The Needle Drop

The Needle Drop
Type of site
 Music reviewing
Available in English
Created by Anthony Fantano
Slogan(s) The internet's busiest music nerd
Website
Alexa rank Increase 121,305 (January 2017)[1]
Commercial Yes
Launched 2007
Current status Active

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, individual songs in a segment called "Track Reviews" (stylized as "TRKRVWZ"), and occasionally a "Question of the Week" or list based video. 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 a million subscribers, and more than 247 million upload views.[4] The channel was voted as September 2011's On The Rise contest winner,[5] a program by YouTube. In October 2011, Fantano won the Beyond the Blog award at the MTV O Music Awards.[6]

Anthony Fantano

Anthony Fantano
Personal information
Born (1985-10-28) October 28, 1985
Wolcott, Connecticut,
United States
Nationality American
Occupation Music Journalist
Website theneedledrop.com
YouTube information
Pseudonym Cal Chuchesta
Channel(s) theneedledrop
anthonyfantano
thatistheplan
Years active 2007–present
Subscribers 1.0 million+
Total views 240 million+
Catchphrase(s) "Internet's Busiest Music Nerd"[7]
Subscriber and view counts updated as of August 1, 2017.

Early life

Fantano grew up in Connecticut and spent his teenage years in Wolcott.[8] 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.[9]

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.[8]

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".[10]

In 2007, Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio in which he hosted The Needle Drop.[11] 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.[10][12]

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.[13] In March 2011, he was featured in an article from The Guardian also about the rise of music vlogging.[14]

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.[15] 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.[16]

Personal life

Fantano lives in Plainville, Connecticut. He is three-quarters French Canadian and a quarter Sicilian.[17][18][19] Fantano is a vegan, having grown into the diet since becoming vegetarian around 18–19.[10] He is married.[8]

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 Born This Way by Lady Gaga,[20] Unknown Death 2002 by Yung Lean,[21] Mastermind by Rick Ross,[22] Dark Sky Paradise by Big Sean[23] August 26 by Post Malone,[24] Ether by B.o.B[25] and Gold Cobra by Limp Bizkit.[26] 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.[27] The first album to receive the rating was Desiigner's New English.[28] 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.[29]

Album of the Year (2009–)

Year Artist Album Nation Top 5 Albums Ref.
2009 Fever Ray Fever Ray  Sweden [30]
2010 LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening  United States [31]
2011 Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues  United States [32]
2012 Death Grips The Money Store  United States [33]
2013 Tim Hecker Virgins  Canada [34]
2014 Swans To Be Kind  United States [35]
2015 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly  United States [36]
2016 Danny Brown Atrocity Exhibition  United States [37]

EP of the Year (2010–)

Year Artist EP Nation Top 5 EPs Ref.
2010 The Tallest Man on Earth Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird  Sweden [38]
2011 Nicolas Jaar Don't Break My Love  United States
  • 2nd: United States Clams Casino – Rainforest
  • 3rd: France Valentin Stip – Anytime Will Do
  • 4th: United States Theophilus London – Lovers Holiday
    •
  • 5th: United Kingdom Oblivionized – Abhorrent Evolution
[39]
2012 TNGHT TNGHT  Canada
 United Kingdom 		[40]
2013 Milo Things That Happen At Day  United States [41]
2014 Girl Talk and Freeway Broken Ankles  United States [42]
2015 FKA Twigs M3LL155X  United Kingdom [43]
2016 Charli XCX Vroom Vroom  United Kingdom [44]

Single of the Year (2010–)

Year Artist Single Nation Top 5 Songs Ref.
2010 LCD Soundsystem "I Can Change"  United States [45]
2011 Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"  United States [46]
2012 Death Grips "The Fever (Aye Aye)"  United States [47]
2013 The Knife "A Tooth for an Eye"  Sweden [48]
2014 Liars "Mess on a Mission"  United States [49]
2015 Kendrick Lamar "The Blacker the Berry"  United States [50]
2016 David Bowie "Blackstar"  United Kingdom [51]

Worst Album of the Year (2015–)

Year Artist Album Nation Bottom 5 Albums Ref.
2015 Kid Cudi Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven  United States [52]
2016 Corey Feldman Angelic 2 the Core  United States [53]

Worst Song of the Year (2016–)

Year Artist Song Bottom 5 Songs Ref.
2016 Le Tigre "I’m With Her" [54]

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" [55]
2014 Flying Lotus "Ready err Not" [56]

Modern albums with a perfect rating (10/10)

Year Artist Album Nation Ref.
2012 Death Grips The Money Store  United States [57]
2014 Swans To Be Kind  United States [58]
2015 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly  United States [59]

Albums with a score of 0

Year Artist Album Nation Ref.
2011 Lil B I'm Gay (I'm Happy)  United States [60]
2014 Planningtorock All Love's Legal  United Kingdom [61]
2015 Kid Cudi Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven  United States [62]
2016 Corey Feldman Angelic 2 the Core  United States [63]

