| “ | Hi everyone, Anthony Fantano here: Internet's busiest music nerd. | ” |
―theneedledrop's intro | ||
Anthony Fantano (born October 28, 1985) is an American YouTuber and music critic and self-described as "the internet's busiest music nerd". Fantano is behind The Needle Drop, a web series, blog, and former radio program that analyzes "rock, pop, electronic, metal, hip hop, and experimental music" through video and audio critiques. In the fall of 2007, TNP debuted as a radio show on Connecticut Public Radio (WNPR), and the same year, a blog was also launched. The program was transformed into a YouTube music review series in February 2009, although the original radio program wouldn't completely switch to video reviews and come to an end until Fantano departed WNPR in 2014. A weekly overview of the singles released that week is done together with album reviews on the site.
His reviews occasionally contain brief skits, usually involving his alter ego Cal Chuchesta, a musically oblivious man portrayed as Fantano's roommate. He also runs a second channel simply named fantano where he does track reviews, discusses industry news, and more varied but still music related content, and used to also run the now-terminated thatistheplan, a light-hearted channel where he reviewed and discussed the latest memes and parodied internet culture.
The channel was voted as September 2011's On The Rise contest winner, a program by YouTube. In October 2011, Fantano won the Beyond the Blog award at the MTV O Music Awards.
Anthony Fantano[]
Early life[]
Fantano grew up in Connecticut and spent his teenage years in Wolcott. As a child he had a desire to become a cartoonist, stating he was a fan of The Simpsons and that he still enjoys cartoons from today such as Adventure Time and Regular Show.
Fantano was introduced to independent music in the early 2000s which eventually influenced him to start The Needle Drop. He has said, "I had a friend of mine on Livejournal–lol, I know–back in the early 00s who used to do these long writeups about certain artists and she turned me on to a few that were pretty great. It made me want to do the same, share the musical experience on the internet. It didn’t really turn into "reviews" until I tried doing YouTube in 2009, which I only did as an experiment because my blog and podcast were making much traction at the time."
Fantano attended Southern Connecticut State University where he studied political science and journalism.
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Fantano at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut in 2010
Career[]
Fantano started his career in the mid-2000s as a music director for the Southern Connecticut State University college radio station. He stated, "I've always loved music, but working there got me turned into a lot of different styles, and got me pushing my tastes into different areas".
In 2007, Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio in which he hosted The Needle Drop. That same year, Fantano also launched The Needle Drop in text reviews, eventually starting as video reviews in 2009. Fantano, at the time, was working on The Needle Drop, at the college radio station, and at a pizza restaurant. In late 2011, Fantano decided to pursue The Needle Drop full-time.
In 2011, Fantano was interviewed at SXSW about the rise of music vlogging, along with Matt Galloway of the Rock It Out! Blog, and Michael Roffman, president and editor-in-chief of Consequence of Sound. In March 2011, he was featured in an article from The Guardian also about the rise of music vlogging.
The Needle Drop[]
The blog The Needle Drop is a spin-off of a WNPR show of the same name.
A recurring character on The Needle Drop is Anthony Fantano's fictional musically oblivious and socially awkward roommate, Cal Chuchesta. Fantano, as Chuchesta, released a comedic mixtape, The New CALassic, on August 18, 2015, as a free digital download. Fantano later reviewed the mixtape on August 19, 2015, and rated it a light 3. At the end of the review Chuchesta took over the show in a fit of anger and claimed that Fantano had agreed to give the mixtape a 10 off camera. However, Fantano's rating still stands.
On his second channel, Fantano will occasionally upload interviews of musicians or notable people in the music industry that would be held live on his Twitch. He has interviewed musicians such as Brockhampton, Rebecca Black, and Oliver Tree.
thatistheplan[]
Created in 2016, thatistheplan was dedicated to all things memes and internet culture. He would interview many online meme figures such as Soph and Sam Hyde. Fantano started this channel as a parody to Behind The Meme. It is in this channel where Meme Review was born.
