Would you buy music from artist who was a convicted killer?

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So...this is a debate that always seems to divide ranks. Would you buy music from/support an artist that was either a convicted killer or confessed to a killing?

I was thinking about this as I listened to Lil Noisier today...who is serving time for murder. Each time I listen I think I may be supporting a violent criminal (though i know the case is disputed)

Poll Results

OptionVotes
If the music is good, yes 29
Maybe 11
No, regardless 7
I would kill on this artist's command 6


Neanderthal, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link

exclusively

lag∞n, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:19 (twelve years ago) link

*Lil BOOSIE

Neanderthal, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:20 (twelve years ago) link

I think in some ways the fact that the artist is a murderer would make me more interested in listening to their music. I could never stan for them, and would probably only listen to their music only once or twice, but I'm very interested in art made in an unusual context. Varg is obviously the classic example of this for me. It's kinda an anthropological curiosity.

Mordy, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link

Leadbelly, maybe; Varg, no.

Brad C., Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link

i have no problem with this (especially if it's lil boosie)

ciderpress, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:23 (twelve years ago) link

when you say 'this', do you mean murder?

quick brown fox triangle (schlump), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:24 (twelve years ago) link

also do you have to buy the music from them?

quick brown fox triangle (schlump), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:24 (twelve years ago) link

no, i mean listening to the music of a convicted murderer

ciderpress, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:24 (twelve years ago) link

i probably wouldn't buy the music though tbh

ciderpress, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:25 (twelve years ago) link

what if theyve never been convicted but they totally murder dudes on the reg

lag∞n, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:25 (twelve years ago) link

but that's more because i don't buy much music in general

ciderpress, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:25 (twelve years ago) link

what if they only murder naughty children, so many questions

lag∞n, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:26 (twelve years ago) link

I would buy the album but then I would save someone's life to make up for it

iatee, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:26 (twelve years ago) link

murdering dudes on the reg is not cool but i'd still listen to their music if its good

ciderpress, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:26 (twelve years ago) link

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Gesualdo3.jpg/220px-Gesualdo3.jpg

This guy wasn't convicted but a murdering psycho nonetheless

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:26 (twelve years ago) link

what if they killed a lady and ate her internal organs (big lurch)

lag∞n, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:27 (twelve years ago) link

i don't think i've listened to big lurch before, is he any good?

ciderpress, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:29 (twelve years ago) link

(big lunch)

Critique of Pure Moods (goole), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:29 (twelve years ago) link

i am probably the one millionth person to make that joke huh

Critique of Pure Moods (goole), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link

'An eyewitness reported that, when Singleton was picked up by police, he was naked, covered in blood, standing in the middle of the street and screaming at the sky. A medical examination performed shortly after his capture found human flesh in his stomach that was not his own.'

i mean, yeah hes good

lag∞n, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link

My answer is pretty much yes all the way, if the music is something I enjoy. Unless maybe the lyrics are "Emily, I'm going to kill your family, hahahahaaaaaa". But usually the murder isn't going to be reflected in the music in any way, so why not buy it?

My answer may well turn to 'no' if it was a racially aggravated murder or murder and sexual assault, but then it would be the other elements I'd have the problem with. But even then, the question becomes easier if the artist themselves is dead.

emil.y, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link

Was actually listening to Boosie youtube mix when I clicked on this thread so - yes, if the musics good

pandemic, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link

Jim Gordon, who played drums on "Layla" (and wrote the piano coda) and "Apache" killed his mother in 1983.

Let A Man Come In And Do The Cop Porn (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:36 (twelve years ago) link

We've done this before I think? Or maybe just listed murderous musicians.

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link

(mental note to no longer enjoy the coda of layla)

iatee, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:39 (twelve years ago) link

It's mother-murderingly sappy.

frogify bool sheet (beachville), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:40 (twelve years ago) link

"Layla" wasn't his first choice of title for it.

Mark G, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:41 (twelve years ago) link

Mind keeps going back to the genius of Kit Ream.

The story of All That I Am was chronicled in appropriately unsubstantiated fashion by Jello Biafra in the book Incredibly Strange Music Vol. II:

The most deranged 'rich person do-it-yourself' album is All That I Am by KIT REAM, heir to the Nabisco cookie fortune. According to someone who knew him, he dropped tons of acid in the '60's and wound up in a mental hospital where he spent six months staring at his own reflection in a mirror. Eventually the acid wore off, he was deemed "cured" and let loose in society, whereupon he decided to become a guru and make a record.

Scuttlebutt on the internet suggests that Kit later forswore his meds, killed a man on his father's yacht and eventually retired to the suburbs of San Diego. It's a shame that a man may have died for Kit's art, but what an art it is.

emil.y, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:43 (twelve years ago) link

download vargs music dont pay for it (im pretty sure the reason ppl wont buy vargs stuff is not because hes an unrepentant murdering scumbag but because hes an unrepentant racist nazi loving scumbag)

Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:46 (twelve years ago) link

I saw a Bzm CD in Oxfam.

