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	theneedledrop.com youtube.com/theneedledrop
Alexa rank	139,801 (December 2016)[1]
Commercial	Yes
Launched	2007 (text reviews) 2009 (video reviews)
Current status	Active

The Needle Drop is a blog/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 800,000 subscribers, and more than 165 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

Early life

Fantano grew up in Connecticut and spent his teenage years in Wolcott.^[7] As a child 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.^[8]

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.^[7]

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".^[9]

In 2007, Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio in which he hosted The Needle Drop.^[10] 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 and therefore, he had quit working at the pizza restaurant.^[9][11]

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.^[12] In March 2011, he was featured in an article from The Guardian also about the rise of music vlogging.^[13]

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.^[14]

Personal life

Fantano lives in Plainville, Connecticut. He is three-quarters French Canadian and a quarter Sicilian.^[15][16][17] Fantano is a vegan, having grown into the diet since becoming vegetarian around 18–19.^[9] He is married.^[7]

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 specification to its score. Occasionally he will do parody reviews of albums such as Born This Way by Lady Gaga,^[18] Unknown Death 2002 by Yung Lean,^[19] Mastermind by Rick Ross,^[20] Dark Sky Paradise by Big Sean^[21] August 26th by Post Malone^[22] and Gold Cobra by Limp Bizkit.^[23]

The blog sometimes does not give an album a numerical rating, but instead will dub it "Not Good", such as New English by Desiigner,^[24] California by Blink-182,^[25] Savage Mode by 21 Savage and Metro Boomin,^[26] Unleashed by Skillet^[27] and Showtime by Trisha Paytas.^[28] He also did a near-unedited 50-minute "Not Good" 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	2nd: Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions 3rd: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion 4th: MONO – Hymn to the Immortal Wind 5th: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart	[30]
2010	LCD Soundsystem	This Is Happening	United States	2nd: The Books – The Way Out 3rd: Four Tet – There Is Love in You 4th: Agalloch – Marrow of the Spirit 5th: Beach House – Teen Dream	[31]
2011	Fleet Foxes	Helplessness Blues	United States	2nd: Death Grips – Exmilitary 3rd: Battles – Gloss Drop 4th: Shabazz Palaces – Black Up 5th: PJ Harvey – Let England Shake	[32]
2012	Death Grips	The Money Store	United States	2nd: Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.A.A.D City 3rd: Ondatrópica – Ondatrópica 4th: Dope Body – Natural History 5th: Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel...	[33]
2013	Tim Hecker	Virgins	Canada	2nd: The Knife – Shaking the Habitual 3rd: Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory and Injury 4th: Queens of the Stone Age – ...Like Clockwork 5th: Melt-Banana – Fetch	[34]
2014	Swans	To Be Kind	United States	2nd: Iceage – Plowing Into the Field of Love 3rd: Sun Kil Moon – Benji 4th: clipping. – CLPPNG 5th: Freddie Gibbs and Madlib – Piñata	[35]
2015	Kendrick Lamar	To Pimp a Butterfly	United States	2nd: Death Grips – The Powers That B 3rd: Kamasi Washington – The Epic 4th: Ghost – Meliora 5th: Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness	[36]

EP of the Year (2010–)

Year	Artist	EP	Nation	Ref.
2010	The Tallest Man on Earth	Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird	Sweden	[37]
2011	Nicolas Jaar	Don't Break My Love	United States	[38]
2012	TNGHT	TNGHT	Canada  United Kingdom	[39]
2013	Milo	Things That Happen At Day	United States	[40]
2014	Girl Talk and Freeway	Broken Ankles	United States	[41]
2015	FKA Twigs	M3LL155X	United Kingdom	[42]

Single of the Year (2010–)

Year	Artist	Single	Nation	Ref.
2010	LCD Soundsystem	"I Can Change"	United States	[43]
2011	Fleet Foxes	"Helplessness Blues"	United States	[44]
2012	Death Grips	"The Fever (Aye Aye)"	United States	[45]
2013	The Knife	"A Tooth for an Eye"	Sweden	[46]
2014	Liars	"Mess on a Mission"	United States	[47]
2015	Kendrick Lamar	"The Blacker the Berry"	United States	[48]

Worst Album of the Year (2015–)

