New Study Shows 62% of Heavy Metal Fans Can’t Separate Art from Artist

Can you separate the art from the artist? It’s a question that has plagued fans of not just heavy metal, but of literally every musical genre that exists, has existed and will exist. But according to a new study done by TickPick, most music fans, including 62% of metalheads, can’t do it (including our own Emperor Rhombus, apparently).

The study surveyed music fans across different genres and age groups to ask their opinions on whether or not they can separate the art from the artist. It asked to what degree musicians should be held accountable for their behavior and whether or not they can be forgiven for it. The findings, needless to say, are pretty interesting, and although the study itself is too detailed to fully dive into in one article, there are a few highlights as far as we metalheads are concerned:

• 62% of heavy metal fans say it’s impossible to separate a musician from their art, which is 12 percentage points less than folk music fans
• Marilyn Manson is among the Top 10 artists fans have stopped supporting
• 51% of respondents believe that stopping their support of an artist depends on the circumstances

So when a musician fucks up, is it all doom and gloom forever onward? As far as the study is concerned, no. Although music fans as a whole do expect accountability from their favorite artists, most are also open to forgiveness so long as the artist puts forth legitimate effort to make amends.

However, the study also acknowledges that some artists cannot be forgiven due to the severity of their actions. R. Kelly specifically is ranked the #1 “artist people have stopped supporting due to as a result of recent controversy, ” which in his case is sex crimes. David Effelson is ranked #20.

You can read the study in its entirety at TickPick and sound off in the comment section.