Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Hooo boy. Ryan Adams


MorrisrownSal

Recommended Posts

I dont care much about people themselves, as long as i like the music.

Music is one thing, people behaviour another. None knows if classic composers, or famous book writers were doing right or wrong in their own lives, we just play or read them, still.

It will not refrain me from playing his songs, whatever really happened.

 

On a sidenote, it would not have happened if he played on Gibsons. :^o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 89
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Life was simpler when I could listen to an album without my enjoyment being influenced by the artist's political beliefs or their activities outside the recording studio.

 

It's a fantasy world, I know. We're way beyond that now.

 

Well said.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sad isn't it

I'm sure this will be an iceberg situation yet again

 

I've a gig later and I'm looking for a couple songs to replace his as I'm not sure about even singing them later

 

when I said revealing I was not only referring to the op but also to some of the reactions here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

anyway not getting at you !

 

the comments trying to relativize (right word?), defend, excuse or doubt the thing nearly makes me throw up on my keyboard.

 

Maybe I should listen to wiser members like Larry and get back to my H#bird...still don't know what to do with his songs in my repertoire, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

that is quite a revealing thread, revealing on so many levels...

 

I liked his music, but now? I don't know, its weird, he always appeared to be some kind of weird ***hole, but all this? And there seems to be more coming....I'm out!

 

I'm so upset by all this stuff. I wouldn't go as far as to say I KNOW Adams, but I spent time with him on a few occasions after he approached me many years ago to tell me he owned my first two records and how much he liked them, which meant a lot to me at the time.

 

I didn't see this coming at all.

 

At first, the news seemed like tabloid hectoring, but as soon as it broke more and more women came out of the woodwork to corroborate the stories of emotional and sexual manipulation, and after I posted about it on Facebook, I was approached by two friends of mine who he also behaved abominably towards, pressuring them for sex and threatening to end their musical careers if he didn't get what he wanted.

 

I know another guy whose brother-in-law is a session guitarist, and was asked to join Adams' live band between the 'Ashes & Fire' and self titled albums. He declined as he didn't want to commit to being away from his young family for several months at a time, and Adams was furious at being turned down...several weeks later, the guitarist in question found that his regular lines of work had dried up entirely and he couldn't land a gig or session anywhere in the LA basin. It transpired that Adams had set the dogs on him and had his people badmouth the guy to anyone who would listen as some sort of petty revenge.

 

I'm mainly disgusted by his bandmates and handlers who have enabled his behaviour and allowed it to go unchecked. I gather (from what I've been told-I have no personal experience of this) that he has/had something of a vampiric presence once his own studio complex and label were established, and would hire and fire anyone he pleased if they crossed him or were no longer of immediate use.

 

Having spoken to a former colleague from my Universal days (Adams' label Pax-Am are a subsidiary of Capitol/Universal) the day before yesterday, they are done with him...all three albums he had scheduled for this year have been pulled from the sheets and effectively canned.

 

Fender have dropped him as an endorsee artist and canned his signature Strat, Benson Amplifiers have also dropped him and canned development of his signature amp, JHS have severed ties with him and ceased production of his signature VHS pedal, and Walrus Audio have also abandoned their work with him and deleted their DefCon 4 Adams signature pedal.

 

These aren't moves made lightly-each company stands to lose multiple tens of thousands of $/£ at least, and Universal a LOT more than that.

 

In an astonishingly benevolent and hugely admirable move, Walrus Audio have announced that thsy are to rebrand and repackage their remaining DefCon 4 pedals, and donate all of the revenue from the sales of them to a charity which supports the recovery and support of women who have suffered psychological abuse. I can't applaud this enough.

 

Adams has written some great, great songs, but there is no reason to excuse this sort of behaviour. The standard apologist stance is to list the likes of Page, Tyler, Jagger, Harper et al and try to pass it off as "normal rock star stuff", but that's bullsh*t. It's NOT the '70s anymore, and men like Adams are now justifiably held accountable for this kind of thing.

 

Justification of the subjugation of women in the name of "rock-n-roll" is a weak, pathetic excuse, and any man who defends Adams' behaviour needs to take a long, hard look at his own moral compass.

 

I have three daughters, which may colour my judgement a little, but c'mon, we're all someone's kid. And I KNOW that if a random fortysomething guy had pet names for your 14yr old daughter's genitalia, any of us would want to throttle him with our bare hands.

 

I'm done with the man entirely. I loved covering his songs, and he influenced my playing and writing greatly over the years, but he's a piece of crap as a human being.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So , if it was the 70's , its be ok ??

 

While looking at past behavior from a perspective of current sensibility can be interesting, it is of course meaningless. Jefferson had slaves, we don't do that anymore. Exposing tales of abuse of power serves to instruct our current and future behavior.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw him in concert a couple years ago and he put on a stellar performance. Definitely one of the most professionally executed, "on time" performances with lots of audience participation, no smug disdain of his fans, big encore, and just coming across as a great, fun guy who was there to put out 110% for his audience. And he played a 295 a lot that night.

 

Oh wait....wrong guy. Never mind.

 

drdm5i.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So , if it was the 70's , its be ok ??

 

That's not what I meant at all-I was trying to explain that Page, Jagger, Tyler et al were shamefully able to evade accountability during the '70s, not because it was more acceptable in any way, but because it was easier in a non-information-driven era to sweep unwanted secrets under the rug and to keep things out of the eye of the media.

 

Now, absolutely rightly, men like Adams are held accountable and exposed for their actions, partially because everything is traceable and partially because over the last forty years the subjugation and victimisation of women has become a front-and-centre moral outrage. Attitudes have changed and improved on all sides, and everyone is aware that no man should attempt to sexually manipulate or emotionally abuse a woman, and vice versa. Forty years ago, it was arguable that fewer people had got the memo on that, bearing in mind that in 1979, a man of equivalent age to Adams would have been born in 1935.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm with Jinder. And Sal.

 

The guy's obviously a POS and should suffer more than just losing his wealth and power.

 

What the Courts don't fix, Karma will. He's lucky he didn't cross paths with the wrong Father and mysteriously disappear.

 

Just sayin'...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...