 2017 3:16 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

AGF seems quite lovely to fans, if not a little overwhelmed they seem to care about a sound poet

I generally don't mind Phil Collins but there was a part in a Genesis documentary where they discussed their lack of female fans in the Gabriel era (there was footage of one young woman who followed their early tours) and Collins seemed to suggest it was too difficult for them.

weird thread, idk. all these people have private lives that we know nothing about

I saw a similar thread to this on twitter recently, and it really grated on me. As these things are arising out of an environment of sordid revelations about predatory/violating behaviour, giving examples of artists being nice to fans seems to be greatly missing the point. I'm pretty sure most famous rapists would have been pleasant to their fans at some point. You can't tell an abuser from the face they choose to show to strangers.

but why hadn't he already offered his seat to the women before the stop, GARBAGE HUMAN etc

kurt vile doesn't seem so vile

I've heard a thing, sorry.

Only make friends with bass players, that way you will never be disappointed.

I remember something about Steve Albini organising Christmas gifts for poor families in Chicago?

Mentioned this before but Tori's work with RAINN since the early 90s has done a great deal of good

Never heard a negative thing about Andrew W.K., his "persona" is apparently pretty legit

except how he kidnapped and killed the original awk

Isn't Dave Grohl supposed to be The Nicest Guy In Music (TM) ?

It would shake my faith in humanity to learn that Robert Wyatt wasn't just the nicest guy around...

Isn't Dave Grohl supposed to be The Nicest Guy In Music (TM) ?

I've heard that...he is not.

Chance the rapper?

Also ....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2956597/Iron-Maiden-frontman-Bruce-Dickinson-piloted-XL-rescue-planes.html

I know next to nothing about Dawn Richard aside from what I remember from Making the Band, I do remember her as being super funny and entertaining on that show and have built a persona in my mind of a really nice, sweet person with a spine of iron.

― the Hannah Montana of the Korean War (DJP), Tuesday, November 14, 2017 1:13 PM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

having met her i can back this up

Britt Daniel. Very friendly and smiles all the time.

Ariel Pink - oveeheard a conversation with a female fan. He was very nice. But she is a female so who knows.

Neil and Rachel from slowdive.

Janes Weiss wasn't so nice behind the merch stand at a Quasi show one btw.

Heard stories about Kurt as Vile too.

Steve Shelly nice and humble.

oh god, no on Ariel Pink

Can confirm that Dan Deacon is super nice and open and just great though. I was just thinking about this last night, after opening for some somewhat douche-y bros. The last time I opened for someone at this venue was for DD, and it really highlighted how cool he was.

Oh and Jeff Tweedy. All of wilco really. Nice..

weird thread, idk. all these people have private lives that we know nothing about

yeah idgi either. I would only say this about people I personally know well, otherwise we're just left discussing people's (often carefully curated) public personas. That being said the only ones I would vouch for are Quitty and Jared from Tight Bros From Way Back When and Owen from Casiotone/Advance Base. Doug Paisley was a v nice dude. None of these people are huge celebrities or anything lol

yeah glen from wilco is a great guy.

Phil Collins personally tracked down a guy who drowned another guy and orchestrated an arrest of the man at one of his own concerts.

Tory wanker.

Heard stories the Charlie Watts is nice and down to earth too

Don't forget the time Andrew Lloyd Webber made an Atlantic crossing just to vote for Gideon's tax credit cuts. And then felt slightly bad about it afterwards and threatened to leave the Tories and never follow the whip again. Fucking stand up guy! No actually, gulag the cunt.

someone's gonna say mac demarco and they'll probably be right

the Future Islands dudes

on second thought I'm going with emil.y here, this is pure speculation and will not age well (and there have already been several jarring disconnects)

I had a nice chat with Momus before a show and he was super nice and generous with his time. Likewise John Vanderslice, Jason Molina and Sean Tillmann. Dean Wareham was politely tolerant, even when I stupidly said "Hope you have a good show" as a farewell. Note: I no longer stalk musicians before shows.

barbara manning

she's great. i love this interview with her https://sseennsseess.com/2015/08/01/barbara-manning/
and hope she's still as happy

years of attending the Bridge School Benefit shows always gave me a sweet but probably inaccurate measurement of 'good people'.
All of the developmentally challenged kids from the actual Bridge School sit on stage with their parents, and the bands play in front of them.
It can be weird for performers who are new to the show and while no-one's ever uncomfortable some offer merely polite acknowledgement while others take it as being received by the loveliest greeting party.
I always gauged the good ppl as the ones who took the latter reaction. Some interacted with the kids during their performances. They'll all acknowledge the kids when they walk out, and afterwards, but only certain types of performers ever truly interact with the kids, and only a few talk to them.

Pearl Jam played a ton of Bridge concerts, they were there almost every other year for well over 15 years. Over time, Eddie Vedder sparked a long-standing 'stage friendship' with a young Bridge School student named Maricor. HEr favorite song was Last Kiss, and every time they performed, he would sing it especially for her and talk to her between songs and even spend time after the set to talk to her and her parents. It was the coolest thing.

Florence from Florence + The Machine is the most memorable example. She spent at least 70% of her set with her back to the audience singing directly to the Bridge School kids, twirling and dancing for them, and when she wasn't facing them completely she'd stand off to the side so she could watch them and see the crowd. She made it her job to delight them over us. And she was beaming the whole time, like she was SO delighted to give such a unique performance. It was really cool to watch and still makes me a bit teary thinking about it.

So Florence gets my vote. And Eddie.

awesome

Lol I hung out with Barbara Manning before a Yo La Tengo (I think) show when I was like 18 and she WOULD NOT STOP hugging me. It was lovely. Gets my vote, for sure. Also around the same time Thurston Moore was amazingly fine with chatting with me and my equally dumbass teenage friends, even to the extent of letting me take a couple of shots with my SLR camera of him. I do think it says something about a musician if they're that willing to go out of their way to be kind to a fan.

Also he seemed (or faked) being impressed we were into Sparks

eddie veder has reputation of being a really cool guy to his fans

How is he to noncommittals

I mean shit it's easy to be nice to your fans I'm nice to my fans

I think he ate a Ticketmaster employee once

Ian Anderson

oh yeah, John Vanderslice authentically is one of the nicest people in the world.

eddie veder has reputation of being a really cool guy to his fans

and an asshole to his guitar tech

https://jorgefarah.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/ed-is-an-asshole.gif

Ian Anderson

Jethro Tull? Bit of a dick, is he not?

he invented the horse-drawn seed drill, you ungrateful little shit!

:)

Wow at that veder clip total dickmove

Vedder learned from his hero:
https://youtu.be/iHs_ojDJX04