…I come back to find an Obama backlash appearing now to be fully underway. The core of it seems to have affinities to the classic problem of falling for quiet pretty people: that one can project whatever positive qualities one wants upon them without direct disconfirmation.
(Something that this election has brought home to me, incidentally, is how much electoral decision-making is less about candidates or for candidates or even against candidates than against other people who bother us in their arguments or behavior supporting candidates. The idea that people would be holding Obama’s “Yes We Can” video against him because… wait, it wasn’t even Obama’s video in the first place, it was these other people who were–well, anyway, they shouldn’t be that excited about a candidate and, if they are, they shouldn’t be all flashy and viral about it.)
10 Comments
You might enjoy this little gem, sent to me with the warning that it was believed to be “creative sabotage” by the Obama camp, against the HRC folks. That may be true, but I found the band’s online signature, and they’re a legitimate “corporate band.” Yechk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FvyGydc8no
I saw this. Actually juxtaposing the two videos probably provides a great commentary on the difference between “hipster inclusiveness” and “non-hipster inclusiveness” in the left-leaning US today. The HRC video: look at all those unattractive people, old people, and people with families–somebody thinks they are going to have a widely circulating YouTube video premised on that? No: you need attractive people of all major racial/ethnic groups and a cute white girl doing sign language.
My eyes!! It burns. My ears!! Good lord, who thought that was a good idea?
The flute player in the video is the songwriter/producer, I believe. He’s threatened to do a sequel.
OMFG, call me an elitist (former) hipster but dear lord that hilary video is bad. i mean like Bank of America cover version of “One” cringe-inducingly awful.
Since there’s apparent interest, check out the Bill Hopkins Rock’n Orchestra (a google search puts you in the right place). You’ll note on the front page a testimonial from none other than Clint Eastwood. If that’s not enough, they got him to say it on tape: http://www.hoprock.com/video/index.htm. Will you be surprised to hear that Kenny G has performed with the band?
I spent some time with their song list, and ultimately decided on “Hey Ya” as the BHRO Song Most Likely to Make Me Tear My Own Ears Off.
I am now fascinated by Corporate Bands.
Along the same lines as that first Slate link: http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/. But could it be that a backlash against the backlash is already in the works? (See also Steve Jobs and John McCain.)
jenn,
i think you’re right that there’s a lot of interest to be had in corporate bands. in particular, they seem to fall outside the two usual motivations for music: the romantic (i must express myself) and superstar tournament ritual (if we pay our dues we could be the next green day).
This discussion reminds me of the cassette tape that you could get for 99 cents and proof of purchase from 4 boxes of jujubees. The tape had all these GREAT songs performed by the original artists!!
You got it — a band whose name was, “the original artists”
That may have been the moment I became a cynic.
That’s exactly right, Gabriel. “Seem to fall” is what I’d test. I also think their song list is pretty interesting–I wonder how they perform their “market research” into what clients will like, and how their arrangements are scored in order to achieve a balance between fidelity to the original performance (many of these are extremely faithful covers, based on the video) and either 1. making modern music appealing to an older or mixed age crowd, and 2. experiencing themselves as musicians/performers with integrity, style, and taste. I’ma see if I can get Pete interested in this.