Line #70 YMMV/TheNeedleDrop


1	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
2	** The beginning of his ''[[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Wolf]]'' review.
3	** The beginning of his ''Goblin'' review as well.
4	* BizarroEpisode: Some of his reviews get ''weird'':
5	** His review on [[Music/LimpBizkit Limp Bizkit's]] album ''Golden Cobra'', which consisted of ''nothing'' but him eating vegan-friendly foods and drinks.
6	** His review on ''Dark Sky Paradise'' by Music/BigSean, consisting of him constantly saying [[NoJustNoReaction "No" over and over]], even giving it a [[BrokeTheRatingScale "NO out of NO" rating]]. Even funnier when this was put on ''the album's [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} Wikipedia page]]''.
7	** His review of Music/BoBRapper's ''Ether'', which primarily consists of Anthony standing in near-complete silence [[OverlyLongGag for 7 out of the 8 minutes]] and gave it a [[BrokeTheRatingScale B.o.B album out of 10]].
8	** His review of ''Music/AngelicToTheCore'' by Corey Feldman, in which he abandons his normal format to just do a straight up MSTing of the album, as he considered it to be too bizarre to warrant a normal review.
9	** Anthony's review of Blarf's "Cease & Desist" consists of him belching for 4 straight minutes after a quick intro.
10	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMgfRyK7ikY The review of]] WesternAnimation/PeppaPig's "My First Album" ''begins'' with Anthony getting interrupted by Cal and having to redo his intro multiple times. [[MindScrew Then things get weird]].
11	** The review on Gunna's ''Wunna'' begins with Anthony briefly discussing his unusual sense of ambivalence towards the album, but then he suddenly jumps into [[MindScrew a bizarrely existential tangent]], threatens Cal with a knife, and then gives a PSA advising the viewer to take care of themselves and their loved ones during the COVID-19 quarantine.
12	** "Yung Lean - Unknown Death 2002 MIXTAPE REVIEW" composed of just Anthony eating two loafs of bread and saying "My hands are bread", implicitly dismissing Yung Lean's music and marketing as a ForcedMeme.
13	** In his review of Trapt's ''Shadow Work'', Anthony forgoes the typical review and scoring format, instead doing a top 10 list of songs from "best to better". [[BrokenRecord All of them are]] [[OneHitWonder "Headstrong"]].
14	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMnX9nwKO3E The final "SIRI PICKS THE BEST ALBUMS" video]] would already be this by virtue of mostly demonstrating that [[TechnologyMarchesOn due to changes to Siri's searching functions]], the conceit of the series no longer works... but then Siri [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech starts insulting Anthony directly.]]
15	** His review of Post Malone's "August 26th" mixtape gets immediately interrupted by Cal coming in and announcing that the complete series of ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' is on DVD. It then cuts to them watching it.
16	** His NOT GOOD review of Music/MachineGunKelly's ''Tickets to My Downfall'' starts with Anthony re-enacting [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-have-food-at-home a meme]] impersonating two kids and their mother, having the mother tell the kids, asking repeatedly if "they can have Music/LilPeep", that they "already have it at home" (referring to the MGK album), before cutting to him with absolutely no expression on his face as he explains why the album is bad in the most monotonous way possible.
17	** The review of Music/ImagineDragons ''Mercury'' (Acts 1 & 2), while it features an otherwise normal review script-wise, depicts Anthony through an incredibly dodgy AI-generated visual and vocal recreation. As mentioned in the video, it was a favor for a fan who originally ran a parody channel using the AI Fantano [[ScrewedByTheNetwork before it was taken down by YouTube]], but it's still ''really'' jarring.
18	** His review of NAV's "Demons Protected by Angels" breaks the trend of NAV albums being rated "NOT GOOD", but the real weirdness is from almost the entire review being written by an AI. This leads to the script doing anything from making up new songs to going on tangents about anything from Canadian marijuana laws to the "NAV Foundation"[[note]]A real organization, but it's unrelated to NAV and is focused on drunk driving.[[/note]] being nominated for a Nobel prize.
19	** His "review" of Music/MelanieMartinez's album ''Portals''[[labelnote:Explanation]]actually an [[AprilFoolsDay April Fool's 2023 joke]] of him reviewing the 2021 live album ''Portals'' by Music/{{Tesseract}} [[/labelnote]] starts off a straightforward analysis of the album cover. Once he gets to the music itself, he expresses surprise at Martinez's sudden turn from IndiePop to {{Djent}}, notes the abnormally long 14-minute opening track and complains about the three-part "Concealing Fate". He then confesses he skipped the eighth track due to a need for a [[CallingYourBathroomBreaks bathroom break]] before reserving special scorn for the closing track -- due to it opening an interdimensional portal which sucked him away from a timeline where he has free college, 10 million extra subscribers and a [[TakeThat non-Nazi]] Music/KanyeWest. The last minute of his review is him silently breaking down wishing he was back in his timeline.
