Discovered recently that Electric Wizard were kinda dicks back in the day. "At the time, we were pretty bad people. I got arrested for arson of a car, outside a police station. Tim [Bagshaw] went to nick a crucifix off a church roof so we could use it onstage…"
R. L. Burnside killed a man "possibly at a craps game."
Varg of Mayhem Burzum burned a couple churches and killed a bandmate.
I could list other examples, but would like to hear from other people and other music genres.
What does it mean “defenders.” Am I a defender if I’ll still go to a concert? Morrissey didn’t start saying stupid things yesterday, he was always stupid. Reading his autobiography which I have done but don’t recommend to others reveals he’s always been a pretentious weirdo without the goods to back it up, expect the musical talent.
There's being pretentious and stupid, and then there's being a full on racist and hatemonger. The latter wasn't apparent until more recently.
Bengali in platforms…
He’s always had the race stances of a white British man of his age. You just weren’t paying attention.
Possibly. And had that one song remained the only indication of his mindset, I would still, possibly, be listening to his music. But it didn't, and here we are.
But most of his music is not racist at all. In fact that’s probably that one song. Most of his other stuff is about being a weird middle aged gay man.
He has only been middle aged for less than half his career, depending on your definition of the term, and he has at various stages of his life described himself as bisexual, asexual, celibate, 'humasexual' and explicitly 'not a homosexual', but besides that: Yes. Which illustrates why his various -isms haven't been obvious until more recently.
Spiritually he’s always been middle aged and gay.
Nevertheless, despite some of his loathsome views I remain a fan of the music, since the music itself is not loathsome.
Good for you if that's what you think. Meanwhile, I have no trouble finding other artists more worthy of my money and attention.