Another Way To Breathe

You’re right to spend some time thinking about this. It’s not one with an easy answer. I’m not sure if I have one. I’m not sure I won’t change my mind next week and never listen to an R Kelly or Jackson or Led Zepplin  (or whoever) record ever again.

You read the village voice interview that dropped this week?

Which is a great interview. Really great. I’m not sure I buy the argument that separates R Kelly from (say) Zepplin (i.e. the persona in their records is nothing like their behaviour). You don’t get a song much more about belligerent male sexuality than Whole Lot Of Love, for example.

I’m generally a separation of art from artist, while respecting anyone who feels otherwise. I’m also aware there’s limitations to that stance, and actions that would make me not listen to someone’s art, no matter how great that art is. The Lost Prophets situation would be an example of that. If they were the Beatles, I wouldn’t be listening to them any more.

(They’re the Lost Prophets - I wouldn’t have listened to them anyway.)

But generally speaking, if the art is not in and of itself problematic, and genuinely, truly great (i.e. will make individual’s life worse not to experience it) I go with it. Doubly so if it’s embedded in popular culture in a larger way, like Ignition (or Whole Lot of Love or Billy Jean) are. Culturally speaking, they have a life outside of their creators. They’re out there, in the mix. You cannot unwrite that. It’s simply there. Triply so if it’s an individual small piece of work rather than a whole body of work (i.e. I can be okay with Ignition, but not listen to literally anything else).

I’m also aware of the privilege showing by me being able to be philosophical about this. 

In the question of the playlist, it’s used as a nod towards the literal content of it. It’s a song about an afterparty, so narratively speaking it fits. I can’t think of a pop song more connected to the concept of afterparties than Ignition. As such, it went in, on instinct. I’d parodied the lyrics of it in the solicitation. Like most the solicits, it was written in stream of consciousness style and based on straight word connection (Afterparty –> Ignition joke.)

I also suspect if I wasn’t doing it on instinct, I may have gone a different way.