Hate the artist love the art

The_Lizards_Jumpers

The_Lizards_Jumpers

Well-known member
Just listening to Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece, whilst calling Morrissey a horrible little racist on another thread, has led me to think about those artists who I think are either a bit of a tool (Kanye West ) or quite detestable human beings (Morrissey, Van Morrison, Roald Dhal) yet love / admire their output.

Equally those artists I think are decent people for example Dave Grohl & Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones only, not his jazz work), but think their music is largely rubbish.

Who are yours ?
 
Loved the Smiths, Mozza is abhorrent.
Lennon was properly messed up and abusive to many of those closest to him.

There's an argument that says being a f**k-up is the very reason people are driven to create great art, to try and fill the big hole inside them, and I think I agree with that.
 
HarryVegas said:
There's an argument that says being a f**k-up is the very reason people are driven to create great art, to try and fill the big hole inside them, and I think I agree with that.
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Yes. I agree.

I'm a very forgiving person (maybe it's the Catholic upbringing) and I don't detest anybody because of their views. That is between them and their conscience.
I loved the Smith's back in the day, still give them a listen every so often. I've liked odd bits of Morrisey's solo stuff which I can take or leave. I don't care what his views are. Without his music, he is just like the rest of us.
 
I reckon most composers and fine artists would do my head in over a pint, you kind of have to be a bit mental to create at that level of intensity and craft.

By contrast, James Blunt seems like one of the funniest people in the world.

Can’t say there’s any who I hate though, at least it doesn’t affect my enjoyment of their work. It has to be something very extreme to make them unlistenable / unwatchable for me, and if so, I probably didn’t like their art all that much in the first place. I don’t care about what they do in their private lives and think it’s fine to leave all that stuff in the dressing room; in fact it annoys me a bit that so much reporting is focused around their private lives rather than their work. The artist and the art are totally separate for me and, again for me, cancel culture is nonsense - there’s no moral test someone has to pass to create something brilliant.

I mean, Jimmy Page and Chuck Berry had alarmingly young girlfriends, appalling; objectively Maybelline and Immigrant Song are still absolute bangers. Woody Allen’s movies are so brilliant, Louis CK is still hilarious, I imagine Norman Mailer was a godawful human being but my god, probably the best writer of the 20th century. John Lennon was an abusive smackhead, but it doesn’t make the Beatles sound any worse.

I can see why others disagree.
 
So I did

fmttmboro.com

Separating the art from the artist

The death of Phil Spector at the weekend got me thinking a bit more about how easy it is to separate a body of work from the person who created it. I struggle with it a little, but which artists do you dislike / detest their personalities, but actually appreciate the work they produced ...
fmttmboro.com fmttmboro.com
 
I learned how to separate the art from the artist a long time ago. I mean Nobby is a monster and a menace to wildlife with his deviant predilections, but that doesn't stop me from loving his notebook.
 
parmoboy said:
Any Lostprophets fans on the board?
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Often wondered about that. You can't just pretend that you don't like a song anymore just because the bloke who wrote it turned out to be a wrong 'un. Polanski is a dreadful human being, but I can't pretend that I don't love Rosemary's Baby or The Tenant.
 
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