Tainted Love?

After spending yesterday afternoon binging on The Smiths and The Smashing Pumpkins, a thought suddenly occurred to me that these two have something in common.

I love the music of both – each would probably make my personal top 10 – but they also both suffer from having frontmen that are, frankly, tools. This tenuous but hopefully noteworthy link between these bands wasn't an entirely new thought, but in the wake of an unrelated comment I saw recently, it made me think again.

Namely, it made me wonder if you can love a band’s music when you no longer love the band, or even if you never liked the band themselves in the first place? And what would it take to make me completely disown a band? 



To go back to the unrelated comment, an unnamed friend posting on social media recently posed the question, or problem, that they wanted to listen to Lostprophets, but in the wake of recent revelations, weren’t sure if they should, or even could.

I felt it was an interesting question, broadening it slightly, they were basically asking if the subsequent actions of a musician can taint their music?

Obviously, that is an extreme example, and this is a light-hearted blog and I’m drawing no comparison between Morrissey and Billy Corgan and the Lostprophets frontman I don’t even want to name let alone discuss. I am not attempting to make out that their actions, which I will now discuss, are anything like what he is accused of (disclaimer out of the way, calm down).

But there are a number of reasons for me to have formed these opinions. They have both fucked me over in person by ruining gigs I was at, Morrissey walking off four songs into a gig I’d travelled all the way to the Roundhouse in Camden for, and Corgan ending a Pumpkins (in name only) gig in Nottingham after just over an hour, despite completing a three-hour gig in London just two days later. The following setlist for the gig even mentions him storming off.



Unless the mythical Smiths reunion ever comes to fruition (it won’t), or the original Pumpkins line-up tours again (they won’t either) I would never consider seeing either of them again. These experiences have irrevocably changed my feelings towards these bands because they always come to mind when I listen to them, which is admittedly unfair on the rest of The Smiths and the original Pumpkins but true nonetheless. 

Add to that, they both have become increasingly erratic and annoying public figures, frequently making embarrassing or simply ridiculous statements in the media. I’m sure I’m not the only Smiths fan bored of having to defend themselves to non-fans every time Morrissey makes a ridiculous remark about the royals or worse. Last year Billy Corgan said he wanted to “piss on” Radiohead. Seriously, what a dick.

I had ignored Oceania, the latest SP’s album, completely (until yesterday, it’s okay by the way) because of my thoughts on him as a person and comments such as that. The same would apply for any new work from Morrissey. But, I still regularly enjoy their best work, just as I still admire their talent too.

So, I guess my point is Steven and Billy, you haven't completely ruined it yet, but please, stop it already. I still want to listen to The Queen is Dead, Meat is Murder, Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie for years to come. You've ruined yourselves, don’t ruin your work for me too.