Does a musicians personal stuff affect you?

In terms of the music, your enjoyment of it. Would you not listen to a band for a reason outside of the band? Personal issues of a musician that don't affect the band, but affects your opinion on them. Does it change your opinion on the music??? 

Doesn't really bother me unless they have a fetish for wearing capes.

HolyMoly wrote: If someone seems like an idiot, a real a-hole, that will surely cloud my appreciation of his/her music.

Yeah, definitely. I feel like that might adversely affect their writing anyway, though, so I might not even like the "music" they produce in spite of their issues.

I usually try to avoid learning more about the artists until I'm certain that I like them. Can't name any that I've read something that really changed my opinion of their music.

Padraic wrote: Unless it's on a Chris Brown/Rihanna level, not really.

Yeah, that was pathetic. Imagine Squire and Bruford going at it, jesus christ.

I don't consider myself responsible or complicit in a musician's personal choices because of my choice to listen to their music.  So no.

No.  I grew up in Hollywood so I could care less if my favorite artist sleeps and has sex with stuffed animals, blow up dolls, and vacuum cleaners.

Edited by Larree - May 17 2013 at 00:01

Sometimes it's cool not to know too much personal sh*t about an artist and let the music that's produced bring enjoyment to your life.  I was sad to read that Zappa's Mothers Of Invention bassist, Roy Estrada, has ended up in the slammer for diddling a 13 year-old girl - I still treasure and enjoy all my MOI Lp's.  Strange fetishes don't phase me, either ( I have a few of my own.......) - good music enhances the quality of life, no matter what personal issues an artist has............

Nope. Don't care if they like to eat dogsh*t, whip asian women, commited horrdenous acts of aggression against small animals, likes to give blow-jobs to jesus, is a nazi, worships at the shrine of Pol Pot, or burns himself with high octane fuel. My enjoyment of the music is purely based on the music.

Does a musician's "personal stuff" (not very precise, here...) affect my views on his/her music? Not really. A good musician/songwriter/composer is a good artist, no matter how he/she leads his/her life (unless we're talking about alcoholism or drug addiction, which can destroy one's talent)

Yet, would the said "personal stuff" influence me on my will to listen to said artist? In fact, yes. Some examples:
 - I really enjoyed Megadeth when I was younger, but Dave Mustaine's strange and outrageous declarations for a few years just prevent me from buying anything from Megadeth.
 - The criminal cases in the history of the Norway Black Metal are also a big no-no for me: we're not talking about fights in a bar after too much beers, we're talking about murders, church burnings or grave desecrations! This is why I still can't listen to Burzum, Emperor or Dissection.
 - A "band" like Death In June has cryptic lyrics, and I guess one can enjoy their music and meditate on their poetic lyrics without feeling guilty. For my part, the rumors about Douglas Pearce's political ideas, his acquaintances with other controversial artitsts (such as Boyd Rice) and his documented fetischism about the S.A. (the first Nazi militia) still "forbid" me to listen to his music without mistrust.