This guy seems to judge artists (at least in part) on whether they used drugs. Hey, I'm anti-drug, and I never defend or rationalize their use. But the quality of someone's art should judged on it's own merits or lack thereof.
But the quality of someone's art should judged on it's own merits or lack thereof.
Agreed. And whether we chose to like it or not, it is the very fact that some of these folks toyed with drugs that maybe inspired them. Maybe I should say that the folks who are "out of the box" are out not only in their art, but also in their social customs and ways of life.
Wow, you missed the point completely. He was not judging their art at all. In fact he described almost every one of the individuals as "good" or "great". His issue was their selfish choices that took them and subsequently their art from us. Those of us who made them the popular artists they were. They took our money and spent it on poison that eventually killed them. His point is that they may have been great artists, but they were very selfish people. And I agree.
that's not what I got from him at all - he's saying that great artists short-changed us by limiting their ability to use their gifts and shouldn't be eulogized for it.