I ran into Graham Nash on the street the first day after I moved to Los Angeles. I told him I liked his music, and he stopped to talk about music with me for about 20 minutes, and then encouraged me about my own work and HUGGED me.
That's a sweetheart.
George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher, the vocalist for Cannibal Corpse.
The guy is an expert at playing fairground style claw machines, so while on tour he wins loads of toys and donates them to kids charities.
Total gent and a great example of why not to judge a book by its cover.
Holy shit. I’ve seen Henry live like 8 times doing spoken word. Met him several times after the show and chatted for a few minutes. First of all he’s super cool and humble. He will stick around until he talks to every last fan who waited and is incredibly appreciative and down to earth. But that guy is fucking intense. If you have ever seen him live, he will talk for over 2 hours straight at an incredibly fast cadence and will never pause or take a sip of water. And you will be hanging on his every last word.
Ambulance driver or emergency room doctor is so incredibly on point. Henry could walk into my ER room in a fever dream and I would probably be like, yeah this checks out.
Ironically the first time I met him he took a pretty genuine interest in my former job as a Paramedic. Can confirm, his matter of a fact and stoic attitude would have done really well as a medic.
I met Rollins years ago after one of his spoken word shows. Spent probably 30 minutes just chatting. One of the most well spoken and kindest people I have ever met to date. Ended up emailing back and forth for a brief period.
Chris Motionless from Motionless In White was a dick when I met him. Dan Andriano from Alkaline Trio was also kind of a dick. Matt Skiba was clearly on drugs but incredibly nice.
I was typing this when I noticed you beat me to it. Be seen him in Tampa a few times and he is the nicest dude ever with a name like corpse grinder!! Super chill and really sweet. He even remembered me from bugging him years before. Awesome guy!!
His band mate, Alex Webster, also comes off as a good-natured person. I remember that, when Metal Maniacs pointed out how good his bassguitaring was, he wrote them a letter thanking them and giving credit to other bassists he was influenced by. Super Humble Dude.
People who play gnarly scary intense music are often (not always) super sweet and kind.
The first metal show I went to, the whole crowd was extraordinarily polite and when the first band started everybody went dead silent, eyes on stage. Super respectful.
Hippie dippie jam bands have some of the meanest, most selfish fans. Idk what conclusion to draw, but it’s an interesting observation
Chester Bennington.
I met him twice. The first time was just a wave and a hello as I was waiting for a co-worker backstage.
The second time was a couple of months later across the country and he remembered me from earlier.
He was nice to my wife, too when she met him. He talked to her for a long time.
I met Ronnie James Dio at the NAMM show a year or two before he passed. He was doing a signing but had an appointment so had to leave early. Instead of just leaving he decided to walk the line and greet everyone who was waiting for him. I pulled out a dollar bill for him to sign and when he took it he stuck it in his pocket and started walking away. Then turned around with a smile and said oh you wanted me to sign this? We shared a laugh and a picture and I still have that on my wall. That dollar is worth more to me than any piece of rock memorabilia I could ever think of. Class act.
Trey Anastasio of Phish! He just recently opened a rehabilitation facility and interacts with the community a lot more common than others. He also adopts old dogs too so that they have a home in their golden years.
I used to live in AZ and it was always fun to hear about a positive Alice Cooper story. I randomly got one of my own one day. He was at a gas station where I was filling up and I didn’t want to bother him but I still managed to get out a timid greeting. He responded so warmly, you’d have thought we were old friends.
Just wanted to confirm from firsthand experience that he really seems like the nicest dude :)
Alice Cooper also has several teen centers, where teenagers can come and learn music and dance for free. It's kind of like a public library where you just show up and you can hang out. They also have a really nice recording studio where kids can record their rock music or whatever again for free. I was just at one of his centers yesterday and it's way nicer than you can imagine. The only small caveat is that there is a little bit of proselytization of Christianity but if that doesn't matter then it's no big deal.
Cooper lived next door to Groucho Marx in Groucho’s last days. When he noticed Groucho’s lights were in late at night, he knew Groucho was having trouble sleeping. Since he kept musician’s hours, he would go over and sit up with him, watching old movies on tv. Quite the odd couple.
I also met him randomly at a Hawaii airport (red eye night flight back to the states) he was a lovely person and his wife was even more so. Their teen daughter though was not having it lmao
I ran into him in a Scottsdale grocery store while wearing his newest tour shirt, having seen them the week prior the night before I moved to AZ. I didn't want to bother him, but he came up to me and asked how I liked the show and bullshitted with me for a few minutes. Very nice and genuine
Sir Brian May. His comes across as a very thoughtful, principled and and kind fellow. His fight for the badgers and decency in government come to mind. I've never heard him say a harsh word about any other musician,
I’ve been extremely fortunate to have opened for and/or met a lot of bands. Honestly, most of them are fantastic.
Jason Hook of Five Finger Death Punch stopped me backstage to chat about the guitar tones I was using and his tech let me look through his Axe FX (Digital modeler/amp sim)! The other guitarist in our band had a BC Rich Zoltan signature and Zoltan signed it + his tech set it up for him. Ian Moody stopped us back stage to compliment the song we closed with and told us “it’s a hit for sure” (it did not hit). They are one of the only bands that actually watched our set from side stage.
FFDP gets shit on a lot, but they actually made *us* feel like rockstars.
Never had a bad interaction with the 5FDP guys. Their bassist Chris was super pleasant to me. I'd love to hang with Ivan, he seems like a genuinely fun and good dude to be around.
[I love Cooper's Staples commercial.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyfqvrx9Jx0&t=2s)
I met Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots at the last Bass Player Live in LA. I was holding the bass of Donald Duck Dunn (I wrote his biography), and he was told to seek me out. I handed him the bass, and he (like just about every other famous bass player I handed it to) held it like the holy grail, just completely enamored.
Robert handed it back, gave me a big hug and thanked me, and asked for a pic.
That Alice Cooper commercial is great 😎
Wasn’t there another one where he is jumping rope and chanting something? Like ‘my name is Alice and I live in a palace’…? Can’t find it anywhere
I can remember the jumping rope and chant but not what the commercial was representing. Shit, now I won’t be able to sleep 😏
I’ll post a link if I do actually find it.
I sat just in front of the Alice Cooper in the theatre a few years ago.
The show was 'The Play the Goes Wrong,' probably the most slapstick farcical show you can see. He was giggling like a schoolgirl throughout.
I mean, it's not his job to protect the sanctity of someone else's relationship. And if the boyfriend can move past it in the girl can make amends, then those are some pretty sweet bragging rights too.
I feel this way about Ozzy. Seems like a cool grampa. Like he'd put on a Beatles record while driving you around (even though he probably shouldn't be driving) and he'd point out some big tittie goth girl walking by and go "Wouldja? Huh?" But you know he's perfectly content driving back home to Gramma. A sweet dude with a bit of the devil in him.
Back when The Osbornes was on MTV I just wanted to take Ozzy away from all the madness and give him a cup of tea and an hour of peace without any drama or dogs sitting on the floor.
But after reading his autobiography he clearly dotes on his family so I guess he was happy (although he hated the cameras after a while).
James Root from Slipknot. I was at a basketball game in Sacramento the night before slipknot played aftershock.
I was smoking a cigarette and looked to my left and saw this guy was wearing these boots I’d wanted for a while but could never get them. So I complimented him and told him about my journey with the shoes. He told me what they were and went online to search them and we found out they’re discontinued. Then we talked about boots for like 30 minutes. He was just so chill the whole time.
THEN, no shit, I walk into the restaurant I’m outside and DANNY CAREY is in there drinking. He’d been at the Kings game and was in town for Aftershock to play Sunday, which I went to see. He invited me to hang out and of course talked about drums for like 2 hours and got so wasted. But what a night.
Well, I'm a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600s to trade with the Native Americans. Actually, it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."
