Mark Kozelek comes off as a real dick in interviews, but I'll be goddamned if he isn't a brilliant songwriter. Killer band, too.
People always seem surprised that great artists are not always great people. Indeed, often they're not even good people. I mean, see Richard Wagner, see Duke Ellington, see John Lennon, see Bob Marley etc. edit: this probably sounds like I'm being a bitch - I don't mean it. I just find it interesting.
And Ezra Pound, and Charles Dickens, and... wait, was Bob Marley an asshole? Did not see that coming. I've never thought one really either devalued or excused the other. Think it's okay to really appreciate a piece of art without adopting the artist's shitty attitude.
Yeah, there's been a lot of talk lately about the willful cognitive dissonance we ascribe to our favorite artists. In the wake of Bowie's death a lot of people were posting that he was a rapist because he took the virginity if a 14 year old groupie back when he was an emerging Rock god. Can we still enjoy his music and know this? Artists like Roman Polanski and Woody Allen come to mind too. Their work doesn't exist in a vacuum. -or does it? If I saw a painting and thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, only to find out it was painted by Hitler, would it be wrong of me to continue to enjoy it? Would it be wrong of me to be a fan of his painting and abhor him in all other respects?
Think this somewhat mirrors a discussion around here from way back. Personally? I can draw a clear, comfortable line between artist and product. There's a reason we're compelled in school to address narrative intent rather than authorial intent. Once released into the world, the product has a life of its own, and a will that may defy its creator. As a critic, you address the character of the work, and leave that of the author to the biographers. Lucky for us, Hitler's paintings were mall-grade trash, so we don't have to worry too much about it. But if his shit popped? Why not appreciate it on its own grounds?
I don't think I've ever checked out his paintings before, or if I did I have forgotten them. A quick search and I find that they're not awful, but they aren't anything special either.
Well, asshole is not really a good way to describe it. He was an infamous adulterer, His wife claims he raped her, and he had a habit of working his band past the point of exhaustion (though he's not the only artist I've heard this levelled at). So was he human trash? I don't think that's fair, but he wasn't anywhere close to a saint, either.
Bob had (I think) seven children through affairs. His wife Rita also had an affair that produced a child that Bob adopted. My sister lived in Jamaica back then and knew all the "reggae royalty". She disliked Marley for being a misogynist but hated Peter Tosh even more for the same reason. She also says the local culture was that it was absolutely normal for both men and women to have many children with many different partners regardless of marital status. But she still likes the music. I have no problem separating professional from personal lives unless it is a politician who is being hypocritical.
Oh good spot sandemon. Listening the first time, toward's the end I felt his acoustic sounded... off ...I didn't realize until reading your comment and replaying and actually watching it, that it was intentional. Love the effect it creates. Fits the song perfectly. God I can't even play mine unless it's in perfect tune, the idea of intentionally detuning it...
Yeah, he does come across as an asshole but he sure can write. That's a hell of a performance.
What's weird is listening to I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love and then reading his remarks re. women. I don't understand how those two worldviews can exist in one brain.
Yeah, it's pretty loose. The album that it's from- Benji- is worth a listen. Good the first time, unbelievable the tenth.
Sounds about right- I'm always about two years behind all the best of lists.
Went back and listened to Homework the other day right on the heels of RAM... their discography is pretty flawless.