darkSpyro

Does something bad the artist(s) has done turn you off from their music?


For example, we all know Chris Brown hit Rihanna, and that sucks. But he does make good music (if you haven't, listen to "Ayo" with him feat. Tyga, it's awesome). When I'm listening to him, I try to block that out.

Same thing with Lostprophets (their lead singer, Ian Watkins, is currently in prison on extreme child molestation charges).

How about you?

I try to separate artists from their art, since some I like are assholes. If that's the case then I won't support them by buying their stuff like I would with artists that seem like nice people.

It definitely puts me off.

Nah. I listen to the music itself and consider the artists being cool a plus. Most of my favorite bands have both.
Arghoslent, Incantation, and Malevolent Creation are DM bands that have significant racist backgrounds and even a commonplace in their lyrics, but boy do they shred some riffs. The melodic aspect of their music is golden when you overlook their barking of white supremacy.

I think it probably would, depending on what they did and how bad the incident was. If I hear genuinely good music that I like, then I'd try not to think about the artist and just listen and enjoy the music.

It really depends. I enjoyed Rooftops by Lost Prophets but since I heard of the molestation case the lead singer got charged with I can't and won't bring myself to listen to the song ever again.

Lapfox Trax (Renard, Mayhem, The Queenstons, Truxton, etc) was under fire for a while for allegations of sexual harassment and molestation without consent of their past partners. That whole thing was a muddled mess with them both trying to cover things up and also admitting that parts of the allegations were true and that they were seeking help. Since then (this was 2 years ago) I've heard nothing of the case, and while for a while I tried to avoid listening to their music, at this point I've resumed listening as normal and find them to be an inspiration for what I want to do.

And Phil Spector killed a woman and was convicted and is serving potential life in prison, but his Wall of Sound technique was revolutionary and helped make one of The Beatles' best albums, so I'm not really sure what to say there. Granted this is a producer as opposed to an artist but I digress.

I always enjoy the music for what it is. What the band does or what a member of the band does, doesn't deter me from enjoying the song itself. Most of the time I don't even think about the band that played the music, I think of other things.

That being said, that generally applies to music I've already listened to and liked before whatever it is comes to light. When you start talking about someone I've never listened to before doing bad things, it might be enough to steer me away from their work. Although, most of the time that has happened has been because I don't care for the genre of the music they do.

It used to turn me off but then I realized there's always going to be asshole artists.

So now as long as their attitude or bad past actions doesn't appear in their music/music videos I'm fine.

Oh right in another example Kanye West is a huge egotist (I'm starting to wonder if he's doing it on purpose) and jerk but his music can be almost groundbreaking at times and it hasn't stopped me from listening.

It doesn't really apply to me, but I wouldn't listen to the music if I knew they have done really bad things and at least haven't changed. I don't want to support anyone who has molested others or something like that in any shape or form. By listening to their music, I feel like I am supporting them, even if I pirate it.

Same goes for anything really, not just music.