
As any artist should know by now, if you’re going to write an open letter, we’re going to read it and discuss. Today, we examine the five-paragraph retaliation note Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas directed at Charlotte, North Carolina disc jockeys Matt & Ramona. While promoting their new greatest-hits album in the north-er Carolina, Thomas came down with food poisoning. The band was able to complete their first promotional obligation, but Thomas’ sickness and time constraints forced the band to cancel their appearance on the popular rock jocks’ radio show. Matt & Ramona responded over the airwaves by saying, according to Thomas, they “weren’t going to play our music until we apologize in person to you.” Thomas did not take kindly to the “blackmail,” nor the fact that the DJs “chose to read and make fun of letters that fans sent you.” Thomas closes out the letter with “We thank you for the years of support and are sorry it has to come to an end, but there is no way we will ever apologize after being threatened on the air.” Pwned by Rob Thomas!
We listened to the clips from that show and heard the DJs claim that though Matchbox Twenty canceled on them, the band was allegedly across town making good on another promotional appearance. Then, like the drive-time talk-hosts they are, Matt & Ramona filled the air-time with jokes at Thomas’ expense (while he is by all accounts an incredibly nice guy, perhaps such jabs are the media’s way of getting even with him for making everyone hear Santana’s “Smooth” a million times). One thing we learned, though, is that the gender divide between Matchbox Twenty fans is off the charts. Of the 236 comments left following Thomas’ MySpace post at press time, only three of them came from men — and one of those men was a fake Rob Thomas.
Click HERE for an update on the story.
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