20	** His review of Music/TheNational's ''First Two Pages of Frankenstein'' consists of Anthony pretending to be sleeping in bed for nine full minutes, only getting up to answer a text before returning to sleep, with his only dialogue being [[SignatureTransition "Tran-" "-sition"]] and "Forever". The description shows he gave the album a light 2/10, but features no favorite or least favorite tracks, and [[TakeThat the album's genre listed as "drab rock"]].
21	** Anthony's most unusual review yet came in September 2023, where he reviewed not an album, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Wn1yEOIts his bout with COVID-19 in the month prior]] ([[BlackComedy he rated it a light 2/10]]). Unlike other gag videos, Anthony takes a moment at the end to break character and acknowledge he's just being silly, [[SincerityMode sincerely informing his viewers to remain safe as COVID-19 cases continue to ebb and wane]].
22	* CrackPairing: Anthony/MC Ride and Anthony/Cal Chuchesta.
23	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Cal Chuchesta; he doesn't appear in many videos but fans of the series love him and request more Cal videos. Just check the comments on the first reviews of 2022, many of them are about how they're happy to regularly see him again after his appearances became less frequent.
24	* FountainOfMemes: Both Anthony and Cal. Kind of inevitable, really, when your primary demographic is [[Website/FourChan /mu/]].
25	* HilariousInHindsight: Anthony removing the Music/DeathspellOmega review of ''The Furnaces of Palingenesia'' due to allegations of the band being "fascist" becomes this when the band would issue an interview (their first one since ''2004'') and make it clear they ''don't'' support authoritative views, being evidently critical of it.
26	* HarsherInHindsight:
27	** Many of his scathing reviews for since-passed artists tend to be this, namely those for Music/LinkinPark's ''One More Light'' (the band's frontman, Chester Bennington, committed suicide), Music/LilPeep's ''Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1'', and Music/XXXTentacion's ''17'' and ''?''.
28	** At the beginning of his ''[[Music/{{Justice\|Band}} Woman]]'' review, he says "I would say 'Althony Rightano' but I'm afraid of someone actually thinking I'm a member of the alt-right... here!" Later, FADER would publish an article accusing him of being a member of, or at least sympathetic toward, the alt-right, which would tarnish his reputation.
29	** Anthony's mild feud with Unkle Adams (which began when he made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ3EDk6Ku5M a "NOT GOOD" riffing on one of his music videos]]) has been all over the place as a result of this. It briefly appeared to reach a reconciliation with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOzyIhVl4B8 the two burying the hatchet on video]], but when reports in early 2018 of Adams' serious financial debts due to his music career (something [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un1IJIYUrys Anthony would quietly address]]), the riff seems a little awkward now.
30	** The [[HePannedItNowHeSucks fan reaction]] towards ''[[Music/KendrickLamar DAMN.]]'''s 7/10 rating and [[NeverLiveItDown the constant dogging that Anthony received over it]] makes his harsh second opinions of the album on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90xeylVOooE Ten Times I Changed My Opinions on Albums Pt.2]] even more scathing than they would've been without the historical context behind it.
31	** During his [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=KCmXs_qp02w interview]] with Music/{{BROCKHAMPTON}}, he promised to Kevin Abstract that he would not be so hard on Creator/JadenSmith when reviewing his music, given his very low opinion of Jaden's debut album ''SYRE''. Since then, Fantano has given both ''The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story'' and ''ERYS'' '''''even lower''''' review scores, even putting ''The Sunset Tapes'' squarely at the #2 spot of [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=DniRzLNzxcc The 10 WORST Albums of 2018]].
32	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
33	** After Music/LilPeep's death, Fantano tweeted that even though he disliked his music (he gave the only studio album Lil Peep released while alive a ''NOT GOOD''), he still deserved life and happiness like any other human, and at the end of the day that transcended any opinion Fantano could have about him.
34	** Fantano also did the same when news broke that Music/XXXTentacion was murdered, taking to Twitter to state that while X was a troubled being and brought a lot of his controversies on himself (considering his endless feuds), he felt that X didn't deserve to have his life cut short at 20 years old. He also bluntly called out people online who were ''literally'' tweeting about dancing on his grave, advising them to "[[DueToTheDead let the kid rest in peace]]".
