The website Ultimate Classic Rock ran an interesting story on May 11 concerning the breakup of the rock band Cream. To make a long story short, a review from the Rolling Stone’s John Landau left guitarist Eric Clapton devastated. Landau basically said that Cream was not being inventive with the brilliants minds in the band and were simply producing music similar to so many other musicians at the time, which opened Clapton’s eyes and caused the band to break up.

This inside look at the breakup of a very popular classic rock band shows the force of a concert review. In Clapton’s heyday, the review source was straight forward: it was either from word of mouth from the fans that attended or from a noted reviewer of a local publication. Now, however, critics are everywhere; they are anyone in the audience with a smartphone and an opinion on the last song played. Their thoughts can be heard, read or viewed in a matter of seconds, causing backlash to spread like wildfire before the musicians have even left the stage.

While it seems that the Cream concert review may have shed light on something Clapton was denying, it shows how powerful words can be to these artists. While a writer may see a group as just another band, Clapton’s emotional reaction–he claims he fainted after seeing Landau’s words–shows that we’re all human and aren’t keen on being criticized.

That being said, avoiding bad reviews is easier said than done. At this point, doing it successfully as an artist means practically one move: staying off the Twitters and YouTubes of the world.