Sounds like Adams has a lot to answer for. A good song is a good song, though. Can we appreciate the art while dissaproving of the artist and sympathizing for victims? Maybe that isn’t possible. But I believe we will find ourselves encountering more and more public figures who are hard to define as all good or all bad.
Death of the author and all that. I'll probably still listen to his stuff and torrent songs. Maybe. But I'm actually a huge fan of one of the artists quoted in the piece: Phoebe Bridgers. I thought the bad guy from a lot of her songs was Conor Oberst but apparently it was Ryan Adams. I can't really explain why I feel differently about Ryan Adams than Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon but I just don't see myself enjoying Adams songs for the foreseeable future
Honestly, a lot of artists were bad people. I find it ridiculous that I'm supposed to stop consuming someone's art just because they're an asshole. Just because I enjoy the art doesn't mean I endorse their behaviour. Miles Davis beat his lovers. Picasso was constantly cheating on his wives. I'm sure I could find countless examples if I went looking. Should we just burn all their contributions now? Come on. It's possible, and desirable, to be able to separate between different aspects of the same thing. Artists don't have to be Gods.
I no longer enjoy Salvador Dali after learning about what a bag of shit he was to his friends. Plenty of other artists who are shit bags I'm indifferent to their actions. There's no logic to this for me. Lots of people will say that you can't enjoy art made by bad people and I assume they live lives devoid of pleasure