Year	Artist	Album	Nation	Bottom 5 Albums	Ref.
2015	Kid Cudi	Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven	United States	2nd: Miley Cyrus – Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz 3rd: Dance Gavin Dance – Instant Gratification 4th: Lil Dicky – Professional Rapper 5th: GoldLink – And After That, We Didn't Talk	[49]
2016	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

Classic Album Reviews (2011–)

The following albums are considered "classic" music releases by The Needle Drop, reviewed without a rating on its YouTube channel during a yearly segment known as Classics Week:

Year	Artist	Album	Nation	Ref.
1964	Roland Kirk	I Talk with the Spirits	United States	[50]
1965	Bob Dylan	Highway 61 Revisited	United States	[51]
1965	Nina Simone	Pastel Blues	United States	[52]
1967	The Velvet Underground	The Velvet Underground & Nico	United States	[53]
1968	Johnny Cash	At Folsom Prison	United States	[54]
1969	Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band	Trout Mask Replica^[A]	United States	[55]
1969	Frank Zappa	Hot Rats	United States	[56]
1969	King Crimson	In the Court of the Crimson King	United Kingdom	[57]
1970	Miles Davis	Bitches Brew	United States	[58]
1971	Marvin Gaye	What's Going On	United States	[59]
1972	David Bowie	The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars	United Kingdom	[60]
1972	Yes	Close to the Edge	United Kingdom	[61]
1974	Tangerine Dream	Phaedra	Germany	[62]
1975	Patti Smith	Horses	United States	[63]
1977	Kraftwerk	Trans-Europe Express	Germany	[64]
1979	Joy Division	Unknown Pleasures	United Kingdom	[65]
1980	Talking Heads	Remain in Light^[A]	United States	[66]
1982	Dead Kennedys	Plastic Surgery Disasters	United States	[67]
1982	Iron Maiden	The Number of the Beast	United Kingdom	[68]
1984	Prince & The Revolution	Purple Rain	United States	[69]
1985	Kate Bush	Hounds of Love	United Kingdom	[70]
1985	Tom Waits	Rain Dogs^[A]	United States	[71]
1988	N.W.A	Straight Outta Compton	United States	[72]
1990	Fugazi	Repeater	United States	[73]
1991	My Bloody Valentine	Loveless	Ireland	[74]
1991	A Tribe Called Quest	The Low End Theory	United States	[75]
1991	Slint	Spiderland	United States	[76]
1993	Nirvana	In Utero	United States	[77]
1993	Wu-Tang Clan	Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)	United States	[78]
1994	Emperor	In the Nightside Eclipse^[A]	Norway	[79]
1994	Nas	Illmatic	United States	[80]
1996	DJ Shadow	Endtroducing.....	United States	[81]
1996	OutKast	ATLiens^[A]	United States	[82]
1998	Neutral Milk Hotel	In the Aeroplane Over the Sea	United States	[83]
2000	Radiohead	Kid A	United Kingdom	[84]
2000	Godspeed You! Black Emperor	Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven	Canada	[85]
2001	The Microphones	The Glow, Pt. 2	United States	[86]
2004	Madvillain	Madvillainy	United States	[87]

^A Album that will be in the end year Classics Week segment of 2016, but was released early as a review only to be given to fans that donated at least $5 USD to The Needle Drop.^[88]

Modern albums with a perfect rating

Year	Artist	Album	Nation	Ref.
2012	Death Grips	The Money Store	United States	[89]
2014	Swans	To Be Kind	United States	[90]
2015	Kendrick Lamar	To Pimp a Butterfly	United States	[91]

Albums with a score of 0

Year	Artist	Album	Nation	Ref.
2011	Lil B	I'm Gay (I'm Happy)	United States	[92]
2015	Kid Cudi	Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven	United States	[93]
2016	Corey Feldman	Angelic 2 The Core	United States	[94]

