Does being a sicko invalidate what you've achieved?

I'm sure you've read about Ian Watkins the lead singer of the Lost Prophets pleading guilty to child sex and even planning to rape a baby for God's sake but does that mean his music is no longer playable?

He's not the first - Paul Gadd (Gary Glitter) was jailed for being a kiddy fiddler and I can't remember the last time I've heard of one of his songs on the radio but on the other hand Alan Turing (the father of computer science and artificial intelligence) who was basically considered a sicko and forced to commit sucide because he was found to be gay is about to be formally pardoned by the Government for the way he was treated.

Ok, not exactly like for like but at the time society's values were both against them (and in the case of Watkins rightly so) but just because they didn't conform to the norms at the time, should that invalidate all their work before they were found out?

Should the Lost Prophets play list now be deleted and never played again? Should we have scrapped all computers because the genius that made them what they are today liked to take delivery's up his back door?

Should their work not stand or fall in its own right rather than what sick shit they get up to in their private lives?

i know you're playing devils advocate here, but in Watkins case he deserves to be never seen or heard of again, the norms of society will never ever accept his kind of behaviour and he should be put away for life in my opinion

i have no sympathy for this animal, i do have sympathy for the rest of the band. Their careers have been royally fucked over now and will never recover from this, the stigma will follow them round through no fault of their own

But if his music was poular in its own right before people knew how depraved he is, then why should that music now be tainted - its not though the music as actually done anyone any harm?

If say the group had done cover versions of other music - say Elvis or The Rolling Stones, should their music not be played anymore because of it? Clearly not, so why should the Lost Prophets catalouge to date be dumped?

Does the crimes of the sick individual invalidate all that they had done before hand - if so why?

When I was about 13-14 I listened to the Lost Prophets, not a huge amount and they certainly haven't carried through to what I listen to these days but I enjoyed a few tracks. From my perspective hearing their music would instantly get me thinking about Watkins and his crimes, which is obviously not a good state of mind to enjoy music, they were hardly groundbreaking musicians so the fact their music will never be heard on radio or TV again is no massive loss but as Norpig says, I feel sorry for the band.

Why should you associate the music with Watkins perversion though - people enjoyed it before all this came out - so why now the difference?

Turing was a homosexual who was hounded into suicide by the society at that time but do you thing gay thoughts when you are on your ipad or laptop - no of course you don't.

Did you ever think of what any band member of any group got up to when you hear their music - so why treat the Lost Prophets music differently now?

I discovered Shelley's poem, Ozymandias from something Stuart Hall once said - I still enjoy the poem even though Hall is now serving time for being a pedophile.

Should the Prohets music be scrapped even though it had nothing at all to do with Watkins sick behaviour?

I'm glad I've never heard that piece of shits music or even heard of him tbh.

He's scum and if you've an album of his then smash it up, delete it off your ipod .

I've just heard what his pass-word was the fucking sicko.

I certainly agree that Alan Turing should be pardoned. Nowadays he would be classed as an academic genius but back in the day he was vilified simply because of his sexuality. Thankfully time has moved on and attitudes have changed.

What Watkins has done is abhorrent and always will be. There can be no excuses for his deviant behaviour and he should go to prison for a very long time.

I never bought any of his records and I wont be starting now.

the problem will be that as soon as anyone hears a song by them the first thought will be about his crimes. Its the stigma attached to it that they will never be able to shake off. And don't forget anytime they have a song played or bought he wil profit from it.

Apparently Ian H Watkins out of Steps has been getting some serious shit on social sites due to folk getting them mixed up!!

Soul Kitchen wrote:Apparently Ian H Watkins out of Steps has been getting some serious shit on social sites due to folk getting them mixed up!!

Unbelievable! It's like the podiatrist who had all his windows broken because some idiots thought he was a paedophile.

Had loads of stick on Twitter and closed his account. As if you be on Twitter if you'd done what that guy had done?
Don't know if the police are involved.

if Micheal Jackson was now found to have child porn on a secret computer, would you no longer listen to his music. Would his music no longer be played, covered, sampled?

Some people said Jacko was iffy but after watching one documentary on him before his death it seemed like he'd never grown up. We'll never know the answer but he made some good stuff.

Great art of any kind surely can't be invalidated by the fact that the artist was a complete monster. Had Hitler painted a masterpiece,it would still be a masterpiece despite everything he did. The picture/music/writing takes on a life of its own. Fortunately Hitler was a shite painter.

It's often debated whether you should seperate the art from the artist. And you find people are more likely to argue strongly for it in situations where they are a big fan of the artist in question.

For example, I'm not a big fan of Lostprophets, I saw them in 2005 because there was a free ticket going but I could only name about 3 songs. So I'd find it quite easy to never listen to them again and despite knowing there are several other members in the band I don't think I'd feel comfortable listening to it knowing what Watkins has done.

But then where do I draw the line? I love the film Chinatown, despite Roman Polanski directing it so I'm likely to argue more for the 'seperate the art from the artist' theory. R Kelly allegedly pissed on an underage girl, but I don't think I couldn't ever not listen to Ignition. Again, it's not illegal, but Woody Allen has been married to his sort-of-step-daughter for ages, and it's a bit weird, but I'm a fan so I argue 'seperate the art form the artist'.

You can go as far back as Wagner and his anti-semitism, and Walt Disney for the same reason. Do you never listen to those great classical pieces or let your kids watch The Lion King?

I think Scientology is a cult, so I can mock Tom Cruise, but I'm a big Beck fan so he gets away with it.

Another example, Jimmy page reportedly dated a 14 year old girl when touring America. So do I never listen to Led Zeppelin again?

boltonbonce wrote: Fortunately Hitler was a shite painter.

Some say that he possessed great paintings, some say he even had holy relics.

I wonder if he had the ark?

Adolf Hitler was allegedly in possession of what he believed was the “holy lance,” the spear used by the centurion to pierce Christ’s side. This was only one of many relics der Führer obtained (or sought) to satisfy his obsession with the occult. Interestingly, several such “genuine” spears are owned by various collectors around the world. I got one on ebay.

I go with Norpig on this.

Apparently Hitler was in contact with Aliens, who helped him create all his advanced rockets and weapons.