35	*** This would also carry over to his review of X's posthumously-released album ''Skins'' later in the year. While he does mention unsavory revelations about X following his death and gave the album a harsh 2/10 rating, Anthony is very quick to point out how X himself is the least to blame for the end product, [[DueToTheDead being openly disgusted by the label essentially graverobbing his leftovers]] [[PosthumousPopularityPotential to capitalize off his death]]. He even forgoes wearing his traditional red flannel in his review, and the album went notably unmentioned on his "Top 10 Worst Albums of 2018" list.
36	** Anthony's video on Music/TaylorSwift's ''Fearless (Taylor's Version)'', while framed as an album review, is actually more of [[MusicIsPolitics an exploration of the circumstances which led to the album's existence]] ([[TheNotRemix a self-done re-recording]] of one of Taylor's many albums that [[ScrewedByTheNetwork she was screwed out of legally owning]]). While he doesn't have much to say about the album musically and thus doesn't give it a proper number grade, he fully supports Taylor's endeavor and nevertheless [[BrokeTheRatingScale gives the distinguished score]] of "Screw your old record label. Do what you wanna do. Cool?"
37	* HePannedItNowHeSucks: Anthony is very honest and ardent with his opinions, and given the sheer breadth of music he's covered for over a decade, he's unsurprisingly had many a clash with wider audiences over his reviews. The list of occasions where he's caught flack for giving a negative score (or even a lukewarm one) to a popular album would probably make up an entire page itself.
38	%%** Standouts are his reviews of Childish Gambino's ''Camp'' and ''Because the Internet'', Music/JustinTimberlake's ''The 20/20 Experience,'' Music/KanyeWest's ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy'' and ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'', Music/ArcticMonkeys' ''AM'', Music/BringMeTheHorizon's ''Sempiternal'', {{Music/Slowdive}}'s self-titled, Mitski's ''Be the Cowboy'', Isaiah Rashad's ''The House Is Burning'', Music/MacMiller's ''Swimming'' (although [[VindicatedByHistory Anthony would give the album a much more favorable redux review in 2023]]), anything by Music/JCole, Music/PorcupineTree/Music/StevenWilson, Music/{{Opeth}}, or Music/{{Alcest}}. His ''[[Music/FrankOcean Channel Orange]]'', ''Music/CarrieAndLowell'', ''[[Music/{{KendrickLamar}} DAMN.]]'', ''[[Music/DanceGavinDance Instant Gratification]]'', ''[[Music/KaceyMusgraves Golden Hour]]'', ''[[Music/DanceGavinDance Afterburner]]'', ''[[Music/FionaApple Fetch the Bolt Cutters]]'', ''[[{{Music/Deftones}} Ohms]]'', ''[[Music/WolfAlice Blue Weekend]]'', and ''An Evening with Silk Sonic'' reviews also get this a lot.
39	** He suffers this '''every time''' he criticizes a progressive rock/metal act, the most infamous being Music/StevenWilson, to the point where it comes off as a BiasSteamroller. Doesn't help Anthony is very snarky regarding how he feels progressive acts should sound like, especially with Wilson (and ''admitting'' he was never that fond of both Music/PorcupineTree and Wilson's solo work).
40	** He received some stick for not realizing that ''[[Music/BiffyClyro Opposites]]'' was a double album until after he'd listened to the first disc, then refusing to listen to the second disc on the grounds that he didn't enjoy the first, which many fans criticized as being unprofessional.
41	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Sort of downplayed compared to other examples, but Anthony's portrayal of Cal is basically universally loved by fans to the point that some even tend to forget that Cal is just a character and not an actual person.
42	* HoYay: [[http://i.imgur.com/BsgtAGg.jpg This picture]] taken from Music/DeathGrips' performance at ''SXSW''. Yes, that's Anthony in the front row. With his head almost buried in MC Ride's crotch. In pure bliss. Note that besides ''Classics Week'', Music/DeathGrips' album ''The Money Store'' is the first 10/10 he ''ever'' gave.
43	* JustHereForGodzilla: At one point, Anthony acknowledged that many people just watch his videos to see Cal.
44	* MemeticMutation:
45	** "''10/10''" [[note]]This is basically an inside joke within fans and Music/DeathGrips fans when Anthony, who's known for his strict rating system, gave ''The Money Store'' a 10/10.[[/note]]
46	** "Hi everyone! [[MadLibsCatchPhrase [X]thony [X]tano]] Here, the internet's busiest music nerd."
47	** '''All''' of Cal's lines.
48	** ''TRAN-SITION!''.
49	** [[SigningOffCatchPhrase "Forever."]]
50	** Anthony's relationship with Music/DeathGrips frontman MC Ride, which has been seen by many to be in the HoYay realm.
