Is this guy serious? I've read enough interviews with Don to conclude he's a pompous ass, but this guy's reasons for hating him are ridiculous and even in his own biased account of events he himself doesn't come across as a saint. And then he expects all of us to hate Don on his behalf? Get real.
https://www.wfmu.org/LCD/andy/americanpie.html
I was not aware that there was a feud between these two (both of whom I like very much...Breckman for his contributions to "Monk" and McLean for his great music (He's definitely not a "one-hit wonder").
I'd say the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Egos are such fascinating features in the entertainment industry...as you mentioned, while I agree with you that McLean is definitely no "saint," I can't bring myself to hate him, because I really respect his talents.
One interesting note about McLean... while I think McLean could definitely be "prickly" at times, he was extremely gracious to Chet Atkins and assisted him when Atkins was composing his great version of "Vincent" (which is probably my favorite Chet Atkins piece). McLean and Atkins ended up being friends...and, as much as I loved Chet Atkins and his "Aw, shucks" personality, he had an ego at times also.
I was actually saying that Breckman was no saint even according to his own account of events. My impression is that McLean has a huge ego, but Breckman is being ludricous for acting like some kind of victim and asking people to hate the guy. Years later he even offered people money to annoy McLean: https://www.vulture.com/2007/10/annoy_don_mclean_win_200.html
I'd say it was probably a clash of personalities, but Breckman should've just kept it to himself, maybe writing it down in his diary or something.
Yes... that's classless behavior to do something like that. Hollywood and the fragile egos...as I said in my first post, I wasn't aware of the feud between these two. But, it seems to bother Breckman a lot more than it does McLean!
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