The channel had a decent run getting the attention of /pol/ until it was deleted in 2017 by Fantano himself after constant demonitization and a hit piece by The Fader describing him as alt-right. He then denounced Soph in 2019 as well as his former editor after his Christchurch comments. Sam Hyde would frequently troll him online afterwards.
Personal life[]
Fantano lives in Middletown, Connecticut. He is three-quarters French Canadian and a quarter Sicilian. Fantano is a vegan, having grown into the diet since becoming vegetarian around 18–19. He has been going through a divorce since 2022.
Notable reviews and ratings[]
Rating system[]
The blog rates albums and tracks on a scale from 0 to 10, with an accompanying adjective – either "light", "decent", or "strong" – for further qualification of its score. Occasionally he will do parody reviews of albums such as I'm Gay (I'm Happy) by Lil B,[1] Born This Way by Lady Gaga,[2] Unknown Death 2002 by Yung Lean,[3] Mastermind by Rick Ross,[4] Dark Sky Paradise by Big Sean,[5] August 26 by Post Malone,[6] Ether by B.o.B,[7] Gold Cobra and Still Sucks by Limp Bizkit,[8][9] and Sketches of Brunswick East by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.[10] For an April Fools joke, he released two separate reviews of All Love's Legal by Planningtorock, one giving it a 0/10[11] and one giving it a 10/10.[12] His actual rating for the album is unknown. He also released another April Fools joke review years later for Portals by Melanie Martinez, in which he instead reviewed progressive metal band Tesseract's live album of the same name as if it was Martinez's album.[13]
Discounting parody/joke reviews, Fantano has only given seven perfect 10/10 ratings and five 0/10 ratings in his career so far (seen in the tables below). The rapper Kid Cudi is the only artist to have received both of these ratings from Fantano, having earned a 0/10 on his 2015 album Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, followed later by a 10/10 on the 2018 album Kids See Ghosts from the eponymous musical duo comprised of Cudi himself and Kanye West.
In July 2016, a new rating dubbed "Not Good" was introduced, which is not based on a numeric score and is assigned to albums which Fantano does not feel like giving a proper negative review on. The first album to receive the rating was Desiigner's New English.[14] He also did a near-unedited 50-minute "Not Good" review of Angelic 2 the Core by Corey Feldman, in which he dubbed the album the worst of 2016.[15]
In February 2021, another new rating dubbed "Not Bad" was introduced. Like the "Not Good" segment, it is not based on a numeric score and is assigned to albums which Fantano feels are underrated but does not want to give a formal review on. Initially suggested by a tweet on Fantano's "Let's Argue" segment on his side channel fantano, the first album to receive the rating was Steven Wilson's The Future Bites.[16]
Additionally, Fantano also reviews albums that are considered "classic" music releases. These are reviewed without a rating on during a yearly segment known as Classics Week.[17]
Modern albums with a perfect rating (10/10)[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Death Grips | The Money Store | United States |
| 2014 | Swans | To Be Kind | United States |
| 2015 | Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp a Butterfly | United States |
| 2018 | Kids See Ghosts | Kids See Ghosts | United States |
| 2018 | Daughters | You Won't Get What You Want | United States |
| 2021 | Spellling | The Turning Wheel | United States |
| 2021 | Lingua Ignota | SINNER GET READY | United States |
Albums with a score of 0 (not including "NOT GOOD")[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Kid Cudi | Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven | United States |
| 2019 | Chance the Rapper | The Big Day | United States |
| 2020 | Green Day | Father of All... | United States |
| 2021 | Tones and I | Welcome to the Madhouse | Australia |
| 2022 | Ken Carson | X | United States |
| 2024 | MGK & Trippie Red | genre : sadboy | United States |
Awards[]
Album of the Year (2009–)[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Fever Ray | Fever Ray | Sweden |
| 2010 | LCD Soundsystem | This Is Happening | United States |
| 2011 | Fleet Foxes | Helplessness Blues | United States |
| 2012 | Death Grips | The Money Store | United States |
| 2013 | Tim Hecker | Virgins | Canada |
| 2014 | Swans | To Be Kind | United States |
