Tuesday 26 November 2013

The Gary Glitter Dilemma

As we inch towards December i face the usual moral dilemma regarding Christmas tunes and the Gary Glitter song 'Another Rock n Roll Christmas' and whether it is okay to listen to it and actually admit to liking it.
Ever since his arrest in 1997 and subsequent conviction for possession of thousands of items of child pornography on his computer and his later conviction of obscene acts with minors in Vietnam and Cambodia, Glitter has been an outcast and his records banished from the media.
The problem i have is i hate the person but love the song and pre-1997 'Another Rock n Roll Christmas' was as much played as Slade's and Wizard's festive efforts but to admit to liking anything associated with Gary Glitter now is taboo.
In an ideal World we wouldn't choose the music on the basis of how pleasant the artist is because it would seriously reduce the amount of music we would listen to.
Michael Jackson is still revered by many and Pete Townshend has only recently come off the sex offenders list for accessing child pornography but Jackson and The Who songs have not been taken off the radio playlist and Bill Wyman's sexual relationship with a 13 year old Mandy Smith never saw the Rolling Stones records binned.
It does seem though that with Gary Glitter it is harder to detach him from his music which is strange because  musical history is full of artists who have been awful people and 'Another Rock n Roll Christmas' is a great Christmas song but was sung by a truly awful person which puts it in a grey area.

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