Anthony Fantano (/fænˈtænoʊ/fan-TAN-oh; born October 28, 1985) is an American music critic and YouTuber who runs the YouTube channel The Needle Drop and its tie-in website and Twitch[6] streaming channel. Self-appointed as "The Internet's Busiest Music Nerd", Fantano discusses and reviews music from a variety of genres online.
Fantano started his career in the mid-2000s as a music director for the Southern Connecticut State University college radio station.[9] In 2007, Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio (WNPR), where he hosted The Needle Drop.[10] That same year, he launched The Needle Drop in the form of written reviews, eventually launching his series of video reviews on the YouTube channel of the same name in January 2009, starting with a Jay Reatard record.[7][11][12] Fantano has said that his review for Flying Lotus' 2010 album Cosmogramma appearing next to other Flying Lotus videos in YouTube's "Featured Videos" section gave him the "hint" to continue making video reviews.[10] In 2010, Fantano removed older reviews that contained music clips in order to avoid violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.[7] At the time, he was working on The Needle Drop at the college radio station, as well as at a pizza restaurant. In late 2011, he decided to pursue The Needle Drop full-time, but kept affiliation with WNPR until 2014.[9][7][10] Fantano was offered an album review show on Adult Swim but declined.[7] By the end of 2017, Fantano had reached a million subscribers and diversified his content to include weekly "track roundup" videos, livestreamed Q&As, and video think-pieces alongside his album reviews.[12]
In June 2019, Fantano had a cameo in Lil Nas X's video for the Young Thug and Mason Ramsey remix of "Old Town Road", appearing as a security guard for the Area 51 military installation (a reference to the "Storm Area 51" meme).[13][14] Later that year he curated a charity compilation, The Needle Drop LP, which consists of "artists that have either been featured on the site or reviewed favorably in the past". Profits from the album were donated to The Immigrant Legal Resource Center non-profit.[15]
Fantano was referenced in Logic's 2022 album Vinyl Days. In the track "LaDonda", he discusses his relationship with Fantano, calling him a "plaid-shirt-wearing motherf**ker" and that he "fantasized about murdering" him, after Fantano gave negative reviews of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Supermarket, although he thanked Fantano for his criticisms later in the track. During his livestream of the album, Fantano expressed shock after hearing the song, saying that he felt "overemphasized" and that "there never should have been any reason Logic should hate me in the first place".[16]
On September 15, 2022, Fantano uploaded a video on his second channel claiming that Drake had sent private messages to him on Instagram, specifically recommending Fantano a vegan cookie recipe. One day later, Drake revealed the actual contents of his message to Fantano on Instagram Stories as a diss against him. Fantano later revealed his astonishment on an Instagram livestream, going on to joke about the debacle.[17][18][19]
The Fader article
In order to earn enough money to pay his editor Austin Walsh, by November 2016, Fantano had recorded more regularly on a secondary YouTube channel, "thatistheplan", on which he reviewed memes and recorded "often irreverent videos that don't fall into the record review format", according to Spin.[7] This secondary channel came into question and controversy in October 2017, when an article published in The Fader accused Fantano of promoting alt-right sentiments in videos on "thatistheplan". Fantano was criticized for the use of Pepe the Frog memes (which had recently been labeled an alt-right symbol) and targeting feminists.[20] After the article was released, multiple scheduled dates of "The Needle Drop" U.S. tour were cancelled, with at least one ticket booking site for a Brooklyn tour date stating that their cancellation was due to the Fader article.[21][22]
Fantano produced a video response calling the critical article a "hit job". He disputed accusations of sympathizing with the alt right and stated that the videos in question were satirical. The article was later deleted by The Fader, with both parties saying that the claims were settled.[23] In a later interview, Fantano acknowledged that there had been some "grubby, closed-minded, young, aggressive male" viewers on the "thatistheplan" channel and disavowed what he saw as the "toxic and problematic" side of internet humor, stating that the incident had led him to be more vocal in his advocacy for social justice issues.[24]
The Needle Drop won the 2011 O Music Awards in the "Beyond the Blog" category.[32][33] In 2014, Nick Veronin of Wired said of Fantano "Instead of deploying ten-dollar words to describe a riff or synth tone, Fantano relies on gestures, clenching his fists or contorting his elastic, expressive face. It gets at some of the more ephemeral qualities of music that written words can't begin to touch."[2]
