S|O: Separating art from the artist

[Anonymous]

If you guys actually want to engage in the substance of this, instead of just silencing discussion of misconduct, I suggest the podcast Death of an Artist, that gets into how to hold talented men accountable.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me first hand.

I became friends with my favorite musician, after he had been my favorite for several years. He himself wasn’t super famous, but had toured with several *very* famous bands.

He was charming in the beginning, but I soon figured out he was a very disturbed individual with a deep resentment of women and potential for violence. He also had some truly bizarre behavior, such as FaceTiming me and then proceeding to use the bathroom while talking with me.

His behavior got more erratic, and culminated in him physically assaulting an ex and soiling her home with his feces. He was arrested, and died shortly after - I suspect suicide, but it could have been an OD.

I’ve never been able to listen to his music since. What I once thought were profound, deep, thoughtful lyrics I now see for what they are - rants from a man with a LOT of anger and mental illness. He had an album released posthumously, I knew exactly what incidents were being referenced in the lyrics, and he completely distorted what had happened.

But, he was an absolutely brilliant musician. And I suspect that his mental illness is part of what made him such a brilliant musician - I do think many of the most gifted artists are also the most damaged. I suspect he was bipolar, and while that was his downfall, his periods of mania produced some amazing work.

[Anonymous]

I'd suggest enjoying more female artists. They tend not to be rapists and pedophiles.

[Anonymous]

And people wonder why BTS is so popular? Cause they’re good people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happened to me first hand.

I became friends with my favorite musician, after he had been my favorite for several years. He himself wasn’t super famous, but had toured with several *very* famous bands.

He was charming in the beginning, but I soon figured out he was a very disturbed individual with a deep resentment of women and potential for violence. He also had some truly bizarre behavior, such as FaceTiming me and then proceeding to use the bathroom while talking with me.

His behavior got more erratic, and culminated in him physically assaulting an ex and soiling her home with his feces. He was arrested, and died shortly after - I suspect suicide, but it could have been an OD.

I’ve never been able to listen to his music since. What I once thought were profound, deep, thoughtful lyrics I now see for what they are - rants from a man with a LOT of anger and mental illness. He had an album released posthumously, I knew exactly what incidents were being referenced in the lyrics, and he completely distorted what had happened.

But, he was an absolutely brilliant musician. And I suspect that his mental illness is part of what made him such a brilliant musician - I do think many of the most gifted artists are also the most damaged. I suspect he was bipolar, and while that was his downfall, his periods of mania produced some amazing work.

He’s dead. Just name him.

[Anonymous]

There is a definite link to great art and damaged people.

[Anonymous]

Wagner

[Anonymous]

I find that I care more now that I am a parent. My DD is 12 and she is a CHILD… I can’t imagine a grown man marrying her, it’s awful. Same with Woody Allen - Soon yi basically married her dad, she never had a chance to be a fully independent woman. Now that I know how vulnerable kids are and how much power caregivere have over them, I am not able to overlook it for the “art.”

[Anonymous]

I find that I care more the older I get. Could also be that we know more now than we ever knew in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally disagree with most of what you mentioned. If an artist does something really ugly, like molesting children, then I'm sorry, I don't wan to listen to their music.

Drug and rape women? Not interested in ever watching your show again.

Going "death con 3 on the Jews"? No longer interested in what you're selling.

Be a b/tch to a waitress over an omelette? I don't care. You're still funny.

Sorry, but I won’t denigrate the importance of the Cosby Show and what the entire cast brought to it. Critics have written about the pivotal role the show had in essentially humanizing black people at a time when most of America really wasn’t fully integrated. Back then, the demographics of most communities simply didn’t have a lot of black people, and you rarely saw black families portrayed well on tv.

Kanye’s shoes are different imho. First, shoes and hoodies aren’t art. I’m not familiar with his music, so I can’t weigh in.

And James Corden was never funny. He’s just a jerk.

The Cosby Show will forever be linked to the image of a woman waking up with Cosby's cum all over her. If he wanted to do all that good work for the black community then he shouldn't have drugged and raped women.

I must have missed that episode.

[Anonymous]

I find I just have a hard time enjoying it once I know what they’ve done. I can’t get it out of my head and it takes away the enjoyment of the art substantially. I can’t just bop along to a song, I find myself thinking about horrific crimes. And I do not like thinking about horrific crimes, so I naturally turn away from the music. I want music that makes me happy and if the music makes me think of horrific crimes, that doesn’t make me happy.

[Anonymous]

I agree, but understand the other side. It’s different if you are actually supporting an artist who you know has done despicable things, in which case you arguably have a moral duty not to buy their stuff since you’re kind of funding that, but for historical artists no longer profiting from their work, I think it’s a nonissue,

[Anonymous]

I can separate the art and enjoy a lot of music, paintings, sculptures, shows and performances from the artists. For some reason, even though Woody Allen isn't the most vile of artists he is the only one I cannot separate and I think it's because of how much his tendencies shine through his work and its disgusting.