51	** [[http://static.tumblr.com/68943523b62794a7d6979a3d26209e98/fy1ughw/gJcmw4dug/tumblr_static_fantano.png The Fantano squat]], which has been 'shopped the world over.
52	** "Anthony doesn't like [[Music/StevenWilson Wilson]]/Prog music", a sort of running joke within some fans who feel Anthony doesn't like prog music, or just even Music/StevenWilson due to his lukewarm ratings on those albums.
53	** Anytime that a "mumble rapper" get the same score or higher than Music/JCole, ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy'', and Music/KendrickLamar's ''DAMN.''
54	** [[Music/{{MileyCyrus}} "Why they put the dick in the pussy?"]]/[[Music/{{Hopsin}} "Did the man who invented college go to college?"]]
55	** After Zomby called Anthony a melon, the word has pretty much become Fantano's main nickname.
56	** Most, if not all of his comment sections are filled with variations of "Real niggas check the score then dip".
57	** From his Resist videos:
58	*** '''[[Creator/KarlMarx MARX]] DEBUNKED [X] YEARS AGO!'''
59	*** '''''RESIST [X] BABYYYY!!'''''
60	** His "NOT GOOD" reviews, mainly due to those who feel it's BiasSteamroller.
61	** The flannels he uses to entail his opinions on albums; he wears a yellow flannel when reviewing a great album, a red flannel when reviewing a bad album, and later on an orange flannel when reviewing a good album (between a 6 and 7). [[spoiler:According to Cal, he did, however, misuse the yellow flannel in his review of ''[[Music/KendrickLamar DAMN.]]'', when he gave the album a "mere" 7/10.]]
62	** Although Anthony has discouraged his fans from embracing a ReviewsAreTheGospel attitude with his videos, he has somewhat jokingly noted the power he has over the opinions of his fans, with some fans in turn joking that they can't give or even have an opinion on an album until Anthony has reviewed it.
63	** The ongoing pattern suggesting that Anthony's red flannel is cursed or that Anthony is a serial killer who targets artists he doesn't like, as multiple people he's given scathing reviews have since died.
64	*** He gives Music/LinkinPark's ''One More Light'' a ''NOT GOOD''. Two months later, the band's frontman Chester Bennington commits suicide.
65	*** He gives Music/LilPeep's ''Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1'' EP a ''NOT GOOD''. Three months later, Lil Peep fatally overdoses.
66	*** He gives Music/MacMiller's ''Swimming'' a red-flanneled 3/10. One month later, Miller fatally overdoses.
67	*** He gives Music/XXXTentacion's ''17'' a red-flanneled 2/10 ''and'' ranks it as the worst album of 2017. X's ''?'' album in turn gets a 4/10. Four months later, X is gunned down in the streets of Florida.
68	** Following his video about the Fader article, many reviews have viewer comments making reference to [[BlatantLies nonexistent points in his videos where]] [[RonTheDeathEater Fantano does something extremely negative]]; "This video was good, but you really didn't have to (insert Fantano insulting the artist/saying something racist/committing a hate crime)" being a common variation thereof. Fantano has publicly stated that while he personally believes that the meme has run its course and the jokes are now annoying, there's little he can do to stop it.
69	** Following [[https://youtu.be/atev9QLjyRg?t=888 this moment from his "Let's Argue" series]] where he addresses a tweet sent to him about [[BiasSteamroller being prejudiced against]] "sleepy music", fans started playing up Anthony as being a hater of "sleepy music" as a genre.
70	** Comments, especially on his "fantano" channel, like to refer to Fantano as a wallet salesman due to his frequent sponsorships from Ridge Wallets. Oftentimes, people will jokingly question why a wallet salesman would be reviewing music in the first place.
71	** "i was pretty specific on my criticism of emo bands that are trying to ripoff american football. i'm aware there are bands that aren't doing that. i grew up with emo at it's peak of popularity, and was listening to rites of spring before you had internet. don't emo-splain me kid."[[labelnote:Explanation]]Fantano tweeted this in response to criticism from the emo community after he claimed that the modern emo scene is based mostly on ripping off Music/AmericanFootball. It quickly became a copypasta due to the ridiculousness of the statement.[[/labelnote]]
72	** DAMN BOI HE THICC
73	** BEST TEETH IN THE [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]] GAME
74	** [[IdenticalStranger Anthony's resemblance to]] Music/{{Logic}} after he went bald has not gone unnoticed by fans, with many comments on his review of Logic albums usually joking about how Logic is reviewing himself. [[AscendedMeme Logic got in on the fun by wearing a yellow flannel]] during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I061LAbn6bk his interview with Anthony on the fantano channel]].
