I would say we can respect anyone artistically who has always been doing what they do. Not to sound all "punk rock 4 life dude!!" but the majority of bands and artists out there are corporate puppets. you have gay little tattooed, swoopy haired "punk rock", you have the minstrel show that is "rap", you have slick, patriotic "country music" that only appeals to white americans with the IQ of a retarded child....the majority of artists that are making money are vessels for the marketing teams of record companies who seem to think everyone wants the dumbest, lamest shit ever when it comes to music (and apparently they are right). for that matter, the same can be said for cinema, authors, etc. if you approach being an artist with the attitude that youre going to do what you love and if the money comes, its a bonus, then youre solid in my book. if you set out to make money from the get go then fuck you....go sell cars or some shit. youre an assclown.
people that fit into this category for me include...queens of the stone age, hunter s thompson, chuck palahniuk, mop, jonny cash, darren aronofsky, quentin tarantino, john krakauer, vincent cassel and, yes, christopher walken. if i was in hollywood this would be my ideal running crew.
actually, no...thats all dudes. ill have to think of some women to throw in there.