When asked about the merits of Fantano's reviews, veteran music critic Robert Christgau said in 2019:
[Fantano] seems to have arrived at a plausible brand of 21st-century rockcrit taste that runs toward what I'll call dark prog [...] Nowhere near as insensible to hip-hop/r&b as dark proggers tend to be, but note that very few female artists crack his top 10s, which in 2018 was really missing the action. Fantano seems to have figured out a way to make some kind of living by disseminating his own criticism in the online age.[34]
In his 2019 book Perfect Sound Whatever, comedian James Acaster called Fantano's best albums of 2016 list "a real music fan's Top 50" and said of Fantano "perhaps more than anybody else, he appreciates how the reviewer's role has changed since the internet became a thing [...] The job of a reviewer used to be telling people what's worth their money but now it's telling people what's worth their time."[12] In September 2020, New York Times culture correspondent Joe Coscarelli described Fantano as "probably the most popular music critic left standing". According to Coscarelli, Fantano has successfully brought an "old art to a new medium" and has revitalized the record review format for a younger generation of music consumers.[24]
Personal life
Fantano resides in Connecticut.[7] He is a vegan, having swapped to the diet after first going vegetarian in his late teens.[9]
^Will, Gottsegen (July 16, 2019). "Lil Nas X Releases Insane Meme-Filled Video for Newest "Old Town Road" Remix". Spin. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
^Spearman, Kahron (July 19, 2019). "Area 51 remix video proves it's the summer of Lil Nas X". The Daily Dot. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
^Hussey, Allison (September 13, 2019). "Open Mike Eagle Shares New Song to Support Immigrant Legal Resource Center: Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
^"Anthony Fantano stunned by Logic's massive shoutout on new album". Dexerto. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
^Fu, Eddie (September 16, 2022). "YouTuber Anthony Fantano Trolls Drake Into Revealing Threatening DMs". Consequence. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
^Mier, Tomás (September 16, 2022). "Drake Disses Music Critic Anthony Fantano Over Fake DM Video With a Real, 'Salty Ass' Message". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
^Shanfeld, Ethan (September 16, 2022). "Drake Feuds With Music Critic Anthony Fantano: Your 'Existence' Is a 1/10". Variety. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
^"Popular music vlogger accused of promoting alt-right sentiment – NME". NME. October 4, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
^"Anthony Fantano's Entire Tour Canceled Over Racist, Alt-Right Allegations". Digital Music News.
^"The Needle Drop Live Shows Cancelled Amid Controversy". Noisey by Vice. October 5, 2017.
^"Fader Removes Article Amid Settlement With Anthony Fantano". Spin. March 21, 2018. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
^ abcdefghiCoscarelli, Joe (September 30, 2020). . The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. The influential evangelist in question is the YouTuber named Anthony Fantano, 34, who has been speaking album and song reviews directly into a camera for more than a decade on The Needle Drop, his channel with 2.26 million subscribers, making him probably the most popular music critic left standing.
^Death Grips - The Money Store ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved March 28, 2023
^Swans - To Be Kind ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved March 28, 2023
^Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved March 28, 2023
^KIDS SEE GHOSTS - Self Titled ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved March 28, 2023
^Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved March 28, 2023
^Spellling - The Turning Wheel ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved March 28, 2023
^Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready ALBUM REVIEW, retrieved March 28, 2023
^WARNER, KARA (November 1, 2011). "O Music Awards Take Over Halloween's Largest Street Party". MTV News (Press release).
^"Robyn Wows MTV O Music Awards; Bjork & Marilyn Manson's Butt Win Big". Billboard. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
^Christgau, Robert (January 15, 2019). "Xgau Sez". Robertchristgau.com. from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
^Alexander, Julia (March 7, 2018). "Controversial YouTubers head to alternative platforms in wake of 'purge'". Polygon. from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
^"Social Media Influencers' Role In 2020 Candidate Endorsements". NPR. February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
^"Taiga, by Anthony Fantano and Richard D'Albis". Anthonyfantanoricharddalbis.bandcamp.com.
^"Anthony FanFiction Vol. 1, by Various Artists". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
^""I Played Bass On This Album"". YouTube. March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
^"COVER ART AND TRACKLIST FOR MY ALBUM "FASTER"". Twitter.
