do you defend people whose music you like?

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in the sense of defending their worth as a human being rather than a musician. ie. would you be quicker to defend the personality of an artist who's music you dig? if someone makes good records, do you WANT them to be a good person? alternatively, do you actually dislike the PEOPLE who make music you don't dig?

Something of the fanclub mentality in wanting to defend an artist whose music you admire (see manics fans puzzling eagerness to agree with everything nicky wire does, stretching to defence of blatant self-contradictions), but I still have a vague desire to like good bands/dislike bad ones. I wouldn't stretch as far as the fan-club mentality, it's more that i WANT to like them, rather than actually clinging rigidly to liking them when faced with undeniable proof of their twattishness.

Tell me more...

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 10 February 2003 13:56 (twenty-three years ago)

You're more likely to feel some connection with someone whose words mean something to you. If they seem self-absorbed or moronic, then you probably won't care about them as a person.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 10 February 2003 14:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Witness the whole recent flap regarding Michael Jackson. I'd certainly assume that someone whose life was brightened up by, say, "P.Y.T" (a disquieting title, given recent discloosures) might be quicker to defend the self-dubbed "King of Pop" than someone with taste....er...I mean, someone who didn't quite see the "genius" in his work.

That said, I used to be a huge Kiss fan, but I'd be very hard pressed to defend Gene Simmons as an admirable, compassionate, civilized, considerate human being. The man's a boorish, priapic, avaricious megalomaniac, but y'know......he's still Gene Simmons, so ya gotta love'im (or I do, anyway).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 February 2003 14:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Generally I'd like to think that the people whose music I like would be fit to go for a beer and enjoy a chat with, and vice versa. From experience this is not always true! But such is art and life and the separation thereof.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 10 February 2003 15:21 (twenty-three years ago)

here's where it gets tricky, because in the modern ethos (your dollar is your vote), you are DE FACTO defending them/endorsing their lifestyle by buying their album.
So, maybe there's the whole case for file-sharing. If you like someone's songs, but hate their guts...

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 10 February 2003 15:24 (twenty-three years ago)

It took me a few years, but I learnt to realise that a lot of artistic people are damaged and often not very nice human beings. There are exceptions of course, but my default position on a musician is that they will be quite nasty and full of ego. This doesn't stop me avidly pointing out the bad traits of musicians I hate when discussing their music however, whilst glossing over one's I like.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 10 February 2003 15:44 (twenty-three years ago)

i agree with Chewshabadoo

(also one of things i think rock (esp.punk) is good at is the exploration of inside all our ugly minds: hence "being a tosser" = "keeping it real"*)

(rap is good this also)

*this a joke, but only sort of

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 10 February 2003 15:53 (twenty-three years ago)

having said that, the only really scarily unpleasant people i ever met and interviewed in all my time as a working journalist were in fact astronauts!! so my default position is not a very fair position, empirically

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 10 February 2003 15:55 (twenty-three years ago)

As a on-again/off-again music journalist, I've been fortunate enough to meet/interview several musicians whose work I've admired. For the most part, everyone's been very cool. John S. Hall of King Missile was a bit of a pill, but he apparently was suffering from a bit of a cold at the time -- and spent the entirety of the interview bitching about his record label (which really didn't make for great copy). Despite his icy reputation, Andrew Eldritch of the Sisters of Mercy was actually quite a nice gent. The coolest folks I ever dealt with were Lush, Gavin Friday and former Wall of Voodoo vocalist, Andy Prieboy. Henry Rollins was a bit stern, but lightened up by the end of the interview. Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke was a bit intimidating at certain points (notably when I sheepishly suggested that his prophecy of global demise wasn't shaping up as he'd originally said it would -- this was 1994), but he cheered back up by the end of the interview. No one's been a flat-out jackass as yet.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 February 2003 16:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I love Jerry Lee Lewis, but I wouldn't introduce him to my sister.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 10 February 2003 16:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Or his own sister.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 10 February 2003 16:31 (twenty-three years ago)

You're more likely to feel some connection with someone whose words mean something to you. If they seem self-absorbed or moronic, then you probably won't care about them as a person.

So NOBODY cares about Eminem as a person, right?

― Oops (Oops), Monday, 10 February 2003 16:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I do, it's his music I deplore. Eminem as a person is like my soulmate.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 10 February 2003 16:34 (twenty-three years ago)

J.D... I mean DJ Salinger hasn't released anything in years, but I love everything he did. From what I've read about him, though, he's a complete asshole. I pity that, but fortunately it doesn't affect my love for his work.

― Orange, Monday, 10 February 2003 20:15 (twenty-three years ago)

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