Based on reputation, I'm guessing Axl Rose and Richie Blackmore. Any firsthand knowledge?

the male lead singer from Starship was a jerk to me years ago - not that he has reason to have much of an ego!

Van Morrison would certainly be up there!

axl rose - bad idea

i would add to gazza's choice...van morrison. great music...greater @#$%&.

BOB DYLAN - I'm sure everyone has a story
ROBERT FRIPP - Won't do autographs on show days due to his Religious "beliefs"?
NEIL DIAMOND - complete psycho, travels with 3 bodyguards with ear pieces, etc
DAVID CROSBY - Somewhat a decent human when on solo tours. With CSN, a bastard
RITCHIE BLACKMORE - He's ok when not with his security guard or mother-in-law
LESLIE NIELSON - Not a rocker, but a complete MF when camera crews are not around
JIMMY PAGE - Everyone in his eyes are Ebay dealers..even before Ebay was created
JIMMY BUFFETT - Nice guy when not on tour, when on tour he's a bastard to fans
LITTLE RICHARD - Feels the need to have 6 bodyguards
JON BON JOVI - Don't let the "Image" his people created
GENE SIMMONS - Assumes most that approach him are autograph dealers

Ha ha trainarollin, actually David Crosby was cool around me when I saw him w/ his band CPR - which seems to be where he put his passion in recent years, & his Byrdsian rhythm guitar, doing CSN for the $$$ - briefly answered a friend's questions about his & Roger's guitar stuff on Byrds sessions, seemed flattered in fact. No one mentioned Melissa Etheridge.

Yea definetly have heard stories of buffet

FORGOT TO ADD:

BILL KRYTZMANN (GRATEFUL DEAD)DICK
MICKEY HART (GRATEFUL DEAD)

JERRY GARCIA WAS ACTUALLY ONE OF THE NICER GUYS TO RUN INTO

Sadly, I haven't met any rockers but the ones that I assume would kind of give fans a hard time would be Axl Rose, Jon Bon Jovi, Gene Simmons and maybe even Bowie and Jagger. There's probably tons more that I'm forgetting. Don't get me wrong on Bowie and Mick. I love their music immensely but it just seems that they may not be very approachable. Then again, I could be wrong. lol

I would say Keith, actually. I heard a story where a kid came up to him with a guitar asking him to sign it, and Keith decided that he liked the guitar so much that he absconded with it.. I'm not sure if it's true, but I definitely wouldn't put it past him after reading various Stones biographies.

Me ... I'm a real bastard when I wanna be alone...but I always come around!!

ROCKMAN

heyheymymyitb Wrote:
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> I would say Keith, actually. I heard a story where
> a kid came up to him with a guitar asking him to
> sign it, and Keith decided that he liked the
> guitar so much that he absconded with it.. I'm not
> sure if it's true, but I definitely wouldn't put
> it past him after reading various Stones
> biographies.

Actually what happened was that the kid wanted Keith to sign his guitar...but Keith didn't hear or understand his request so he thought the kid was GIVING him the guitar. He grabbed it and rushed right into his car. The kid, of course was shocked and wanted the guitar back! He followed the car which already sped off and kept screaming "That's my guitar! GImme my guitar!" Apparently, the car stopped, the kid told Keith what happened and Keith laughed. The kid walked away with his guitar--and Keith's autograph on it.

I dunno i think Keith is wonderful with his fans. The stories, pictures and videos I've seen with fans--he's always very generous and he almost shares a spirtual moment with every fan. He is so grateful that people love him so much and he respects that. He seems to try to give that same love back to the people he meets.

Keith has been an absolute sweetheart with me on the occasions I have met him. Mick and Ronnie as well are very cool.

I live in L.A. and even though Axl Rose lives here, he is almost never seen anywhere. I was told by some autograph guys that they got him once coming out of a hotel in town and he agreed to sign 1 item each. He then refused to sign any item already signed by a former GnR member. All the former members are very cool guys. Slash, Duff and Matt are very nice guys with fans.

