I went off the idea of buying any more Jean Michele Jarre CDs when he divorced his wife for what seemed to me to be no particularly good reason.

I have never wanted to buy any of Michael Jackson’s music, so that which he might or might not have done is not relevant. I suspect that if he did anything questionable then it was probably more down to stupidity than anything else.

I have bought a lot of Loony Lab games, especially from their Fluxx series. I have met Andrew Looney and I think he is a nice guy, but I totally disagree with his position on cannabis. I will not buy Stoner Fluxx. This does not mean I will not buy his other games.

Sir Terry Pratchett is an atheist. I believe in God. I disagree totally with the theology advanced in his book “Small Gods”, but his observations about how people can behave in a fashion I (and I hope other readers of this blog) would describe as “evil” when they think it is “good” as defined by their religion have validity. It is alas true that over the centuries people have done very nasty things in the name of my religion and even my denomination within that. I wish these things had not been done, but we have free will and the fact that people get things badly wrong from time to time does not disprove the existence of God. I buy and enjoy the Discworld books.

Each one has to be their own case, with a few general guidelines. E.g., I’m less comfortable about buying Merzbow albums now that I know Masami Akita is a supporter of PETA, a group whose goals may be laudable but whose tactics I find deeply questionable. I like the man’s music (er, noise), but not all aspects of his politics, so I’m not sure if there is an elegant solution to such a dilemma. (Obviously, stealing his music is not a workable solution.)

I know if someone I read or listened to mouthed off like that, I’d cross them off my wish lists.

OTOH, I am not into music enough to pay attention to musicians’ private lives and politics, though when they do come to my attention (like Michael Jackson or Ted Nugent), yes, I will refrain from buying any of their music. (Not that I’m likely to listen to Michael Jackson or Ted Nugent anyway.)

I am very careful with neo-folk bands as some have repellent views, but it’s difficult to know who is bad and who just happens to sound similar to bands, or was once in a band with a politically unsound person. It’s a good question though.

Which takes me back to Jackson … if I liked that music, would I buy it, knowing that, while a court of law may not have passed judgement, I don’t need to demand the same burden of proof. The difference is, perhaps, that I probably wouldn’t describe Jackson as ‘nasty’, so much as ‘sick’. One can believe that any crimes that may have been commited were the products of psychological imbalance, rather than someone who was malicious, and he certainly was not obviously prejudiced or intolerant in the way the other examples you give are. Frankly I’d be more likely to avoid contributing money to the extended Jackson family now he is dead.

There’s also somewhat of a free pass for people who lived in an earlier age. The list of antisemitic artists from the 19th and 20th centuries is so long you might argue that it would be easier to list the artists who weren’t antisemitic. Likewise, nobody would demand an artist from the 1870s to hold views on equality for homosexuals and women which are simply anachronistic for the time. Even the most reasonable, moderate, tolerant people may have held views that today would rightly be considered objectionable. Wagner’s antisemitism and views on German nationalism were a symptom of the age, and while he wrote some extremely objectionable stuff (outside music), he at least did not seem to have openly proselytised for his views within the music itself. He’s also not responsible for the purposes to which his music was put by far worse people after his death.

Which means, I suppose, that I wonder if its a decision that happens often in practice. If someone is so objectionable that you don’t want to buy their music, the chances are you have no desire to buy their music. With people from a past age, the same applies to an extent, with the exception that I suspect people automatically give increased leeway to allow for the standards of the age.

I can’t off the top of my head think of a band/artist that I like or did like who has gone on record as promoting something I think is evil or really stupid. It did happen to me with Orson Scott Card the SF writer (I liked some of his work but not all of it, but once I became aware of his homophobic rants I stayed away from his more recent things), but even there it wasn’t something where it actually felt like I’d be missing something by not reading his books.

And no, I don’t have any Nugent records.