Ryan Adams 2019

DewieCox

True, it’s probably harder to find a major band that hasn’t done something as shitty as RA. 

I think some of the “cancel” is because of the nature of his material and even more informed by the timing and motivation for his behavior. 

Spiritual_Chaos

The single was on my spotify "release radar" so it popped on. I bet the album is stellar. But I feel icky about putting it on. I'll survive playing Taylor Swifts new or some Neil Young ARchive II instead.

facepollution

clayton12 said:

I highly recommend everyone to read the piece from Steven Hyden, about listening to Ryan. As a long time Ryan fan, who owns about everything he has put out and has seen him over ten times, and who has spent time with him (he was a dick), Steven nails my thoughts.

https://uproxx.com/indie/will-you-ever-listen-to-ryan-adams-again/

I totally see where he's coming from - I didn't actively listen to any of his stuff until the odd song popped up on a Spotify playlist earlier this year.  I don't know if I'm particularly unique in my listening habits, but I tend to binge on certain artists for a few weeks at a time then sometimes don't listen to them for weeks or months, so it wasn't particularly hard to not listen to any of his stuff.

I think what Steven Hyden is getting at there is that it feels different experiencing this in real time, as opposed to troubled artists of the past who figured out their problems in the years that followed.  It feels different, but I guess the hypocrisy remains, and in that sense it kind of dilutes the authenticity of the outrage this has caused.  That said, there are obvious examples with people like Gary Glitter and Ian Watkins who absolutely crossed a moral line - where no amount of context or understanding of their problems can erase what they did.  

HughFreakingDillon

clayton12 said:

I highly recommend everyone to read the piece from Steven Hyden, about listening to Ryan. As a long time Ryan fan, who owns about everything he has put out and has seen him over ten times, and who has spent time with him (he was a dick), Steven nails my thoughts.

https://uproxx.com/indie/will-you-ever-listen-to-ryan-adams-again/

i love how he quantifies the expected retort by saying it is coming from a guy on twitter with 17 followers and a bio that reads "free thinker". come on. having a dissenting opinion doesn't make one unimportant. 

however, i think he's right and that my original comment is incorrect. after reading that, now that i think about it, it makes sense that the decision for everyone is totally personal, at the same time tied to your own personal timeline; just as it is for me. it doesn't cut me at all since i don't listen to this guy, and if i were to start listening to him now, it most likely wouldn't resonate like it does for those of you that were big fans when this came to light. 

i didn't even know who he was until i heard about some guy redoing taylor swift's album. i tried listening to something of his after that, and i found it sounded like something i didn't like. i don't recall if it had a country twang or if it was something else, it was a while back (pre-allegations). but it just wasn't my cup. 

2-feign-reluctance

Thanks @clayton12 for sharing that article. The author did a good job describing how I feel to a degree. I was very late to Ryan Adams music, coming in at his self-titled record (which I still think is the best thing he's ever done) and working backwards from there listening to records he's done that I'd never listened to. So for him to fall out of 'rotation' as the Uproxx writer said, definitely resonates with me. I definitely believe in second chances too as @tempo_n_groove stated, but I may do that without purposefully putting him back into my rotation again. More than anything, I just want the guy to find some peace in his life. I spend my professional life right there with others who have such similar turmoil and torture running wild in their lives that innately I find myself rooting for him to make it as a human, not necessarily climb back to a status that could be gone forever.

FR181798

Spiritual_Chaos said:

The single was on my spotify "release radar" so it popped on. I bet the album is stellar. But I feel icky about putting it on. I'll survive playing Taylor Swifts new or some Neil Young ARchive II instead.

The album is indeed stellar. I can see where you are coming from but I would suggest you give it at least a couple of listens. Its not an album that can be listened to over and over anyway IMO, its very sad but really good but probably not one I would revisit over and over. 

For what its worth I dont think any of us properly know what any of the musicians and bands we listen to are really like. Id love to be a much more casual listener when it comes to music and just like the music for what it is but for me its hard not to think about who the people behind it are.

Wobbie

2-feign-reluctance said:

I listened to about half of it yesterday. The guy has major issues. Addiction, mental health issues and who knows what else. I’m not excusing his behavior, but people with those issues aren’t like themselves. Cloudy thinking, and judgement even on their best days. The sober/clean RA, working on his mental health might be a sweetheart guy. Personally I am not sure I can ever listen to his stuff the same as before, but I believe in healing, atonement and redemption. We’re all struggling to some degree being our best selves & I wish RA the best in that journey. 

well said.

PJ_Soul

RA's new album, Wednesdays, is great. I got a free download with the vinyl purchase. First person to PM me with their email address will get the download link in a forwarded email.

PJ_Soul

PJ_Soul said:

RA's new album, Wednesdays, is great. I got a free download with the vinyl purchase. First person to PM me with their email address will get the download link in a forwarded email.

Claimed

pjpjpaul

Whatever happened with the investigation into all of the allegations? It's like he had a million people saying he did a million different things and agencies said they were looking into it but then a long time passed and I never heard anything. I have not been able to listen to him since the allegations and I used to be a big fan so it was a real disappointment. 

eddiec

pjpjpaul said:

Whatever happened with the investigation into all of the allegations? It's like he had a million people saying he did a million different things and agencies said they were looking into it but then a long time passed and I never heard anything. I have not been able to listen to him since the allegations and I used to be a big fan so it was a real disappointment. 

I guess the FBI found he did nothing wrong in regards to the underage girl and their skype chats and texting. Very dodgy but apparently no criminal charges were brought.

https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/ryan-adams-cleared-by-fbi-in-investigation-into-underage-sexts-2857057

pjpjpaul

eddiec said:

pjpjpaul said:

Whatever happened with the investigation into all of the allegations? It's like he had a million people saying he did a million different things and agencies said they were looking into it but then a long time passed and I never heard anything. I have not been able to listen to him since the allegations and I used to be a big fan so it was a real disappointment. 

I guess the FBI found he did nothing wrong in regards to the underage girl and their skype chats and texting. Very dodgy but apparently no criminal charges were brought.

https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/ryan-adams-cleared-by-fbi-in-investigation-into-underage-sexts-2857057

Thanks. It's weird how the allegations spread like wildfire but this news didn't really even show up as a blip on my radar. 

Tim Simmons

Usually the less salacious stuff doesn’t spread as quickly. But this new just broke like last week. 

Tim Simmons

still not going back to the guy. Maybe someday though. 

2-feign-reluctance

Thoughts on RA's activities on Instagram lately? 

HughFreakingDillon

2-feign-reluctance said:

Thoughts on RA's activities on Instagram lately? 

all I see is some live streams and t shirt sales. is that what you mean?

2-feign-reluctance

HughFreakingDillon said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

Thoughts on RA's activities on Instagram lately? 

all I see is some live streams and t shirt sales. is that what you mean?

Yep. Watching him work out his grief after losing his cat Theo was super tough. My wife and I lost our dog of 14 years unexpectedly on my oldest daughter's 8th birthday on May 23rd. 

Tim Simmons

He’s going through it. But there seems to be a lot of bitterness over “being cancelled”. And if he ain’t doing the leg work to own what he did, it’s gonna be hard times for a bit. 

It’s hard to cure narcissism 

Yefa

https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/ryan-adams/

2-feign-reluctance

Yefa said:

https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/ryan-adams/

Good interview. I think he is capable of healing with a good team of helpers. Will it revive his career? I'll be watching at a distance...