I've just decided to look past his personal issues and just enjoy the music itself. I admit, after the news broke of the tape, I couldn't stand to listen to his music for a couple of days. It just seemed tainted to me. But I eventually came to the conclusion that I can't expect the rock artists/bands that I like to be complete angels on the road. I can't expect them to resist all of the temptations in rock&roll. And even though I may disagree with a lot of the stuff they do on the road, I'm still a fan of the music itself.
I admit, TGD isn't a great album. I'd say it's about on par with Weathered, maybe a little better. But even so, I can pull out the album every once in a while and just enjoy the lyrics and vocals. Even the music isn't that bad. "Justify" is still the best song on that album, imo, but I can enjoy other songs like "Sublime" and even "Let Me Go"(which I hated at first).
Getting things back on track, I'm hoping AB's new CD is better than ODR. My main problem with ODR(and it is a very good debut album) is the ballads(which, if they were better, I wouldn't have a problem with them as I do enjoy occasional ballads). Well, that and the lyrics, which are a bit too simplistic, a bit too generic for me(the ever picky lyricist that I am
). I'm hoping the next album is harder and that Myles does the majority of the lyrics.