References

  1. ↑ "theneedledrop.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  2. ↑ Veronin, Nick. "The Hardest Working Critic in Show Business Never Stops Hunting for New Music". wired.com, February 18, 2014
  3. ↑ Interviews, March 23, 2014 in; Ingham, Music Tom. "Interview: Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop)". The Mancunion. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Youtube channel".
  5. ↑ "'Success!' Video".
  6. ↑ "New Music Videos, Reality TV Shows, Celebrity News, Pop Culture – MTV". omusicawards.com.
  7. ↑ "TheNeedleDrop". YouTube. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  8. 1 2 3 "How Anthony Fantano, Aka The Needle Drop, Became Today's Most Successful Music Critic | SPIN". Spin. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  9. ↑ (I)NTERVIEW: Anthony Fantano. YouTube. January 15, 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 Elabbady, Ali (October 30, 2013). "Interview: Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop". greenroommagazine.com. United States. Archived from the original on May 26, 2014.
  11. ↑ http://www.cpbn.org/profile/anthony-fantano
  12. ↑ "Anthony Fantano Wants to Turn You On", Consequence of Sound
  13. ↑ "Interview at SXSW".
  14. ↑ Jonze, Tim (March 18, 2011). "The Guardian article". London.
  15. ↑ "Cal Chuchesta – The New CALassic – Download and Stream – Audiomack". audiomack.com.
  16. ↑ "Cal Chuchesta - The New CALassic MIXTAPE REVIEW". youtube.com.
  17. ↑ "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
  18. ↑ "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
  19. ↑ "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
  20. ↑ "Lady Gaga- Born This Way ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. May 24, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Yung Lean – Unknown Death 2002 MIXTAPE REVIEW". The Needle Drop. July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  22. ↑ Rick Ross – Mastermind ALBUM REVIEW. YouTube. March 9, 2014.
  23. ↑ Big Sean – Dark Sky Paradise ALBUM REVIEW. YouTube. February 24, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Post Malone – August 26th MIXTAPE REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  25. ↑ "B.o.B – Ether ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Limp Bizkit – Gold Cobra ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
  27. ↑ "NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Desiigner's New English: NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  29. ↑ "THE WORST ALBUM OF 2016 (Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 the Core) [NOT GOOD]". The Needle Drop. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  30. ↑ "Anthony Fantano's Top 15 Albums of 2009". Rate Your Music.
  31. ↑ "Top-50 Albums of 2010". YouTube.
  32. ↑ "Favorite Albums of 2011". YouTube.
  33. ↑ "Top-50 Albums of 2012". YouTube.
  34. ↑ "Top-50 Albums of 2013". YouTube.
  35. ↑ "Top-50 Albums of 2014". YouTube.
  36. ↑ "Top-50 Albums of 2015". YouTube.
  37. ↑ "Top-50 Albums of 2016". YouTube.
  38. ↑ "Top-15 EPs of 2010". YouTube.
  39. ↑ "Favorite EPs of 2011". YouTube.
  40. ↑ "Top-15 EPs of 2012". YouTube.
  41. ↑ "Top-15 EPs of 2013". YouTube.
  42. ↑ "Top-15 EPs of 2014". YouTube.
  43. ↑ "Top-15 EPs of 2015". YouTube.
  44. ↑ "Top-15 EPs of 2016". YouTube.
  45. ↑ "Top-50 Tracks / Songs of 2010". YouTube.
  46. ↑ "Favorite Singles of 2011". YouTube.
  47. ↑ "Top-50 Singles of 2012". YouTube.
  48. ↑ "Top-50 Singles of 2013". YouTube.
  49. ↑ "Top-50 Singles of 2014". YouTube.
  50. ↑ "Top-50 Singles of 2015". YouTube.
  51. ↑ "Top-50 Singles of 2016". YouTube.
  52. ↑ "TOP-10 WORST ALBUMS OF 2015". The Needle Drop. December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  53. ↑ "Top-10 WORST ALBUMS OF 2016". The Needle Drop. December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  54. ↑ "Top-15 WORST SONGS OF 2016". The Needle Drop. December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  55. ↑ "Top-25 Music Videos of 2013". YouTube.
  56. ↑ "Top-20 Music VIdeos of 2014". YouTube.
  57. ↑ Fantano, Anthony (April 23, 2012). "The Money Store Review". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  58. ↑ "Swans – To Be Kind ALBUM REVIEW".
  59. ↑ "Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly ALBUM REVIEW".
  60. ↑ "Lil B – I'm Gay (I'm Happy) ALBUM REVIEW".
  61. ↑ "PLANNINGTOROCK - All Love's Legal ALBUM REVIEW".
  62. ↑ "Kid Cudi – Speedin' Bullet To Heaven ALBUM REVIEW".
  63. ↑ "THE WORST ALBUM OF 2016 (Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 The Core) [NOT GOOD]".
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