Are you 4real? What is your true identity? If you’re in a band and those questions freak you out, here’s another: what are you going to do today? Yeah, June 3rd. Y’know, the day after #TheShowMustBePaused.
The massive platform that is Radiohead‘s FaceBook page has altered its profile pic to black, complete with a matching shade of dark void. No hashtags, no links, no nothing. Hang on, I’ll go check again. May have changed, right?
Nope, nothing but black.
No link to this: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
Let alone this (surely on brand for Thom Yorke, no?): https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/dyzva7/a-white-man-from-illinois-allegedly-brought-bombs-to-start-a-riot-at-the-minneapolis-george-floyd-protest
Head over to The Beatles Facebook page and they’ve done the same thing, although they’ve gone a step further and used THAT hashtag. No links to resources though. Absolutely nothing. In fact at 02:56AM, The official Beatles page has stopped short of changing their profile pic or cover photo. Nope, just a photo upload. Or should we label the move a photo op? We couldn’t get more lazy or more opportunistic if George Floylds body was wheeled out to take a selfie with Ringo, performing his two finger V for victory sign. Whoever’s running that page ought to be spoken to by someone who gives a fuck.
Maybe with a bit of quick editing, the post would feature something U.K based seeing as they’re a British entity:
http://blacklivesmatteruk.com/
The remaining two Beatles probably have no idea how that campaign is being run. I give it a week before comments revert to Lennon’s introduction of Ono to the band’s practices as being the main topic of conversation, when it could have been so much more than unpracticed electioneering.
It’s this kind of empty tokenism I fear. The ungainly shepherding of one fanbase after another into groupthink:
‘I just have to change my pic and share it with I love Radiohead’
… or some shit. Please don’t tell me that everyone is going to see such fare and start down the tunnel of self-research.
Sure, there are good people among you who will share a treatise or two on black suffering, but without actively encouraging fans to do so I despair that potential dialogue won’t occur effectively.
The genius of capitalism is to provide consumers the evidence of a soul, and in this case – mark my words – that soul is pretending to care about George Floyd’s family.
I propose alternative or rather, more effective measures.
Normalise nuanced articles by sharing them alongside your meals, your ten fav list pics, your fav Marvel movies and yeah, your records that you want people to buy. Let what is true now sit uncomfortably beside lesser posts beyond the time at hand. If we don’t seek to normalise the reveal of the ugly and vile then we contribute to hiding it, or waiting for the bias of capitalism to benefit from its appropriation.
Detail how important Radiohead and other big bands platforms are in sharing info, glorious education for people to disseminate on their own networks. How about the link to the gofundme page of you know who? I mean, a photo change makes for a powerful statement of intent, but easily becomes far more tokenistic than a razor brand creating an advert about toxic masculinity.
At least Gilette worked on its own image, whereas many bands will follow Radioheads’ melodramatic and wasted example. These musicians are complicit in conditioning their audience to make empty gestures, sharing King’s speech, the new cringefest of a meme, some Marvel endorsed Captain America art (Don’t look up the Superman one from D.C. It doesn’t send out the right message), or at least less militant investigations. Yes, this is the time for insightful proactive work. No, because you’re white doesn’t mean being silent is a sign of respect for murdered black people. Silence is … well, you ought to know what silence is by now.
I’m surrounded by platforms caught up in the widespread collective salute of capitalism’s crafty re-appropriation of solidarity. I get the earnestness to fit the narrative (who doesn’t want to do right by the deaths of innocents?), but after June 2nd passes, the industry can pat itself on the back and sell even more records. Bands, promoters, blogs, pundits and mags, all wanton sculptors in the grand facelift of the music industry as soulful and compassionate. You may read this post days after the event, maybe weeks and see for yourselves how these issues became old news for aforementioned outlets of change.
Exploitation never seemed so obvious.
Go on, dust off your Public Enemy or your Rage Against the Machine record and play it in the garden, share a pic of George Floyd, or even the video of his last moments. Top it all off by having a long and detailed conversation about being better than some brexiter, because they didn’t share a motherfucking photo of someone you’ve used to highlight how woke you are.
The ALL IS LOVE: AF GANG (IDLES Community) fanpage lifted an unnecessary policing/removal of BLM posts yesterday. Doing the 180 was a damn good move. It was the right thing to do. Let’s say it loud and clear, the blackout da is more style over substance. Sharing a heartfelt post with a hashtag isn’t enough. Share links. Illustrate your desire to share that picture of six or so black men shielding a lone police officer from an angry mob (not a made up example, it’s on my profile page on FB). Make the people who live within this matrix of social media due to the pandemic see posts on their feeds they may not have access to.
Share something that moves you on June 3rd, 4th, 5th. Let the subject be as relevant to your feeds as your favourite food. You can post both. One does not cancel the other.
Seriously, we know how Facebook works. You will add people that confirm your bias, but you’ll also inherit family members who don’t. Senior generations voted one way UK elections likely picture this movement with far less nuance. Band pages have ‘reach’ that one pundit, one fan, one friend of a friend doesn’t have. We know how this works, and yet, bands as massive as U2 with their global influence are not under any verbal/internet based mandate to share in a concerted way, no prescribed system beyond the fucking flag waving, casual virtue signal, empty gesture.
Yes, go check out U2’s social media today. What do you see? No, I won’t tell you, but you can guess, go on.
O.K, full disclosure: I’ve just laughed out loud upon my visit upon the site just now. Time is now 03:29. No posts cover the recent troubles at all. I guess Bono’s history of such efforts leave him in a damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. I suspect he wanted to but the speech he wrote is just a bit much. Anyway …
Individuals have only so much power, but the bands? The fucking counter-cultural entities that for the most part are incredibly articulate in sharing gender inequality, or ecological concern have ranged from outspoken to non-active.
