Lower Dens Exxon Ad
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At the risk of tarnishing my metal cred (if it ever even existed), I really love Lower Dens. I think front-woman Jana Hunter writes gorgeous lyrics, and the band’s music is catchy and accessible without being too polished or safe.
Recently, a portion of the band’s song ‘I Get Nervous’ appeared in an Exxon commercial that attempts to defend the energy company’s process for extracting natural gas. It’s caused some intense debates here in Baltimore, where we’re super tight-knit and we all know each other. Some people think the band has sold out and have given their support to an evil company that engages in fracking, a process that poisons groundwater in Maryland, and therefore the very water-supply we Baltimoreans depend on. Others defend the band, saying that there are few means of making money for a band with the collapse of the music industry, and we have to take what we can get. What do you all think?
1 comment
Romantech Sunday 18 September 2011
These are the questions facing middle class activism.
If someone chooses to do something that is limited in it’s chances of viability – like music – you can’t justify your actions by saying you needed the money. You knew you were getting into something that was never likely to pay the bills, let alone make you rich
But . . . If these guys don’t take the money, then that money just goes to some other band who may have even less of a conscience about social and political issues.
I work for a lot of companies who I believe are not conducting themselves in a morally justifiable manner, but if I turn the work down, and it goes to a competitor, how has that changed the world for the better?
At least if I make the money it is a small but incremental step towards supporting myself, and by extension, my values, that we need to ask ourselves why exploitative, non progressive and unsustainable practices are acceptable.