If I Was Eddie Vedder, Would You Like Me Any Better?

So Pearl Jam is pissed off because they feel that AT&T censored them during the rebroadcast of their recent Lollapalooza set. During a version of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall," Vedder replaced a couple lyrics with:

"George Bush, leave this world alone"

and

"George Bush, find another home."

Now, Pearl Jam has ceased to be relevant musically since their last good album, "Yield." Eddie Vedder's voice sounds like my great-grandmother's did after 80 years of smoking - XM Radio's "Ethel" station occasionally plays Pearl Jam's cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me," and the deterioration of his voice is absolutely striking in it. And, I say this as someone who thinks "Vs." and "Vitalogy" are two of the best albums of all time. They just sound like they're phoning it in now.

But more importantly, Eddie Vedder's attempts at fighting big business in the past have failed miserably (hence why you can buy Pearl Jam tickets on Ticketmaster for the same outrageous prices he used to fight). And his political proselytizing on stage has not fared much better (at an April 2003 concert, while singing "Bushwacked," Vedder impaled a mask of George W. Bush on-stage, leading to a mass walkout by concergoers).

Anyway, I bring this all up to make a couple of points. First off, with the exception of truly political rock groups like Rage Against The Machine, rock and roll bands should stick to playing escapist rock and roll and leave politics to politicians and protestors. As a "Damn Dirty Republican" (as the Disgruntled Potential Father-in-Law calls me), at this point it's a huge risk for me to go to any rock concert and hope that it doesn't devolve into a leftist political rally. I was a bit nervous about the Virgin Festival because of this, but The Beastie Boys eschewed political rants and stuck to "Brass Monkey" and "Sure Shot." The result was an awesome show that EVERYONE in the audience (including soulless right-wingers like myself) enjoyed immensely.

Conversely, if I go to see Neil Young or Manu Chao, I expect to hear some anti-Bush or anti-war (because, of course, us Repubs are "pro-war", but that's another rant altogether) propaganda, but, as I noted above, these are inherently political groups (or at least Young was back in the 60's). It doesn't mean I'm happy with it, but at least it doesn't catch me by surprise or seem out of place. By the way, Manu Chao kicks ass.

I don't understand why Pearl Jam or other inherently NON-political bands feel the need to pander to the admittedly majority liberal audience members (in most places anyway) at the risk of completely alienating the more moderate or conservative concert-goers. If I go to see Pearl Jam, I want them to shut the fuck up and play "Corduroy" or "Alive"; I could care less about their political views. If I want to go to a political rally, I'll go to one. If these groups suddenly started ranting pro-Republican, people would be pissed off too, and for good reason. It's bullshit to get bombarded with that when you just want to hear a straight-up concert. I don't get my political views from musicians, and frankly I have little to no respect for anyone who does. If someone votes for Dennis Kucinich because Marilyn Manson told them to, that person's voting rights should be immediately revoked.

Secondly, and along these same lines, it continues to amaze and sadden me that there are more anti-Bush songs than anti-Al Qaeda songs. In fact, I'd challenge someone to come up with a single one, and I'll spot you country songs. Has the entire musical establishment collectively forgotten whose sole goal is our conversion to Islam or, failing that, our eradication?? Apparently, they have. The funny thing is, I'm guessing Osama wouldn't book Green Day for their next company picnic - unless everyone wore suicide vests, that is. No one is ranting about bombing northern Pakistan at their shows. Well, almost no one.

Anyway, sorry about the rant, and I'm sure I've just lost 3/4 of my readership (and by 3/4, I mean 3 out of the 4 readers I have), but it's just bullshit, is all. Like I said above, the complete opposite of this (liberals being tricked into attending a conservative rally) is bullshit as well. I hate that good bands that I like a lot have turned on me.

So, with that out of the way, tune in tomorrow for a blog about my weekend stay at the Blogadier General's lakehouse, by a surprise guest columnist!

P.S. I like Coldplay, but hate karaoke, so this is pretty much a wash for me. Funny stuff.