Music you refuse to play

nightshade

nightshade

Your grandfather is a cat
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Black Thorn
Reading about the death of the child abuser and Lost Prophets singer Ian Watkins*

Are there any bands or musicians you no longer listen to because of what they've done.

Not because they play music you don't like, but things in their lives that means you can't support them as an artist now.

*link goes to news article on his death and does mention his crimes without graphic detail.
 
There's some extreme circumstances (like the one above) that no amount of trying to separate the art from the artist can work. Perfectly understandable.

Off the top of my head, I don't think I've completely stopping listening to/watching something. Certainly made me give side-eye or perhaps my passion may have slightly faded. But completely barred? Don't think so.

Certainly if it was a case like LP, I'd definitely see myself stopping listening to that band and their music. That's way too horrid, and stomach-turning to get past.
 
I think R Kelly is one that although I love some of his music, I no longer seek it out.

However, if it came on, would I skip it? I don't know.
 
hoponlilmama said:
There's some extreme circumstances (like the one above) that no amount of trying to separate the art from the artist can work. Perfectly understandable.
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Yeah, very much this. Not music, but my favorite comedian USED to be Bill Cosby. I literally own ALL his old comedy albums. And I haven't been able to listen to them for quite a while now.
 
Kendar said:
Yeah, very much this. Not music, but my favorite comedian USED to be Bill Cosby. I literally own ALL his old comedy albums. And I haven't been able to listen to them for quite a while now.
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This one hurt a lot of people, I think. So many (myself included) grew up with and were fond of The Cosby Show, or were fans of his comedy.

To have 'America's Dad' convicted of those crimes...just awful. I don't blame you for not wanting to listen to those albums you own.
 
There are no depths to the depravity of the music industry. If you start down that road you may find yourself with nothing to listen to at all. Rapists, woman beaters, pedophiles, bigots, mouthpieces for horrible government regimes.

Michael Jackson is bigger than ever even as his estate is actively dealing with lawsuits from a minimum of 7 child sexual abuse accusers, has at least a dozen known accusers, and has paid multi-million dollar settlements out multiple times. The estate is going to release a biopic that they intended to use to slander one of the earlier accusers, but it turned out said accuser got it in the settlement that the Jacksons weren't allowed to try to dramatize and profit off his sexual abuse allegation. That the kid's lawyers had the foresight to predict those scumbags would do something like that and got it in writing is so telling. So they had to delay the movie and completely reshoot the ending, foiling their plan to profit off slandering a kid Jackson paid 22 million dollars not to testify against him.

Steven Tyler from Aerosmith essentially bought an underage girl, impregnated her, tried to have her murdered, then forced her to get an abortion against her will. And nobody seems to care.

Led Zeppelin (especially Page and Plant)? David Bowie? R Kelly? Elvis? John Lennon? Ted Nugent? Tupac? Snoop Dogg? Do yourself a favor and don't look into their histories if you're the kind of person that can't enjoy the music of a monster.
 
I wonder if it changes once the artist has died?

Snoop Dogg is interesting, as he's never hidden his past, but is now popular for non musical work. Commentary, working with charities etc.

I suppose its a question of where is your line? Just look at how popular Chris Brown is despite the fact he beat up Rihanna.
 
F
famicommander
Snoop is just lucky Death Row Records chased all the witnesses out of town and/or paid them off or he'd have been in jail for murder.
abba's Dancing Queen always gives me bad memories of a Rock 'n' Roll nightclub some forty odd years ago.
 
Listening to stuff post accusations / revelations generally doesn't bother me. Normally just don't fund them any further with gigs, cds or streaming.

Only one that was a gut punch was Anti-Flag ending instantly because of Justin. That was more than just music, it was a message and whole community.

I already had a low opinion of celebrities but that caught me out. I just work on the assumption they're all scum now. Pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong.
 