Didn't bother.

Mark G, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:55 (twelve years ago) link

Pretty sure my Fang CD is 2nd hand

The Eyeball Of Hull (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 15:57 (twelve years ago) link

I'm a fan of Noir Desir (and Vybz Kartel to some degree) but i'd stop short of paying money for their records.

Claudine Longet got away with it, iirc, so she's fine with me.

Mohombi Khush Hua (ShariVari), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 16:06 (twelve years ago) link

Bought an X-Raided cd in high school.

Poon Aggroved (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 16:06 (twelve years ago) link

more like slayla

buzza, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link

First answer hall.

wolf kabob (ENBB), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 16:51 (twelve years ago) link

You know, I think it's terrible. I like some of Claudine Longet's stuff. Joe Meek is another one. I feel bad about it.

I wouldn't be caught dead with a Manson album. I did get some mp3s because I wanted to hear them.

I don't think any of those people are geniuses, but I wouldn't buy something that sucked just because they were nuts. Although maybe some people are psychology buffs.

What about Spector?

Quand le déshonneur est public, il faut que la vengeance soit (Michael White), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:04 (twelve years ago) link

yeah jim gordon played on pretty much everything for a long time

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:06 (twelve years ago) link

skip spence tried didn't he

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link

I have in the past and would do so again, so yes

Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:09 (twelve years ago) link

^ blues and rap fan obviously

Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link

i look forward to shakeys poll of top 50 albums by murderers

Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link

"They'd played a Fillmore East gig without me, and Skippy took off with some black witch afterward who fed him full of acid. It was like that scene in The Doors movie. He thought he was the anti-Christ. He tried to chop down the hotel room door with a fire axe to kill Don (Stevenson) to save him from himself. He went up to the 52nd floor of the CBS building where they had to wrestle him to the ground. And Rubinson pressed charges against him. They took him to The Tombs (and then to Bellevue) and that's where he wrote Oar. When he got out of there, he cut that album in Nashville. And that was the end of his career. They shot him full of Thorazine for six months. They just take you out of the game."

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link

Housemartins' drummer:

"In 1993, Whitaker was convicted of assault after attacking his former business partner James Hewitt with an axe, and firebombing his house after Hewitt had seemingly cheated him. He served 5 years in prison."

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:12 (twelve years ago) link

Skip started off as a drummer too, come to think of it!

Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:13 (twelve years ago) link

^ blues and rap fan obviously

country too

Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:14 (twelve years ago) link

honestly not sure which genre has the most convicted killers in it, wouldn't be surprised if it was rock n roll tbh

Full Frontal Newtity (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:14 (twelve years ago) link

dubstep

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:18 (twelve years ago) link

beofre he kills you I hear that skrillex whispers "wub wub" in your left ear

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:18 (twelve years ago) link

Though ruled accidental, Keith Moon was found to have run over his chauffeur/bodyguard Neil Boland in 1970. But Boland's daughter says Moon wasn't driving.

Let A Man Come In And Do The Cop Porn (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:19 (twelve years ago) link

Wait, what charges were The Killers brought up on?

Quand le déshonneur est public, il faut que la vengeance soit (Michael White), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:20 (twelve years ago) link

That Boland story is sad and then I found out Kim, herself, died in a car accident

Quand le déshonneur est public, il faut que la vengeance soit (Michael White), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:30 (twelve years ago) link

man, that jim gordon story

"As far as getting back to anything I was doing before 1981, it's pretty grim," he says wearily. For a flickering moment, he brightens. "Unless... what I'd like to do is get in some kind of touring situation, maybe contribute a little bit with my writing."

And then, he adds meekly: "I'd still like to play with Eric."

I GUESS THAT CINNABON GETTIN EATEN (Edward III), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:50 (twelve years ago) link

Wait, what charges were The Killers brought up on?

― Quand le déshonneur est public, il faut que la vengeance soit (Michael White), Tuesday, January 31, 2012 5:20 PM (32 minutes ago)

Making shit records. There was plenty of evidence.

insert 2012 appropriate display name here (snoball), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 17:56 (twelve years ago) link

beofre he kills you I hear that skrillex whispers "wub wub" in your left ear

Amazing.

Clarke B., Tuesday, 31 January 2012 18:12 (twelve years ago) link

lag00n mvp of this thread so far

Neanderthal, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 23:47 (twelve years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Thursday, 9 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link

i bought the GNR album with the Charles Manson cover on it, does that count?

Alshipleyan Goalpostmover (some dude), Thursday, 9 February 2012 01:10 (twelve years ago) link

I wouldn't be caught dead with a Manson album.

all the proceeds go to his victims' families!

unless your problem is that the music isn't very good, in which case, fair point.

the greates (crüt), Thursday, 9 February 2012 01:15 (twelve years ago) link

why do they call you a garbage dump?

the greates (crüt), Thursday, 9 February 2012 01:16 (twelve years ago) link

I figured it went to victim's families. I've been to people's apartments and seen the LP in context. That's too badass for me. That scary face with the word "LIE". It's not something I want to be reminded of.

