Who Killed Amanda Palmer

My heart sinks a little every time I have to try to separate the art from the artist. If I'd gotten this album a few years ago, I'd be writing a very different review. I might have said that I forgot how cool and edgy Amanda Palmer and the Dresden Dolls were. She performs with confidence, rebellion and theatrics, like an anarchist ring master. The music is powerful and engaging and deserved a wider audience in my opinion. I might have said that Palmer and her former husband, Neil Gaiman, seemed like one of the coolest celebrity couples around. Unfortunately, we know a lot more about them now and it's feels very uncomfortable to continue to support them. Yes, the generator is full of great music by awful people and it's often complicated to review them. In some cases, I've given a high score with an asterisk about their past horrible behavior. In other cases, I've been more harsh. It's very hard to say what the rules are for this but there are a few things that make it particularly hard to look past in the case of Amanda Palmer (and Neil Gaiman). First is the scale of the allegations. Human trafficking and sexual assault claims from multiple women is definitely concerning. Then there's the recency of this as the news is still pretty fresh. But I think there's also a sense of shock (even betrayal) at the idea of people you genuinely found to be very cool people turning out to be monsters. Rock history is filled with stories of shady behavior and sometimes you think "Oh yeah, I'm not surprised." I think it's harder to accept when the people just appear like regular geeky fun people who are making great art. You really want to believe that it's not true, but the allegations are pretty disturbing. Of course they deny any wrongdoing and some people may call it a witch hunt. I can't tell you for sure that they're guilty, but the whole thing definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So once again, I'm at a loss for how to rate an album. Ignoring the allegations, I'd probably have given it a 4, maybe even a 5 if I was in the right mood. Given the history, I find it harder to listen now. But it's a cool album on its own and it's kind of nice to remember a time before I felt conflicted on this. So I'm giving a 3 star compromise.

Who Killed Amanda Palmer is the debut album of Amanda Palmer. As with the Dresden Dolls it consists of theatrical songs that sound like modern takes on Kurt Weill compositions. A lot of lefty and feministic lyrics. I adore it and in the often cynic tone they are quite funny too. For examples the lyrics of Oasis are great. Lots of help on the album of Ben Folds. His Ben Folds Five should also have an album submitted.

I tended to favor/love dresden dolls, but this could grow on me. I'd give this a solid 4. A little too intense to be a 5, but sometimes you just want some depressed amanda palmer.

3.6 I appreciate the artistry, not my usual thing at all but in parts quite beautiful and almost harrowing. Enjoyed the first 3 and the closer, definitely got a bit fatigued in the middle, but can't fault the effort.

I was never a big fan of this person, either in the Dresden Dolls or the periodically controversial solo career. She has definite talents but this highlights my typical gripes: too much affectation in the vocals, too much self-important seriousness and too little humor in the lyrics. Pretty near an hour of it will do me for the foreseeable future.

Are the Dresden Dolls not on the list? They should be. As others have commented, yeah Amanda Palmer is not a great person. Barring all that, I think the album is fine, maybe a little long and dated, but definitely trying something. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3.5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Enjoyed well written songs with a unique sound until I read the background on her, which is yuck

If I could abstain from rating this, I would. It's 5 for the music, 1 for the woman. The crashing piano of Dresden Dolls and Amanda Palmer was everything to me as a teenager, and I've carried it through my life as an ultimate comfort food. I'm at 'owns a Dresden Dolls tea towel' levels of fanship. Usually I'm okay to separate art from artist, at least to an extent - it gets a lot harder when the artist is current and the harm is now, and there's a level of depravity that casts the music in new light. Then again, we've always known that Amanda Palmer is a complicated character, and that's part of the intrigue. I don't listen to any of her music anymore. But I was reluctantly pleased to have an excuse to revisit it.

Never heard of this artist or album (although I feel like I should?), but you have my attention with the Twin Peaks reference. It was alright. It's like a really good theatrical bullshit album fighting against a really boring art pop album in one. Wish all of this sounded more like "Guitar Hero". One of the better albums made by a person who has a section on their Wikipedia page titled "Allegations of human trafficking". Jesus fucking Christ dude.

This was fine.

This album grew on me as it progressed – I was put off by the cheesy vocals and arrangements up front, but felt more comfortable once Palmer hit her stride not too far in. There are some great tracks (‘Guitar Hero’) on here, and even though it’s more vocally-driven the instrumentals don’t suffer too much as a result. I’d never heard Palmer’s work before and ultimately liked this LP, not sure I’ll dig into her discography but it was an alright listen.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Runs in the family, Guitar hero

Who Killed Amanda Palmer is dull pretentious art pop. I don't know who she is apart from apparently being a cunt, I just don't like the music. 2/5, just bleh.

I remember her being a thing, kind of the first musician I was aware of targeting gamers and geeks. She's obviously smart, but also a bit smug and egotistical, and it does seem like she's a bit of a dick IRL.

Not all that

This is super cheesy and was a lot. It was fine, but too long and too much.

Oof - again I have trouble separating art/artist. Can people with questionable morals make good music? One source I read says there are unresolved but credible allegations... that substantially complicates listening to/appreciating the work I think