A tale of two Instagrams
So… last week, one day my first-thing-in-the-morning habitual checking of Instagram brought me the following comparison (with some names removed to protect the bitter):
[Party Band]’s Instagram story that day was 5 year old clips of [Party Band’s singer] with a hair up his ass snarkily lecturing the crowd in (I think) North Carolina about homophobia in front of a giant LED screen showing the US flag with rainbow stripes. Because love is love, even when [Party Band’s singer] yet again appears to be full of hate. (Same 2016 tour wherein he got booed in Vancouver when he was bitching about Trump, lol… this is a regular behavior pattern with [Party Band] on a variety of politically charged topics, this just happens to be the topic relevant to last week’s post.)
U2’s Instagram story the same day is pictures of the packed stadium in (I think) Italy that they just played to last night for the opening ceremonies of the Euro cup.* Also the latest post (ie, not a disappearing story) was video of Bono and Edge and whoever they worked with on the Euro theme song smiling and laughing and joking around at a photo shoot with the silver trophy.
Remind me again which of these two bands and their frontmen are the sanctimonious preachy pricks?
Or is this just the way things are in the Kali Yuga inversion thingy?
* I should note that a few days later there was a story on the U2 Instagram showing what I guess was the performance and it looked green-screened. And a little Googling indicated that yes, it was a pre-recorded projection. Er, “virtual performance”. Still… the point remains.
In any case, this prompted a discussion with my brother about spoiled brat kids who grow up to be spoiled brat adults who get spiteful about any disagreement. Also about bands that peaked before U2 really hit big and who seem to always be pissy about not being taken seriously (well, you’re the ones who write your party band songs, so if you want to be taken seriously…) and then get all shitty in lecturing their audience in a desperate ploy for relevancy.
Also a discussion of how people who really believe in their causes, especially when the causes are more tangible things like African poverty, can state their case simply and more convincingly rather than throwing a temper tantrum like [Party Band] (which, again, isn’t just about that particular cause, any time those guys open their mouths it seems to be condescending and spiteful.)
Y’know, it’s a shame that [Party Band’s singer] ended up doing the whole pop star thing, because the more of these video clips I’ve seen, the more obvious it is to me that he missed his true calling, that of being a kindergarten teacher. Because that’s about the level of respect he seems to show for his audience: we are a bunch of stupid small children incapable of thinking, and even the ones who agree with him must be subjected to his bitchy schoolmarm tone. (Hey man: it’s never too late to go get your B.Ed. and start lecturing actual small children for a living!)
Like, why not do a pride post saying something simple about celebrating friends and fans in the LGBT community? Make it positive, don’t make it some series of old clips of the singer lecturing a crowd who live somewhere where there’s politicians he despises. Your crowd came to hear you play the songs they love, not to be bitched out.
Meanwhile, the band that gets the rap for lecturing and having causes is being positive and happy and talking hopefully about the future. And while I haven’t seen them live, I have seen a bunch of concert films and DVDs, and it seems to me that despite a lot of the jokes about U2 and Bono, most of the “lecturing” amounted to graphics on the big video screens with slogans and URLs and much of that was confined to the little faux-intermissions wherein the band run backstage for a piss break and costume change and something pre-recorded plays for a few minutes.
Which one of these two bands is making me want to spend money to see them when touring resumes? More directly, which of these two bands is making sure their branding materials (and that’s what social media is) has a warm, fuzzy feeling of goodwill, and which of these two bands is regularly making me wonder why I still follow these bitter old pricks?
BTW: there’s a lesson in here, and not just for bands. I see a lot of doom and gloom negative nancys on the right side of the political spectrum, ones whose message is delivered in the same bitchy condescension as [Party Band]’s. And then they wonder why no one’s interested in their message. Well, learn something from the Irishmen: frame it as a “we can fix this,” keep the messaging short and sweet, and otherwise show yourself as enjoying being alive instead of waiting for death to prove you right about how much the world sucks, and maybe, just maybe, people will want to hear what you have to say.
