It's an interesting one this - should we suddenly reject an artist's art if the artist becomes disgraced through one misdemeanour or another? Perhaps UK exam board AQA could ask that question of GCSE students next summer, though they do seem to have already answered it themselves - the answer seemingly being "oh yes".
AQA have removed Gary Glitter's hit 'I'm The Leader Of The Gang' off the "related listening" list of their music GCSE syllabus after someone pointed out the horrific dangers of teenagers listening to music created by a convicted paedophile. I mean, we all know how a good song can touch people, just imagine what a paedophile's song might do.
AQA removed the song off the "related listening" list after complaints from teaching bodies, politicians and the Sun. The tabloid quoted one unnamed deputy head teacher who said: "He's a convicted paedophile jailed for sexually abusing kids. It's completely inappropriate to recommend him as listening material. Boys and girls of 15 or 16 who select this song will go straight to the internet to find Glitter's music".
Dr John Dunford, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, also criticised the inclusion of the song on the study list, telling reporters: "Schools registered with this examination board depend on the board to choose appropriate texts, and will have been dismayed at the choice of a Gary Glitter song. No teacher should be in the position of having to discuss this man's work with the young people in their class, and all teachers will have rejected the idea of using this material. I welcome the withdrawal of this song, which should never have been included in the first place".
Campaigners also say that the exam board listing might lead to students buying copies of Glitter's music which would, of course, earn him royalties. As previously reported, objections to Glitter earning off his back catalogue were recently raised when it was revealed one of his songs had been used in a Hewlett Packard advert. The good news on that front, of course, is that most school kids would probably steal his music off P2P anyway, so there's probably no danger of him earning off his appearance on the syllabus.
Though he's no longer on it anyway - AQA have confirmed they are reissuing their Music GCSE course work outlines sans the paedophile. A spokesman for the exam board told reporters: "We regret any offence that has been caused by its inclusion and we will be contacting our centres and recalling the paper".