Your first negative comment

[piersonm]

Been jamming with a group of guys since the start of the year. Getting to the point that we are going out every month (sometimes even twice although we don't wish to).

 

Well, last night I go hang with the singer and he tells me about an email message that was left on the band's Facebook account regarding last Wed (Pattys day) show.

 

Read something like, "St. Pats day. 4 beers in I left. Had a headache because you guys sucked!"

 

Now of course I could care less. We had a positive response all night, the guy running sound is half deaf, yet every club hires him (small town legend if you get my drift....runs everything like you're playing an arena) and...well, it was St. Pattys day!

 

So A) I'll go with the average. B) Not our fault if its too loud and the owner OR patrons didn't speak up. C) Really....4 beers? I've left before I even finished one if the band 'sucked'.

 

 

 

So. How did you take it?

[SpaceNorman]

 

So. How did you take it?

 

 

Ignore it. You know when you're on and when you're not. If you had a decent night, a room full of folks going ... chalking up an online "you suck" comment to the beer talkin' is more than reasonable.

[Hegmatronicon]

 

Ignore it. You know when you're on and when you're not. If you had a decent night, a room full of folks going ... chalking up an online "you suck" comment to the beer talkin' is more than reasonable.

 

 

This.

Inevitably you will get this from time to time - just be aware that for a "non-muso" "you suck" will usually mean "you didnt play any songs i wanted to hear". Which is bound to happen - you cant please everyone.

If you had a good crowd, good response and either a re-booking or a positive reaction from the venue - take it with a grain of salt.

[piersonm]

Like I said, I could give a {censored} less. They were just mad because of all the Shamrock Shakes they had to serve or all the vomit they knew they'd have to mop up the next day. Thats the only thing bad about the Library having the internet...people that can't afford a PC or service get a chance to log on.

 

I told my story....I want to hear YOUR stories.

[jeff42]

 

just be aware that for a "non-muso" "you suck" will usually mean "you didnt play any songs i wanted to hear".

 

 

yep.

 

way back in the beginning of our band, maybe around 2003 or so we played mainly classic rock stuff. One night while on on of our breaks I overhead two young girls (early 20s) talking about leaving for another club. The one asked why the other wanted to go. She replied with: They are playing all the crappy music my dad listens to!

[tim_7string]

At one time, I had a guestbook on my main website. I had just joined a band in 2007 and we did an out-of-town gig in Minnesota. It was a complete This Is Spinal Tap-type disaster, but we somehow made it through.

 

Anyway, during the proceedings, someone dusted the dance floor so people could glide around easier. Unfortunately, our bandleader was wearing boots, so as he approached the stage following our break, he slipped and fell HARD, his guitar banging loudly through the PA system.

 

Well, some tool decided to take the time to track down our band name and ended up on my website. He wrote, "I thought you guys sucked. The best part was when your singer tripped and fell on his ass." What a {censored}er. It pissed me off enough to just abandon guestbooks for good.

 

I mean, what is wrong with people these days? I can understand people talking like that if they're high or drunk, but putting it somewhere where a lot of people can see it? It's like that part of the brain that tells you "maybe this isn't such a good idea" just doesn't work anymore.

 

Having said that, I would just remove the comment and be on your way. I'm sure more people enjoyed the show than that one person who didn't.

[ckcondon]

I'd say that if someone bothered to go to your FB page, there is more to it than a disgruntled fan... Any bets that this guy is a muso who's got a case of sour grapes that you were gigging and he was stewing in his beers?

Most of the public who doesn't like the band walks out and goes somewhere else. They don't proactively seek out the band to critique them or make suggestions.

 

I have had a club manager (the one who does the booking) who said they got bad feedback one night, but they weren't even there. The club was always packed and the manager who paid us was glowing and looking fwd to having us back. All political... The manager who books the bands is never there on weekend nights. Go figure!

[Mike_E_McGee]

I had a cute girl tell me "You make that look really hard." Not exactly malicious, but certainly not what I wanted to hear.

 

I think I said "Well it ain't easy" and then completely failed to get laid.

 

[Outrider]

Played a gig on NYE with a projector screen right by the stage that showed unscreened text posts from patrons in the bar. Most were nonsense and non-band related but there were some negative posts that came on screen...mostly from people who wanted to keep dancing to the DJ, but a couple that were hurtful to our gal lead singer.

 

Luckily they were usually followed by 2-3 "we love the band" posts, which helped ease the pain.

 

Moral of the story: Anonymity brings out the asshole in some people. They get off on hurting your feelings. Doesn't mean they are right, sane, or even qualified to judge you. OTOH, be willing to accept and learn from criticism if it's warranted.

 

Best idea is to get negative feedback out of the public view and move on.

