why did it make me smile? I've no idea.

that was the "go figure" bit

why did they nick the plaques? Bronze gets you good money these days

I'm sure I would listen to them, probably lots, but it would change my relationship with the band.

I mean, I like Gary Glitter exactly as much as I did before, which is a little. I wonder if getting his name brought up in the papers again actually sold some records as well as made some people disown him? Seems likely.

But with Sonic Youth, I have this sick fan-boy fantasy where I think of them sort of as family members. So if a family member did something that gross and wrong, I'd take it very personally and probably distance myself from him a bit, but in the long run be supportive and hopeful he'd want to change.

I'd probably also waste all sorts of time looking for hidden meaning in "Paper Cup Exit", but then I've already done that.

Can Sonic Youth sue their own message board for slander?

someone was sued for something said on a message board so yes. If anything slanderous had been said (dont think it has)

think that was in America though
oh.

Sweet.

I have evidence that Lee Renaldo is a paedophile and that Thurston Moore is secretly a holocaust denier.

extradition anyone?

Zeropumpkins,

Shouldn't they refuse to stock MJ records then? Everyone knows he did it, look at him, for chrisake.

I am glad you belive in the right to a fair trial and due process. Maybe you should go kill a witch with that mentality...

I chalk this up more to the downsizing of record store stock than to anything. No offense, but if someone came up to me when I worked in a record store and asked for Gary Glitter, I'd probably look at them odd as well.

To answer yr question though, yes I probably would. I still listen to my Who albums despite Pete Townshend being brought up on charges (subsequently dropped but still...). Liking the music and the person are two different entities. Now, if he started singing about it, then I might have to re-evaluate.

agreed. weird thread. i get the jist of your question, but you chose a certain outcast crime and then singled out a member of the band to apply it to. if lee were at home reading the message board, i would imagine him to be thinking "jesus, these people have too much time on their hands. wtf did i ever do to them?"

i doubt that
i'd think he thought it was a valid, interesting question about how people apply morals to suit their needs. And question 'fan-dom'

What about if Steve was convicted as a paedo?

Poor, quiet, innocent Steve...

I would probably still listen to SY...but....why did you choose Lee as the child molester?

Because Thurston and Kim are married, and people don't believe Steve could do such a thing.

I would stop listening to sonic youth if any of tghem were found to be pedophiliacs, yes I would. I canno and do mnot separate the artist from the art.

I can deal with junkies, and abusive people, and angry unlikeable people, and vioent people, but I cannot deal with someone who is a rapist or who sexually is attratced to chuildren and acts upon it. gary glitter liked to fuck 10 year old boys. fuck him and fuck his shit life and fuck his band's records.

I can say that, if Lee was a pedo, I would certainly still listen to SY, but I probably wouldn't embrace them as much as I do. For me, it's hard to separate the artist from the art, and if I met SY and they turned out to be child molesting sociopaths with inferiorty complexes, I wouldn't listen to them nearly as much. For me, I think that some of the best artists have good character and integrity as well as skill in their craft, otherwise they would just be self-obsessed douches.

i would stop listening to them. period.

I don't find it difficult to separate the artist from the art, like some of you seem to. I can still listen to a Nazi/murderer/church arsonist (Burzum) without any difficulty.

Lee is married too....

I'm not sure what I'd do. I used to love KISS, but became more and more disillusioned with Paul and Gene. Ace was always my favourite, but it turns out he collects Nazi stuff...

And just the other day I found out that apparently Karlheinz Stockhausen called the 9/11 attack on the WTC, the greatest work of art of all time...

What can I say? People is fucked - it's whatever pushes yr buttons. Being an artist doesn't mean yr any better (or worse) than the general populace in general terms...

yeah, but all that shit is different from raping/having sex/watching child porn of or with a child.

Good Lord! Some of you people sound so innocent and naive! Don't you realise that conroversial sex drives, unusual opinions and alternative ideologies is what rock 'n' roll--and the arts in general--is all about?!! Christ, it appears as if Oprah Winfrey and Focus On The Family have brainwashed everyone into a false or exaggerated sense of Normal.

I remember coming across a blog awhile back that examined controversial album covers. The original front cover of the Scorpions' Virgin Killer had been posted, and the under-30 crowd was leaving comments like, "Holy Shit!", "Yucko!", "Paedophillia!", etc. I found this rather interesting and somewhat amusing, for I'm old enough to remember when that record originally came out, and pretty much the only people who spoke out against the cover were fundamentalist Christian preachers and televangelists, the uneducated, people who hated 'niggers', 'wops' and 'faggots', etc. Like it or lump it, in school at the time, Virgin Killer--as well as Blind Faith, Houses of the Holy, etc--had the type of front cover that caused the young girls to giggle and the young boys to say (Bart Simpson-style) "Coooool". Times have certainly changed, but not necessarily for the better. It's like Steve Buscemi tells Thora Birch in Ghost World: "Things were more honest and open back then. Things weren't covered up the same...."