Ryan Adams

[verb_to_trust]

I'm going to listen to Galaxie 500 until this drops on spotify.

[verb_to_trust]

Dear Ryan,

I'm sorry..

And I love you

[verb_to_trust]

Who is going to love Ryan now...

If not us?

[verb_to_trust]

I will love this album while we are learning to walk in the dark

[verb_to_trust]

May your love find it's way back home again

[verb_to_trust]

Lol it's so good

[verb_to_trust]

I just pre ordered the vinyl so hard

[psychobain]

Lol it's so good

Its
What a great comeback

[Strat]

Classic Ryan Adam’s stuff here. No doubt.

It’s weird I’m torn. I’ll work through it.

[Strat]

When you cross over made me cry at 4 in the morning

[evenslow]

not taking some huge stance but i haven't listened to his music in over a year after listening to him all the time since Gold came out. this is gonna be weird.

[verb_to_trust]

When you cross over made me cry at 4 in the morning

Two of the songs seemed to be about his brothers death

[Strat]

When you cross over made me cry at 4 in the morning

Two of the songs seemed to be about his brothers death

Yea it brought me immediately back to my moms bedside. A little too close to home.

[contamination]

I'm not sure im ready to accept Ry Ry back into my life.

Yeah, I'm out.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get back, really.

I'm interested about where do draw the line. Kind of Blue is high on your Favorite Albums of All Time list, but it's well known how Miles mistreated women and beat his wives. Here's just one example:

One night he called me up and asked me to come over. I had not heard from him in a few days and I could tell from Miles’s voice that there was a problem. When I got there, he was by himself. He had broken Daisy’s jaw, he explained, and she was hospitalized. “So, what do you think, Eric. Am I an asshole?” . . .

“Yes,” I said, “you’re a damned asshole, Miles. How could you do such a thing?”

“I meant to pull my punch. I know how to pull my punch.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richa ... een-better

So what differentiates Miles and Ryan?

[Strat]

I'm not sure im ready to accept Ry Ry back into my life.

Yeah, I'm out.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get back, really.

I'm interested about where do draw the line. Kind of Blue is high on your Favorite Albums of All Time list, but it's well known how Miles mistreated women and beat his wives. Here's just one example:

One night he called me up and asked me to come over. I had not heard from him in a few days and I could tell from Miles’s voice that there was a problem. When I got there, he was by himself. He had broken Daisy’s jaw, he explained, and she was hospitalized. “So, what do you think, Eric. Am I an asshole?” . . .

“Yes,” I said, “you’re a damned asshole, Miles. How could you do such a thing?”

“I meant to pull my punch. I know how to pull my punch.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richa ... een-better

So what differentiates Miles and Ryan?

My buddy just articulated it for me pretty well. The difference here, or at least not even comparing these two artists....

I told my buddy "for what its worth, its quite lovely and more in line with classic ryan adams yada yada"

He wrote back:

"Lots of songs about oh poor me, lost love, how could this possibly happen to me, im so heartbroken, and can't understand why?"

"Parody record!"

So, that's kind of it.

[verb_to_trust]

This album was written a long time before NYT wrote about how mean he was to Mandy Moore

[Strat]

This album was written a long time before NYT wrote about how mean he was to Mandy Moore

I think you missed the point.

[Strat]

I just can't buy into his thing anymore. Im detached from his offerings. The reason you have shitty relationships dude is because you are a fucking monster and abuser so stop with the woe is me schtick.


It is what it is. I tried. It is a lovely album but i feel detached from it now.

[verb_to_trust]

You don't have to be some sympathetic character from a romance film in real life to make great art.

[epilogue]

@contamination

There isn't one line to cross. There isn't even a checklist or whatever. Each case is different.

For me, the biggest difference is probably that I'd already fallen in love with Kind of Blue before I knew anything about Miles' personal life. Once I learned about all of that stuff it had an effect on me, too. In fact, the only two Davis albums I own or have listened to all the way through, even, are the two I heard before I knew about the personal stuff. If Miles Davis dropped a new album tomorrow, I'd skip that one, too.

Ryan is similar in that I haven't thrown out all of his stuff that I already own and have enjoyed in the past. I listen to his stuff much less often, for sure. And when I listen now, some of the artist's personal stuff comes through in ways that aren't great and can get to me. But not always. It's difficult but it's not impossible.

I can still appreciate the songs that I've always appreciated, even if there may be some new added context/subtext. The emotional resonance remains. Dear Chicago can still be a very personal song for me that is about what was going on when I first heard it, when a friend put it on a mix for me, etc. It doesn't have to bear the weight of Ryan's baggage.

Another thing that helps Kind of Blue is that there aren't lyrics. Maybe that shouldn't matter (and, surely, for others it doesn't) but it does matter to me.

With Ryan, the issue I have is not wanting to support or enable him. If Ryan ever decides to really apologize and take real steps to try and turn things around, to make amends in some way, to show real contrition and an effort to change/educate, then maybe I could see my way back to him. But as of now, I'm just not interested. He doesn't deserve my effort or my money.

The last major difference between the two that I'll bring up in this insanely long post is that Ryan hasn't ever written/recorded anything as brilliant as Kind of Blue. It's easier for me to walk away because Ryan doesn't mean to me what he means to others. The guy has two good records (no great or perfect records) and a handful of great songs. I fully admit that if his work meant more to me this would be a much harder decision/discussion.

I believe in separating the art from the artist. But I don't have to listen to Ryan Adams. He's not a necessary artist to me (like Sam Cooke, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, etc.). There is plenty of music out there that I think is better, that means more to me -- someone earlier mentioned Jason Isbell; he's a great example. So why stress about it? Why indulge? Why support a mediocre asshole? Ryan's not doing anything particularly groundbreaking or interesting to me. Others feel differently, and I'm not here to take that away from them. They can make their own decisions and I'm not about to pick a fight or judge others or go to the mattresses to make my case.

Hope that answers your question, contamination.