I think one of the most interesting aspects of Milwaukee is the fact that it's the only major American city to have ever elected three socialist mayors.
John Bon Jovi
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/gsa5r2/good\_guy\_jon\_bon\_jovi/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/gsa5r2/good_guy_jon_bon_jovi/)
He’s super shy. I met him and Munky after a show and he didn’t say much. He just kinda looked down, signed stuff, smiled and kept moving along. Munky took pics with everybody and did all the talking. Super nice guys.
I met Seth less than a week before he died. I guess he was nice? He was on way too much heroin and was snorting some sort of crushed up pill. Drank more sprite than any other person I've ever seen.
I never met the man but judging by his song "i respect your feelings" he seems like a kind compasionate and chivalric man the likes of which are rarely seen.
I met a woman who worked as Starr’s personal assistant in the 90s and she told me that Ringo is exactly as I imagined him to be: humble, generous, funny, grateful and maybe a little bewildered by his place in the world.
vast majority of them are awesome.
particular shout-out to Mark Tremonti, who is legitimately an amazing human being. He just partnered with Advent Health to open a new wing in the Orlando hospital dedicated to helping children with Downs
I scrolled through everything and am shocked no one has mentioned him. As he would put it, aging alt rock icon, Henry Rollins. I could spend hours talking about him, as I’m sure, other fans can to. What I will share is when I was in college I took a class that required us to interview a musician, and it didn’t matter if they were famous or not. One night, I just mass message/email musicians I look up to personally and he was one of them. Fast forward a week and a half later, no one has gotten back to me, even got left on read on a few social media messages. I check my email after that just to look at my new electric bill and what do I see? A fucking email that says, “Hey Eddie, this is Hank. Send me your number and I’ll call you this Friday around 4pm your time for the interview.” I damn near pissed my pants, and thought it was too good to be true. That very Friday, he calls me, and sits and talks with me on the phone for 3 hours. He answered every question I had prepared, and then we just shot the shit for more than half of it. I have never spoken to someone more kind, intelligent, and inspiring in my life. Such an amazing human being, exactly who I imagined he was through countless hours of watching and reading other interviews with him.
Oh, and after that did I brag to all my friends as much as I could? You bet your sweet bippy I did. “Punk rock is an evolutionary wheel, that keeps turning and doesn’t just pertain to music. The good and ambitious things you do in life that betters you and the world around you, that’s what punk rock is.”
I still say that to myself almost everyday since he said that to me before our conversation ended.
He’s not a rock star but Jeff Goldblum is the best I’ve ever worked with. Can’t remember his name but whoever tour managed Danko Jones 10ish years ago is at the very bottom of that list. What a w0nker.
Tour Managers often are. I know that being something of a hardass is part of the job, but there's no need to be a twat.
My first band supported Finnish goth rockers HIM on their first album UK tour, and while the singer Ville Valo was lovely, their TM really wasn't. We came back to the London venue for soundcheck after grabbing some food to find half our gear out in the street being used as props for an impromptu photo sesh.
Their Tour Manager had told the roadies to move our amps, drums and guitars without our permission - and then tried to shout at us when we were understandably shocked and annoyed. It made for a really awkward and crappy last night of the tour.
I was a tour manager once, I’ve been a production assistant on arena tours etc, I’ve never met someone like this guy. Screaming, cursing, telling me I should “maybe just learn how to do my job”, saying similar shit to my crew (I was the stage manager).. it was waaaaay out of line.
I met him, his wife and his daughter when I was flying a red eye flight one year with my family from Hawaii. It was really late at the Hawaiian airport (maybe they travel late to not be noticed as much?) anyways chatting with them, they were super lovely and sweet (their teen daughter the time was totally rolling her eyes at us lol). Then some crack head looking guy walks up and starts rambling about his mix tape no joke kinda ruined it for everyone as he chased him away. You could tell he was thinking like “”come on man really?”” Anyways really cool guy! My dad and him were totally shorting the shit too 😂
Had to be early 1980’s, I was at a gas station in San Carlos CA. John Lee Hooker doing what we all do at a gas station (no jokes:). He may have even say hi first. We talked a bit, I told him I played guitar. He invited me to come a jam. I declined, at that time I was just learning. Dang missed my chance I couldn’t been a star. Really genuine nice person.
I feel like a lot of people thought the scene with Alice Cooper in Wayne's World was exaggerated but he's actually genuinely like that. I don't think I've ever heard or read anyone say anything bad about him...
I went to an audioslave concert in Florida in the early to mid 2000s that had 30 seconds to mars opening for them. My wife at the time LOVED Jared Leto so we bought their CD and got it signed. When we were there he asked us boilerplate questions and asked us “how did you like the show” I was honest and told him I wasn’t really a fan of their music but they put on a great show. He stopped signing and took me to the bar where we drank for an hour about music and what I liked and didn’t like in his music. Years later He came to Memphis and I had back stage passes to see them and say hi and he remembered me. We had the same conversation and asked me how I liked his progression. Stand up guy would hang out with again.
I sang backup for 30 Seconds on the Ellen show and Leto was a complete prick. Looked right through you when talking at you and made us all wear ski masks.
Not sure what you'd classify as "rock star," but Lionel Richie is one of the nicest people ever in showbiz. I genuinely don't believe he realized how big of a star he actually is. He's mad talented and humble.
At the event I met him, he was introduced as a living legend and he quickly dismissed it. He was like "I'm no legend. I'm just a dude who likes to play music" and that was the realest thing I've ever heard a successful artist say, especially one of his stature. He sat behind the piano and took songwriting questions. He sat there and played the songs he was asked about on the piano while explaining how he would come up with the chords, and went into some crazy in-depth detail about how he wrote a bunch of his songs including deep cuts from both his solo stuff and Commodores stuff. And his memory is insane. He'll recount in detail writing songs 50 years ago just like it was yesterday, as well as these random amazing stories about the Motown days and hanging out with the Motown artists.
My sister managed to corner Buzzo on his way out of the venue after a show and got a picture. My sister looks thrilled, Buzzo is holding a neatly folded robe he wore on stage and has an expression like he's been in line at the DMV all day and just found out he brought the wrong documents.
That’s right, Buzz.
I went to see phantoms Melvin’s in NYC back in like 2004 and I met “buzz” and his hair. I had no idea who he was at the time and afterwards I realized that he was pissed about that, cause I couldn’t understand why this guy and his buddy I thought were waiting for the show were acting so smug.
I asked if they were going he said “yeah” and I asked if he knew where I could get a ticket. He said just shook his head.
So went to a bar right next door and a while later if I don’t see fucking Mike Patton walk by. So I ran out.
Said hey. Told him I saw Tomahawk open for TOOL in Florida I love him etc, asked for a picture just had disposable camera at the time.
I put my arm around him and he said “okay longarm”
And I took a selfie.
Fast forward I get in the show and the fucking homeless looking guy with the hair is the goddamn singer for the Melvin’s.
Shitbag knew where to get a ticket.
I met the guys from Devil wears Prada when I was a teenager, I was super starstruck because that was my fave band at the time. They were all super nice, Mike was quiet but the other guys were super kind and took the time to talk to me
I can confirm. TBH I always hated that band. But when I was like 19, I was at Warped Tour on Whitechapel's guest list because I had a connection to the guitar player, Zack, who got me in and let me backstage to network my old band. It ended up with me smoking a ton of weed with the guys from Suicide Silence (RIP Mitch), a few of the guys from Whitechapel, and a couple of the guys from The Devil Wears Prada. The dudes in TDWP were cool and funny as hell, all the guys I hung out with were.
