The Needle Drop / YMMV

Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
- The beginning of his Wolf review.
- The beginning of his Goblin review as well.
Bizarro Episode: Some of his reviews get weird:
- His review on Limp Bizkit's album Golden Cobra, which consisted of nothing but him eating vegan-friendly foods and drinks.
- His review on Dark Sky Paradise by Big Sean, consisting of him constantly saying "No" over and over, even giving it a "NO out of NO" rating. Even funnier when this was put on the album's Wikipedia page.
- His review of B.o.B (Rapper)'s Ether, which primarily consists of Anthony standing in near-complete silence for 7 out of the 8 minutes and gave it a B.o.B album out of 10.
- His review of Angelic 2 The Core 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.
- Anthony's review of Blarf's "Cease & Desist" consists of him belching for 4 straight minutes after a quick intro.
- The review of Peppa Pig's "My First Album" begins with Anthony getting interrupted by Cal and having to redo his intro multiple times. Then things get weird.
- 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 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.
- "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 Forced Meme.
- 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". All of them are "Headstrong".
- The final "SIRI PICKS THE BEST ALBUMS" video would already be this by virtue of mostly demonstrating that due to changes to Siri's searching functions, the conceit of the series no longer works... but then Siri starts insulting Anthony directly.
- His review of Post Malone's "August 26th" mixtape gets immediately interrupted by Cal coming in and announcing that the complete series of Rocko's Modern Life is on DVD. It then cuts to them watching it.
- His NOT GOOD review of Machine Gun Kelly's Tickets to My Downfall starts with Anthony re-enacting a meme impersonating two kids and their mother, having the mother tell the kids, asking repeatedly if "they can have Lil Peep", 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.
- The review of Imagine Dragons 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 before it was taken down by YouTube, but it's still really jarring.
- 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 being nominated for a Nobel prize.
- His "review" of Melanie Martinez's album Portals^Explanation 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 Indie Pop 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 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 non-Nazi Kanye West. The last minute of his review is him silently breaking down wishing he was back in his timeline.
- His review of The National'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 "Tran-" "-sition" and "Forever". The description shows he gave the album a light 2/10, but features no favorite or least favorite tracks, and the album's genre listed as "drab rock".
- Anthony's most unusual review yet came in September 2023, where he reviewed not an album, but his bout with COVID-19 in the month prior (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, sincerely informing his viewers to remain safe as COVID-19 cases continue to ebb and wane.
- The review of Apathy's Connecticut Casual: Chapter 2 is inexplicably hosted not by Anthony, but by fellow music TikToker Emma Potsklan/epotty in a yellow flannel. Cal questions what she did to Anthony, she insists that everything is perfectly fine and normal.
Crack Pairing: Anthony/MC Ride and Anthony/Cal Chuchesta.
Ensemble Dark Horse: 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.
Fountain of Memes: Both Anthony and Cal. Kind of inevitable, really, when your primary demographic is /mu/.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Anthony removing the Deathspell Omega 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.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- Many of his scathing reviews for since-passed artists tend to be this, namely those for Linkin Park's One More Light (the band's frontman, Chester Bennington, committed suicide), Lil Peep's Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1, and XXXTentacion's 17 and ?.
- At the beginning of his 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.
- Anthony's mild feud with Unkle Adams (which began when he made 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 the two burying the hatchet on video, but when reports in early 2018 of Adams' serious financial debts due to his music career (something Anthony would quietly address), the riff seems a little awkward now.
- The fan reaction towards DAMN.'s 7/10 rating and the constant dogging that Anthony received over it makes his harsh second opinions of the album on Ten Times I Changed My Opinions on Albums Pt.2 even more scathing than they would've been without the historical context behind it.
- During his interview with BROCKHAMPTON, he promised to Kevin Abstract that he would not be so hard on Jaden Smith 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 The 10 WORST Albums of 2018.
Heartwarming Moments:
- After Lil Peep'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.
- Fantano also did the same when news broke that 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 "let the kid rest in peace".
  - 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, being openly disgusted by the label essentially graverobbing his leftovers 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.
