Anthony Fantano
The Needle Drop Logo | |
Type of site | Music reviewing |
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Available in | English |
Created by | Anthony Fantano |
URL | |
Commercial | Yes |
The Needle Drop is a vlog synonymous with creator Anthony Fantano /fænˈtænoʊ/ (born October 28, 1985), self-described as "the internet's busiest music nerd".[2] Fantano examines "rock, pop, electronic, metal, hip hop and experimental music" via video and audio reviews. The blog started in the fall of 2007, with video reviews beginning in February 2009. The blog reviews albums and does a weekly roundup of singles released that week. His reviews often contain brief skits, usually involving his alter ego Cal Chuchesta, a musically oblivious man portrayed as Fantano's roommate.[3]
The Needle Drop's YouTube channel currently has over 1.1 million subscribers, and more than 256 million upload views.[‡ 1] The channel was voted as September 2011's On The Rise contest winner,[4] a program by YouTube. In October 2011, Fantano won the Beyond the Blog award at the MTV O Music Awards.[5]
Anthony Fantano
Anthony Fantano | |
---|---|
Personal information | |
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Music journalist |
Website | theneedledrop.com |
YouTube information | |
Channels | theneedledrop anthonyfantano thatistheplan |
Years active | 2007–present |
Subscribers | 1.1 million+ |
Total views | 250 million+ |
Last updated: August 1, 2017 |
Early life
Fantano grew up in Connecticut and spent his teenage years in Wolcott.[6] 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.[7]
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.[6]
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".[8]
In 2007, Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio in which he hosted The Needle Drop.[9] 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.[8][10]
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.[11] In March 2011, he was featured in an article from The Guardian also about the rise of music vlogging.[12]
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.[13] 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.[‡ 2]
Personal life
Fantano lives in Plainville, Connecticut. He is three-quarters French Canadian and a quarter Sicilian.[‡ 3][‡ 4][‡ 5] Fantano is a vegan, having grown into the diet since becoming vegetarian around 18–19.[8] He is married.[6]
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[‡ 6], Born This Way by Lady Gaga,[‡ 7] Unknown Death 2002 by Yung Lean,[‡ 8] Mastermind by Rick Ross,[‡ 9] Dark Sky Paradise by Big Sean[‡ 10] August 26 by Post Malone,[‡ 11] Ether by B.o.B[‡ 12] Gold Cobra by Limp Bizkit[‡ 13] and Sketches of Brunswick East by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.[‡ 14] He has only given three perfect 10/10 ratings in his career so far. Additionally, Fantano will also review albums that are considered "classic" music releases. These are reviewed without a rating on during a yearly segment known as Classics Week.
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.[‡ 15] The first album to receive the rating was Desiigner's New English.[‡ 16] 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.[‡ 17]
Modern albums with a perfect rating (10/10)
Year | Artist | Album | Nation | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | Death Grips | The Money Store | United States | [‡ 18] |
2014 | Swans | To Be Kind | United States | [‡ 19] |
2015 | Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp a Butterfly | United States | [‡ 20] |
Albums with a score of 0 (not including "NOT GOOD")
Year | Artist | Album | Nation | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Kid Cudi | Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven | United States | [‡ 21] |
2011 | Lil B | I'm Gay (I'm Happy) | United States | [‡ 22] |
Awards
Album of the Year (2009–)
EP of the Year (2010–)
Single of the Year (2010–)
Worst Album of the Year (2015–)
Year | Artist | Album | Nation | Bottom 5 Albums | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Kid Cudi | Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven | United States |
|
[‡ 44] |
2016 | Corey Feldman | Angelic 2 the Core | United States |
|
[‡ 45] |
Worst Song of the Year (2016–)
Year | Artist | Song | Bottom 5 Songs | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Le Tigre | "I'm With Her" |
|
[‡ 46] |
Music Video of the Year (2010–2014)
Year | Artist | Music Video | Top 5 Videos | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | HEALTH | "We Are Water" |
|
|
2011 | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | "Wing$" |
|
|
2012 | Dinosaur Jr. | "Watch the Corners" |
|
|
2013 | Arcade Fire | "Reflektor" |
|
[‡ 47] |
2014 | Flying Lotus | "Ready err Not" |
|
[‡ 48] |
References
- ^ "theneedledrop.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
- ^ Veronin, Nick. "The Hardest Working Critic in Show Business Never Stops Hunting for New Music". wired.com, February 18, 2014
- ^ Interviews, March 23, 2014 in; Ingham, Music Tom. "Interview: Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop)". The Mancunion. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "'Success!' Video".