[Austincowbell]

"you suck"

=

you didn't play any songs I like

or

the PA was bad

or

You wouldn't let me "help you out on vocals"

or

When you covered Mustang Sally it wasn't that one version I heard that one time in that one movie that I liked. I goes "mustang sally.... girl you better..." YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!

[sickman]

Don't worry about it. There are hundreds of pages on hear why the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Richard Marx all suck.

[Dancebass]

WHAT WAS THAT????

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

You swing like a girl!!

You know what?

You know what, get your sister over here!

 

Now you see how she does it?

I swear you're going to grow up to be a pansy! - Dancebass' Dad age 4.

 

 

Everything else has been gravy compared to that to be honest.

[pjrake]

 

So. How did you take it?

 

 

even Christmas has scrooges. let it roll off your back; this is a tough business.

 

-PJ

[TrickyBoy]

I disregard all comments that start with "you guys suck" and don't immediately follow with a "because..." If you can't tell me why we sucked, you're an ass for making the comment

 

Similarly when people tell me "your band was really good" and can't name 2 songs we played, I disregard them as well.

[VanHalen]

Cancel all the gigs and quit. This is the end of the road.

[pjrake]

 

I swear you're going to grow up to be a pansy! - Dancebass' Dad age 4.

 

 

LOL!

 

i just spilled soda all over my screen!

 

-PJ

[pjrake]

this is an actual comment left on our YouTube page:

 

"guitarist is cool but when? he teaches he can be a hard ass."

 

LOL

 

-PJ

[jeff42]

about 2 years ago a really drunk woman told me at great length why we sucked compared to this other popular local band.

 

Well, here we are in 2010, that popular local band has split up some time ago and do you know where you can find this drunk woman every time we play?

 

Jumping up and down infront of us screaming about how great we are!

[piersonm]

 

Cancel all the gigs and quit. This is the end of the road.

 

 

LOL. So far this is the best response!

 

No it wasn't directly on the page, just an email message. Yeah, doesn't mean too much to me if you are so much of a {censored} you can't say it to someones face and then don't have the balls to public-post it from fear of getting flamed.

 

How I feel...its water off my back. I'm not playing for the people that hate us, they can do whatever they want. Cool by me, they just ruin the vibe for everyone else.

[guitarsjb]

We played one night, we actually thought it was a pretty good gig, as we are wrapping everything up to get out of the way for the next band, right BEFORE someone turned the between band music on...all you heard was "you guys {censored}ing sucked!" We just laughed about it and kept packin up.

[A_Gitarman]

We had an old guy at one of our regular spots spout off something like, "These guys suck... they're not even playing their instruments & lip-syncing everything!"

 

umm... thanks?

[cephus]

I hired a drummer last wednesday who I have played with for 15 years. I have fired him twice before, though. I thought he had settled down since he got married. We hadn't worked together for 2 years.

 

After I left the gig, he went back in and got in a shouting match with the bartender over what we got paid. Then went home and changed his facebook invitation to the gig (which I unfortunately forwarded to about 30 people) naming the bar and the bartender and saying how bad the place sucked - THEY DO NOT DESERVE YOUR PATRONAGE! When he updated his invitation, it sent out a notice to everyone I had forwarded it to as well.

 

This guy is a grown-assed man. Forty years old. And as far as I know, he hardly drank. Acting like a teenage girl.

 

Decent drummer. Bat {censored} crazy, I guess. Can't take another chance on him.

[BlueStrat]

We had a guy come to a gig and start heckling us. Turns out he was a guy we agreed to audition, he cancelled the audition and asked for a reschedule, but we found the person we wanted in the meantime so we cancelled his audition altogether. He approached us on the break and continued heckling us and calling us names and though we tried to ignore him, it wasn't to be. He went on about how hard he worked on the songs, etc. We apologized and said it was just business, but you're really making us glad we made the decision we did. And he yelled "Fine! I didn't want to play those stupid {censored}ing songs anyway! They're all bull{censored}!". Cool, we said, it looks like it worked out well for al of us. And then back to the whining about not getting a chance.....he ended up pushing my drummer, who knocked him on his ass right before he got escorted out of the club.

[MDLMUSIC]

I've told this story before, but it's a good one, so here goes...

 

I was playing a small club as a single. On break, a lady came up and said, "When I first saw you, I thought you were going to suck, but you don't suck, you're really good!"

 

The next day, I went out and had a bunch of business cards printed up with my name and phone number and the words, 'I DON'T SUCK!" printed in big red letters.

 

Now whenever somebody makes a negative comment about me or the band, I just hand them one of my cards.

[tucktronix]

I can remember a gig I played with my blues band about 4 years ago at this small dive in Charlotte(northern Rochester, NY). We were just setting up our equipment when 2 ladies(looked to be in their forties) approached us, one of them saying "you guys don't look like you're going to be any good" and left the club. Interestingly enough, it turned out to be one of our best nights there. Go figure.