The music isn't very scary, though.

if they were convicted of killing dan bejar i would buy their album to demonstrate my wholehearted support for their cause

first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:14 (twelve years ago) link

what if he committed suicide tho

iatee, Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:15 (twelve years ago) link

i'd content myself with cheering inside

first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:16 (twelve years ago) link

dan is a really nice guy & makes better conversation than most ppl I know so w/e stickin my tongue out @ u the lex

unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:39 (twelve years ago) link

tell him to make another kaputt

iatee, Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:42 (twelve years ago) link

me being me I want him to make another Thief

unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:43 (twelve years ago) link

i know many nice people who are good conversationists who should never ever try to make music (and to their credit, they don't)

first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:43 (twelve years ago) link

kinda movin the goalposts there the lex

unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 9 February 2012 02:45 (twelve years ago) link

dan bejar could commit every atrocity known to man and 'kaputt' would counterbalance those trangressions w/a mellow and ingratiating musical rejoinder.

omar little, Thursday, 9 February 2012 04:52 (twelve years ago) link

Lex ruined thread o fuk how do I spin earth superman style

frogbs, stills, and nash (Neanderthal), Thursday, 9 February 2012 05:15 (twelve years ago) link

MAYHEM!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayhem_(band)

more like slayla (NZA), Thursday, 9 February 2012 05:21 (twelve years ago) link

Varg is a dick

frogbs, stills, and nash (Neanderthal), Thursday, 9 February 2012 05:25 (twelve years ago) link

a mellow and ingratiating musical rejoinder

lol @/w omar

Little GTFO (contenderizer), Thursday, 9 February 2012 10:18 (twelve years ago) link

Leadbelly, maybe; Varg, no.

― Brad C., Tuesday, January 31, 2012 7:22 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My answer may well turn to 'no' if it was a racially aggravated murder or murder and sexual assault, but then it would be the other elements I'd have the problem with. But even then, the question becomes easier if the artist themselves is dead.

― emil.y, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 7:30 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalinkit's sort of funny that we can be more troubled by artists' ideological transgressions than by the idea that they might have, you know, killed people. makes sense because toxic ideologies are more likely to spread as a result of repetition and endorsement than plain old crazy murder, but still a little o_O

Little GTFO (contenderizer), Thursday, 9 February 2012 10:24 (twelve years ago) link

oops

Little GTFO (contenderizer), Thursday, 9 February 2012 10:24 (twelve years ago) link

Yeah, probably, if the music was super awesome. I'm not expecting anyone who'd make music I'd consider to be super awesome to kill anyone, though.

Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 9 February 2012 13:13 (twelve years ago) link

Yeah, I own records that were made by convicted killers (though I bought them before it came to light, or before I was aware of it) so in practice, it's "If the music is good, yes."

There are definitely crimes that will cause me to stop buying or supporting an artist - though, for me it's finding out that someone is rapist or that someone is a wife-beater - obviously those are personal for me, and it's as much a condemnation of *what it means* as the act. That I do think there is a difference between someone getting in a fight and killing someone vs a calculated act of gendered violence.

Some of those choices have been quite hard, like "shit, I don't want to have to lose that artist's work, why'd he have to turn out to be one of the bad ones?" but when it's someone that it's pretty much cast their entire personality into question, that makes me wonder about mine own judgement in selecting to be a fan of that artist in the first place.

Not that I can only listen to artists whose views I find politically agreeable - in fact there are some artists where part of the appeal is that I find their politics/lifestyle/whatever so gross that it's fascinating. I think the fascination with Brian Jones definitely draws on this - this guy is a documented wifebeater - and yet, he's dead, his work is a historical artifact from a different time, when these things were viewed differently, and seeing how society's views have changed and not changed is part of my fascination with the guy. Because on the face of it, there's not that much difference between Brian Jones and Chris Brown, yet I condemn one and am utterly fascinated with the other? If Brian Jones were musically active now, and behaving like he behaved now, I would be disgusted with him and organising boycotts, but as a historical event, it does hold a fascination.

White Chocolate Cheesecake, Thursday, 9 February 2012 13:30 (twelve years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Friday, 10 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link

four years pass...

I felt really weird about not wanting to listen to Pyrexia anymore after their frontman murdered those three dudes in Virginia a month ago. I guess it's harder to deal w/ when it happens less than a week after the Pulse incident and you're already sick of those "sovereign free men" assholes.

Neanderthal, Tuesday, 19 July 2016 01:30 (seven years ago) link

Was never a fan, but yeah, I can't imagine wanting to listen to Shute bellow angrily so soon after the fact. Generally, though, I'm less bothered by art made by people who've done terrible things than art that expresses* hateful ideology.

* or seems to represent by proxy, in the case of "apolitical" bands

Best Beloved Trumppence (contenderizer), Tuesday, 19 July 2016 02:37 (seven years ago) link


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