- ^ "New Music Videos, Reality TV Shows, Celebrity News, Pop Culture – MTV". omusicawards.com.
- ^ a b c "How Anthony Fantano, Aka The Needle Drop, Became Today's Most Successful Music Critic | SPIN". Spin. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ^ (I)NTERVIEW: Anthony Fantano. YouTube. January 15, 2013.
- ^ a b c Elabbady, Ali (October 30, 2013). "Interview: Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop". Green Room. United States. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014.
{{cite news}}
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- ^ "Anthony Fantano Wants to Turn You On". Consequence of Sound. October 9, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "Interview at SXSW".
- ^ Jonze, Tim (March 18, 2011). "SXSW 2011: The rise of the music vlogger". London. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "Cal Chuchesta – The New CALassic – Download and Stream – Audiomack". audiomack.com. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "Anthony Fantano's Top 15 Albums of 2009". Rate Your Music.
Primary sources
In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):
- ^ a b "Youtube channel".
- ^ "Cal Chuchesta - The New CALassic MIXTAPE REVIEW". youtube.com.
- ^ "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
- ^ "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
- ^ "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
- ^ "Lil B- I'm Gay (I'm Happy) ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
- ^ "Lady Gaga- Born This Way ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. May 24, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
- ^ "Yung Lean – Unknown Death 2002 MIXTAPE REVIEW". The Needle Drop. July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
- ^ Rick Ross – Mastermind ALBUM REVIEW. YouTube. March 9, 2014.
- ^ Big Sean – Dark Sky Paradise ALBUM REVIEW. YouTube. February 24, 2015.
- ^ "Post Malone – August 26th MIXTAPE REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
- ^ "B.o.B – Ether ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^ "Limp Bizkit – Gold Cobra ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
- ^ "King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard w/ Mild High Club - Sketches of Brunswick East ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ^ "Desiigner's New English: NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
- ^ "THE WORST ALBUM OF 2016 (Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 the Core) [NOT GOOD]". The Needle Drop. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ^ Fantano, Anthony (April 23, 2012). "The Money Store Review". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
- ^ "Swans – To Be Kind ALBUM REVIEW".
- ^ "Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly ALBUM REVIEW".
- ^ "Kid Cudi – Speedin' Bullet To Heaven ALBUM REVIEW".
- ^ "Lil B - I'm Gay (I'm Happy) ALBUM REVIEW".
- ^ "Top-50 Albums of 2010". YouTube.
- ^ "Favorite Albums of 2011". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Albums of 2012". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Albums of 2013". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Albums of 2014". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Albums of 2015". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Albums of 2016". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-15 EPs of 2010". YouTube.
- ^ "Favorite EPs of 2011". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-15 EPs of 2012". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-15 EPs of 2013". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-15 EPs of 2014". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-15 EPs of 2015". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-15 EPs of 2016". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Tracks / Songs of 2010". YouTube.
- ^ "Favorite Singles of 2011". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Singles of 2012". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Singles of 2013". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Singles of 2014". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Singles of 2015". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-50 Singles of 2016". YouTube.
- ^ "TOP-10 WORST ALBUMS OF 2015". The Needle Drop. December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
- ^ "Top-10 WORST ALBUMS OF 2016". The Needle Drop. December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
- ^ "Top-15 WORST SONGS OF 2016". The Needle Drop. December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
- ^ "Top-25 Music Videos of 2013". YouTube.
- ^ "Top-20 Music VIdeos of 2014". YouTube.