OT- An artitst's POV influences your opinion of their music?

dazzer · Post by **dazzer** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:10 am

IF you find out something about an artit's beliefs or points of view that are totally out of step with you own, can you still enjoy their work?

On the level of this forum, if you hate a poster's online personality, can you still listen to their music with an oen mind? Would you buy 1 of their tracks?

Personally, I do let these things influence me. Maybe I shouldn't?

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:24 am

I would prefer not to know much about the person making the music I listen to. it lets you listen subjectively ( is that the right use of the word? I think it is)

Robert Henke · Post by **Robert Henke** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:11 am

it certainy has an inlfuence. but if the music is good, what can you do.......
Yes, better just knowing the work and not the creator.
but: hey, most people who`s music i really like turned out to be nice guys, so
there is not so much of a risk.

Robert

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:16 am

yeah, I mean I'd like to think that you can read a person by their music. if i like the music and then meet the person I usually genuinely like them. but the same is the other way around if I hate the music and meet the person I usually find out that I can't stand them.

I once heard a quote and I wish I could remember where it came from but I think it's slightly relivant.
"we buy the art that we wish we made ourselves"
somehow I think that applies here. though it's not a direct relation. hehe... I'm retarded.

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:09 pm

Johnisfaster wrote: yeah, I mean I'd like to think that you can read a person by their music. if i like the music and then meet the person I usually genuinely like them. but the same is the other way around if I hate the music and meet the person I usually find out that I can't stand them.

I once heard a quote and I wish I could remember where it came from but I think it's slightly relivant.
"we buy the art that we wish we made ourselves"
somehow I think that applies here. though it's not a direct relation. hehe... I'm retarded.

I think that's true (uh, not the retarded part, but the 'buy the art...' part)

Art is more profound than what the artist thinks about any particular thing. That is art's power. For example, I really like Surrealist art, ever since elementary school, but when I read about the Surrealists' social ideas, those were bleh. Robert Heinlein wrote "Stranger in a Strange Land", but was apparently ultra-right wing in his thinking-- some say he wrote it as an exercise in negation, to build a framework in which he could justify breaking every moral taboo. (sorry, 'hung up' too soon) He was trained as a military officer but became much more left wing, so his life is varied, and so is the range of his writing-- what he "said" at one point would be negated at another.

so artists words/opinions shoudl not have the same wieght, depth and longevity of their work, it makes sense.

Spackled Bat · Post by **Spackled Bat** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:25 pm

I think I draw a line somewhere when it comes to an artists beliefs. If someone is just an asshole or I don't like the way they come across in writing or in person then I can still enjoy their art. If I met Tom Jenkinson and he turned out to be a jerk I would still love Squarepusher as an artist. But if I heard a great song and then found out it was made by a Nazi or White Supremacist group I would find it difficult to support. There are certainly some extreme beliefs that would effect my ability to enjoy someones art.

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:36 pm

a. yes I do. I think it's natural if it's something that is I really oppose. I guess though that I don't stop listening to the music if it's "that good"

b. there was a comment about not wanting to know much...and I agree. Frankly, I'm feeling over stimulated, especially of late, we so much personal info. Of course, it's probably unavoidable.......

DeadlyKungFu · Post by **DeadlyKungFu** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:50 pm

Then there's the flip side where pop culture praises someone's music because of their obnoxious lifestyle. Such as many of the blonde busty bimbos on the music charts today. I've always put Madonna in that category too, she's a tone deaf franchise, but I do dig that she was a good influence on the women's movement early in her career.

There are also cases where the art makes more sense if you know more about the person, like Andy Warhol's work. If you just looked at it today it's a common object with basic colors.

Benshik · Post by **Benshik** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:57 pm

if you receive an anonymous letter, you dont go sayin "oh, what matters are the words in it." no, you want to know who wrote it, you want to put things into context...

id say its the same for music, the person behind it is important, coz music is also a form of communication.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:07 pm

music is a language, and what is said with that language IS important.

i have definitely stopped buying music by various artists whose beliefs disgust me. i have also stopped buying music by artists i have met who were total egomaniacal assholes. if their music is good, but the person who made it has an ugly core, then the heart of their music is ugly to the core, no matter how good it sounds.

this is just my take on things...i don't ask other people to see it my way.

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:21 pm

I think good art often transcends the original intention of the artist. It becomes something more when you add the perception of the person experiencing the art whatever form that might take. So if the artist turns out to be somebody who you can't stand, or disagree with politically, it doesn't really matter. Maybe some great cosmic irony is being played out in some way.

It always amazes me when somebody tries to explain a good film, book or song, and their impression is so totally different to mine or the original creators, but all parties still might agree to it's greatness. I truly believe that art exists in the eye/ear of the beholder.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:50 pm

Martyn wrote:I think good art often transcends the original intention of the artist. It becomes something more when you add the perception of the person experiencing the art whatever form that might take. So if the artist turns out to be somebody who you can't stand, or disagree with politically, it doesn't really matter. Maybe some great cosmic irony is being played out in some way.

It always amazes me when somebody tries to explain a good film, book or song, and their impression is so totally different to mine or the original creators, but all parties still might agree to it's greatness. I truly believe that art exists in the eye/ear of the beholder.

very interesting perspective.

one i tend to agree with to a certain extent, too. i guess my main thing is that if i TRULY am appalled by an artist's beliefs, i certainly don't want to give them my money.

kineticUk · Post by **kineticUk** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:37 pm

While were talkin art..
I personally find it easier to say what I want to say through music...
I am otherwise pretty bad (I think) at expressing myself. Musics the only outlet I can use.
What I like though is to keep things slightly subliminal and hear what other people have heard in the music. I believe with all good art, it can inspire different people in different ways.
Like an abstract painting .. while one person sees something and another sees something else. I like alot of art forms and if you express yourself someone else somewhere will hopefully connect to it.
Know what I mean ? See how I am shit at explaining myself in English

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:51 pm

I try not to find out anything about artists I like, most artists are (by necessity) pushy simply to get ahead. Pleasant and deep artists abound in bedrooms everywhere simply because they lack the annoying edge to cut through the business.

I have met a few musical heros who were really cool and laid back, if a little reseverved for obvious reasons. I have also met musical stars who are complete high grade twats.

I'd rather not chance it and avoid meeting people whose music I like, and also avoid hearing about them. My friends tend to know a lot of 'famous musical artists' and they all seem to hate each other for a variety of petty reasons, they all have bad things to say about each other.

I try and shut it out.
I prefer to be able to listen to the music and have it mean something good rather than thinking "I wonder if she ever paid the bassist for this session"

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:04 am

Angstrom wrote:I try and shut it out.
I prefer to be able to listen to the music and have it mean something good rather than thinking "I wonder if she ever paid the bassist for this session"

i'd agree with this, and also with what djs said in terms of buying the music, being truly appalled by someone's agenda is going to be a barrier to sale.

Maybe it's the point at which it becomes overshadowing: if something the artist does/says is kind of odd or disagreeable, that might cause you to relate less with the person and view them more as a 'maker of consumable craft that you happen to like', more like they are a corporate entity than someone you relate with.

But if there is something really disagreeable that the artist becomes to 'stand for', then that becomes problematic-- if you get to where you don't want people thinking you support something odious so you wouldn't play it on your stereo with the windows open, not good.