Music & War

[Sizzler]

Originally Posted by BeanCounter

To some people there's always a great conspiracy on something and it's generally headed up by "the man"

For those of you who think "the man" is a myth or a conspiracy theory and nothing more...

A live Internet broadcast of Pearl Jam's performance at Chicago's Lollapalooza music festival Sunday went off without a hitch -- until singer Eddie Vedder criticized President Bush.

Lyrics critical of the president didn't make it past editors of the show's Webcast, the band complained Wednesday on its Web site.

The performance, sponsored by AT&T Inc. and carried on AT&T's "Blue Room" site, omitted the lyrics "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush, find yourself another home" as part of a version of the song "Daughter," according to the Pearl Jam Web site.

"When asked about the missing performance, AT&T informed Lollapalooza that portions of the show were, in fact, missing from the Webcast.

The statement from Pearl Jam, a band with strong political views, cited net neutrality in its statement as an issue.

"If a company that is controlling a Webcast is cutting out bits of our performance -- not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations -- fans have little choice but to watch the censored version," the band said. "What happened to us this weekend was a wake-up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band."

Once again, back in the heydays of protest music, there was more independence both in control of what was played and in what was marketed/produced. Today's consolidation into corporate conglomerates of the music business, is anathema to free thought/speech/song being made available to the American public.

[BeanCounter]

The performance, sponsored by AT&T Inc. and carried on AT&T's "Blue Room" site

I guess if I censor a guest who is my home then I'm "the man" too. AT&T has the right to censor whatever they want on their site in my opinion. Pearl Jam (ugh) can spend their own money if they want to say what they think.

I hear the thump of the blades but it's too dark to make out the helicopters.

[VRM]

Sizzler,
The people who care about Pearl Jams politics knew about it faster than the ATT had time to shut it down. They will IM a few message groups and exponentially spread the news faster than you can thread up your reel to reel.

Like I said before - 'The Man' is now the buying public.

Steve

[TampaFla]

I see where the Dems are afraid that Hillary won't appeal to independent voters.........they are right, neither will any of the candidates running as Republicans.....where is Jessie Ventura when the country really needs him?.