History YMMV / Graceland

* OvershadowedByControversy: Despite the album's popularity, Simon received a lot of criticism for breaking the cultural boycott against South Africa's apartheid government, and this led to a decline of interest in worldbeat, as the UnfortunateImplications surrounding [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy cultural appropriation by white artists]] like Simon became apparent. Notably, artists such as Music/DavidByrne and Music/PeterGabriel managed to escape these accusations after a short while due to their high levels of sociopolitical activism and open efforts to recognize and properly honor the cultures they take inspiration from, to the point of releasing works by other world music artists on their own record labels (Gabriel took things a step further with the creation of the WOMAD festival, meant specifically to increase the public presence of nonwestern artists in the Anglosphere). Simon, meanwhile, had nowhere near the same kind of reputation (Simon ''is'' a noted philanthropist, but isn't known as a politically active celebrity). Additionally, the Mexican-American rock band Los Lobos publicly accused Simon of stealing "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints" from them -- they had written the music and performed on the recording, but received no songwriting credit for the song.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The second episode has many, ''many'' glaring inaccuracies regarding 5.7mm handguns and, for that matter, firearms in general. Many plot points of the episode rest on facts that anyone with even basic knowledge of firearms would find gratingly incorrect.
* MagnificentBastard: [[spoiler:Paul Briggs]].

* WhatAnIdiot: Paige firmly grabbed the IdiotBall in Season 2 in relation to the sex slavery ring. While it is undoubtedly a horrible circumstance, she became too emotionally wrapped up in the case and her only concern became saving Lena and wouldn't listen to any reason outside of her own. She ignores the fact that more women would just come in a few weeks to replace the few they could immediately save, which would be at the expense of losing track of the entire operation and everything going on they're trying to stop. [[spoiler:Her obsession leads her to reveal Mike's location to Markham, then reveal what she had done to Briggs, who fails to stop Markham from nearly killing Mike.]]

* OvershadowedByControversy: Despite the album's popularity, Simon received a lot of criticism for breaking the cultural boycott against South Africa's apartheid government, and this led to a decline of interest in worldbeat, as the UnfortunateImplications surrounding [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy cultural appropriation by white artists]] like Simon became apparent. Notably, artists such as Music/DavidByrne and Music/PeterGabriel managed to escape these accusations after a short while due to their high levels of sociopolitical activism and open efforts to recognize and properly honor the cultures they take inspiration from, to the point of releasing works by other world music artists on their own record labels (Gabriel took things a step further with the creation of the WOMAD festival, meant specifically to increase the public presence of nonwestern artists in the Anglosphere). Simon, meanwhile, had nowhere near the same kind of reputation (Simon ''is'' a noted philanthropist, but isn't known as a politically active celebrity). Additionally, the Mexican-American rock band Los Lobos publicly accused Simon of stealing "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints" from them-- They had written the music and performed on the recording, but received no songwriting credit for the song.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Between Mike and Paige's increasingly idiotic fight over Sulla and his trafficking operation, Jakes' relationship problems, and Briggs'... Briggs-ness, plus a number of utterly unpleasant villains, season 2 left viewers with very few characters to root for. Thankfully, the third season was much more lighthearted.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Despite the album's popularity, Simon received a lot of criticism for breaking the cultural boycott against South Africa's apartheid government, and this led to a decline of interest in worldbeat, as the UnfortunateImplications surrounding [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy cultural appropriation by white artists]] like Simon became apparent. Notably, artists such as Music/DavidByrne and Music/PeterGabriel managed to escape these accusations after a short while due to their high levels of sociopolitical activism and open efforts to recognize and properly honor the cultures they take inspiration from, to the point of releasing works by other world music artists on their own record labels (Gabriel took things a step further with the creation of the WOMAD festival, meant specifically to increase the public presence of nonwestern artists in the Anglosphere). Simon, meanwhile, had nowhere near the same kind of reputation (Simon ''is'' a noted philanthropist, but isn't known as a politically active celebrity). Additionally, the Mexican-American rock band Los Lobos publicly accused Simon of stealing "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints" from them-- They had written the music and performed on the recording, but received no songwriting credit for the song.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Despite the album's popularity, Simon received a lot of criticism for breaking the cultural boycott against South Africa's apartheid government, and this led to a decline of interest in worldbeat, as the UnfortunateImplications surrounding [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy cultural appropriation by white artists]] like Simon became apparent. Notably, artists such as Music/DavidByrne and Music/PeterGabriel managed to escape these accusations after a short while due to their high levels of sociopolitical activism and open efforts to recognize and properly honor the cultures they take inspiration from, to the point of releasing works by other world music artists on their own record labels (Gabriel took things a step further with the creation of the WOMAD festival, meant specifically to increase the public presence of nonwestern artists in the Anglosphere); Simon, meanwhile, had nowhere near the same kind of reputation (Simon ''is'' a noted philanthropist, but isn't known as a politically active celebrity). Additionally, the Mexican-American rock band Los Lobos publicly accused Simon of stealing "All Around the World or The Myth of Fingerprints" from them-- They had written the music and performed on the recording, but received no songwriting credit for the song.