I’m not exhausted by private message chats where white musicians voice concern of hijacking space for black activism in music. Had a wonderful chat with my friend Justine who said, ‘social media is like yoga; it takes practice to get it right.‘ I posited that there can be no harm in someone who looks like her and someone who looks like me talking about ways to prescribe activism. Exhausted? Hell no, I’m not. I’m outraged, if not completely mystified by people who have said one thing off and onstage, seemingly consistent characters who now forgo opportunity and access to express knowledge. They can use info, fundraising pages, reading lists, hashtags, articles and at the very least, open the conversation up for fans to engage. Silence is deafening.
Must one wait for NOVA TWINS before they do something (as if they wouldn’t, and how good were their posts)? Must one watch from the side and decide that Saint Agnes doing something means it’s now O.K? Desperate Journalist, Jessica Winter, Barbarella’s Bang Bang, We Can Do It, Brujx, Joyzine, Public Pressure, Shame made a post days ago with links and a statement that illustrates how to make your platform count.
Even if only a couple hundred of their fans go on to be a force for good due to worthy inspired words, that’s more work done in our fight (yeah, it’s our fight) to bleed the ignorance out of society. Healthy Junkies need not have got back to me within seconds and posted shortly afterwards. Look how big their fanbase is, and yet there was no thirty minute Zoom meeting constituting critical analysis on the sharing procedure. Sad there’s now a day’s worth of bands asked to DO NOTHING WHICH IS IN ITSELF HANDCUFFS UPON A MOMENT WHICH COULD BE MORE PROACTIVE. A concerted effort to not sell merch – cool – fine. A concerted effort not to post anything?
Hmmm. Oh fucking kay then.
Devil’s advocate time: we get insightful posts for weeks afterwards where testimonial after tear soaked confession is linked to a book, a study an inspirational video. This provides a longer more sustained look at systemic racism which fundamentally alters the consciousness of culture in America.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s far from fucking hard to give a shit beyond one day. Don’t let it be about today and then done.
What if the music industry collectively suggested there be one day a month to recognise what’s going on? Such unlawful killing happens far more regularly (go, do your research) but twelve collective pushes a year from the industry would mean far more than this one-off. Sure, there will be an annual day named after George (perhaps wishful thinking, but let’s go there), but like Christmas, the occasion doesn’t really fit the sentiment – uh uh … it’s still beholden to the rebranding of the machine via it’s many symbiotic candidates, all vying to pierce beyond the outer wall.
Hey, silent bands! Where the hell is the fight you exhibit in interviews, lyrics, dresscode, stance on Trump, anger at Brexit, commentary on safe spaces, coalition with bands of colour, fundraising shows, marches, charity singles and indeed, the idea of punk rock being a klaxon for revolution? I love your music, but your silence is … yeah, you know.
For the record, I believe in incremental change. Arguably, seemingly, bands seek deep access to the heart of the cold organism. Hopefully to corrupt it and not merely to playact within trappings documented by Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins. I digress.
I’m not asking for too much. The people who look like me cannot be worth so very little.
Designate a single post with links for donations and education. Show people posts by VICE, BuzzFeed, even the fucking The Evening Standard Magazine which point to the number of groups (some of them white supremacist) who freely STOKE FIRES OF VIOLENCE IN STATES THEY DON’T LIVE IN FOR THEIR OWN AGENDA.
Yes, we must dispel the idea that it’s all the angry black people fighting the good natured white police in the protection of black homes. Maybe the truth is more sinister? Indie rockers in positions of influence, unaware of why #blacklivesmatter. So why should they use power to spread the word, I mean, how many people look like me attend their gigs? Principles being radius sensitive are technically not principles.
When someone tells me about sexual discrimination, my job isn’t to qualify them, but to listen to their story and ask ‘what can I do to help?’
When a black music pundit messages you about using your platform in an effective way about shared ideals, your job isn’t to qualify them, but to listen and ask ‘What can I do to help?’
Fuck it.
Don’t use the platforms you have for a day to sell your wares.
Fine.
Look at your posts and keep the limp attempts of The Beatles, Radiohead and fuck knows how many other in mind. Does it do more than just label you as one of the good guys, or have you found a link or article that genuinely inspired you/could affect those seeing one narrative with some truth far more accurate? No? Then sort it out.
Go on your blackout for 24 hours. Educate yourselves and talk about recent events. It’s cool, but do remember this: A week from now the capitalist machine will be in overdrive, guilt free and token gestured out. All the money supposedly lost today WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN CREATIVELY MANAGED TOWARDS MANY RECEIVERSHIPS OF THE CAUSE, all gone. The mags, the bands (well-meaning and the fake artists), and the creatives will have been granted a global license to move on. And some of them would have shared effectively after speaking to other bands about collaborating in sharing schemes across all platforms.
You know, actually working together beyond looking out for where their brand as an island fits in with things. I think I’ll be more hopeful once someone reads, really takes all this anger in and does something useful with it. Especially misunderstanding people who think the issue will vanish from relevance once the unrest stops. But yeah, some ought to read a book right now, return on Wednesday 3rd June, hopefully willing to engage with online crowds with more than a blacked out picture and a hashtag as their offering. Perhaps that was always the plan, but from a variety of badly tagged posts with little to no flair, it’s safe to say some people will return on Wed 3rd June with a business as usual mindset. They did their job with the cosmetic update on the 1st, right? Those people will have even less to say than now.
To you I say prove me wrong. Or better still, prove yourself.
Some would have sparked awareness and debate creatively, beyond THAT picture change, their tactless Ringo V for victory hand posture. Some would have cut their true identity into their history by being 4real.
