Post by 3mhenry on Mar 16, 2015 3:13:48 GMT
Recently, the Canadian band Viet Cong have come under fire from critics for their name, which they borrowed from the Vietnamese military/terrorist organization of the 60s and 70s. While they have been around for about three years, the controversy has only emerged in the past few weeks. A Viet Cong show scheduled at Oberlin in Ohio was cancelled by the organizers due to the name. Andy Gill of the British Post-Punk band Gang of Four (a reference to the Chinese communist leaders during the Cultural Revolution) commented with the following:
"it's a little ridiculous to ban bands for their name. We can all think of dozens of bands with really quite offensive names and as soon as you get into being the guardian of public morality, taking it upon yourself to decide whats ok and what is not, you are acting in an illiberal, undemocratic and anti-progressive way. People should be treated as grown ups, capable of making their own decisions . We should not be deciding for people what we think they are capable of understanding or not. Artists; film-makers, writers, musicians need to be un-censored so they can make their point, political or otherwise. - Andy"
I can think of dozens of great and horrible bands with names that could be taken by some as offensive. The Dead Kennedys, Black Sabbath, Diarrhea Planet, Death, The Sex Pistols, The Circle Jerks, The Butthole Surfers, the late great Jay Reatard (and more that I probably shouldn't write here) have all come under fire and lost countless opportunities due to their names. But rock n roll isnt supposed to be safe and non threatening. While I dont support the messages that the names might imply, I respect their artistic decisions, and free speech rights. I've never even listened to Viet Cong.
Do you agree with venues that cancel these bands shows?
www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2015/03/gang_of_fours_a.html
"it's a little ridiculous to ban bands for their name. We can all think of dozens of bands with really quite offensive names and as soon as you get into being the guardian of public morality, taking it upon yourself to decide whats ok and what is not, you are acting in an illiberal, undemocratic and anti-progressive way. People should be treated as grown ups, capable of making their own decisions . We should not be deciding for people what we think they are capable of understanding or not. Artists; film-makers, writers, musicians need to be un-censored so they can make their point, political or otherwise. - Andy"
I can think of dozens of great and horrible bands with names that could be taken by some as offensive. The Dead Kennedys, Black Sabbath, Diarrhea Planet, Death, The Sex Pistols, The Circle Jerks, The Butthole Surfers, the late great Jay Reatard (and more that I probably shouldn't write here) have all come under fire and lost countless opportunities due to their names. But rock n roll isnt supposed to be safe and non threatening. While I dont support the messages that the names might imply, I respect their artistic decisions, and free speech rights. I've never even listened to Viet Cong.
Do you agree with venues that cancel these bands shows?
www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2015/03/gang_of_fours_a.html