Bands I Like but Won't Listen To

For various reasons there are a several bands that I have stopped Listening to. Some I won't listen to even though I already own their albums.

Crystal Castles

Ethan Kath was abusive toward Alice Glass basically the entire time they were in Crystal Castles together and is a gross dude. I can't listen to their music anymore knowning it was basically made under duress.

Alice Glass continues to make music that is pretty good. I listen to her solo work instead.

Michael Jackson

The rumors of child abuse are too much. I can't enjoy listening to him anymore.

Tool

Maynard James Keenan has been accused of rape. Aenima* is an incredible album that I won't buy or probably listen to ever again. A single anonymous twitter account isn't a lot of evidence that MJK did do something awful, but I'm erring on the side side of caution. There is plenty of music I can listen to not made by people accused of rape.

Queens of the Stone Age

Nick Oliveri was arrested for felony domestic violence. At the time he was a former member, but has joined the at shows several times since then. He was a member, however, for the two albums I'm most interested in, Rated R and Songs for the Deaf. If I bought them, he'd get some royalties and I don't want him getting any of my money.

Whirr

In 2015 the band wrote some gross anti-trans tweets. I really enjoyed Sway and generally their brand of shoegaze is right up my alley. Maybe, hopefully, they have changed in the 8 years since this incident.

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I'm not a "separate art from the artists" person. I honestly think that claiming we should is moral cowardice¹. Not consuming media from awful people is basically the easiest boycott possible because there is so much other media not made by awful people. So if someone decides to buy the new Harry Potter game or see the new Woody Allen movie even though they "know" JK Rowling and Woody Allen personally suck, how weak are their convictions? Why claim to believe things if those beliefs don't manifest into even the tiniest, easiest (in-)action?²

Often, once someone dies, the question of whether or not reading their books/listening to their music/watching their movies becomes murkier. They don't benefit from people paying money for their art in any way. "Boycott until dead" seems like a reasonable stance. Even if I'm not interested in listening to Michael Jackson, I won't begrudge others if they do. I don't feel any particular moral qualms about reading H.P. Lovecraft. The money I paid for his books doesn't go towards racist causes so far as I know. It's wonderful that people have been able to build on his worlds and especially satisfying when done in a way that would offend his racist ass.