3 Musicians Who Were Historically Bad Interview Guests

Some famous musicians run hot and don’t exactly have small egos. It’s simply something that comes with the territory of being an internationally known name. That being said, certain musicians aren’t necessarily the best interviewees. Whether it be their reluctance to answer questions or simply their lack of desire to be there, sometimes musicians and interviews don’t mix. The musicians who have sabotaged interviews have done so in humorous ways and disrespectful ways alike. With that in mind, let’s look at a few musicians who were historically bad interview guests.

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Lou Reed

In a 1974 interview with reporters, Lou Reed was playing hard to get and gave one-word questions to nearly all his answers. Frankly, the interview clip is hilarious, and some of Reed’s comments are casual and comedic. For instance, one reporter asked why his listeners take drugs. Reed simply replied: “Cause it’s better than Monopoly.”

Another journalist chimed in about the popularity of Reed’s music. Lou Reed responded by saying that he “didn’t know it was popular.” In essence, Lou Reed was a stonewall and seemingly didn’t give the reporters anything they wanted.

Sex Pistols

This isn’t exactly a surprising entry on our list of bad interview guests. Nothing the Sex Pistols have done has been cordial or polite. Rather, it’s all been crash, brash, and vulgar to the utmost degree, and that’s why people loved them. The Pistols created that brand in 1976 when they made their major TV debut on The Today Show With Bill Grundy. In the interview, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious curse extensively and insult Grundy incessantly.

Grundy also flirted with Siouxsie Sioux during the interview live on air and admitted to being drunk at the time. Consequently, the interview was quickly canceled while on air, and Grundy was placed on a two-week suspension. His show was canceled shortly after and it’s all thanks to the Sex Pistols.

Vanilla Ice

Vanilla Ice has always been quite of a rogue personality, and this appearance on MTV fully solidifies who he is as a musician to be reckoned with. In the interview, the hosts start making fun of Ice’s previous music and the videos accompanying them. Consequently, Ice loses it and lashes out.

In his fit of rage, Vanilla Ice picks up a baseball bat and destroys the set as well as the tape the hosts were comically criticizing. Whether or not this was staged is unknown. However, the host’s reactions were clearly full of surprise and shock. Regardless, Ice was not a cordial or polite guest on MTV, and made quite the scene because of it.

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