Something I’m hearing more of in recent years is that it’s “bigoted” or even “immature” to allow your actions as a consumer to be influenced by an artist’s political views. I’ve heard this from music fans on all sides - Morrissey fans, Kate Bush fans, Metallica fans, Slayer fans, Avenged Sevenfold fans, Taylor Swift fans, etc, etc.
I mean if you think prioritising your views on racism over your views on the new Morrissey single is “childish,” then I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you need to look at your own priorities?
Because I haven’t actually seen anyone saying “we need to stop listening to Kate Bush because she was supportive of Theresa May.” I haven’t heard anyone saying they’re going to throw their Slayer albums or their Smiths albums away. I’ve heard people say they’re disappointed, because their connection to the music has been tarnished now.
And some people are determined to think that such a reaction is contrived. For example, they assume that I can’t genuinely be upset that Kate Bush is a Tory or that Slayer support Trump, I’m only pretending to feel that way in order to build up street cred with my commie friends or whatever.
The truth is, music is based on making an emotional connection with people and generating an emotional response - whether the aim is to make you laugh or cry or dance or mosh or sing. Of course knowing things about the artist’s own views can get in the way of that connection. I remember being a teenager and listening to the Smiths for the first time and thinking “oh god, he really gets it.” It’s impossible to hold onto that feeling when that same lyricist is complaining that Britain isn’t Islamophobic enough. He doesn’t get anything.
I don’t listen to metal to feel positive about the establishment. I don’t listen to indie music to feel happy about Brexit. One thing I always loved about Kate Bush’s music was its depth, and its hard not to feel that’s been compromised when she offers political analysis along the lines of “woman in charge = everything good.” The other problem is that once you know these things about musicians, you can’t help feeling more alert and more critical when you listen to them. You can’t get lost in their music in quite the same way, and so you pick up flaws you’d never noticed before.
I’m not throwing my Kate Bush albums away. I will certainly ensure I don’t give any money to Morrissey in the future, but playing my old Smiths CDs doesn’t make him any money. Slayer and Metallica will probably resolve their internal contradictions about Trump soon enough and Avenged Sevenfold will continue to be trash. But learning of the right-wing views amongst these artists will always leave a stain on their music for me. It’s not about choosing to be right-on, it’s about the fact that the music industry encourages us to engage with artists’s public personas. Musicians can live by that sword or die by it.
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