woodshed willie

nice simple question, willie.

the next topic will presumably be "how do we acheive world peace".

perhaps we could work up to that one with "how do we acheive whirled peas".

i will give this some thought and get back to you all.
 

A wife beater? I'd like to see a source. I hope that vilifier doesn't list "listening to music" (or "reading books" or "watching movies" for that matter) among their interests because with that standard they ain't gonna be doing much of it.

Womanising, boozing, drug abuse, general bastardry to other people don't bother me. If I'm married to the bloke these things become relevant, if I'm just listening to his records, they do not.

My libertarianism on the issue is tested by David Allen Coe though. A fine songwriter and singer, but I just can't shake the disgraceful legacy of his racist songs. 30 yrs ago sure and he has vaguely distanced himself from them, but not nearly far enough for me.
 

I've not seen a wifebeating source myself and I've read a few Hank books. If anything he may have been in the doghouse more than a few times.
 

i'm thinking flop eared mule may have the key to this question.

as jesus is reputed to have said (i think) "let he amoungst us who has not sined cast the first stone".

the question here may not be the sin but the promotion of sin.

unless hank wrote a song along the lines of "i'm a wife beater and i'm damn proud" it is hard to boycot his culture on an ethical basis.

if, of course, hank had written "i'm a dirty rotten wife beater blues" we could promote him to libertarian saint.

st. hank.
 

Well to me there is a big difference in saying the someone was a bad husband because he was a drunk and an adulterer and he was a bad husband because he beat up his wife.

Hank ran around and everyone knows the love/hate thing he had with Audrey.
 

flop eared mule,

i agree with you. i am personaly not convinced that 'drunk' has on its own a pejorative sense. i am not saying the are not 'ugly drunk's but there are as many 'pretty drunks'. enough about me.

adulterer is, i think, in a slightly different category. for adultery to be immoral it has to break an understanding between the married parties. it is, in this case, fair to assume that that understanding exists unless we know differently. i would agree that this act (immoral adultery) is an order of magnitude more moral than partner beating.

i still an inclined towards the idea that even if hank is a partner beater so long as he doesn't promote it in his music we can evaluate his music without reference to his partner beating.
 

so does that mean I can't enjoy the music of 98% of musicians? even bach was a "naughty boy"
who cares what they do as long as the tunes are cool
 

Music is a subjective, aural phenomenom. Usually I like to let my ears do the listening. However, if an artist uses their art to make a statement, or engages in public lifestyle practices which I find distasteful, that can colour my enjoyment of their art.

BTW I'm sure that Hank was not a wife beater. I quoted an anti Hank person.
 

willie,

when you speak of the anti hank person.....

i'm sure garth won't mind you using his name.