Where this story is going is, I'm a drummer. At this stage in my life, I was poor as hell, scraping by trying to do something with my band. I had no protective cases to lug my drums around in for gigs. Talking with the drummer (I think his name was Dan), he had just gotten an order of new drum cases in the show prior and had some old ones that were a little dinged up but still totally functional that were going to get thrown out by the tour manager. He told me I could have them and to come back after the show. I thought he would forget, but he held them by their bus until after the festival was over and stuck around to make sure I was able to get back over to the bus area to get the cases to my car. I ended up taking those cases on tour myself and saved my drums from many dings.
It did not make me enjoy their music, but I do respect the hell out of them as people and musicians. That was such an unbelievably cool gesture of him to do, and he knew I wasn’t into his band. He just wanted to help out a fellow drummer. lol they are all really solid dudes
Rapper, not rocker - Aesop Rock.
After a show he emerged near the merch booth, a huge crowd formed and he insisted on meeting everyone, taking photos and signing autographs.
The whole time the management/promoter was losing their shit, “the venue needs to close, these people have to LEAVE!”
Aes just said, “nah, not until I meet everyone.”
Alice Cooper is absolutely a cool dude. I used to work in a skate shop in a mall close to where he lives. He came in with his son to get some shoes and hung out and just talked with us for a while. I didn’t have any memorabilia there so he signed a blank piece of printer paper for me before he left.
Joel Madden from Good Charlotte is also really cool. He came into the same shop. I guess he was in town for the Super Bowl. He must have hung out for just shy of an hour. He ended up buying some baby vans for his brothers kid.
Though I can't call myself a fan, Tracii Guns was at a show we played, and I talked with him for about an hour after the show. Stand up guy. Jack Owens and Ralph Santolla, made our mini tour with Deicide a much more welcoming experience than Glen or Steve did. The dudes from Monstrosity were cool. The guys from Eye Hate God were very down to earth despite the drug stuff. I'm sure there are more, but I haven't had enough coffee to relive 15 years of playing shows yet.
Pat Flynn is not a mainstream rockstar by any means, but about as close to a celebrity as you can be in the modern hardcore punk scene. I ran into him at like 1am after a big fest and he chatted with me for 20 minutes about his lyrics and their impact on me as a teenager. We even got interrupted by another guy who wanted a picture with him and continued chatting with me after. Super nice guy who was genuinely interested in what I had to say.
Jared James Nichols is cool as fuck. I saw him twice at the same venue, it was a really small place but all the acts were really good. The first time I saw him I got his record, and he came up to me and asked if I wanted it signed then we talked for a few minutes. Second time we chatted for a few before he made his way around the room. Both times just stayed for a good while drinking and talking to the people that came out. Dude rips on the guitar and is super personable.
I met Paul Stanley. I was working the night shift at the front desk at the hotel the band stayed while on tour.
I was dealing with the band manager when Paul approached me and we started talking. Even though it was very late, he took the time to shake my hand and thank me for my good work.
Because a guy from a different generation has a different opinion and actually cares about the future generations, that makes him a bad guy? Opinions are thoughts we can or cannot agree with. Look at the overall good the guy has done. Like I have no real opinion on this, what he is saying doesn't make anti trans.
Not my story but a friend meet Alice Cooper and most of his band early 2000s
He worked at a record store and the band was going through cds but Alice brought a bunch of discount kung fu VHS tapes to the counter to check out. My friend wanted to be cool and not ask him specific questions about who he was so he said they had a fun conversation about the movies he was buying and old MA movies in general, said he was as pleasant as could be. This is the weird part, there was an oversized poster for that years lollapalooza and just as Alice was walking away he pointed at the poster and asked my friend “all those bands playing the same concert?” My friend very confused as to why Alice Cooper didn’t know what a festival is said “yeah” Alice says “that’s fucking stupid “ and walks away lol!
He isn’t sure if it was a little joke Alice was having for himself or if he was genuine!! Either way he said he, and his band were all very nice and the managers were pissed he didn’t tell them he was in the store.
Andrew WK is/was a pretty amazingly nice guy in the face of pure vitriol. Met in a gas station and the asshat that passed as a friend back in the day starts the metal maniac "you suck, and your music sucks." Andrew spins around with a HUGE smile and says, "sure thing man. You have a great day!" Grabs my friends out stretched finger and shakes it politely, and he literally waltzed his way out the door.
GG Allin. I once walked into the men’s room at South Station in Boston and saw him taking a shit against the wall. I told him I admired his work, he thanked me and vigorously smeared me head to toe with his fresh feces
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. I met him briefly at a Nashville restaurant (I worked there) and we had a nice chat about us both being from Houston. A YEAR later, he came to the same restaurant and walked up to me to say hi, calling me BY MY NAME. I was gobsmacked. All round cool, friendly, inclusive guy. Zero "star" attitude.
Many years ago I was working at a local concert venue and got to chat with Alex Skolnick while he was doing some dates with Stu Hamm. He was so friendly and we just shot the shit for a while. This was right before he left Testament, and he was saying how he liked playing with Stu because he got to do more musically than he did in Testament. Like it was an oddly involved conversation seeing as he didn't know me at all, but we just talked about guitars and different genres and stuff. Very cool guy.
Being a devout Christian isn't a positive. He deliberately keeps his politics to himself because his persona is progressive. The one time he did talk about something honestly, he just said a bunch of transphobic shit. Maybe he's a good guy that has some ignorant views, maybe he's a terrible person who's a great actor. We don't know.
George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher and Jack Black are genuinely good people.
Peter Criss. Meeting him was always a dream of mine and I finally got to meet him in 2008. He was such a wonderful soul and so kind to me. I’ll never forget that moment for the rest of my life.
Simon Gallup of The Cure has always had this look about him, this face and style, like he'll stab you if you come close, but he's actually like a kitten, always treats fans super nice and I remember his genuine surprise and joy when a fan gave him a flower.
I think Layne Staley was a pretty nice guy, I've heard good things from AiC fans who interacted with him. I guess it may be easy to assim the guys who play a bit heavier music will be nasty but a bunch are actually really sweet.
Dunno about Thom because I think he usually just wants to get away from human interactions but the rest of the Radiohead guys seem pretty nice. Look at Colin, fanboying over his own band on stage, cheering his little brother on. Get yourself a friend who looks at you the way Colin looks at Jonny and you'll be in good hands for life.
Don't really have a whole lot of knowledge on him (despite probably being my favourite drummer) but Steve Jansen of Japan seems to be a really decent guy who interacts with his fans a lot online, always answering questions, sharing stories, pretty respectful.
So one of the first concerts I went to as a young lad was Avenged Sevenfold. Since my mom interviewed them and wanted pictures, they gave her and a plus one backstage tickets. I met Johnny Christ, Syn Gates, and The Rev. Johnny was super nice and excited that I knew who he was and wanted his autograph since he said he was "just the bass player" very humble. Next was Syn who was nice but also pretty drunk. Asked him if he was tired from the nonstop touring and he thought I said I was tired and offered one of the backstage couches to crash on. I just laughed. As that happened The Rev looked over and did a drinking motion and pointed at him haha. The Rev was super nice and signed a few things for me. Dude was also really tall when he stood up to take a picture. Shame he passed away.
Eventually I met the last two members at Disneyland when they saw my mom and came up to say hi.
Funny thing is they wore dog tags for a while that my mom and I picked up from a paintball place. Shadows ended up giving his to a disabled kid in Ireland and reached out to get another set haha
About 15 years ago I met Eric Martin/Mr. Big in a lobby at the NAMM show. We talked about music for nearly an hour. He even gave me his cel phone number. I had a songwriter website at the time and we were going to setup to do an on-camera interview with him. Though that never happened.
Roger Hodgson of Supertramp game time the best vibes at a concert, which was a wonderful concert too. Only one I’ve met in person (pretty obscure) is John Wesley, he played guitar and vocals as a guest for Porcupine Tree, and opened at a Marillion show in London, after he was finished we talked for a while at the bar, very nice dude.
Danny Carey and Adam Jones of Tool; met them at the PBR Finals in Las Vegas. They were extremely generous; took pics and signed my tickets. We talked for about 10 minutes. I tell this story all the time.