The New CALassic

The New Calassic
Mixtape by Cal Chuchesta
Released	August 16, 2015
Recorded	2014–15
Genre	Comedy hip hop
Length	54:53
Producer	Anthony Fantano Jahlil Beats MisterDoodyHead Boi-1da Frank Dukes Nineteen85 Noah "40" Shebib Chuck Inglish FrankJavCee 88 Keys DJ Don Cannon Kanye West OG Radio DJ Slice L.E.S. Nile Rodgers Trackmasters Brandon Rodgers Hit-Boy Nmesh
Singles from The New CALassic
"I Was Throwing Up on a Tuesday" Released: October 31, 2014 "Cocoa" Released: November 26, 2014 "Cocoa (Remix)" Released: December 15, 2014 "Hot Dinner" Released: February 5, 2015 "Parody" Released: February 22, 2015 "Cal the Best (Freestyle)" Released: August 6, 2015 "Friend from the Apple Store" Released: August 12, 2015 "I Am Angry" Released: August 14, 2015

The New Calassic is the debut mixtape by Anthony Fantano's alter ego, Cal Chuchesta. It was released for free on August 16, 2015.

Release and promotion

On January 5, 2015, the music video for "i was throwing up on a tuesday" was released. Fantano later reviewed the mixtape on August 19, 2015, and rated it a light 3. However, Chuchesta angrily took over the show and claimed that Fantano had agreed to give the mixtape a 10 off camera.

Track listing

No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro" (featuring youaintpackinmeat)	Anthony Fantano	1:00
2.	"Hot Dinner"	Jahlil Beats	3:46
3.	"I Was Throwing Up on a Tuesday"	Anthony Fantano	1:39
4.	"Cocoa (Remix)" (featuring Pink Guy and Filthy Frank)	Anthony Fantano	4:13
5.	"Doody's First Message"	MisterDoodyHead	0:39
6.	"Parody"	Boi-1da Frank Dukes Nineteen85 40	3:44
7.	"Be my Bae Bae"	Chuck Inglish	2:45
8.	"Sad Boy"	FrankJavCee	2:51
9.	"Doody's Second Message"	MisterDoodyHead	0:26
10.	"Friend from the Apple Store"	88-Keys Don Cannon Kanye West	2:32
11.	"OG Radio Interview" (featuring D. Respect as OG Radio & Dom Raburn as DJ Slice)	Anthony Fantano	3:51
12.	"Cal the Best (Freestyle)"	L.E.S. Nile Rodgers Trackmasters	3:35
13.	"I am Angry"	Brandon Thomas	3:30
14.	"I Need my Friends" (featuring FrankJavCee, John Sakars and 3PAC)	Hit-Boy	6:33

Bonus tracks
No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
15.	"Cocoa"	Anthony Fantano	3:55
16.	"Cocoa (Nmesh's Whack CalZone Remix)"	Nmesh	9:52
Total length:			54:53

