Rock Stars Who Ditched Awkward Interviews

For rock stars, interviews are part and parcel of the job as they use these interactions with the press to sell tickets to shows or promote their latest albums. While most of these sessions normally go off without a hitch, there are rare instances when a discussion takes a swift left turn — for some reason or another — and ends with the interview subject saying, "Smell ya later." These events might not be dramatic or shocking enough to be included in the most legendary stories in rock, but they are awkward to the point that they leave people scratching their heads over what just happened.

From Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee struggling to stay focused as a female companion tries to seduce him to Slipknot's Chris Fehn not having the patience for Nardwuar's shenanigans, there have been plenty of interviews that made everyone cringe. Fortunately, none of these were the final interviews of famous rock stars, so at least these musicians had the opportunity to have better interactions with the media thereafter.

In the 2010s, BryanStars was a recognized name in the rock scene, as he interviewed a number of high-profile musicians for his YouTube channel. As is the case with most interviews, some of them turn out better than others. However, one of the most awkward exchanges occurred when BryanStars interviewed Avenged Sevenfold guitarists Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates in 2010.

Speaking to the musicians backstage at a concert, BryanStars began by asking them fairly generic and harmless questions about themselves and the band. Not even two minutes in, the interviewer asked them to discuss the meaning behind their music. As Gates started to answer, Vengeance looked around and disappeared from the interview, leaving his bandmate to conduct the rest of the discussion by himself. BryanStars made a nervous quip about Vengeance's departure, but it was clear no one expected it to happen.

Discussing the incident years later, BryanStars revealed his disappointment about what unfolded, explaining how he was only 18 years old and Avenged Sevenfold was one of the biggest rock bands in the world but also took his share of the blame. "Overall, that was a very bad interview," he said. "One of the band members walked off, the other member clearly did not want to be there, and I would definitely say they were rude to me. But again, I don't blame them. I wasn't prepared, I didn't do my research, and I wasn't a very good interviewer at the time."

Every interviewer knows the importance of extracting the most relevant and fascinating information from their subject, especially when it comes to a celebrity. This means diving deeper into topics that may include personal matters. However, there's always a fine line here, as many people don't feel comfortable discussing their personal lives with the media. As a result, an interview can go off the rails rather fast if the subject believes a certain boundary has been crossed. Case in point: Preston from the English indie rock band the Ordinary Boys.

In 2006, the singer appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" and made headlines after he married the eventual winner of the season, Chantelle Houghton, in August of that year. There was a notable interest in them as a couple, as they even secured a six-figure deal from a major publication to cover their wedding. Yet, Preston wasn't too happy to discuss his then-wife when he appeared on the United Kingdom game show "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" in 2007. The series features its fair share of comedy and tomfoolery, and the vocalist looked to be having a good time interacting with everyone until host Simon Amstell pulled out Houghton's released memoir and proceeded to poke fun at it. The audience chuckled as Amstell read out passages from the book; however, Preston didn't react ... initially. When Amstell continued to read, Preston got up from his chair and walked off set.

Anyone who has ever watched a Nardwuar-conducted interview knows the reporter has an over-the-top excitable style to his conversations. To steal a term from pro wrestling, it's his gimmick. While most musicians appear to be in on the joke and understand what happens when speaking to Nardwuar, former Slipknot member Chris Fehn, aka #3, appeared to have had enough of it in a 2005 interview.

Speaking to Shawn Crahan and Fehn, Nardwuar proceeded to ask his usual array of playful and lighthearted questions. Crahan went along with it and spoke the most for the pair, while Fehn only chimed in occasionally, visibly fidgeting the whole time. Three minutes appeared to be all that Fehn could stomach of Nardwuar's shtick, as he raised his finger when the microphone was put in front of his face and simply walked off from the interview as the camera still rolled. "Where's Number Three going?" Nardwaur said, as Crahan stated Fehn was leaving. "No, he can't leave right now. Number Three! Number Three!"

The Sex Pistols were renowned for their in-your-face attitude and their refusal to conform to society's norms. Even when singer John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, departed the band, he carried over the same attitude with him to his next project, Public Image Ltd. Lydon never feared confrontation or uncomfortable conversations, even on a television show.

In 1979, Lydon and PiL appeared on "Check It Out." During the show, presenter Chris Cowey showed footage to Lydon where English punk band Angelic Upstarts diss Lydon and his band PiL. Lydon lashed back about the comments and dismissed them; however, Cowey kept on pressing.

Lydon eventually replied, "Look, I don't have to explain myself to anybody and I ain't going to really bother. Now I was asked here to interview with the band here, PiL, but now we're facing a cheapskate comedy interrogation act and it just ain't on, pal. It's a joke. It's a Farce." Cowey tried to push for an answer one more time before Lydon got up and walked off set.

Prince carried an aura with him quite like no other. When he walked into a room, there would be a mixture of gasps or screams from the audience as he was a bona fide superstar in every sense of the word. In 2010, he left the panel from "The View" starstruck when he unexpectedly sauntered onto the stage during an episode of the talk show.

Prince was in town for a concert at Madison Square Garden and dropped into the New York studio to visit. He sat down next to Sherri Shepherd who looked visibly in awe of being in his presence. After Prince promoted his concert and had a little back-and-forth with the hosts, he was preparing to say his goodbyes. However, this was only accelerated after Shepherd said, "You don't understand, Prince, I have wanted to make love to you my whole life." Prince shot up from this chair and left the stage.

Years later on her own talk show, "Sherri," Shepherd expressed no regret over her actions. Although, she admitted that her co-host Whoopi Goldberg wasn't left too thrilled about her behavior on the day.

Despite the glam rock scene being one of the most recognizable eras of the genre, many artists don't like to be associated with certain acts of the time. In a 2000 discussion with Much Music, former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach canceled a recorded interview after the reporter dared to draw a parallel between Bach's former band and Poison.

The interview started fine as Bach discussed his role in the Broadway version of "Jekyll & Hyde." He even seemed affable as he chatted about his former band and how much money he was making on Broadway. However, the conversation took a turn for the worse when the reporter mentioned a glam rock tour featuring Poison and other bands.

It was clear the journalist was leading to a question about Skid Row being a part of this retro tour with other bands of their era, but Bach snapped back, stating he couldn't see any similarities between Poison and Skid Row. It didn't get better from there, as Bach told the interviewer he was insulted and cut the interview short, saying, "I'm on Broadway. I don't wanna talk about f***ing Poison."

It isn't every day that someone secures an interview with a member of the Beatles. In 2008, "Live With Regis and Kelly" received the rare opportunity to speak to Ringo Starr as well as to showcase a performance featuring him and Dave Stewart on air. For all intents and purposes, this should have been a slam-dunk moment for the show. However, Starr, who sang lead vocals on 11 Beatles songs, ended up walking off the set before it started after failing to reach an agreement about his performance time.

According to Starr's publicist, Elizabeth Freund, the musician was informed on the morning of the show that the performance would need to be cut down. Starr offered a compromise to shave off 45 seconds to get the track to three-and-a-half minutes in length, but producer Michael Gelman insisted it must be under three minutes. "We offered to cut back our chat time and asked them to fade or go to commercial," Freund told the Associated Press (via Today). "They were not willing to do that and Ringo was not willing to cut it further, so without a compromise we were not able to stay."

An unnamed representative for "Live With Regis and Kelly" argued that Starr and his representatives had known about the performance requirements for some time, even having agreed to the terms.