Is it unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for their latter day sins...?
 

Only if that artist happens to be Iggy Pop.

Id say so, yeah... but judge them by the now. The present. Because there's no such thing as consistancy - it makes us human. It doesnt make them a bad artist, but they can still do bad things.

have you seen his body? that dude is hella crazydumb wild, b!

Unfair? Not sure about that. If they get dumb and goofy, what's wrong wtih calling them on it.

If you mean is it unfair to dismiss their entire catalog based on old age missteps, that's a different story.

Depends on why they sinned. I don't think "Great artists" ever necassarily get bad; usually, an artist who writes a great song one year can assuredly do the same the next year. They can start sucking for a variety of reasons -- other band members' influence, changing musical tastes, an idiot producer, marketing pressure, etc. So, I guess I'm saying: If, in their later days, they made music solely for cash, then yeah, it's fair.

Well, wait.. it's fair period -- I love Captain Beefheart, but goddamn do 2 of his albums suck huge balls. It's okay to criticize shit, sure. But, yeah, Beefheart's a good example.. he made amazing music, wanted to make money so he made 2 awful albums, those failed, and he went back and made BETTER music than ever before! So, I would criticze those albums, sure, but as a whole, he was still a great artist..

no, as sickboy said in the trainspotting film

"one minute you have it, then you lose it, its a downward fucking trajectory"

David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy, Ornette Coleman, many great musciaians and artists run out of crativity as they grow older. I think thats a normal thing, which is why it makes people like Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan, Leonrd Cohen, Nick Cave, Neil Young, and people like that all the more spectacular. But u cant hate David Bowie, the man behind Low, for his latter career mishaps.

perfect example, i love beefheart

See, what I'm saying is.. Bowie could easily make another Low, he just doesn't. For whatever reason. And while he make awful music now, at least it's respectable: He's not just doing the same thing that made him popular. Actually, wasn't Bowie the one who said, "I want to make music so uncompromising that I no longer have any fans left"?

...

Either way: Black Tie White Noise!

I always thought your name was a reference to Bat Chain Puller.. (and the Birthday Party)

"...is it better to burn out than to fade away?"

yes.
the rolling stones are slowly but surely destroying themselves by turning into a conglomerate rather than a rock band.
eric clapton sucks.

Behavior has nothing to do with an artist's talents.
We can criticize their actions/personality/whatever, but that certainly does not have to go hand in hand with an individual's success rate, based on what they've created and presented for us.

yeah, its birthday party, and yes good point about bowie, but ill listen to low till the day i die and never one day question his brilliance


tom waits is another guy who hasnt lost creativity with age at all, he still hasnt made anything as good as rain dogs, but i think mule variations was just as good if not better than swordfishtombones

well the stones are getting a little worse for wear anyway
they speed their songs up so much so mick can get more in in less time or whatever the fuck, not to mention that the way he sings now is horrible in an indescribeable way, you'd just have to hear it to know what i mean

grace slick was not only in jefferson airplane, who were great, but she was in STARSHIP, who are responsible for we built this city which is a crime.

a hilarious crime.

yeah, the stones have gone way past their time, but i still forgive the, because theyre the stones and their records stored my love in rock n roll when my dad played them in the car when i was a little boy. id take exile or let it bleed over 99.9 percent of anythings thats come out in the last 5, maybe 10 years. maybe im just a forgiving guy, ill ask my ex girlfriends to verify.

exile on main st. and sticky fingers are two of the best albums made ever.

keith is still great, but mick tries too hard to be cool. he always has.