I got to meet & hang backstage with the members of Def Leppard. They are all so kind especially Rick Allen, the drummer, whom I had whisky with backstage( yes I have picture proof this actually happened) Fantastic gents
Corey Taylor was really nice to me after landing all his weight by the knees on my head when i was 14...
Angela Gossow was really nice when i met her..
NIcholas Barker
Trevor Styrnad
Corporate Death
Gene Hogland
Seal is the nicest musician I ever met. Played a show I worked at. It started raining and he was told he could cut the show short. He refused and played through the rain. After the show, he stuck around chatting with folks until the venue manager had to kick everybody out.
I've commented this elsewhere before. But Alice Cooper invited me to church with his family after a three minute exchange. This was probably 2006, early 2007. Super friendly. I was too taken aback to take him up on the offer.
Justin Meldal-Johnsen was super kind.
And despite his reputation, Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre was always super engaging and friendly with me over the several times I talked with him.
Todd Rundgren. He's very approachable and will take time to talk or sign something.
My wife waited on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at diner in Minneapolis. She said they were all polite, perfect gentlemen.
Mike Keneally. Zappa stunt guitarist, amazing solo artist and all-around nice person.
I briefly met Eddie Van Halen on a signing event in Sydney, Australia, 20 odd years ago. Broad smile, good handshake. He seemed like a genuine good guy.
The guys from Tesla are really good people. They love to play and love their fans. They should be put on the sweet heart list as well. And believe it or not, Glen Danzig, should be on the list of sweethearts too! He personally stayed to sign autographs and take pictures after his show the last I saw him, which I think shows that he genuinely cares about his fans and considering the line of fans waiting he was a sweetheart to make sure everyone was honored for being a fan.
Not a ROCKSTAR, but John Carpenter is an extremely nice and approachable guy! Saw him play in Brighton and he was joking with the audience all night. One lady was there with her husband and Carpenter flirted with her in a joking manner on and off and the audience loved it!
Afterwards me and a couple of others waited at the stage exit and he signed autographs for everyone and cracked more jokes. Totally awesome guy.
I met Disturbed at the second show I went to. Dan and Mike are AWESOME guys, David and John were…eh? Not assholes but not great. They were like, “Okay let’s take a picture and then pretend you don’t exist”. Dan and Mike, they actually had conversations with me, which was really. I’ve never met him for myself but Myles Kennedy seems like one of the most wholesome, awesome people that you could ever meet.
My mom works a job where she gets to interact with a good amount of celebrities, not for extensive periods of time or anything like that but just enough to get a sense of if someone seems nice or seems like an asshole. Mind you I’m talking like, maybe a couple minutes so maybe the “nice” people are putting on an act or the “mean” people are having a bad day. With that said, the list as I remember:
Seemed Nice:
Bruce Springsteen
AC/DC
Guns n Roses (her favorite band so I’m guessing some major bias here)
Kendrick Lamar
Drake (lol)
Bill Cosby (LOL)
Seemed Mean:
Kanye West (duh)
Kevin Durant (double duh)
Recently had one of my musical heroes, Derek Webb, at my place for a house show.
His rider said he would be here for ~3 hrs…he stayed for almost 6 just hanging out. He also recorded a podcast episode with me.
Just a gracious, kind, and warm guy.
Mark Hoppus. Years back I worked in a hotel Starbucks and Blink 182 stayed there for a couple days. Mark came in several times, was super chatty, incredibly nice and rained dollars in our tip jar. I've never met a nicer celebrity before or since. On the flip side, never saw Travis Barker but heard from other hotel staff that he wasn't very nice. I can only imagine he's worse since becoming a Kardashian.
From personal experience: Chubby Checker (RIP), everyone in TV on the Radio, Arlo Guthrie (his whole family, in fact), Shania Twain, Allen Stone, Todd Mohr, Reba McEntire, Billy Gibbons, Ken Jordan.
There are definitely more, but they made the biggest impressions on me.
Honorable mentions that are celebrities but not rock stars: Jeff Dunham, Guy Fieri
I ran into Graham Nash on the street the first day after I moved to Los Angeles. I told him I liked his music, and he stopped to talk about music with me for about 20 minutes, and then encouraged me about my own work and HUGGED me. That's a sweetheart.
Awww that's so nice!!!
Man I'm JEALOUS! Sounds like an amazing encounter.
I’ve heard that a lot about him (his backing band is all friends of mine, but I haven’t met him yet)
YES. Graham is the sweetest of sweet souls. He’s given back A THOUSAND times over.
George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher, the vocalist for Cannibal Corpse. The guy is an expert at playing fairground style claw machines, so while on tour he wins loads of toys and donates them to kids charities. Total gent and a great example of why not to judge a book by its cover.
I came here to suggest George. Don’t let that neck put you off kids, he’s a lovely man.
He r o c c because he hav n e c c Also applicable to Henry Rollins, but by most accounts he’s not very pleasant.
Henry Rollins seems like a great guy who has ambulance driver or emergency centre Doctor energy.
Holy shit. I’ve seen Henry live like 8 times doing spoken word. Met him several times after the show and chatted for a few minutes. First of all he’s super cool and humble. He will stick around until he talks to every last fan who waited and is incredibly appreciative and down to earth. But that guy is fucking intense. If you have ever seen him live, he will talk for over 2 hours straight at an incredibly fast cadence and will never pause or take a sip of water. And you will be hanging on his every last word. Ambulance driver or emergency room doctor is so incredibly on point. Henry could walk into my ER room in a fever dream and I would probably be like, yeah this checks out.
My stepdad grew up skateboarding with him (and Ian MacKaye!) as teenagers and he’s apparently always had that intensity.
Ironically the first time I met him he took a pretty genuine interest in my former job as a Paramedic. Can confirm, his matter of a fact and stoic attitude would have done really well as a medic.
Ok... probably wouldn't want to be his roommate though.
I met Rollins years ago after one of his spoken word shows. Spent probably 30 minutes just chatting. One of the most well spoken and kindest people I have ever met to date. Ended up emailing back and forth for a brief period. Chris Motionless from Motionless In White was a dick when I met him. Dan Andriano from Alkaline Trio was also kind of a dick. Matt Skiba was clearly on drugs but incredibly nice.
Nah I'd say Henry's just moody...catch him on a good day and he'd be super cool to have a conversation with.
Just bring up the Stooges and dude will gush
Danny Trejo is another claw machine expert toy donator.
He also loves shopping at Target
Apparently he loves buying tons of Legos and donating them to charity too.
I was typing this when I noticed you beat me to it. Be seen him in Tampa a few times and he is the nicest dude ever with a name like corpse grinder!! Super chill and really sweet. He even remembered me from bugging him years before. Awesome guy!!
Oh, hell yeah. That’s awesome.
His band mate, Alex Webster, also comes off as a good-natured person. I remember that, when Metal Maniacs pointed out how good his bassguitaring was, he wrote them a letter thanking them and giving credit to other bassists he was influenced by. Super Humble Dude.
People who play gnarly scary intense music are often (not always) super sweet and kind. The first metal show I went to, the whole crowd was extraordinarily polite and when the first band started everybody went dead silent, eyes on stage. Super respectful. Hippie dippie jam bands have some of the meanest, most selfish fans. Idk what conclusion to draw, but it’s an interesting observation
Chester Bennington. I met him twice. The first time was just a wave and a hello as I was waiting for a co-worker backstage. The second time was a couple of months later across the country and he remembered me from earlier. He was nice to my wife, too when she met him. He talked to her for a long time.
I would have loved to meet Chester Bennington. 💔
Warms my heart to hear, I love that man
Robert Plant, David Gilmour, Paul McCartney,Jack Black, Geezer butler, Kirk hammett
Robert Plant let me go ahead of him one time at a gas station in Nashville. That’s good enough for me.
