Maybe the operative word is "anything but" -- as in, what's the point of talking about how good or bad a harpsichordist he was, or whether it would have been fun to split a pitcher of Martinis with him, or just how gay he was, or or or... Because he was a bad influence etc. and that's all that counts.
I don't contest the bad-influence point, except insofar as I question the influence tout court. Even so, all those other questions seem at least mildly interesting to me.
But hey, to each his own.