75	** Anthony breaking down in tears during his review of Mac Miller's "Good News", which people started to make it look like he was crying over incredibly petty things. On his second channel, Anthony expressed his disappointment with having an emotionally vulnerable moment be twisted into a crude joke, but he also acknowledges that there's little he can and should do about it, and understands why it became a meme.
76	* MemeticPsychopath: After several artists he had made "NOT GOOD" videos about died, it became a meme that Fantano himself killed them, with it further being joked about that every artist who receives a "NOT GOOD" would suffer the same fate. There are also comments on every video joking about Anthony being a violent racist psychopath due to The Fader's smearing of him as alt-right.
77	* NeverLiveItDown:
78	** His giving ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy'' a 6/10 score, which many people to this day love to mock Anthony for. The grounds on which he gave the score (the music itself is great, but it focuses too much on Kanye's personal life, which Anthony doesn't buy as being as glitzy and dramatic as Kanye makes it) have also been heavily ridiculed as illegitimate.[[note]]Years later, [[https://youtu.be/APoGyJqeeKw?t=850 he would list it as Kanye's second-best album]] on a technical, career-defining level, but he eventually ended up releasing a re-review of it with the exact same 6/10 score.[[/note]]
79	** His review of Music/KendrickLamar's ''DAMN.'', considering he gave it a 7/10. This was exacerbated when he later gave the exact same score to the debut record of Music/LilPump, which led to many jokes about Lil Pump being equal to, if not better than, Kendrick as an artist.
80	** His giving both Lil Yachty's ''Lil Boat'' and ''Lil Boat 2'' mixtapes as well as Lil Pump's self-titled mixtape a 7/10, which many saw as egregiously high.
81	* NightmareFuel: Oddly enough, it's happened on this show. In the beginning of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6wrqIndfJM his review of Courtney Barnett's album "Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit"]], we hear [[spoiler: Cal Chuchesta's ghostly voice crying out "Help me Anthony! Help me! [[ManOnFire I'm on fire! I'm on fire!]]"]], all while seeing Anthony twitch and have what looks like to be a horrifying flashback before shaking his head and starting the review.
82	* ReviewsAreTheGospel: He tends to be viewed as this, at least on [[Website/FourChan /mu/]], at least until he [[HePannedItNowHeSucks gives a less-than-expected grade to a popular artist]]. To his credit, Anthony ''strongly'' discourages this attitude, always presenting his reviews as solely the personal opinion of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvNjCNBVs9k a regular guy]]", hence him always putting a "Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?" disclaimer at the bottom of the description of ''every'' review.
83	* ShockingMoments:
84	** Anthony doesn't give out 10/10 scores like candy; in eight years of reviewing -- between 2009 and 2017 -- only ''three'' albums received that rating. As a result, 2018 surprised a lot of people with not one, but '''''[[ARareSentence TWO]]''''' 10/10 scores -- one for the self-titled album of the Music/KanyeWest[=/=]Music/KidCudi joint project ''Kids See Ghosts'' and the newly reunited Daughters' ''You Won't Get What You Want'', the latter even becoming a ColbertBump for the album and getting it even ''more'' attention than it already had.
85	** Due to his [[RunningGag reminding disdain]] towards Music/StevenWilson, many expected a low score or even a ''NOT GOOD'' for Wilson's 2021 album ''The Future Bites''. Cue the surprise of everyone that Fantano instead gave it a '''''[[WhamLine NOT BAD]]'''''.
86	* TearJerker:
87	** Anthony's review of ''A Crow Looked At Me'' by Mount Eerie is a more somber affair than usual. No opening joke, no Cal and no weird editing tricks are present. Given [[CreatorBreakdown the intensely personal and heartbreaking nature of the album]],[[note]]Mount Eerie is the solo project of Phil Elverum, and the album is a concept album about the death of Elverum's wife Geneviève Castrée.[[/note]] the video is probably one of Anthony's most mature to date, with the one-sentence blurb in the description simply stating, "This album is about death."
88	** Any time [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness he has a strong emotional reaction to music]].
89	*** At the end of Anthony's review of Anderson .Paak's ''Ventura'', he discusses the heartfelt tribute that Anderson made to the late Nate Dogg and gets emotional, starting to tear up and lightly cry before it cuts away.
90	*** His track review of Music/MacMiller's posthumous song "Good News" provides what is currently his most intense emotional reaction. The "LISTENING" time-lapse portion of the review shows him slowly breaking down, leading to him openly crying on camera for the first time.

Context YMMV / TheNeedleDrop