I saw Bill Cosby live and always enjoyed his shows, but after all his commotion...yeah it kind of soured me him.
Unfortunately the entertainment business it loaded with corruption, deceit, and under the table goings on. It always been a industry full of scandal's and coverups, both in the music and film/TV sections.
Although now a days with the internet AS ANY LITTLE PIECE OF DIRT is harder to keep under wraps as the one's who expose those stories are only in it for what they can make from it. Money money money is the sole driving factor in that game.
 
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Well there are certain German composers who hated Jews (Wagner). Not fond of listening to those who wish a whole ethnic or religious group should die.

Of course, many of us learn about music separate from creators. Often, said creators are dead and for some even their estates are gone. I mostly wont listen to or watch any content that is reprehensible. I dont tend to follow the lives of the sick and twisted (celebrities)
The thing about creatives (art; music; performing arts etc )is that they are human like the rest of us and some are evil bastards.

I find i am unable to *knowingly become* a fan of vile and evil people. Those i learn of later? It truly varies. To my shame.

I cannot watch Cosby at all anymore and this makes me angry and sad as he meant so much to so many. There used to be reruns of the cosby show easy to find but most are gone from the better channels.

As for Aerosmith, as a former fan i am torn. I still like their music and part of me wants to give Stephen a partial excuse bc of the drugs. *l feel like a hipocrite* Because I am an abuse survivor and imo no abuser should go unpunished. It tells victims that they are unimportant or even to blame. Society ofen explicitly places blame on victims of abuse. Mostly because they have Since most victims start out vulnerable and/or outsiders , often neglected by their guardians - even if they are not perpetrators ( it is easier to cull the weak from the herd) anyway... The abuse is hardest for me.

Other criminal acts sometimes have extenuating circumstances or i can forgive. Sex and other abuse not so much

The question is: do we have a moral duty to remove perpetrators from our playlists? Maybe if we removed neighbors and people from other walks of life i would feel stronger. The truth is that few of us have that much bandwidth. Other than those convicted (or at least arrested) i am very reluctant to judge hearsay because I know how nasty the press and internet can be.

Some of the accusations are true. Some are part true. Some require more information and some are made up for one reason or another. When money and fame are involved people get strange.

Heck, just money. Ask anyone who has ever settled a family estate. People get weird as #$=& when money is involved.

For lawsuits against estates: dead people make great targets as they cannot speak in their own defence. Lots of victims or money hungry people find estates easier target. Few fans will stand up for estates. The estate's primary interest is shutting people up so they are more likely to pay off. (particularly as i believe control of MJs estate initially went to the family who abused him - because his heirs were minors) MJ was so messed up i think he made a very easy target even while alive - I was not a fan except early in childhood when he was part of the Jackson 5 and i was a little brown kid delighted to follow a talented brown kid at a time when there were few black celebrities - especially for teens.

People like R Kelly and weinstein are slime. No sympathy. I still like the Matrix. I feel truly sorry for those who worked with him (Harvey Weinstein).

Not all creations are the work of one person.
If we eliminated every creative who was a slimeball we would eliminate a lot of people.

I do prefer not to give money to sleaze. Sigh.

Clearly i am conflicted.
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
I wish I was 35 years younger as then I might have understood what you have said.
nightshade said:
Are there any bands or musicians you no longer listen to because of what they've done.
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Absolutely not! If I enjoy their music, I'm not really concerned with what they do in their private lives.
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
If I do condemn them and they retaliate, in one form or another. Should I then blame myself for causing the retaliation?
I am so bad at keeping up with the scandals so I miss a lot. I never listened to the Lost prophets, but I only just learned (last week or so) about Ian Watkins, so I am sure there are musicians I listen to, who have done things, and I just don’t know.

I do feel iffy about David Draiman now, signing missiles is in terribly bad taste, though I cannot say I ever listened much to Disturbed either, so not a great effort on my part if I wanted to avoid them.

When I was younger I did listen to Burzum, which I do not and would not anymore. I mainly consider Varg Vikernes a Thulean POS.
 
If i had to give up all the things i loved that were created by slime i would have to give up buffy. I dont knowingly seek out anything whedon creates but i will *not* give up buffy.