| 2015 | Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp a Butterfly | United States |
| 2016 | Danny Brown | Atrocity Exhibition | United States |
| 2017 | Father John Misty | Pure Comedy | United States |
| 2018 | Daughters | You Won't Get What You Want | United States |
| 2019 | Charli XCX | Charli | United Kingdom |
| 2020 | Jessie Ware | What's Your Pleasure? | United Kingdom |
| 2021 | Spellling | The Turning Wheel | United States |
| 2022 | Natalia Lafourcade | De Todas las Flores | Mexico |
| 2023 | Jeff Rosenstock | Hellmode | United States |
EP of the Year (2010–)[]
| Year | Artist | EP | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Tallest Man on Earth | Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird | Sweden |
| 2011 | Nicolas Jaar | Don't Break My Love | United States |
| 2012 | TNGHT | TNGHT | Canada United Kingdom |
| 2013 | Milo | Things That Happen At Day | United States |
| 2014 | Girl Talk and Freeway | Broken Ankles | United States |
| 2015 | FKA Twigs | M3LL155X | United Kingdom |
| 2016 | Charli XCX | Vroom Vroom | United Kingdom |
| 2017 | Rina Sawayama | RINA | United Kingdom Japan |
| 2018 | Aphex Twin | Collapse | United Kingdom |
| 2019 | Kero Kero Bonito | Civilization I | United Kingdom Japan |
| 2020 | Tkay Maidza | Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2 | Australia Zimbabwe |
| 2021 | Rachel Chinouriri | Fourº in Winter | United Kingdom |
| 2022 | Ginger Root | Nisemono | United States |
| 2023 | Alice Longyu Gao | Let's Hope Heteros Learn, Fail and Retire | China |
Single of the Year (2010–)[]
| Year | Artist | Single | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | LCD Soundsystem | "I Can Change" | United States |
| 2011 | Fleet Foxes | "Helplessness Blues" | United States |
| 2012 | Death Grips | "The Fever (Aye Aye)" | United States |
| 2013 | The Knife | "A Tooth for an Eye" | Sweden |
| 2014 | Liars | "Mess on a Mission" | United States |
| 2015 | Kendrick Lamar | "The Blacker the Berry" | United States |
| 2016 | David Bowie | "Blackstar" | United Kingdom |
| 2017 | Father John Misty | "Pure Comedy" | United States |
| 2018 | Childish Gambino | "This Is America" | United States |
| 2019 | Alex Cameron | "Far From Born Again" | Australia |
| 2020 | Mac Miller | "Good News" | United States |
| 2021 | Little Simz | "Introvert" | United Kingdom |
| 2022 | Viagra Boys | "Troglodyte" | Sweden |
| 2023 | Sufjan Stevens | "Will Anybody Ever Love Me?" | United States |
Worst Album of the Year (2015–)[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Kid Cudi | Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven | United States |
| 2016 | Corey Feldman | Angelic 2 the Core | United States |
| 2017 | XXXTentacion | 17 | United States |
| 2018 | Lil Xan | Total Xanarchy | United States |
| 2019 | Doug Walker | Nostalgia Critic's The Wall | United States |
| 2020 | Tory Lanez | Daystar | Canada |
| 2021 | Tones and I | Welcome to the Madhouse | Australia |
| 2022 | Iced Earth | A Narrative Soundscape | United States |
| 2023 | Avenged Sevenfold | Life Is But a Dream... | United States |
Worst Song of the Year (2016–)[]
| Year | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Le Tigre | "I'm With Her" |
| 2017 | Hopsin | "Happy Ending" |
| 2018 | Tom MacDonald | "Whiteboy" |
| 2019 | Lil Dicky | "Earth" |
| 2020 | Justin Bieber | "Yummy (Country Remix)" (ft. Florida Georgia Line) |
| 2021 | Corey Feldman | "Rockin' Revolution" |
| 2022 | Leah Kate | "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bitch" |
| 2023 | Jason Aldean | "Try That in a Small Town" |
Music Video of the Year (2010–2014)[]
| Year | Artist | Music Video |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | HEALTH | "We Are Water" |
| 2011 | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | "Wing$" |
| 2012 | Dinosaur Jr. | "Watch the Corners" |
| 2013 | Arcade Fire | "Reflektor" |
| 2014 | Flying Lotus | "Ready err Not" |
Album of the Decade (2010-2019)[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp a Butterfly | United States |
Song of the Decade (2010-2019)[]
| Year | Artist | Song | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Death Grips | "Hacker" | United States |
Worst Album of the Decade (2010-2019)[]
| Year | Artist | Album | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Corey Feldman | Angelic 2 the Core | United States |
Worst Song of the Decade (2010–2019)[]
| Year | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Hopsin | "Happy Ending" |
Quotes[]
- "I am Anthony Fantano, the internet's busiest music nerd."