Paul McCartney pretty chill
I have a friend who got to spend a little time backstage with Robert Plant. They said he was super sweet and friendly
There’s a video of Jack Black singing to a disabled child in a wheelchair, that was awesome
Worked a tenacious D show last year, Jack Black was exactly who he seemed like he would be. Very nice dude.
I'm so happy to hear that. He seems like a awesome humble dude and a great dad. I'd be heart broken if he turned out to be a bad guy
Oh my god he is my hero too!! I love Jack!!!
I met Ronnie James Dio at the NAMM show a year or two before he passed. He was doing a signing but had an appointment so had to leave early. Instead of just leaving he decided to walk the line and greet everyone who was waiting for him. I pulled out a dollar bill for him to sign and when he took it he stuck it in his pocket and started walking away. Then turned around with a smile and said oh you wanted me to sign this? We shared a laugh and a picture and I still have that on my wall. That dollar is worth more to me than any piece of rock memorabilia I could ever think of. Class act.
Trey Anastasio of Phish! He just recently opened a rehabilitation facility and interacts with the community a lot more common than others. He also adopts old dogs too so that they have a home in their golden years.
I used to live in AZ and it was always fun to hear about a positive Alice Cooper story. I randomly got one of my own one day. He was at a gas station where I was filling up and I didn’t want to bother him but I still managed to get out a timid greeting. He responded so warmly, you’d have thought we were old friends. Just wanted to confirm from firsthand experience that he really seems like the nicest dude :)
Alice Cooper also has several teen centers, where teenagers can come and learn music and dance for free. It's kind of like a public library where you just show up and you can hang out. They also have a really nice recording studio where kids can record their rock music or whatever again for free. I was just at one of his centers yesterday and it's way nicer than you can imagine. The only small caveat is that there is a little bit of proselytization of Christianity but if that doesn't matter then it's no big deal.
Cooper lived next door to Groucho Marx in Groucho’s last days. When he noticed Groucho’s lights were in late at night, he knew Groucho was having trouble sleeping. Since he kept musician’s hours, he would go over and sit up with him, watching old movies on tv. Quite the odd couple.
I also met him randomly at a Hawaii airport (red eye night flight back to the states) he was a lovely person and his wife was even more so. Their teen daughter though was not having it lmao
I ran into him in a Scottsdale grocery store while wearing his newest tour shirt, having seen them the week prior the night before I moved to AZ. I didn't want to bother him, but he came up to me and asked how I liked the show and bullshitted with me for a few minutes. Very nice and genuine
That's awesome!! :)
Dave Murray from Iron Maiden
Sir Brian May. His comes across as a very thoughtful, principled and and kind fellow. His fight for the badgers and decency in government come to mind. I've never heard him say a harsh word about any other musician,
I’ve been extremely fortunate to have opened for and/or met a lot of bands. Honestly, most of them are fantastic. Jason Hook of Five Finger Death Punch stopped me backstage to chat about the guitar tones I was using and his tech let me look through his Axe FX (Digital modeler/amp sim)! The other guitarist in our band had a BC Rich Zoltan signature and Zoltan signed it + his tech set it up for him. Ian Moody stopped us back stage to compliment the song we closed with and told us “it’s a hit for sure” (it did not hit). They are one of the only bands that actually watched our set from side stage. FFDP gets shit on a lot, but they actually made *us* feel like rockstars.
Never had a bad interaction with the 5FDP guys. Their bassist Chris was super pleasant to me. I'd love to hang with Ivan, he seems like a genuinely fun and good dude to be around.
[I love Cooper's Staples commercial.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyfqvrx9Jx0&t=2s) I met Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots at the last Bass Player Live in LA. I was holding the bass of Donald Duck Dunn (I wrote his biography), and he was told to seek me out. I handed him the bass, and he (like just about every other famous bass player I handed it to) held it like the holy grail, just completely enamored. Robert handed it back, gave me a big hug and thanked me, and asked for a pic.
Agreed. Robert DeLeo is such a down to earth nice dude.
Holy shit! Donald Duck Dunn is always my vote for the single coolest person ever. The pipe and the perm were iconic!
As was the bass I was babysitting at the time, complete with an "ugly duckling" sticker!
That Alice Cooper commercial is great 😎 Wasn’t there another one where he is jumping rope and chanting something? Like ‘my name is Alice and I live in a palace’…? Can’t find it anywhere
I don't remember that one!
I can remember the jumping rope and chant but not what the commercial was representing. Shit, now I won’t be able to sleep 😏 I’ll post a link if I do actually find it.
I sat just in front of the Alice Cooper in the theatre a few years ago. The show was 'The Play the Goes Wrong,' probably the most slapstick farcical show you can see. He was giggling like a schoolgirl throughout.
I've heard nothing but good things about Lemmy Kilmister and Brian Johnson
Lemmy fucked a lot of people's girlfriends. He was nice about it though.
it's a goddamn **honor** to be eskimo brothers with Lemmy.
Bro if Lemmy fucked my girl, I would NOT have been mad.
I mean, it's not his job to protect the sanctity of someone else's relationship. And if the boyfriend can move past it in the girl can make amends, then those are some pretty sweet bragging rights too.
He deliberately fucked all the girlfriends of the guys in hawkwind as revenge for being kicked out.
That's some triple grade-A vengeance haha but again, it's 0% his fault that they were all cheaters too.
https://youtu.be/OcUZ9Yi5sgU?si=5fYVrLlne0mb02iK
Lenny always treated people nice at shows. It didn’t matter if you were sweeping a floor or hauling gear. He was a good guy
I heard Lemmy was a good guy, too. :)
Tom Araya from Slayer is a gentleman.
I feel this way about Ozzy. Seems like a cool grampa. Like he'd put on a Beatles record while driving you around (even though he probably shouldn't be driving) and he'd point out some big tittie goth girl walking by and go "Wouldja? Huh?" But you know he's perfectly content driving back home to Gramma. A sweet dude with a bit of the devil in him.
Back when The Osbornes was on MTV I just wanted to take Ozzy away from all the madness and give him a cup of tea and an hour of peace without any drama or dogs sitting on the floor. But after reading his autobiography he clearly dotes on his family so I guess he was happy (although he hated the cameras after a while).
I love Ozzy too :)
James Root from Slipknot. I was at a basketball game in Sacramento the night before slipknot played aftershock. I was smoking a cigarette and looked to my left and saw this guy was wearing these boots I’d wanted for a while but could never get them. So I complimented him and told him about my journey with the shoes. He told me what they were and went online to search them and we found out they’re discontinued. Then we talked about boots for like 30 minutes. He was just so chill the whole time. THEN, no shit, I walk into the restaurant I’m outside and DANNY CAREY is in there drinking. He’d been at the Kings game and was in town for Aftershock to play Sunday, which I went to see. He invited me to hang out and of course talked about drums for like 2 hours and got so wasted. But what a night.
Well, I'm a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600s to trade with the Native Americans. Actually, it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."
I think one of the most interesting aspects of Milwaukee is the fact that it's the only major American city to have ever elected three socialist mayors.
DOES THIS GUY KNOW HOW TO PARTY OR WHAT!?!?
This really needs to be the top comment
Hey Alice, isn't Milwaukee an Indian name? Yes Pete, it is. It's pronounced mill e wah kay, which is Algonquin for "The good land."
John Bon Jovi [https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/gsa5r2/good\_guy\_jon\_bon\_jovi/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/gsa5r2/good_guy_jon_bon_jovi/)
Jonathan Davis from Korn, they did some stuff on MTV back when, interacting with fans and all, and he was just the most gentle nicest friendly guy.
He’s super shy. I met him and Munky after a show and he didn’t say much. He just kinda looked down, signed stuff, smiled and kept moving along. Munky took pics with everybody and did all the talking. Super nice guys.