^Logic - NeedleDrop (Audio), retrieved October 19, 2022
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthony Fantano.
anthony, fantano, born, october, 1985, american, music, critic, youtuber, runs, youtube, channel, needle, drop, website, twitch, streaming, channel, self, appointed, internet, busiest, music, nerd, fantano, discusses, reviews, music, from, variety, genres, onl. Anthony Fantano f ae n ˈ t ae n oʊ fan TAN oh born October 28 1985 is an American music critic and YouTuber who runs the YouTube channel The Needle Drop and its tie in website and Twitch 6 streaming channel Self appointed as The Internet s Busiest Music Nerd Fantano discusses and reviews music from a variety of genres online Anthony FantanoFantano in 2016Personal informationBorn 1985 10 28 October 28 1985 age 37 Connecticut U S OccupationsMusic critic YouTuber streamerWebsitetheneedledrop wbr comYouTube informationAlso known asCal Chuchesta 1 The Internet s Busiest Music Nerd 2 Melon 3 Best Teeth in The Game formerly 4 ChanneltheneedledropYears active2009 presentSubscribers2 78 million 5 Total views958 7 million 5 Creator Awards100 000 subscribers20121 000 000 subscribers2017Last updated August 18 2023 Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 The Fader article 2 2 Albums rated 10 on release 3 Reception 4 Personal life 5 Discography 5 1 as Cal Chuchesta 6 References 7 External linksEarly life EditFantano spent his teenage years in Wolcott Connecticut 7 As a teenager Fantano became interested in politics through the work of the musician Jello Biafra former lead singer of the punk band Dead Kennedys calling him pretty much my political idol 8 Fantano graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a degree in liberal studies in 2008 Career Edit Fantano speaking at a Q amp A at Cornell University in 2023 Fantano started his career in the mid 2000s as a music director for the Southern Connecticut State University college radio station 9 In 2007 Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio WNPR where he hosted The Needle Drop 10 That same year he launched The Needle Drop in the form of written reviews eventually launching his series of video reviews on the YouTube channel of the same name in January 2009 starting with a Jay Reatard record 7 11 12 Fantano has said that his review for Flying Lotus 2010 album Cosmogramma appearing next to other Flying Lotus videos in YouTube s Featured Videos section gave him the hint to continue making video reviews 10 In 2010 Fantano removed older reviews that contained music clips in order to avoid violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 7 At the time he was working on The Needle Drop at the college radio station as well as at a pizza restaurant In late 2011 he decided to pursue The Needle Drop full time but kept affiliation with WNPR until 2014 9 7 10 Fantano was offered an album review show on Adult Swim but declined 7 By the end of 2017 Fantano had reached a million subscribers and diversified his content to include weekly track roundup videos livestreamed Q amp As and video think pieces alongside his album reviews 12 In June 2019 Fantano had a cameo in Lil Nas X s video for the Young Thug and Mason Ramsey remix of Old Town Road appearing as a security guard for the Area 51 military installation a reference to the Storm Area 51 meme 13 14 Later that year he curated a charity compilation The Needle Drop LP which consists of artists that have either been featured on the site or reviewed favorably in the past Profits from the album were donated to The Immigrant Legal Resource Center non profit 15 Fantano was referenced in Logic s 2022 album Vinyl Days In the track LaDonda he discusses his relationship with Fantano calling him a plaid shirt wearing motherf ker and that he fantasized about murdering him after Fantano gave negative reviews of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Supermarket although he thanked Fantano for his criticisms later in the track During his livestream of the album Fantano expressed shock after hearing the song saying that he felt overemphasized and that there never should have been any reason Logic should hate me in the first place 16 On September 15 2022 Fantano uploaded a video on his second channel claiming that Drake had sent private messages to him on Instagram specifically recommending Fantano a vegan cookie recipe One day later Drake revealed the actual contents of his message to Fantano on Instagram Stories as a diss against him Fantano later revealed his astonishment on an Instagram livestream going on to joke about the debacle 17 18 19 The Fader article Edit In order to earn