IN a week when legendary producer Phil Spector is facing a murder charge, Michael Jackson has been revealed to be at best horribly naive and at worst a complete loon, and fans of Pete Townshend are still scratching their heads in perplexity over that credit card incident, it is surely time to ask: Can we separate the artist from their art?

It is a problem. You like someone's music but then disturbing details about their personal life emerge and suddenly playing Kids Are Alright doesn't seem quite so appropriate. A DJ friend of mine was saddened at the Michael Jackson documentary as he was hoping it might result in a re-appreciation of his tunes. Instead the reality is that every time those 14 million viewers of Bashir's documentary hear Billie Jean their collective memory is not of a pop genius but an eccentric, deluded man-child entirely isolated from reality. It can't help but tarnish the magic. Jackson claimed he had a 'giving tree' that offered him inspiration for songs. He'd be better off chopping it down, whittling it into a space-ship and flying back to planet earth for a while. We miss him.

It is even worse in the case of Gary Glitter. I'm the Leader of the Gang and Do You Wanna Touch Me, once essential party tunes, must now carry with them the murky shame of the convicted paedophile. As such, requesting them at your niece's 16th is likely to fetch you some very funny looks. On the other hand, being a Gary Glitter fan has always held its own peculiar stigma so you might not actually notice.

The question is do the artist's action's detract from the art they produce? I can't help but feel that they do. In the Jacko documentary I was bewildered that the same person who wrote Off The Wall could have such inexcusable taste in vases.

Of course other celebs have been caught out over the last few months but most of the time that tension between loving their work while being appalled by their actions doesn't really arise.

After all, I don't suppose there are many people huddled over a shameful pile of old Blue Peter episodes, wondering if they are still permitted to appreciate the genius of John Leslie.

And of course it depends on what they have done to offend. Gun crimes do more to promote a rapper's career than to diminish it. Even murder might not entirely detract from a rock star's appeal, as long as it was done in passion and with a gun rather than premeditated and with a roll of piano wire and a rubber hose.

It is when artists reveal more disturbing, subversive tendencies that we find ourselves uncomfortable and it's of little comfort to realize this is nothing new. For years people have struggled with the idea that their favourite novelist was an unspeakable racist or their beloved composer a Nazi sympathizer.

Alas there is no reason why the most odious, contemptible people might not be able to make the sweetest, most wonderful creations. Proof, if we needed it, that life is nothing if not unfair.