Last Friday, the King of Bass announced that he is stepping down from his throne and likely quitting music forever, as years of sexual abuse allegations quickly came to a boil around him.
It’s very dark and disappointing news for his devoted Basshead following.
“I am stepping back from my career and I am stepping down from my position of power and privilege in this community because I want to take responsibility and accountability,” Bassnectar (aka Lorin Ashton) posted in a statement on Twitter. “I feel intense compassion for anyone I may have hurt. I truly hope you allow me a chance to work together toward healing."
— Bassnectar (@bassnectar) July 3, 2020
Accusations going back a decade, started flying at Ashton last week. Allegedly, he has been using his position of power as an EDM star, to pressure very young girls into having sex and to groom them for future encounters. A number of anonymous victims have come forward, claiming that they were coerced by the Bass King to have sex with him while they were still underage.
Other accusers go further, suggesting that Ashton actually had a system whereby his crew would bring him underage (or at least, very young) girls after his shows. Then, if someone came out with accusations, they would be silenced by his lawyers.
The Instagram page @evidenceagainstbassnectar (where most of these posts came from) is rife with second- and third-hand accusations of sexual misconduct.
You’ll read a lot of prefaces like: “I heard this from…” and “I knew someone once…” or “There have been rumors of this for years, but…” in the posts on that page. That's all mixed in with accusations against his production team members, and some posts that are merely rants from totally uninvoled parties. Much of the "evidence" presented on that instagram page is tenuous at best.
It’s hard to know what The Truth really is at this point. Particularly since Ashton himself has repeatedly and adamantly denied the allegations, calling them “untrue” and repeatedly apologizing for any pain he may have unintentionally caused.
Still, some of it seems strange. Like the emails, text messages and DM’s that Ashton exchanged with underage girls, praising them for getting good grades in school (even asking them to write papers for him); commenting on how sexy their last name is; or telling them he wants to hold them and whisper sweet nothings in their ears.
That's a little weird.
And how about the bass drop symbol? The iconic Bassnectar logo — the trippy, drippy half circles you’ll see everywhere at his shows, on flags, on his fans’ clothes and even tattooed on their bodies?
It sure looks an awful lot like the symbol on the cover of Frank Rudolph Young’s book, “The Laws of Mental Domination.” In which Young explains how to appeal and gain power over the minds of young people.
Is that just a coincidence? Or was that a pre-meditated artistic decision? Was his Basshead following, actually an unwitting cult? …
I’m not qualified to assign labels like that. But I will say this: many of the deep fans out there who have Bass Drop tattoos are probably thinking twice about their decision to brand themselves with Bassnectar’s logo (which, might actually belong to Frank Rudolph Young).
There’s no real clarity on this situation yet. All we know for certain is: accusations have been leveled that are tearing the Bassnectar community to shreds; the man himself has stepped down; and there are a lot of devoted fans out there who are deeply hurt and disappointed that their favorite musician might have been up to something so wrong for so long. Many Bassheads have spent huge sums of time and money following Bassnectar around the world — he is a hero to many, and now… well, what now? Are they supposed to throw away their entire Nectar wardrobe? Do they need to tear down all of their Bassnectar posters and burn them? Get cover-up tattoos to hide his symbol?
It’s a dark time to be a Basshead, no matter how you slice it.
And so turns another page in this foul chapter of our history, 2020.
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