Rock stars’ bad behaviour puts fans in sad situation

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/09/2022 (1488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’ve written a variation of this column before. A few times, actually. At this point it’s like, just change the names, you know?

This is how I felt when people asked for my take on the recent sexual misconduct allegations levelled at Win Butler, frontman of the Montreal indie rock band Arcade Fire, first uncovered in a report from the U.S.-based online music publication Pitchfork. Just crushing disappointment.

I wrote a piece when sexual assault allegations surfaced against Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard in 2018 (he’s since been found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm). And I wrote again when Ryan Adams was accused of preying on young women, particularly those trying to forge their own careers in music, in 2019. (Adams apologized for “mistreating people throughout his life and career” in 2020.)

The specific details in the Win Butler allegations are different, but the contours of the story are familiar: a male musician exploiting the adoration of his (usually young) fans. The shades of power and predation. The denial.

Per Pitchfork, four people have accused Butler of sexual misconduct that ranges from unwanted sexual photos and texts to touching. All four were in their late teens and early 20s in 2016-2000 when the alleged incidents occurred, and Butler was in his late 30s. Butler has denied the claims, saying the interactions were consensual.

Arcade Fire’s current world tour, which kicked off in Dublin at the end of August, is proceeding as scheduled. But Canadian singer-songwriter Feist, who was the opening act, left the tour after two shows. “I’ve always written songs to name my own subtle difficulties, aspire to my best self and claim responsibility when I need to,” she wrote in a statement. “And I’m claiming my responsibility now and going home.”

Feist also made clear the dichotomy of the situation: “To stay on tour would symbolize I was either defending or ignoring the harm caused by Win Butler and to leave would imply I was the judge and jury,” she wrote.

That’s the exact place fans now find themselves in — including me. I am a huge Arcade Fire fan. The band’s 2004 debut Funeral is a desert-island album for me. They were, for a long time, an important band to me.

Allegations of sexual misconduct obviously affect those coming forward and the artist at the centre of them. But they ripple outwards. It’s the fans, now, who are tasked with the unappealing — and often difficult — work of figuring out what this information means for them and their support moving forward. Do you go to the concert? Do you stop listening to the music? Can you still listen to old stuff but not new stuff?

It’s the fans, now, who are tasked with the unappealing, and often difficult, work of figuring out what this information means for them and their support moving forward.

Or is it all ruined now? Are the songs and albums that once meant so much to you — that served as the soundtrack for your formative years, or that instantly put you in a time and place, or that perhaps helped you through rough patches — now tainted by information that you, the fan, now have to decide what to do with?

I’m still teasing this apart for myself. But it makes me angry, for both the people coming forward and fans broadly. Wouldn’t life be so much easier if that bond between artist and fan didn’t feel like it was being constantly transgressed?

Cue the old, mouldy arguments involving Jimmy Page and “baby groupie” Lori Mattix, or Mötley Crüe and…well, take your pick. But not all power imbalances or instances of sexual misconduct look like rock-star clichés, as has been laid painfully clear by the events of the past few years.

People like to say, “it was a different time.” Sure. But it also is a different time. People are being held accountable now. Look at the veritable Woodstock ’99 documentary cottage industry that has sprung up in the last couple of years: people are re-examining things through a new — or, at least, a less smudged — lens. It’s getting harder and harder to cover up the rot in the music industry. This is a good thing.

If it’s the fans who built these pedestals, then it’s also the fans who can topple them.

Writing on Hedley, I mentioned that the #MeToo movement has struggled to get a foothold in the music industry in large part because fans tend to be diehard in their support.

I don’t know where the line is; people still listen to R. Kelly. But if it’s the fans who built these pedestals, then it’s also the fans who can topple them. And Arcade Fire fans are expressing their disappointment, requesting refunds or simply not attending shows they’ve waited months for.

The right move, now, would be for Arcade Fire to follow Feist’s lead and release its fans from having to make these kinds of decisions — of having to feel like tacit supporter or judge and jury — by suspending the tour. Barring that, fans should be issued refunds should they choose not to go.

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @JenZoratti