David Crosby is a huge @#$%&, one of the worst. I have only asked him to sign once and apparently he was in a good mood because all he did was shook his head no. To friends of mine, who are not professional autograph seakers, he has not only turned them down but he says to them "go @#$%& your mother" in response to a polite request. At the opposite extreme is Graham Nash who si a real gentleman.


Glenn Frey and Don Henley are real tough. A friend of mine got 1 off Frey last year, but on another day when I asked him, he cursed me out after a Lakers game at Staples Center. I tried to get Henley to sign after a solo show last year and he intentionally did not make eye contact as he was slowly driven out. There were only 2 of us waiting. At the opposite extreme is former Eagle Randy Meisner who is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. He will sign everything you bring him and last month I was able to have him sign every item I own with him on, a total of about 13-14 items at 1 time.

Myself and a friend walked down the street with Bob Dylan, who was without a bodyguard and he completely ignored us, as if we did not even exist.

I got Jimmy Page to sign in February when he was in town for the Grammys but it was real tough. I felt very lucky to add him to the box set that I had John Paul Jones already on.

David Bowie is tough to get signed by, but I came close last year after a show in Anaheim. he turned myself and a friend down, but at least he was plite about it.

John Fogerty is also real real tough. He used to sign for fans, but according to his brother who is his manager, he stopped doing it around 1998.

Ringo Starr can be moody. I finally had him sign for the first time in June, after having been turned down in the past.

John Fogerty will not sign items that Stu Cook and Doug Clifford already signed.
Still tougher than he was in 1997.

Neil Young can be tough but only when on a tour.

Prince

Springsteen...I swear he is Bi-Polar when it comes to fans.

Adam & Larry from U2

and

WALTER BECKER & DONALD FAGEN ! Yes, Steely Dan are MF's

Dieter Bohlen from Modern Talking. I saw the show in Hannover, Germany, 2000. I got an opporturnity to meet Dieter backstage for only a brief moment 'cause that bastard said he wanted to go back to his hotel room asap and was in dire need of some Evian. What a prick!!!

trainarollin Wrote:
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> >
> BOB DYLAN - I'm sure everyone has a story


I don't get it. How come Dylan is so keen on touring and at the same time his interacting with the audience is non-existent.

> GENE SIMMONS - Assumes most that approach him are
> autograph dealers


If you're a guy that might be right. Women, on the other hand, would be able to both get his autograph and give him a blowjob.

Yeah, I guess a nice girl would have the advantage over us.

Rank Outsider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> trainarollin Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > >
> > BOB DYLAN - I'm sure everyone has a story
>
>
good book on dylan: "encounters with bob dylan" written by different fans, versions of their meetings with zimmy....fun read>

I got Gene Simmons to sign a boot. He looked at it "I have never seen this one before".
I said "can ya sign it".
He looked at the back and laughed cuz it had a naked lady on it
But he signed it. I had other offical things with me. Paul Stanley was interested in it too.

I bum rushed Todd Rundgren one time. He only signed cuz he had no idea what was goin on. He looked up after signing and saw all these people behind me.
He said "I CAN'T DO THIS! THERES TOO MANY PEOPLE HERE"
And jumped in a limo!

I also waited very patiently for Prince. I had my Stones shirt on and Gold Prince cd. I was 10 feet away from him and he was talkin on his cell phone. He just hungup and said "Thanks for comin out" and he was gone. It was to be a meet and greet for fans after show. He wasn't really a dick, it was just dissapointing.

i saw him a few moths ago at the Apollo....worst show i ever saw!!!

I was in a record store in Westwood once with a friend and we saw Tom Petty browsing through the CDs. I told my friend he shouldn't bother the guy, but he just had to do it, so he goes up to him and asks him the dumbest question possible: "Are you Tom Petty?" Tom Petty looked up, said "yes" and then turned around and walked out of the store without another word. I thought it was pretty funny, actually, but my friend was pissed.

my buddy saw neil pert in an elevator . he was a drummer and was thrilled to meet him . when he asked him if he was neil pert he said "yeah, now @#$%& off"!
not cool.

