The Straw Man Strikes Back

For the record, us frat boys have never "hated on" the Scottish indie band The Fratellis on the basis of their politics. Nor have we have we ever criticized their music based upon their perceived political leanings. For that would be the behavior of one of "those" conservatives. You know, close-minded, uptight, old, angry, hairy-backed, swamp developing, etc.

As a matter of fact my review of the only song by the Fratellis I have ever heard was a veritable rave:

Global warming hysteria hypocrisy aside, not bad. For a bunch of Scottish wankers.

It is true, the Fratellis earned a Loon of the Week Award the week of July 7, 2007. That was for their idiotic promotion of ways for people to alleviate global warming. Idiotic ideas given while they were spokesman for the cause, no less.

Generally speaking, idiocy doesn't work in the realm of public policy advocacy. (Preceding sentence subject to future editing based on result of 2008 MN Senate race featuring Al Franken). But often times it is an asset in the realm of popular music, especially for music targeted at adolescents. I recognize that and would never transfer the higher expectations of politics to rock and/or roll.

So, Bogus Doug:

'Yah, I know the Frat Boys hate the Fratellis on the basis of politics. Not too helpful. Most of the best artists of our (probably any) generation endorse sucky politics.

The thing is, the first Fratelli album was freaking awesome! It was all punky yet dancy and introspective, yet only to the extent it made it even better. It was pretty much the perfect album for its genre and its age. Infectious. A bevy of hit singles to choose from. Hitting the right notes for the time.

and Mitch Berg:

What Doug said. If I had to reject all music that didn't agree with me politically, I'd be pretty much down to Ted Nugent, Johnny Ramone (who, drat the luck, never did a solo album), Five for Fighting (if only on foreign policy), maybe Franky Perez, and country-western.

But dammit, I like to rock. And it doesn't bother me that some of my favorite artists--Springsteen, Pete Townsend) have some of the dumbest politics--because I'll care about what musicians think about politics about the time I care what John Kline or Michele Bachmann think about music; interesting trivia, perhaps, but not why I hired any of them.

And so--I loved the first Fratellis album. It was fun. I enjoyed it.

.... you'll be happy to hear, I agree with you. While the type of music played by the Fratellis doesn't interest me in the least, I stand by the principle of not allowing doctrinaire political beliefs to determine one's appreciation of music. Do you think I could be rocking the Ray Conniff Singers every night in my den if I worried about their no doubt radical, destabilizing beliefs?

Now, I know both Doug and Mitch to be uniquely open-minded, hip, quirky, still in touch with the kids, fresh, and exciting conservatives. They're just going to have to find a way besides love of the Fratellis to differentiate themselves from the rest of us.