The recent spate of celebrity deaths and some spirited discussions on the blog about guilty pleasures and musical mystification suggests an interesting topic: As music fans, how much do we care about the musical preferences, personal philosophies or other opinions of popular artists whose work we admire?
A frequent right-wing put-down of (generally liberal) celebrities is, “Shut up and sing.” Is there a grain of truth in that slogan? Or is it the responsibility of popular figures to use their celebrity to champion what they think is right?