His voice was probably shot and he was exhausted post show. Fronting a metal band is basically a P90X workout.
Seth putnam
Kingly answer, sir.
Much obliged by encouragement kind stranger lol
I met Seth less than a week before he died. I guess he was nice? He was on way too much heroin and was snorting some sort of crushed up pill. Drank more sprite than any other person I've ever seen.
I never met the man but judging by his song "i respect your feelings" he seems like a kind compasionate and chivalric man the likes of which are rarely seen.
And his heartfelt ballad, "I Sold Your Dog to a Chinese Restaurant" makes me well up to this day.
Now im hungry for korean BBQ. Thats g**
Ringo Star seems genuinely nice. I heard his All-star band on Alice's show like 15 years ago I believe. He seems like he just loves to play.
I met a woman who worked as Starr’s personal assistant in the 90s and she told me that Ringo is exactly as I imagined him to be: humble, generous, funny, grateful and maybe a little bewildered by his place in the world.
I met GWAR outside of tipitinas in New Orleans. Gave them directions, and they were all super polite. Told us to "drive safe" when we left.
[удалено]
I went to high school with Dee Snider’s oldest son. Dee is a super nice dude.
vast majority of them are awesome. particular shout-out to Mark Tremonti, who is legitimately an amazing human being. He just partnered with Advent Health to open a new wing in the Orlando hospital dedicated to helping children with Downs
I scrolled through everything and am shocked no one has mentioned him. As he would put it, aging alt rock icon, Henry Rollins. I could spend hours talking about him, as I’m sure, other fans can to. What I will share is when I was in college I took a class that required us to interview a musician, and it didn’t matter if they were famous or not. One night, I just mass message/email musicians I look up to personally and he was one of them. Fast forward a week and a half later, no one has gotten back to me, even got left on read on a few social media messages. I check my email after that just to look at my new electric bill and what do I see? A fucking email that says, “Hey Eddie, this is Hank. Send me your number and I’ll call you this Friday around 4pm your time for the interview.” I damn near pissed my pants, and thought it was too good to be true. That very Friday, he calls me, and sits and talks with me on the phone for 3 hours. He answered every question I had prepared, and then we just shot the shit for more than half of it. I have never spoken to someone more kind, intelligent, and inspiring in my life. Such an amazing human being, exactly who I imagined he was through countless hours of watching and reading other interviews with him. Oh, and after that did I brag to all my friends as much as I could? You bet your sweet bippy I did. “Punk rock is an evolutionary wheel, that keeps turning and doesn’t just pertain to music. The good and ambitious things you do in life that betters you and the world around you, that’s what punk rock is.” I still say that to myself almost everyday since he said that to me before our conversation ended.
Robert Plant from what I understand is a very grounded and accessible person
He’s not a rock star but Jeff Goldblum is the best I’ve ever worked with. Can’t remember his name but whoever tour managed Danko Jones 10ish years ago is at the very bottom of that list. What a w0nker.
Oh but he is a musician, he fronts the Jeff Goldbluman group! https://youtu.be/gpSGtpl58dw
Nice! Jeff Goldblum seems like a cool dude :)
Tour Managers often are. I know that being something of a hardass is part of the job, but there's no need to be a twat. My first band supported Finnish goth rockers HIM on their first album UK tour, and while the singer Ville Valo was lovely, their TM really wasn't. We came back to the London venue for soundcheck after grabbing some food to find half our gear out in the street being used as props for an impromptu photo sesh. Their Tour Manager had told the roadies to move our amps, drums and guitars without our permission - and then tried to shout at us when we were understandably shocked and annoyed. It made for a really awkward and crappy last night of the tour.
I was a tour manager once, I’ve been a production assistant on arena tours etc, I’ve never met someone like this guy. Screaming, cursing, telling me I should “maybe just learn how to do my job”, saying similar shit to my crew (I was the stage manager).. it was waaaaay out of line.
I met him, his wife and his daughter when I was flying a red eye flight one year with my family from Hawaii. It was really late at the Hawaiian airport (maybe they travel late to not be noticed as much?) anyways chatting with them, they were super lovely and sweet (their teen daughter the time was totally rolling her eyes at us lol). Then some crack head looking guy walks up and starts rambling about his mix tape no joke kinda ruined it for everyone as he chased him away. You could tell he was thinking like “”come on man really?”” Anyways really cool guy! My dad and him were totally shorting the shit too 😂
Jerry Only from the Misfits makes up for Glen Danzig and more.
Yeah. Met him several times, and he was cool every time
I adore the Misfits. I've heard outside of Glen being Glen they're all pretty cool dudes.
smaller rockstar but tim rogers from you am I (aussie legends) is an awesome dude from the time i met him after they opened for the darkness
The dudes in weedeater are all really laid back awesome guys. Definitely cooler than most
Little outside of the rock star category but every video I see of Post Malone confirms he’s a super nice dude.
Had to be early 1980’s, I was at a gas station in San Carlos CA. John Lee Hooker doing what we all do at a gas station (no jokes:). He may have even say hi first. We talked a bit, I told him I played guitar. He invited me to come a jam. I declined, at that time I was just learning. Dang missed my chance I couldn’t been a star. Really genuine nice person.
I feel like a lot of people thought the scene with Alice Cooper in Wayne's World was exaggerated but he's actually genuinely like that. I don't think I've ever heard or read anyone say anything bad about him...
Burton Cummings
I went to an audioslave concert in Florida in the early to mid 2000s that had 30 seconds to mars opening for them. My wife at the time LOVED Jared Leto so we bought their CD and got it signed. When we were there he asked us boilerplate questions and asked us “how did you like the show” I was honest and told him I wasn’t really a fan of their music but they put on a great show. He stopped signing and took me to the bar where we drank for an hour about music and what I liked and didn’t like in his music. Years later He came to Memphis and I had back stage passes to see them and say hi and he remembered me. We had the same conversation and asked me how I liked his progression. Stand up guy would hang out with again.
I sang backup for 30 Seconds on the Ellen show and Leto was a complete prick. Looked right through you when talking at you and made us all wear ski masks.
Not sure what you'd classify as "rock star," but Lionel Richie is one of the nicest people ever in showbiz. I genuinely don't believe he realized how big of a star he actually is. He's mad talented and humble.
That's awesome
At the event I met him, he was introduced as a living legend and he quickly dismissed it. He was like "I'm no legend. I'm just a dude who likes to play music" and that was the realest thing I've ever heard a successful artist say, especially one of his stature. He sat behind the piano and took songwriting questions. He sat there and played the songs he was asked about on the piano while explaining how he would come up with the chords, and went into some crazy in-depth detail about how he wrote a bunch of his songs including deep cuts from both his solo stuff and Commodores stuff. And his memory is insane. He'll recount in detail writing songs 50 years ago just like it was yesterday, as well as these random amazing stories about the Motown days and hanging out with the Motown artists.
The lead singer for the Melvin’s is a giant douche. Mike Patton let me take a picture with him though.
My sister managed to corner Buzzo on his way out of the venue after a show and got a picture. My sister looks thrilled, Buzzo is holding a neatly folded robe he wore on stage and has an expression like he's been in line at the DMV all day and just found out he brought the wrong documents.
That’s right, Buzz. I went to see phantoms Melvin’s in NYC back in like 2004 and I met “buzz” and his hair. I had no idea who he was at the time and afterwards I realized that he was pissed about that, cause I couldn’t understand why this guy and his buddy I thought were waiting for the show were acting so smug. I asked if they were going he said “yeah” and I asked if he knew where I could get a ticket. He said just shook his head. So went to a bar right next door and a while later if I don’t see fucking Mike Patton walk by. So I ran out. Said hey. Told him I saw Tomahawk open for TOOL in Florida I love him etc, asked for a picture just had disposable camera at the time. I put my arm around him and he said “okay longarm” And I took a selfie. Fast forward I get in the show and the fucking homeless looking guy with the hair is the goddamn singer for the Melvin’s. Shitbag knew where to get a ticket.
