Look at the case of the Nursery worker who was convicted a couple of years ago, her husband never suspected a thing

Exactly. People live with and are married to paedophiles and don't know it until it's too late sadly These types of people are wily and secretive for as long as possible & put on a front to their nearest and dearest.

Plus, out of the 6 band members, three live in America, one in London and one between Birmingham & LA....it was only Ian who remained in Wales. They all have different side projects going on and only really came together to record new music or tour. Lostprophets was just one of many things they do with their lives/careers.

And as the article says, they weren't sharing hotel rooms etc in the later years. Remember, these are all grown men in their 30s, half with young families. They're not young lads on tour for the first time wanting to explore the new town they're in, or party hard after a show. They've done that several times over. It'd only really be Ian DJing at after show parties. He was off doing his own thing. As we all now know

And remember, the evidence was recovered from his home address. Not a tour bus or dressing room.

It really surprises me people think the band knew.

I listen to Phil Spector produced/written tunes. I watch films directed by Roman Polanski and Victor Salva. I'm sure there are other examples.

Mike Tyson has nearly 4m twitter followers. I'm not one of them but it's not because I've taken a 'moral' stance.

None of these people's crimes, in my opinion, come close to Mr Watkins. In fact it is quite a common belief that Tyson is not guilty of the crime he was jailed for.

And what is your point? That you don't care?

The way you put "moral" in quotes indicates your derision for people not wanting to glorify or line the pockets of sex offenders and murderers.


Phil Spector murdered someone. He actually ended someone's life. IW didn't.

Roman Polanski drugged then raped and sodomised a 13 year old girl who was so undeveloped that she didn't even wear a bra yet.

Victor Salva was jailed for sexually assaulting a 12 year old girl. But people don't care about female victims any more as soon as they're too old for primary school.

The amount of suffering that Spector and Polanski caused is equal to that which IW has caused. People are just more offended by his crimes because he is more mentally deviant, and because babies are seen as holy and are never on the receiving end of victim-blaming, unlike older female children and women.

"In fact it is quite a common belief that Tyson is not guilty of the crime he was jailed for"

- and unfortunately, this is quite a common belief about all men jailed for rape.

I think as long as you separate the art from the artist, its fine to listen to the music or enjoy the performance etc. Lost Prophets didnt sing or promote any message that is related to the criminal case, so nothing wrong with still enjoying the music. Might not wish to play it loud in a car in the middle of town for a few years though.

Somewhat similar situation with the amazing BBC comedy The Thick Of It. The guy who plays Hugh Abbot for the first two series's was convicted and sent down for child porn. But it doesnt take away from the great TV show, although it does make for some very odd gags (like when Hugh makes a joke about the press hating him, and saying they will next "make gestures to me being a nonce". Something like that. Wonder if he felt odd giving that joke knowing what he knows)

One of my points is that it's very easy to set out a somewhat inflexible position on an issue without thinking it through. I choose not to back myself into a corner.

I don't like the pretence of things being cut-and-dried. Take the situation with The Who. There was no conviction involved and I'm sure many people accept the explanation given but Townshend was put on the sex offenders register and some would argue rightly so or that he was lucky to get away with a caution.

Any derision I have is for fuzzy logic, hypocrisy, convenient goal-post moving, poorly-conceived dogma etc rather than the people delivering it - which is all of us on occasion (although the frequency varies greatly).

It comes down to personal ethics and morals. When I found out the disgusting truth about Roman Polanski, I could no longer watch his films. I used to love Chinatown, but certain themes within that movie jar once you know Polanski's mindset. The fact he's never done the decent thing and admitted he done something wrong or submit himself to a trial for his abhorrent crime, it just appals me.

Do you feel the same about the Rolling Stones music because of Mandy Smith and Bill Wyman??

