If Phil Spector is convicted of murder...

[Buried Alien]

Legendary pop/rock producer Phil Spector is currently on trial for a murder that he allegedly committed at his home in 2003. If he is convicted of murder, will it affect your view of and enjoyment of the music he has produced over the years?

I ask because of the precedent of Michael Jackson. Many former fans of his music have been unable to appreciate his music in the same light that they did in the past due to Jackson's bizarre behavior and some of the things he has allegedly done with children. They become unable to separate the artist (and his character defects) from his art.

If Spector is convicted of murder, would it similarly affect your enjoyment of his musical work?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Spike-X]

So what you're asking is, if he was convicted today...

Will We Still Love Him Tomorrow?

[Buried Alien]

So what you're asking is, if he was convicted today...

Will We Still Love Him Tomorrow?

Heh. Yeah. :)

That was one song he *didn't* produce, though.

I also wonder if Spector is convicted, if the oldies radio stations will start pulling the songs he produced from their playlists. Many of those are their most popular songs: the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and "Unchained Melody," George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," among others.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Spike-X]

Most people don't give a toss who produced what. "River Deep, Mountain High" isn't a Phil Spector production to them, it's by Ike and...

...ok, bad example.

[JoeK32880]

It won't affect me in the least. It's not like he was the performer or anything, it's an entirely different situation. It's like, if a record executive was convicted of murder would you stop buying records he release?

Anyway, nothing will get me to stop listening to Let It Be.

[Kara Zor El]

It may matter on some Ronettes stuff and the Spector box set and hits albums may suffer. But no I don't think it will effect much.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if even a conviction made Spector's more popular than ever, at least in some circles. A lot of people who had never, or barely, heard of him before to the trial have probably checked out his music as a result, and he's probably gotten some new fans.

Now, those fans may not insist that his music be played on the radio, and they may not even buy the tiny amount of his greatest work (1960-1966) which is available on CD. They may simply download and listen to it on their own. But you might have noticed that Michael Jackson's public humiliation came at the same time as his place in the pop pantheon was most securely established by the sincerest form of flattery -- Justin Timberlake's hip rehash of his 80s peak. Phil Spector's era of dominance is also being re-assessed and taken out for new, unorthodox spins by indie acts like the Pipettes. Anything that results in more light being shone on a pop era that deserves to be better known than simply What The Beatles Displaced is, in my eyes, a good thing.

[parrish]

I try to seperate the music from the artist. If I refused to listen to someone's music because of their lifestyle I wouldn't listen to anyone. Murder is far worse that smoking pot or something, but its the same principle to me.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Spector most certainly was a performer, in fact he played all of the instruments/produced/wrote/arranged and sang on the Teddy Bears #1 smash To Know Him Is To Love Him.
The basic point that no one thinks of him as a performer -- enhanced by the fact that he hid behind the "Teddy Bears" name on that early single -- remains valid.

[JoeK32880]

The basic point that no one thinks of him as a performer -- enhanced by the fact that he hid behind the "Teddy Bears" name on that early single -- remains valid.

Yeah, I don't even know that song. Doesn't matter to me at all.

Care to be more of a jerk?