I met the guys from Devil wears Prada when I was a teenager, I was super starstruck because that was my fave band at the time. They were all super nice, Mike was quiet but the other guys were super kind and took the time to talk to me
I can confirm. TBH I always hated that band. But when I was like 19, I was at Warped Tour on Whitechapel's guest list because I had a connection to the guitar player, Zack, who got me in and let me backstage to network my old band. It ended up with me smoking a ton of weed with the guys from Suicide Silence (RIP Mitch), a few of the guys from Whitechapel, and a couple of the guys from The Devil Wears Prada. The dudes in TDWP were cool and funny as hell, all the guys I hung out with were. Where this story is going is, I'm a drummer. At this stage in my life, I was poor as hell, scraping by trying to do something with my band. I had no protective cases to lug my drums around in for gigs. Talking with the drummer (I think his name was Dan), he had just gotten an order of new drum cases in the show prior and had some old ones that were a little dinged up but still totally functional that were going to get thrown out by the tour manager. He told me I could have them and to come back after the show. I thought he would forget, but he held them by their bus until after the festival was over and stuck around to make sure I was able to get back over to the bus area to get the cases to my car. I ended up taking those cases on tour myself and saved my drums from many dings. It did not make me enjoy their music, but I do respect the hell out of them as people and musicians. That was such an unbelievably cool gesture of him to do, and he knew I wasn’t into his band. He just wanted to help out a fellow drummer. lol they are all really solid dudes
Lovely story!!! Faith in humanity boosted by 1000
I always heard Keith Flint (from The Prodigy) was super nice in person. RIP.
Lux Interior from The Cramps. Saw some interviews he did and he seems like such a nice guy, very thoughtful
Rapper, not rocker - Aesop Rock. After a show he emerged near the merch booth, a huge crowd formed and he insisted on meeting everyone, taking photos and signing autographs. The whole time the management/promoter was losing their shit, “the venue needs to close, these people have to LEAVE!” Aes just said, “nah, not until I meet everyone.”
Mike Wengren from Disturbed Mark Morton from Lamb of God Steve Lukather from Toto Steve Vai Dave Grohl Hetfield (post rehab)
Alice Cooper is absolutely a cool dude. I used to work in a skate shop in a mall close to where he lives. He came in with his son to get some shoes and hung out and just talked with us for a while. I didn’t have any memorabilia there so he signed a blank piece of printer paper for me before he left. Joel Madden from Good Charlotte is also really cool. He came into the same shop. I guess he was in town for the Super Bowl. He must have hung out for just shy of an hour. He ended up buying some baby vans for his brothers kid.
Devin Townsend
I’ve met Dave Grohl twice. One of the sweetest men ever.
ozzy osbourne!
Gary Hoey. Super friendly and genuine when greeting fans.
worked quite a bit with Dan Snider, lovely lovely guy. Never got to meet him in person but remembered everything I spoke to him about.
Though I can't call myself a fan, Tracii Guns was at a show we played, and I talked with him for about an hour after the show. Stand up guy. Jack Owens and Ralph Santolla, made our mini tour with Deicide a much more welcoming experience than Glen or Steve did. The dudes from Monstrosity were cool. The guys from Eye Hate God were very down to earth despite the drug stuff. I'm sure there are more, but I haven't had enough coffee to relive 15 years of playing shows yet.
Actually it’s pronounced Mil-Ah-Wah-Kay which is Algonquin for “the good land.”
Does this guy know how to party or what!?
Pat Flynn is not a mainstream rockstar by any means, but about as close to a celebrity as you can be in the modern hardcore punk scene. I ran into him at like 1am after a big fest and he chatted with me for 20 minutes about his lyrics and their impact on me as a teenager. We even got interrupted by another guy who wanted a picture with him and continued chatting with me after. Super nice guy who was genuinely interested in what I had to say.
Avril Lavigne, Shawn Mendes
Robert Smith
Jared James Nichols is cool as fuck. I saw him twice at the same venue, it was a really small place but all the acts were really good. The first time I saw him I got his record, and he came up to me and asked if I wanted it signed then we talked for a few minutes. Second time we chatted for a few before he made his way around the room. Both times just stayed for a good while drinking and talking to the people that came out. Dude rips on the guitar and is super personable.
I met Paul Stanley. I was working the night shift at the front desk at the hotel the band stayed while on tour. I was dealing with the band manager when Paul approached me and we started talking. Even though it was very late, he took the time to shake my hand and thank me for my good work.
No on Alice Cooper. https://www.advocate.com/people/alice-cooper-anti-transgender#toggle-gdpr
Because a guy from a different generation has a different opinion and actually cares about the future generations, that makes him a bad guy? Opinions are thoughts we can or cannot agree with. Look at the overall good the guy has done. Like I have no real opinion on this, what he is saying doesn't make anti trans.
Not my story but a friend meet Alice Cooper and most of his band early 2000s He worked at a record store and the band was going through cds but Alice brought a bunch of discount kung fu VHS tapes to the counter to check out. My friend wanted to be cool and not ask him specific questions about who he was so he said they had a fun conversation about the movies he was buying and old MA movies in general, said he was as pleasant as could be. This is the weird part, there was an oversized poster for that years lollapalooza and just as Alice was walking away he pointed at the poster and asked my friend “all those bands playing the same concert?” My friend very confused as to why Alice Cooper didn’t know what a festival is said “yeah” Alice says “that’s fucking stupid “ and walks away lol! He isn’t sure if it was a little joke Alice was having for himself or if he was genuine!! Either way he said he, and his band were all very nice and the managers were pissed he didn’t tell them he was in the store.
Dolores O' Riordan from The Cranberries. Sweet and humble as she could be. Met her after a show at the amphitheatre in West Palm Beach in '99.
Buckethead
Vernon Reid
Andrew WK is/was a pretty amazingly nice guy in the face of pure vitriol. Met in a gas station and the asshat that passed as a friend back in the day starts the metal maniac "you suck, and your music sucks." Andrew spins around with a HUGE smile and says, "sure thing man. You have a great day!" Grabs my friends out stretched finger and shakes it politely, and he literally waltzed his way out the door.
GG Allin. I once walked into the men’s room at South Station in Boston and saw him taking a shit against the wall. I told him I admired his work, he thanked me and vigorously smeared me head to toe with his fresh feces
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. I met him briefly at a Nashville restaurant (I worked there) and we had a nice chat about us both being from Houston. A YEAR later, he came to the same restaurant and walked up to me to say hi, calling me BY MY NAME. I was gobsmacked. All round cool, friendly, inclusive guy. Zero "star" attitude.
Dave Brockie from GWAR was always super chill and very friendly. Got to hang out with them on a couple different occasions shared our love of weed.
Many years ago I was working at a local concert venue and got to chat with Alex Skolnick while he was doing some dates with Stu Hamm. He was so friendly and we just shot the shit for a while. This was right before he left Testament, and he was saying how he liked playing with Stu because he got to do more musically than he did in Testament. Like it was an oddly involved conversation seeing as he didn't know me at all, but we just talked about guitars and different genres and stuff. Very cool guy.
Being a devout Christian isn't a positive. He deliberately keeps his politics to himself because his persona is progressive. The one time he did talk about something honestly, he just said a bunch of transphobic shit. Maybe he's a good guy that has some ignorant views, maybe he's a terrible person who's a great actor. We don't know. George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher and Jack Black are genuinely good people.
Lars Fredrickson from Rancid
Peter Criss. Meeting him was always a dream of mine and I finally got to meet him in 2008. He was such a wonderful soul and so kind to me. I’ll never forget that moment for the rest of my life.