References

1. "theneedledrop.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
2. Veronin, Nick. "The Hardest Working Critic in Show Business Never Stops Hunting for New Music". wired.com, February 18, 2014
3. Interviews, 23rd March 2014 in; Ingham, Music Tom. "Interview: Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop)". The Mancunion. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
4. "Youtube channel".
5. "'Success!' Video".
6. "New Music Videos, Reality TV Shows, Celebrity News, Pop Culture - MTV". omusicawards.com.
7. "How Anthony Fantano, Aka The Needle Drop, Became Today's Most Successful Music Critic | SPIN". Spin. 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
8. (I)NTERVIEW: Anthony Fantano. YouTube. January 15, 2013.
9. Elabbady, Ali (October 1, 2013). "Interview: Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop". United States.
10. http://www.cpbn.org/profile/anthony-fantano
11. "Anthony Fantano Wants to Turn You On", Consequence of Sound
12. "Interview at SXSW".
13. Jonze, Tim (March 18, 2011). "The Guardian article". London.
14. "Cal Chuchesta - The New CALassic - Download and Stream - Audiomack". audiomack.com.
15. "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
16. "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
17. "Anthony Fantano". Twitter.
18. "Lady Gaga- Born This Way ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. May 24, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
19. "Yung Lean - Unknown Death 2002 MIXTAPE REVIEW". The Needle Drop. July 17, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
20. Rick Ross - Mastermind ALBUM REVIEW. YouTube. March 9, 2014.
21. Big Sean - Dark Sky Paradise ALBUM REVIEW. YouTube. February 24, 2015.
22. "Post Malone - August 26th MIXTAPE REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
23. "Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra ALBUM REVIEW". The Needle Drop. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
24. "Desiigner's New English: NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
25. "Blink-182's California: NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
26. "21 Savage and Metro Boomin's Savage Mode: NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
27. "Skillet's Unleashed: NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
28. "Trisha Paytas' Showtime EP: NOT GOOD". The Needle Drop. Retrieved October 5, 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".
31. "Top-50 Albums of 2010".
32. "Favorite Albums of 2011".
33. "Top-50 Albums of 2012".
34. "Top-50 Albums of 2013".
35. "Top-50 Albums of 2014".
36. "Top-50 Albums of 2015".
37. "Top-15 EPs of 2010".
38. "Favorite EPs of 2011".
39. "Top-15 EPs of 2012".
40. "Top-15 EPs of 2013".
41. "Top-15 EPs of 2014".
42. "Top-15 EPs of 2015".
43. "Top-50 Tracks / Songs of 2010".
44. "Favorite Singles of 2011".
45. "Top-50 Singles of 2012".
46. "Top-50 Singles of 2013".
47. "Top-50 Singles of 2014".
48. "Top-50 Singles of 2015".
49. "TOP-10 WORST ALBUMS OF 2015". The Needle Drop. December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
50. "Roland Kirk - I Talk With the Spirits ALBUM REVIEW".
51. "Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited ALBUM REVIEW".
52. "Nina Simone - Pastel Blues ALBUM REVIEW".
53. "The Velvet Underground & Nico - Self-Titled ALBUM REVIEW".
54. "Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison ALBUM REVIEW".
55. "CLASSIC REVIEW AND SUPPORT ANNOUNCEMENT!".
56. "Frank Zappa- Hot Rats ALBUM REVIEW".
57. "King Crimson- In the Court of the Crimson King ALBUM REVIEW".
58. "Miles Davis- Bitches Brew ALBUM REVIEW".
59. "Marvin Gaye- What's Going On".
60. "Davie Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars ALBUM REVIEW".
61. "Yes - Close to the Edge ALBUM REVIEW".
62. "Tangerine Dream - Phaedra ALBUM REVIEW".
63. "Patti Smith - Horses ALBUM REVIEW".
64. "Kraftwerk- Trans-Europe Express".
65. "Joy Division- Unknown Pleasures ALBUM REVIEW".
66. "CLASSIC REVIEW AND SUPPORT ANNOUNCEMENT!".
67. "Dead Kennedys- Plastic Surgery Disasters ALBUM REVIEW".
68. "Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast ALBUM REVIEW".
69. "Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain ALBUM REVIEW".
70. "Kate Bush - Hounds of Love ALBUM REVIEW".
71. "CLASSIC REVIEW AND SUPPORT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!".
72. "N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton ALBUM REVIEW".
73. "Fugazi - Repeater ALBUM REVIEW".
74. "My Bloody Valentine- Loveless ALBUM REVIEW".
75. "A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory ALBUM REVIEW".
76. "Slint - Spiderland ALBUM REVIEW".
77. "Nirvana - In Utero ALBUM REVIEW".
78. "Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers ALBUM REVIEW".
79. "CLASSIC REVIEW AND SUPPORT ANNOUNCEMENT!".
80. "Nas - Illmatic ALBUM REVIEW".
81. "DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..... ALBUM REVIEW".
82. "CHANNEL SUPPORT & CLASSIC REVIEW UPDATE!".
83. "Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea ALBUM REVIEW".
84. "Radiohead - Kid A ALBUM REVIEW".
85. "Godspeed You! Black Emperor- Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! ALBUM REVIEW".
86. "The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 ALBUM REVIEW".
87. "Madvillain- Madvillainy ALBUM REVIEW".
88. YouTube. youtube.com.
89. Fantano, Anthony (April 23, 2012). "The Money Store Review". The Needle Drop. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
90. "Swans - To Be Kind ALBUM REVIEW".
91. "Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly ALBUM REVIEW".
92. "Lil B - I'm Gay (I'm Happy) ALBUM REVIEW".
93. "Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullet To Heaven ALBUM REVIEW".
94. "THE WORST ALBUM OF 2016 (Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 The Core) [NOT GOOD]".

External links

• Official website
• YouTube channel
• Secondary YouTube channel