enough money to pay his editor Austin Walsh by November 2016 Fantano had recorded more regularly on a secondary YouTube channel thatistheplan on which he reviewed memes and recorded often irreverent videos that don t fall into the record review format according to Spin 7 This secondary channel came into question and controversy in October 2017 when an article published in The Fader accused Fantano of promoting alt right sentiments in videos on thatistheplan Fantano was criticized for the use of Pepe the Frog memes which had recently been labeled an alt right symbol and targeting feminists 20 After the article was released multiple scheduled dates of The Needle Drop U S tour were cancelled with at least one ticket booking site for a Brooklyn tour date stating that their cancellation was due to the Fader article 21 22 Fantano produced a video response calling the critical article a hit job He disputed accusations of sympathizing with the alt right and stated that the videos in question were satirical The article was later deleted by The Fader with both parties saying that the claims were settled 23 In a later interview Fantano acknowledged that there had been some grubby closed minded young aggressive male viewers on the thatistheplan channel and disavowed what he saw as the toxic and problematic side of internet humor stating that the incident had led him to be more vocal in his advocacy for social justice issues 24 Albums rated 10 on release Edit Artist Title Year RefDeath Grips The Money Store 2012 25 24 Swans To Be Kind 2014 26 24 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly 2015 27 24 Kids See Ghosts Kids See Ghosts 2018 28 24 Daughters You Won t Get What You Want 29 24 Spellling The Turning Wheel 2021 30 24 Lingua Ignota Sinner Get Ready 31 24 Reception Edit Fantano as his alter ego Cal Chuchesta 1 The Needle Drop won the 2011 O Music Awards in the Beyond the Blog category 32 33 In 2014 Nick Veronin of Wired said of Fantano Instead of deploying ten dollar words to describe a riff or synth tone Fantano relies on gestures clenching his fists or contorting his elastic expressive face It gets at some of the more ephemeral qualities of music that written words can t begin to touch 2 When asked about the merits of Fantano s reviews veteran music critic Robert Christgau said in 2019 Fantano seems to have arrived at a plausible brand of 21st century rockcrit taste that runs toward what I ll call dark prog Nowhere near as insensible to hip hop r amp b as dark proggers tend to be but note that very few female artists crack his top 10s which in 2018 was really missing the action Fantano seems to have figured out a way to make some kind of living by disseminating his own criticism in the online age 34 In his 2019 book Perfect Sound Whatever comedian James Acaster called Fantano s best albums of 2016 list a real music fan s Top 50 and said of Fantano perhaps more than anybody else he appreciates how the reviewer s role has changed since the internet became a thing The job of a reviewer used to be telling people what s worth their money but now it s telling people what s worth their time 12 In September 2020 New York Times culture correspondent Joe Coscarelli described Fantano as probably the most popular music critic left standing According to Coscarelli Fantano has successfully brought an old art to a new medium and has revitalized the record review format for a younger generation of music consumers 24 Personal life EditFantano resides in Connecticut 7 He is a vegan having swapped to the diet after first going vegetarian in his late teens 9 In March 2018 Fantano told Polygon that he is a free speech purist 35 Fantano endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 United States presidential election 36 Discography EditThis section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page especially if potentially libelous Find sources Anthony Fantano news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Albums Taiga 2009 as bass player 37 Anthony FanFiction Vol 1 2015 38 Guest appearances 21 amp Jaded on Never Forget Where You Came From by Goody Grace 2021 39 as bass player Every Drug at Once on Faster by Lil Texas 2022 40 NeedleDrop on Vinyl Days by Logic 2022 41 as Cal Chuchesta Edit Mixtapes The New CALassic 2015 Singles Cal 2 B 2013 Mykey Come Back 2015 Panda Remix featuring Pink Guy and NFKRZ 2016 Coin Star 2018 Don t Talk to Me featuring Fellatia Geisha 2018 Slap Chop 2018 On Deck Freestyle 2018 I m in the Club Lookin for Some Love featuring Joycie 2018 Advice featuring Rob Scallon 2018 Rubber Duck Pickup Truck 2019 Best Teef 2019 East Remix 2020 References Edit