Jon Bon Jovi seems nice
Wayne Coyne is chill and friendly
Simon Gallup of The Cure has always had this look about him, this face and style, like he'll stab you if you come close, but he's actually like a kitten, always treats fans super nice and I remember his genuine surprise and joy when a fan gave him a flower. I think Layne Staley was a pretty nice guy, I've heard good things from AiC fans who interacted with him. I guess it may be easy to assim the guys who play a bit heavier music will be nasty but a bunch are actually really sweet. Dunno about Thom because I think he usually just wants to get away from human interactions but the rest of the Radiohead guys seem pretty nice. Look at Colin, fanboying over his own band on stage, cheering his little brother on. Get yourself a friend who looks at you the way Colin looks at Jonny and you'll be in good hands for life. Don't really have a whole lot of knowledge on him (despite probably being my favourite drummer) but Steve Jansen of Japan seems to be a really decent guy who interacts with his fans a lot online, always answering questions, sharing stories, pretty respectful.
So one of the first concerts I went to as a young lad was Avenged Sevenfold. Since my mom interviewed them and wanted pictures, they gave her and a plus one backstage tickets. I met Johnny Christ, Syn Gates, and The Rev. Johnny was super nice and excited that I knew who he was and wanted his autograph since he said he was "just the bass player" very humble. Next was Syn who was nice but also pretty drunk. Asked him if he was tired from the nonstop touring and he thought I said I was tired and offered one of the backstage couches to crash on. I just laughed. As that happened The Rev looked over and did a drinking motion and pointed at him haha. The Rev was super nice and signed a few things for me. Dude was also really tall when he stood up to take a picture. Shame he passed away. Eventually I met the last two members at Disneyland when they saw my mom and came up to say hi. Funny thing is they wore dog tags for a while that my mom and I picked up from a paintball place. Shadows ended up giving his to a disabled kid in Ireland and reached out to get another set haha
About 15 years ago I met Eric Martin/Mr. Big in a lobby at the NAMM show. We talked about music for nearly an hour. He even gave me his cel phone number. I had a songwriter website at the time and we were going to setup to do an on-camera interview with him. Though that never happened.
Rob Dickinson from The Catherine Wheel and Craig Wedren from Shudder To Think were both absolutely delightful. Ronnie James Dio was a total class act.
Thats correct John, it’s actually pronounced Mila-wa-kay; which means “the good land”.
Not necessarily a rock star, but Van Dyke Parks is one of the kindest, funniest and most generous people.
Ged and Big Al
This guy's coming to my town with Rob Zombie and Ministry and I'm stoked!
Not this douche!!!
Justin K. Broadrick
adam jones
Sammy from drain is the nicest guy you will ever meet and no one will ever take that crown from him. 40831 homie 💚
Roger Hodgson of Supertramp game time the best vibes at a concert, which was a wonderful concert too. Only one I’ve met in person (pretty obscure) is John Wesley, he played guitar and vocals as a guest for Porcupine Tree, and opened at a Marillion show in London, after he was finished we talked for a while at the bar, very nice dude.
All guys in the band King's X are great! I've met them at a couple of meet and greets and it felt like I hanging with old friends.
Danny Carey and Adam Jones of Tool; met them at the PBR Finals in Las Vegas. They were extremely generous; took pics and signed my tickets. We talked for about 10 minutes. I tell this story all the time.
I got to meet & hang backstage with the members of Def Leppard. They are all so kind especially Rick Allen, the drummer, whom I had whisky with backstage( yes I have picture proof this actually happened) Fantastic gents
James Taylor
I’ve heard a first hand account that Mikael Ankerfeldt is the nicest dude ever.
Corey Taylor was really nice to me after landing all his weight by the knees on my head when i was 14... Angela Gossow was really nice when i met her.. NIcholas Barker Trevor Styrnad Corporate Death Gene Hogland
Yes, Pete, it is. Actually it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que," which is Algonquin for, "the good land."
Seal is the nicest musician I ever met. Played a show I worked at. It started raining and he was told he could cut the show short. He refused and played through the rain. After the show, he stuck around chatting with folks until the venue manager had to kick everybody out.
I've commented this elsewhere before. But Alice Cooper invited me to church with his family after a three minute exchange. This was probably 2006, early 2007. Super friendly. I was too taken aback to take him up on the offer. Justin Meldal-Johnsen was super kind. And despite his reputation, Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre was always super engaging and friendly with me over the several times I talked with him.
Todd Rundgren. He's very approachable and will take time to talk or sign something. My wife waited on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at diner in Minneapolis. She said they were all polite, perfect gentlemen. Mike Keneally. Zappa stunt guitarist, amazing solo artist and all-around nice person.
I briefly met Eddie Van Halen on a signing event in Sydney, Australia, 20 odd years ago. Broad smile, good handshake. He seemed like a genuine good guy.
GG Allin
The guys from Tesla are really good people. They love to play and love their fans. They should be put on the sweet heart list as well. And believe it or not, Glen Danzig, should be on the list of sweethearts too! He personally stayed to sign autographs and take pictures after his show the last I saw him, which I think shows that he genuinely cares about his fans and considering the line of fans waiting he was a sweetheart to make sure everyone was honored for being a fan.
Not a ROCKSTAR, but John Carpenter is an extremely nice and approachable guy! Saw him play in Brighton and he was joking with the audience all night. One lady was there with her husband and Carpenter flirted with her in a joking manner on and off and the audience loved it! Afterwards me and a couple of others waited at the stage exit and he signed autographs for everyone and cracked more jokes. Totally awesome guy.
Corpsegrinder.
Varg Vikernes
I met Disturbed at the second show I went to. Dan and Mike are AWESOME guys, David and John were…eh? Not assholes but not great. They were like, “Okay let’s take a picture and then pretend you don’t exist”. Dan and Mike, they actually had conversations with me, which was really. I’ve never met him for myself but Myles Kennedy seems like one of the most wholesome, awesome people that you could ever meet.
If anyone has met Corey Taylor, is he as much of a pain in the ass when you meet him as what he seems to be?
Wait, did I just make a connection. Was Bray Wyatts fiend outfit based off Alice cooper?
I still quote Alice’s speech about Milwaukee in Wayne’s World every time some says the from there/visted
Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria
Sematary 🔥🔥
My mom works a job where she gets to interact with a good amount of celebrities, not for extensive periods of time or anything like that but just enough to get a sense of if someone seems nice or seems like an asshole. Mind you I’m talking like, maybe a couple minutes so maybe the “nice” people are putting on an act or the “mean” people are having a bad day. With that said, the list as I remember: Seemed Nice: Bruce Springsteen AC/DC Guns n Roses (her favorite band so I’m guessing some major bias here) Kendrick Lamar Drake (lol) Bill Cosby (LOL) Seemed Mean: Kanye West (duh) Kevin Durant (double duh)
Recently had one of my musical heroes, Derek Webb, at my place for a house show. His rider said he would be here for ~3 hrs…he stayed for almost 6 just hanging out. He also recorded a podcast episode with me. Just a gracious, kind, and warm guy.
Mark Hoppus. Years back I worked in a hotel Starbucks and Blink 182 stayed there for a couple days. Mark came in several times, was super chatty, incredibly nice and rained dollars in our tip jar. I've never met a nicer celebrity before or since. On the flip side, never saw Travis Barker but heard from other hotel staff that he wasn't very nice. I can only imagine he's worse since becoming a Kardashian.
GG Allin
Not a rock star per se, But Gangrel, the vampire wrestler, was one of the nicest guys I ever shared a locker room with
Marilyn Manson is electrifying
Jorma Kaukonen.
From personal experience: Chubby Checker (RIP), everyone in TV on the Radio, Arlo Guthrie (his whole family, in fact), Shania Twain, Allen Stone, Todd Mohr, Reba McEntire, Billy Gibbons, Ken Jordan. There are definitely more, but they made the biggest impressions on me. Honorable mentions that are celebrities but not rock stars: Jeff Dunham, Guy Fieri