It's Only Rock and Roll

Scott Hardie | June 30, 2015
Led Zeppelin are among my all-time favorite artists. They have created countless rock classics, and I still find new moments to appreciate every time I listen to their deep cuts. But one thing about them has come to bug me: The relentless misogyny. Many of their songs about women paint them as sex objects ("Whole Lotta Love," "Black Dog," "You Shook Me," "The Lemon Song"), or as adulterers ("Your Time is Gonna Come," "Heartbreaker"), or as a cause of misery ("D'yer Mak'er," "Dazed and Confused," "Since I've Been Loving You"). Even the more sophisticated songs find time to knock a woman down a peg: Their masterpiece "Stairway to Heaven" is about a vain rich woman who thinks she can buy salvation. There are very few non-sexual compliments paid to women throughout their entire catelog. If you think I'm exaggerating, someone on Quora broke it down song-by-song. I don't have a problem per se with horny young men writing about sex or with the blues tradition of bemoaning former lovers, but the totality of this negativity across so very many songs has sapped some of the thrill of their music for me.

Is there an artist (musical or otherwise) that you love whose work has a recurring problem that bothers you?

Samir Mehta | July 2, 2015
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Scott Hardie | July 17, 2015
True, good point about rock & roll misogyny. I should have considered them within the larger context.

You alluded to the allegations against Allen. Do they have an effect on your enjoyment of his work? I know that some people can't get over the terrible misdeeds by certain artists -- once upon a time, TC authors spoke of a purging of Mel Gibson's work -- but for me personally, I have no problem separating the horrible human being from the talented artist. Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski have done reprehensible things and have also made some of my favorite media, and it's fine for those two facts to co-exist.

Scott Hardie | December 27, 2017
When she found me watching Baby Driver this weekend, Kelly asked me if it was hard watching Kevin Spacey in it after everything that came out about him this fall, and it reminded me of this discussion. The answer is still no; I don't have a problem enjoying art or entertainment made by someone who has done evil things. I can consider Spacey the man to be reprehensible and consider Spacey the actor to be talented at the same time. What potentially would bother me is if the art itself were evil; if Spacey made a movie sexualizing young teenage boys and suggesting how to seduce them, I'd feel compelled to draw a line there.

That makes me reconsider House of Cards, which, other than pedophilia, pretty much had Spacey playing someone close to the vile person he has turned out to be in real life: A homosexual man with perverted sexual obsessions (among other things, he bedded an actor who had played his hated grandfather), who wears a genial public mask that covers up very dark private behavior that ruins innocent people's lives. Considering that the show has fired him (which must have been difficult since it was made by his production company), and he won't appear in future episodes, I don't have to make a decision whether to stop watching because of him. But having watched and sometimes enjoyed the show definitely makes for a queasy feeling at a minimum, like recalling Bill Cosby's old stand-up bit about Spanish fly.

Can you still enjoy Spacey's work after what has come to light, or that of the many other men in similar disgrace?

Erik Bates | December 27, 2017
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Scott Hardie | December 27, 2017
Haha, nice. Yes, I have wondered about the countless people out of work because of this broad scandal. I wonder if it's possible for production companies to buy insurance against this kind of thing, so that the staff can still get paid even if a scandal prevents the show from going on.

Erik Bates | December 27, 2017
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Samir Mehta | December 27, 2017
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Scott Hardie | December 29, 2017
Erik, it's all good. I assumed from the start that you valued the suffering of the victims far above your own entertainment interests. I don't know (or want to know) anybody who wouldn't.

Samir, well said, though of course some people do believe that the world is right. And I find that plenty troubling in its own way.