Did America really hate them?

People love to hate on this band, although they must be doing something right, as they've been widely successful for over 2 decades now. We were working their third album when a call came in from the lead singer. A scathing article about them had just been published by a top rock critic. Our front man was completely gutted. Did America really hate them? I tried to explain how we build you up to tear you down, and that nobody listens to rock critics anyway.