This is an awesome story if you find this sort of thing amusing.
It would seem that when the band was asked to play the convention, instead of turning it down because they had conflicting beliefs they used it as an opportunity to troll the Republicans. They played no hits, did things like poll the audience on how many believed in science and ended the show with Jumper a son about their gay friend who committed suicide. They followed that up with a plea for better LGBT rights.
Those who know me well know that I have long been a Third Eye Blind apologist. They are a mediocre mid 90s pop band, but they were the best of the mediocre mid 90s pop bands. This makes me very happy.
Jumper is their second-biggest hit, both chart-wise and how many times I’ve heard it on the radio (which is at least 5x too many but that’s another story.)
Yeah, I know. But this is how the story is being presented. They played Jumper as a protest song but otherwise played no hits. Sorry I wasn’t more clear.
Not sure how I feel about this. I’m fine with mocking the crowd from the stage…but as I’m reading more into it, it was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it was a charity “Musicians on Call” to raise money for musicians to visit sick kids in hospitals, put on by the RIAA.
Unless they signed a contract to play other hits, or something about not mocking the crowd, the band filled their end of the deal. And I’d certainly never heard of Musicians on Call before, I’m guessing the charity got more publicity out of this instead of if TEB did a normal performance. Since it was a benefit, presumably people paid money to get in, so it’s not like TEB made the charity lose money by doing this.
I might have been more ambivalent, but the crowd booed science and gay rights, so I’m definitely thinking that overall the band did a good thing.
As I said…I couldn’t care less what any band, or artist says on stage, I’m just of the mind that a charity event raising money for a foundation helping sick kids isn’t the best place to do it.
I can understand your point, but they did it there because that’s where they were surrounded by Republicans. They are surprisingly popular with Republicans and were invited to perform at something at the 2012 convention and turned it down because of not liking Romney and what the Republicans stood for. I guess Trump just pushed them too far and they must have taken this gig because they’d be surrounded by Republicans and could troll them. Even if there are a lot of Republicans in their normal concert crowds, usually they are fans who are Republicans, instead of being Republicans at a Republican Convention event. I’m guessing TEB wouldn’t normally get boos for science at other gigs.
I am curious about what the charity thinks though. They probably have to be somewhat neutral. Maybe they’d say something against TEB for being unprofessional, but maybe not. If I was in the band I might waive my fee or donate money to the charity or something to balance things out a bit.
I don’t see anything inappropriate about promoting a pro-science agenda at a charity event, particularly one focusing on health care - which is a pretty science-heavy concern. If you don’t “believe” in science, you probably shouldn’t be fundraising for hospitals to buy MRI machines. And there’s never a bad time to remind people that gay folks deserve rights, too.
If there were people in the audience who didn’t like those messages, well… fuck 'em.
I guess it depends on the tone of their question. I might not clap or raise my hand (although probably wouldn’t boo) if they asked it in a way that implies that I might not believe in science, because it is insulting to me to insinuate that I might not.
