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I think there is a connection between your perception of an artist and your perception of his or her art. For example, if the song Ja Accuse Ted Hughes (which I like) wasn't written by Sonic Youth but Paul Weller instead, I would dislike it and call it 'boring' and 'pseudo-experimental horseshit': I'd convince myself this was correct because Paul Weller annoys me.
More realistically, if Bob Dylan released an album tomorrow that was better than Another Side Of, I would call it a 'return to form' at most but regard it as average in the context of his career because it's a different era (I attach an extra, abstract 'meaning' to his albums made in the sixties), he's too old (no old man is going to tell me what's going on) and he's released too many albums already. None of them are anything to do with the music itself; it's just that such details effect how I interpret the music. Similarly if Neil Young’s Tonight's The Night wasn't made in the circumstances it was, I probably wouldn't be as tolerant of its dull, dingy atmosphere.
In conclusion if Lee Ranaldo bummed kids I would continue to listen to Sonic Youth but skip the 'Lee songs'.
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