I’m watching the news and it’s all about Tiger Woods and his ‘mishap’, his pulling out of his own golf tourney, and speculation that he’s having an affair even though the lady in question emphatically denies it. Got me to thinking about what this might do to his reputation – which in turn got me thinking about bands and their reputations, and wondered if fans’ can have a damaging effect on a Rock and Roller’s reputation ? Seems like an oxymoron doesn’t it? Damaging a band’s reputation – I mean, it’s supposed to be all about the ’sex, drugs, and rock and roll’ right? Hmm.
Got me thinking about U2. Three years ago, when the band was taking a short break in the South of France (during their Vertigo Tour), some photos surfaced – Bono in loosely buttoned shirt, khaki’s, and mandals with bare feet. The photo showed Bono with two very young teenage girls in matching silver sparkly bikinis and one of them was sitting on Bono’s knee. They were sitting at a table in what looked to be a beach style bar. At the time, the outcry amongst die hard U2 fans was heard round the globe – most were smart enough to know he wasn’t cheating on his wife (as the fans said – IF he ever cheated on Ali, he’d be 6 ft under so fast the world would be shocked). The outcry was for him to put himself into such a compromising position without realizing what impact this photo might have on his humanitarian pursuits. It was rumored later that the two ‘girls’ were older than first thought, had approached him on a public beach specifically to get a photo op and had sold the pictures to a tabloid. The speculation was that no woman would wear the same bikini as her friend and be seen in public like that
It was a setup pure and simple, but it could have had huge damage to the band, his personal life, his other business pursuits if people had of believed something was going on.
And what about poor Eddy Vedder of Pearl Jam – he was in Vancouver a year or so ago for a solo show – There were a few fans waiting outside for him to come out after sound check – word was he does that quite frequently. However, one loud abrasive woman fan decided to bang on doors and yell at the top of her lungs – Eeeeddieeeee.. come out come out Eddieee… and that was it. Not only did he NOT come out but security was sent out to chase the other fans away – amidst major grumbling of course. Some people thought he should have come out to see them regardless of what he deemed inappropriate or perhaps even threatening behavior by one fan. And what about another heavy metal rock band (who shall remain nameless) that I did an interview with on their bus – in the middle of the interview a group of unruly women were suddenly outside the bus banging on the bus calling out to the band – thankfully they have security and management to deal with this before it gets out of hand, but I’m sure some of them go tell all their friends how unfriendly the band was (without telling them of their own weird behavior)
Fans often cross the line – I’ve seen video of Bono absoluley mobbed by fans – smiling and trying to sign as many autographs as possible, talk to as many fans as possible – and then having to leave due to personal security issues. I know of people that were there in person who didn’t get their autographs, didn’t get their face time with Bono and bitterly complained to all who would listen, about how the band doesn’t care about their fans, about how rude Bono was to them, etc etc until someone dug up the video to prove not only were they overreacting but outright lying… and this too can damage a band I think.
And then the rumors of infidelity – back to what people are saying about Tiger Woods without proof… even though bands are supposed to be all about the ’sex, drugs etc’ I think it can still damage a band if women fans spread rumors of affairs with band members. (And yes of course lots of them do have affairs – but lots of them nowdays don’t too). I wonder how many tales to friends of sleeping with or being propositioned by a band member is more wishful thinking than fact, or how many tales are told out of spite for being turned down outright? (and what did those fans think when they saw me entering that heavy metal band’s bus I wonder?)
So what is it about us that we can’t stand success and want to drag people down into the mud as soon as they show signs of success – why do we have a need to stretch truths, exaggerate brush offs, tell tales to build ourselves up with our own peers… at the detriment of someone else we dont know, some public figure… it will be interesting to see what comes from all this with Tiger, and personally? I hope nothing.