- Anthony's video on Taylor Swift's Fearless (Taylor's Version), while framed as an album review, is actually more of an exploration of the circumstances which led to the album's existence (a self-done re-recording of one of Taylor's many albums that 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 gives the distinguished score of "Screw your old record label. Do what you wanna do. Cool?"
He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: 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.
- He suffers this every time he criticizes a progressive rock/metal act, the most infamous being Steven Wilson, to the point where it comes off as a Bias Steamroller. 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 Porcupine Tree and Wilson's solo work).
- He received some stick for not realizing that 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.
He Really Can Act: 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.
Ho Yay: This picture◊ taken from Death Grips' 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, Death Grips' album The Money Store is the first 10/10 he ever gave.
Just Here for Godzilla: At one point, Anthony acknowledged that many people just watch his videos to see Cal.
Memetic Mutation:
- "10/10" ^note
- "Hi everyone! [X]thony [X]tano Here, the internet's busiest music nerd."
- All of Cal's lines.
- TRAN-SITION!.
- "Forever."
- Anthony's relationship with Death Grips frontman MC Ride, which has been seen by many to be in the Ho Yay realm.
- The Fantano squat◊, which has been 'shopped the world over.
- "Anthony doesn't like Wilson/Prog music", a sort of running joke within some fans who feel Anthony doesn't like prog music, or just even Steven Wilson due to his lukewarm ratings on those albums.
- Anytime that a "mumble rapper" get the same score or higher than J. Cole, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Kendrick Lamar's DAMN.
- "Why they put the dick in the pussy?"/"Did the man who invented college go to college?"
- After Zomby called Anthony a melon, the word has pretty much become Fantano's main nickname.
- Most, if not all of his comment sections are filled with variations of "Real niggas check the score then dip".
- From his Resist videos:
  - MARX DEBUNKED [X] YEARS AGO!
  - RESIST [X] BABYYYY!!
- His "NOT GOOD" reviews, mainly due to those who feel it's Bias Steamroller.
- 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). According to Cal, he did, however, misuse the yellow flannel in his review of DAMN., when he gave the album a "mere" 7/10.
- Although Anthony has discouraged his fans from embracing a Reviews Are the Gospel 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.
- 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.
  - He gives Linkin Park's One More Light a NOT GOOD. Two months later, the band's frontman Chester Bennington commits suicide.
  - He gives Lil Peep's Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 EP a NOT GOOD. Three months later, Lil Peep fatally overdoses.
  - He gives Mac Miller's Swimming a red-flanneled 3/10. One month later, Miller fatally overdoses.
  - He gives 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.
- Following his video about the Fader article, many reviews have viewer comments making reference to nonexistent points in his videos where 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.
- Following this moment from his "Let's Argue" series where he addresses a tweet sent to him about being prejudiced against "sleepy music", fans started playing up Anthony as being a hater of "sleepy music" as a genre.
- 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.
- "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."^Explanation
- DAMN BOI HE THICC
- BEST TEETH IN THE FUCKING GAME
- Anthony's resemblance to 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. Logic got in on the fun by wearing a yellow flannel during his interview with Anthony on the fantano channel.
- 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.
Memetic Psychopath: 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.
Nightmare Fuel: Oddly enough, it's happened on this show. In the beginning of his review of Courtney Barnett's album "Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit", we hear Cal Chuchesta's ghostly voice crying out "Help me Anthony! Help me! 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.
Reviews Are the Gospel: He tends to be viewed as this, at least on /mu/, at least until he 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 "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.
Shocking Moments:
- 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 TWO 10/10 scores — one for the self-titled album of the Kanye West/Kid Cudi joint project Kids See Ghosts and the newly reunited Daughters' You Won't Get What You Want, the latter even becoming a Colbert Bump for the album and getting it even more attention than it already had.
- Due to his reminding disdain towards Steven Wilson, 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 NOT BAD.
Tear Jerker:
- 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 the intensely personal and heartbreaking nature of the album,^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."
- Any time he has a strong emotional reaction to music.
  - 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.
  - His track review of Mac Miller'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.

YMMV / The Needle Drop

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