A lot of successful musicians and other celebrities have done horrid stuff - mostly because when you have big money moral compass and honest friends seem to get replaced by self-indulgence and 'yes' people (mostly those who have something to gain) - and if you add drugs and booze and people throwing themselves at you - lack of sanity often results. Not an excuse. More an explanation. No excuse for victimizing others.
 
The only music I don't play is stuff I don't like, for example; dance & trance. Or music that has fixed very bad memories attached for me personally.
 
One band that does come to mind are the Eagles. Not all of the members mind you, just Frey and Henley. After I finally heard the true story of how they treated Don Felder and the crappy way the got him out of the band I don't care to listen to them as much as I used to. I still have no problem with Joe Walsh or Timothy B. Schmidt, and of course, Don Felder. I never cared for any of Henley's solo stuff anyway as it was always too dark for me.
 
Moptop said:
One band that does come to mind are the Eagles. Not all of the members mind you, just Frey and Henley. After I finally heard the true story of how they treated Don Felder and the crappy way the got him out of the band I don't care to listen to them as much as I used to. I still have no problem with Joe Walsh or Timothy B. Schmidt, and of course, Don Felder. I never cared for any of Henley's solo stuff anyway as it was always too dark for me.
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Yeah i detest henley and frey but for most of my life they were my fav band by a long shot. I dont listen as much mostly bc the last really fun thing from the band was get over it.

I found their albums told a story of moving from innocence and joy to decadence and cynicism. From country & folksy to slick and citified... And progressively more sterile emotionally. (Though even that was well captured - eg Life in the Fast Lane)

)It is great music but the end of the line (The Long Run) pretty much was their "Rumours" except it was lesser rather than greater than the previous work. (Rumours was what a group does coming together with pain and a ton of creativity. The Long Run was what pain and greed does to creativity as the band came apart)

Fleetwood Mac seemed to respect the music and maybe on some level, each other, despite the relationship hell. Eagles seemed to be a chaos of pain, unfortunately not remotely in a good way. The reunion in '94 seemed to thrive precisely because (at least initially) there seemed to be grown up respect. Then i guess H&F did not have enough control or money...

Their work (the past work) is still phenomenal. It makes me sick what they did to Leadon, Meisner & Felder. Meisner most of all because i think he was a gentle soul and H&F ran over his life with a tank.

Felder and Leadon both are tough men who have continued playing music though not with the Eagles. The Eagles are poorer without the 3 of them. Joe Walsh may have been the biggest winner. Getting the Eagles gig may well have helped him stay clean and not dead. IMO, he is the most interesting musician left in the group but since it is the H&F show, we wont ever see his talent sparkle. TBS is a skilled player & singer but if he has a musical personality i have not seen it.

I have no idea if they have done anything recently. Cant be bothered.

Before Buffy gave me quotes, i had a song quote for everything. Lots of those were Eagles songs.

These are the lines that comes to mind:

"I don't know why fortune shines on some, and lets the rest go free..." And " But things in this life change very slowly. If they ever change at all"

Both from the song "The Sad Cafe" which is pretty much an epitaph - the last great song as they came apart spectacularly.

The Sad Cafe

Out in the shining night
The rain was softly falling
The tracks that ran down the boulevard
Had all been washed away

Out of the silver light
The past came softly calling
And I remember the times we spent
Inside the sad cafe

Oh, it seemed like a holy place
Protected by amazing grace
And we would sing right out loud
The things we could not say
We thought we could change this world
With words like love and freedom
We were part of the lonely crowd
Inside the sad cafe

Oh, expecting to fly
We would meet on that beautiful shore in the sweet by and by

Some of their dreams came true
Some just passed away
And some of them stayed behind
Inside the sad cafe

The clouds rolled in and hid that shore
Now that glory train, it don’t stop here no more
Now I look at the years gone by
And wonder at the powers that be
I don’t know why fortune smiles on some
And lets the rest go free

Maybe the time has drawn the faces I recall
But things in this life change very slowly
If they ever change at all
There’s no use in asking why
It just turned out that way
So meet me at midnight, baby
Inside the sad cafe
Why don’t you meet me at midnight, baby
Inside the sad cafe
 
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