You can't really compare different crimes against each other but i'd say Murder "comes close" to Paedophilia

i agree with the point you are making, but whilst some of those were convicted for crimes, it doesn't necesarily mean they did them. phil spector was convicted for murder but strongly denies it and the blood splatter evidence supports his claim. mind the guy was a bit of a nutter and had violent tendencies so maybe did do it. whether he did or didn't, i still play his music.

last night actually i had a request for one of the named shamed bands that i mentioned i didn't mind playing, and it made me think of this thread. i was about to put on rock n roll xmas afterwards (but didn't)

If I murdered someone I'd expect my family to still visit me in prison, in the case of the other I'd expect them to disown me.

Does art or music always have to present a morally correct position? The answer is no, because morality changes and art is one of the forces which assists with changes in morality (think Lady Chatterley etc). Also art has to depict morally difficult situations because those exist in life (Think Lolita).

By extension, does the artist creating the art or music have to be of high moral standing? The answer is no. The art stands up for itself.

Although we do assume that the creators of extreme metal music or torture porn movies aren't actually depraved they are just depicting these things?

You do realise that that is a similar moral position as those who advocate 'honour' killings in Asian and other societies ?

You made a fool of yourself then IMHO.

I can't think of a single reason why Glitter shouldn't earn royalties from music he made. He's served his time. You might also like to know that Glitter earns substantial royalties from the massive-selling Oasis album "What's the Story Morning Glory", because Noel Gallagher "borrowed" his music for that. Does anyone make a fuss about that or boycott that Oasis album? Er, no.

I haven't seen Glitter's stuff in a HMV store since his conviction.

Watkins is going to prison for the rest of his life (or psychiatric care). Does anyone seriously think he's ever going to see the light of day again after what he was trying to do? Banning the Lostprophets music won't hurt him, it hurts the rest of the band.

You're lucky the member bornslippy isn't on this thread. Didn't you know deriving any humour whatsoever from a topic like this makes you SCUM?

I'm surprised dodger0703 hasn't pulled you up on it actually.

Watkins does seem especially sick, but at least he is facing justice. Polanski sodomised an underage girl and has evaded justice for it ever since. Spector is a psychopath. So is Tyson (as he proved by biting a guy's ear off). I've no reason to doubt the rape conviction of Mike Tyson (if anything I'd say it's absolutely watertight because if anyone could afford to buy his way out of American justice it would be Mike Tyson!!!) and I've found attempts to rehabilitate him with films like The Hangover fairly intriguing to say the least, considering how others like Glitter become persona non grata.

If you were Peter Sutcliffe you'd be disappointed then, as his father wanted him hanged.

Best quote I have read today

I'm not a massive fan of the Stones per se, so it's a moot point, but as creepy as Wyman's marriage was, it doesn't compare to Polanski's pure evil. If Jagger or any other of them is revealed to have committed such a heinous act I would not be able to enjoy any of their songs.

It's a personal choice for me whether to accept art from a corrupt source. If I discover that someone who has created something that I have allowed into my life has a genuinely depraved past, I have to re-assess that creation with the knowledge of what that person was capable of. I can't help but involuntarily perceive things in a different light if/once I discover an artist has an intolerably perverse viewpoint to life. For example, Gary Glitter's songs took on a nasty edge for me once his sexual crimes were exposed for the world to see. I can't abide the the thought of spending time in the company of those songs ever again.

The thing is that the whole Gary Glitter project was much more the creation of Mike Leander than Paul Gadd. Leander wrote, arranged, produced and played most of the instruments (i.e. he created the distinctive drum sound) on all the main Glitter hits. Gadd was just the front man who hadn't been that successful up until meeting Leander. Leander's reputation is ensured from his 60s work with The Beatles, The Stones etc. but I mainly associate him with Glam Rock.

gadd/glitter wasnt the only major glam star to be a failed/poor rated 60's act... alvin startdust, t rex, bowie, slade, to name but a few all had been trying with limited degrees of success in the 60's before making it big with glam.