I'm sure we've had this discussion before, though it's probably been a long time. How much does the artist weigh in on your enjoyment of the art?

So apparently this dude has issues and is/was abusive to his girlfriend. Totally not cool and unpleasant to think about.

But the album is really, really great.

Should I shake off my PC-punk naggings and enjoy? Or just chalk it up for a loss and let this album drift in some kind of "too bad" limbo? Is it possible to compartmentalize and/or find a happy medium?

Your thoughts are appreciated on this matter.

http://pitchfork.com/news/47420-surfer- ... r-battery/

I only listened to it once but liked it less than their debut and thought it was kind of boring. They were pretty average to begin with.

Fine then pretend it's hypothetical and the band in question is Baby Tongue Tattoo or whatever your current favorite band is Shiv.

that's a shitty name for a band.

i guess if it was a band i liked i'd feel conflicted about it but we don't really have the other side of the story besides the police reports. he was never actually charged with anything, not that that makes what he did alright. i mean, i guess just separate the music from the person?

but it's still crappy music.

Sorry it was late and I saw your avatar wrong. More like Stupid Zombie Kid.

I like crappy music, we all know this, it doesn't enter into the equation.

I would probably dig into as much as I could, to try and find out if what happened is really what it sounds like on the surface. But if there's no more detail to be found, it would bother me too much. Aka "Michael Vick Syndrome."

I like a lot of music, movies, books, etc. by less than stellar people. What he did sounds bad, but not bad enough to matter when it comes to liking them or not. Maybe I wouldn't go to see them live in this type of situation, but I can easily think of other people I like who have done much worse. William Burroughs shot his wife in the head when he was drunk, but I still like his books, and I'm sure at least one or two of the rappers I like have actually done some of the things they talk about.

I hate the record...

As much as I might respect him for punching a defenseless woman in the box, his band really sucks a bag of dong.

yeah, they really only had one good song. they're the harvey danger of the 00's.

The opening guitar riff off I guess it was their first album was fantastic and got my hopes sky high only to see them dashed by the rest of the album.

But honestly if I like a record I'll pretty much listen to it regardless what sort of maniac birthed it. I just figure I don't really know any of these people anyway so who the fuck knows if my favorite artists are satan worshipping kiddie diddlers selling albino africans as sex slaves or not. And I don't trust the media to give me anywhere close to an accurate picture of who's an ass and who's not so I just say fuck it. That and if I only listened to music by good people, I'd pretty much have to throw 80% of my record collection away.

If music is any good at all you don't have the mental capacity to ponder issues of personal morality; rather you'd feel overcome to tear the last nodules of flesh off the boiled bones of some unfortunate white missionaries.

Unless they make the cover of Us weekly I seldom hear about the private lives of celebrities.

I didn't know Harvey Danger had a good song.

But Dalen was so sure.

A piece of Art should be able to stand and be judged separately from its creator.

That said, I might be less inclined to financially support an artist that I have strong negative personal feelings about and I'd also be less inclined to expose myself to it to be even be able to judge it. But if I do hear it, whether the guy is a complete tool or the nicest guy in the universe, it's probably not going to change my opinion of his art.

Never heard Surfer Blood and no interest in doing so but it has nothing to do with whether the guy is a jerk or not.