- "Conservatives are not fun, creative, smart, empathetic, or interesting. That's why they don't make great art. Their art sucks ass. Period."[18]
Trivia[]
- In 2021, YouTuber and comedian Sam Hyde, in collaboration with Florida rapper Christ Dillinger, came together to create a diss track on Fantano, titled "F*CK ANTHONY", in response to Fantano dropping Hyde for allegedly being a member of the alt-right and for Fantano getting into a minor beef with Dillinger's fellow collective members on Twitter. Countless personal blows and threats to Fantano were dealt in this track, although it is mostly regarded as an ironic or "troll" diss.
- There are multiple running gags among Fantano's fanbase, which include, but are not limited to;
- Controversial album reviews (most notably him giving a 6/10 to Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy).[19] He has put "Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?" in his video descriptions partially due to this.
- The infamous review also started the trend of comments about Fantano being racist to all other people.
- Veganism
- Being portrayed as a Ridge wallet salesman
- Artists dying/being targeted after being given negative scores by Fantano. This has obviously happened with Linkin Park's One More Light, Lil Peep's Come Over When You're Sober, and Mac Miller's Swimming. Due to this, many people joke about how Fantano is behind the deaths of the artists whom he gave negative scores and how he's "the Internet's deadliest music nerd".
- The Best Teeth in the Game
- His love of Death Grips
- Being neutrally referred to as "Melon" by his fans due to his bald head, though it originated from a scornful reply by UK dubstep artist Zomby, for giving his album "With Love" a 5/10. (Melon is a common curse word in UK English, usually for someone with a "big head" vel sim thickheaded.)
- His comments often over exaggerating his opinions on albums, usually following the format of "Melon, I understand you didn't like the album but did you really have to say ..." followed by an outrageous claim, such as that Japan should be nuked a third time due to Pink Guy's Pink Season.
- "Upworthy link", a misheard phrase in his outro which is meant to say "up or the link".
- Controversial album reviews (most notably him giving a 6/10 to Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy).[19] He has put "Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?" in his video descriptions partially due to this.
- He is a fan of Weezer and big fan of their blue album.
- The fact that he refers to himself as the internet's busiest music nerd is often criticized by haters as being a title impossible to calculate and some people refuse to watch his reviews as they think this self-referred title is arrogant and pretentious.
- Anthony Fantano had hair in early 2000s but since then shaved it.
- It is controversial that Anthony Fantano charges his fans money to ask him questions on his opinions on music during livestreams.
- Famous critic Robert Christgau and proponent of musical movements such as hip hop and riot grrrl says he doesn't watch Anthony Fantano's reviews because he doesn't want to watch a video of a guy talking to a camera when he'd rather read text.
- Anthony Fantano thinks WAP is the second best song of 2020.[20]
- Anthony Fantano says that classical music is the only type of music that he cannot get into.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwTAPEe6A1A
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXcbNP9i2jw
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNS2lFLHedE
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJF5NhmcWc8
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKmbySC3V6U
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leVsj_X8yF8
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w4wi19KBEE
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45xt7d6L538
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW-SzhsksvE
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dge1w2xQ-8A
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO_DTx7DOTo
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ovkjrJFMI
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMdF_4Pw8C0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lBwkRsID1Q
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3E0kq9YkjA
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQpHaXqGlCg
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4CSgl7K7or_7JI7RsEsptyS4wfLFGIN
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20211014175531/https://twitter.com/theneedledrop/status/1448709024459989002
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo4S2qlQGs0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Pqpq-Qx1I