a b Ingham Tom March 23 2014 Interview Anthony Fantano The Needle Drop The Mancunion a b Veronin Nick February 18 2014 The Hardest Working Critic in Show Business Never Stops Hunting for New Music Wired Anthony Fantano Responds To Alt Right amp Racist Accusations Kill Your Stereo Retrieved May 29 2019 Best Teeth in The Game ArtStation Retrieved August 5 2023 a b About theneedledrop YouTube theneedledrop Twitch retrieved May 20 2023 a b c d e f g Gordon Jeremy November 30 2016 How Anthony Fantano aka The Needle Drop Became Today s Most Successful Music Critic Spin Archived from the original on December 1 2016 Noonan David June 1 2003 A Generation Finds Its Voice Newsweek Archived from the original on February 5 2015 Retrieved August 11 2021 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 a b c MADDEN MICHAEL October 9 2014 Anthony Fantano Wants to Turn You On Consequence of Sound Johnston Maura April 28 2015 Anthony Fantano brings Needle Drop to Middle East The Boston Globe a b c Acaster James August 22 2019 Perfect Sound Whatever Hachette UK ISBN 978 1 4722 6032 1 Will Gottsegen July 16 2019 Lil Nas X Releases Insane Meme Filled Video for Newest Old Town Road Remix Spin Retrieved February 5 2022 Spearman Kahron July 19 2019 Area 51 remix video proves it s the summer of Lil Nas X The Daily Dot Retrieved February 5 2022 Hussey Allison September 13 2019 Open Mike Eagle Shares New Song to Support Immigrant Legal Resource Center Listen Pitchfork Retrieved June 8 2021 Anthony Fantano stunned by Logic s massive shoutout on new album Dexerto Retrieved May 20 2023 Fu Eddie September 16 2022 YouTuber Anthony Fantano Trolls Drake Into Revealing Threatening DMs Consequence Retrieved September 16 2022 Mier Tomas September 16 2022 Drake Disses Music Critic Anthony Fantano Over Fake DM Video With a Real Salty Ass Message Rolling Stone Retrieved September 16 2022 Shanfeld Ethan September 16 2022 Drake Feuds With Music Critic Anthony Fantano Your Existence Is a 1 10 Variety Retrieved September 16 2022 Popular music vlogger accused of promoting alt right sentiment NME NME October 4 2017 Retrieved August 23 2018 Anthony Fantano s Entire Tour Canceled Over Racist Alt Right Allegations Digital Music News The Needle Drop Live Shows Cancelled Amid Controversy Noisey by Vice October 5 2017 Fader Removes Article Amid Settlement With Anthony Fantano Spin March 21 2018 Retrieved August 23 2018 a b c d e f g h i Coscarelli Joe September 30 2020 The Only Music Critic Who Matters if You re Under 25 The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on July 20 2021 The influential evangelist in question is the YouTuber named Anthony Fantano 34 who has been speaking album and song reviews directly into a camera for more than a decade on The Needle Drop his channel with 2 26 million subscribers making him probably the most popular music critic left standing Death Grips The Money Store ALBUM REVIEW retrieved March 28 2023 Swans To Be Kind ALBUM REVIEW retrieved March 28 2023 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly ALBUM REVIEW retrieved March 28 2023 KIDS SEE GHOSTS Self Titled ALBUM REVIEW retrieved March 28 2023 Daughters You Won t Get What You Want ALBUM REVIEW retrieved March 28 2023 Spellling The Turning Wheel ALBUM REVIEW retrieved March 28 2023 Lingua Ignota Sinner Get Ready ALBUM REVIEW retrieved March 28 2023 WARNER KARA November 1 2011 O Music Awards Take Over Halloween s Largest Street Party MTV News Press release Robyn Wows MTV O Music Awards Bjork amp Marilyn Manson s Butt Win Big Billboard Retrieved September 8 2019 Christgau Robert January 15 2019 Xgau Sez Robertchristgau com Archived from the original on February 11 2021 Retrieved August 12 2021 Alexander Julia March 7 2018 Controversial YouTubers head to alternative platforms in wake of purge Polygon Archived from the original on March 7 2018 Retrieved March 17 2021 Social Media Influencers Role In 2020 Candidate Endorsements NPR February 2 2020 Retrieved February 4 2022 Taiga by Anthony Fantano and Richard D Albis Anthonyfantanoricharddalbis bandcamp com Anthony FanFiction Vol 1 by Various Artists The Needle Drop Retrieved May 20 2023 I Played Bass On This Album YouTube March 2 2021 Retrieved March 2 2021 COVER ART AND TRACKLIST FOR MY ALBUM FASTER Twitter Logic NeedleDrop Audio retrieved October 19 2022External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthony Fantano Official website Anthony Fantano s channel on YouTube Anthony Fantano at IMDb theneedledrop on Twitch Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Anthony Fantano amp oldid 1171686126, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