I've heard some horror stories about Sting being very cold to fans, even shouting at them.

Never met any rock stars myself (sob), but know people who have met Jimmy Page ("sweet as pie" was the girl's description!) and one friend who's hung out with David Bowie and Lou Reed -- not at the same time. Bowie sounds surprisingly down-to-earth and humble.

I love this thread. I have never met any rockstars or even famous people. How can you people take the rejection all the time? I could understand if the person stopped and signed like 10 and you missed out, but if there is just two of you and you are turned down...how do you deal with it? DO you shrug it off to the star being a dick?


BTW I loved the Tom Petty story. I always wondered if I would know a star if I actually saw them.

I was backstage at a Robert Plant concert in Houston back in 1985. A friend and I gave some guy money for beer or something like that to an older guy and he took off running outside and we followed him like fools and we were not allowed back in to the show. So we went to the entrance to the backstage area hoping to see Plant when he left. We didn't see Plant but we did see Ronnie Lane. He wasn't doing too well at the time and was confined to a wheel chair. We asked him for his autograph and he said, "of course". He asked us if we liked the show and asked if we were from Houston. He said that it was nice living there (later he would have a few tax problems I think) and wished us well.
He was with someone else that I believe was a famous musician but never found out who exactly. But this other person helped Ronnie back into his limo and then walked over to us and said, "thanks guys, you have no idea how much that meant to him".
WOW! How much it meant to him?! What a feeling...
Soooo... I guess you just have to get these people at the right time.
Although, some I think are just asses and Axle Rose is one of them. He hasn't shown one bit of appreciation to his fans. Jumps offstage and punches them in the face (St.Louis 1991) and then doesn't decide to go onstage until 11:30 PM for a 7M show (Houston 1992...and many other cities on the second leg of the Appetite for Bullshit Tour).

J.J.Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> my buddy saw neil pert in an elevator . he was a
> drummer and was thrilled to meet him . when he
> asked him if he was neil pert he said "yeah, now
> @#$%& off"!
> not cool.

Wow...that doesn't sound like Neil at all. He had a really rough time several years back (wife and daughter both died within 6 months of each other).

Anyone can have a bad day though...I wouldn't let an isolated incident ruin their reputation.

Good example of Keith...buddy of mine caught him before going into an interview. He asked Keith for a photo of them both. Keith said he was late but would look for him when he got out.

About 45 min. later Keith came out. The room was now packed with fans as well as the Stones handlers and such. Keith looked around, saw my friend and made a bee line over to him for the photo then sprinted out of there.

ohnonotyouagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was in a record store in Westwood once with a
> friend and we saw Tom Petty browsing through the
> CDs. I told my friend he shouldn't bother the guy,
> but he just had to do it, so he goes up to him and
> asks him the dumbest question possible: "Are you
> Tom Petty?" Tom Petty looked up, said "yes" and
> then turned around and walked out of the store
> without another word. I thought it was pretty
> funny, actually, but my friend was pissed.


this reminds me of a Petty story...a person i know owns an antique store in the los angeles area...one day petty and bob dylan came in (discheveled and smelling of liquor)and were browsing around..some old lady came up to my friend and told him that she thought these two characters were shoplifting...then my friend gets petty on his phone and has him call a want ad for a guitarist influenced by Petty, etc...petty tells the guy he IS tom petty and the guy said sure you are and hung up on petty...

Gene Simmons never refused to sign for me. He acts like a dick but I think he gets a kick out acting that way so I didn't take it personally. I think the last guy I asked for an autograph was Andy Summers. He signed a flyer for me after one of his gigs which I mailed off to a guy who was a bigger fan than me. Sometimes I get entertained by watching the hounds and the stars interact but usually prefer to stay a spectator.

Unlike Marky, Joey and Johnny, Dee Dee Ramone wasn't always very approachable.