Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you're doing well.

It's time to address a really horrible, embarrassing, terrible controversy that I have been embroiled in on this channel. I'm just trying to review some music, bro. I'm not always trying to be hated on every second of the day. It's getting to be a bit much. Maybe I deserve all of this. Oh, God, what am I doing with my life?

A lot of you guys might be thinking, Anthony, what are you even talking about? And no, it's not the recent story on Stereogum with Ronald Radke trying to get out of paying me the money he owes me. No, I just about expected that.

No, what I'm talking about is a recent to-do with the Adam Friedland Show. Shout out to Adam Friedland, podcaster, interviewer, content creator out here in the content creation game, doing good stuff, doing a good show, standing up for what's right as well. Recent interview with Richie Torres was an absolute banger.

Yes, with Adam's new season, he invited me on to have a conversation with him a while ago. Glad I did it. I'm glad it happened. The interview with Adam was interesting, albeit at some point, it's confrontational. Adam, he's a guy who just has a lot of strong music opinions, and he was pressing me on some of them. Last year, I was listening to BRAT a lot.

"For me, I listened to it. I was like, gay guys are probably having the best time to this, and I'm not gay." - Adam Friedland

In one moment of the conversation, I will admit, I did get a bit hubristic and presumed Adam didn't know what he was talking about because there was a degree to which he was being a little hyperbolic and silly and being very over the top, taking issue with a lot of music opinions I have voiced over the years.

At one point, when he brought up my classic review of the amazing and beloved Beatles' Abbey Road, he mentioned something about the review that I couldn't have thought was possibly true. I thought maybe he was given his tone, making up or harping on in a somewhat disingenuous way because it did seem like he was mostly there performatively, getting angry and getting frustrated and getting offended at every opinion that I've ever had, just for the sake of keeping the interview tense, just really putting me on the backfoot to keep the discourse going.

There's a point in the interview with Adam Takes Issue with an opinion I voiced in that Abbey Road review, where I'm talking about the medley section on the back end of the record as we transition from "Golden Slumbers" to "Carry That Weight", where Paul McCartney sings and essentially announces that he's about to sing a lullaby. And then obviously, "Carry That Weight" is just this huge, blaring finale of a moment that is just incredible and powerful. A totally stellar moment on the album. In fact, you I would even say it's one of my favorite parts on the record.

Here's Adam taking issue with that.

Adam: Should we do the Abbey Road thing or not?

Anthony: If you want. I don't even know what the thing is to you.

Adam: Okay, look at how schizophrenic these notes were. This is how angry you were making me. When he says, "And I will sing you a lullaby", right? And then the next word is what?

Anthony: BOY! The big "Golden Slumber" crescendo. Okay.

Adam: You take issue with the fact that it wasn't a lullaby that comes next.

Anthony: No, I didn't. I took issue with it? No, I did not.

Adam: Yes, you did. You said a lullaby should come next.

Anthony: No, I did not.

Adam: You're driving me nuts.

Anthony: No, you're just making stuff up. I did not say that.

Adam: Check it. Can someone check it?

Anthony: I did not say-

Adam: I swear to God.

Anthony: I did not say I'm mad.

Adam: That's what I punched. You didn't say you were mad. You were like, 'You would be expecting a lullaby here.'

Anthony: I did not say that. I did not say–

Adam: I think you did say that.

Anthony: That I was upset or that there was anything bad about not a lullaby following that part. I know for a fact, I put out a lot of content, and I can't remember every second of it, but I guarantee I did not say that there was an issue with not a lullaby following that. What you're going to have to do is splice in the clip of me saying, 'Hey, you know what really would have been good here? A lullaby.

A clip from the review:

"With 'Golden Slumbers', we get this very big dramatic showing of strings and horns and pianos for a lullaby that is described in the lyrics, but never really quite happens. I mean, it is gorgeous and it is powerful, but I would be pretty angry if Paul McCartney went through all of this trouble to set up a lullaby only for him to lead into, 'Boy, you're going to carry that weight.'"

And again, with the way he was bringing it up and framing it, I was thinking, "but I like that moment. I like that track. I like that transition. What is he saying?" He's making it as if I truly hate this, and I think it's the worst moment on the album. That it's really a detriment to the record's quality that this happened.

So, sitting across from him, I just called that claim into question and even dared his editors to throw the clip in the video of me actually voicing that opinion. And yeah, that clip actually exists. So yeah, I got shown up pretty hard with that clip getting worked into the interview.

But yeah, going back, looking at that clip and actually watching the review, I guess, is something that maybe didn't come across to Adam, or he was just performatively reacting to was the fact that I was bringing that up, yes, but I was being, I'll say, a bit sarcastic. I just think it's a funny observation and way to transition into the next moment on the record. It's obviously not terrible, and I'm not taking the lyrics literally to the point where I'm like, "damn, I'm so fucking pissed Paul McCartney didn't sing you a fucking lullaby."

I mean, that would be maybe a bit too personal. I know he's not singing the music directly to me or intending that I go to sleep immediately after "Golden Slumbers". I was just ripping and being a little silly as I was going over what makes this last section of the record on Side B so eventful.

And I don't know, the review has been out for years at this point, I will say. Lots of people have watched my review of this record. I think the takeaway for most is not that observation in that comment was said with 110% seriousness, and that I was genuinely, genuinely pissed off that the song didn't transition into a lullaby. I mean, I've done lots of reviews over the years where I actually am genuinely fucking pissed off during the review or deeply offended by what's going on musically, artistically, whatever way.

So I don't know. I would think to most that my anger and my frustration when it is actually genuinely there, it comes across in my words, in my expressions, in my criticisms. But you know what? Simultaneously, we are also talking about records that, for a lot of people, Abbey Road, it's a Bible. It's a musical Bible. As a result, when you say something about such records, even if it is a little in jest, people are going to take that very seriously.

So you know what? Just got to watch what I'm saying from here on out and make sure that when I am addressing records that have the cultural gravity that Abbey Road does, I'm not saying too much ironically, as I want to make sure I'm coming across as sincere and giving real thoughts, real opinions, and real perspectives on the music that I am consuming and commenting on, and when it's great and I love it, celebrating.

But yeah, sadly, my credibility in my career has taken a serious hit in the wake of this, and it's one that I thought I would be able to recover from. It doesn't seem to be happening, so I now have to come on here onto this channel and just basically try to clear the air so people actually understand what's going on.

Like, please, I just want to continue being a music reviewer. I don't want to give up my dream here, guys. I'm pissed at Adam for bringing it up and making a big deal out of it. I hope you guys can see it in your hearts to move on from this and forgive me and allow me to continue existing as a music commentarian. Please, I beg of you, even if I do actually think "Golden Slumbers" into "Carry That Weight" is like one of the worst transitions in all of popular music. I didn't mean that. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to say that.

Okay, I think I'm going to leave that there. But yeah, what's the best and worst transition in all of music to you? Let me know that down in the comments. That would probably be a good comment to have. You're the best.

Anthony Fantano, music, comments, Abbey Road, forever.