2000-05-05

Bloodhound Gang

I got an email this morning from my good friend Vu:

"I was just sent a forwarded message from a friend about a rock band who has released a song with very derogatory lyrics towards Asians. Now, this IS America and by the essence of American rights, yeah, they have the right to do this...anyway, the band's name is the BLOODHOUND GANG and the song is called "Yellow Fever" which uses many cliche racist phrases used towards Asians and, well, I'm a pretty easy going guy and am usually not even bothered by what people say to me but I was actually a bit shocked at how far these guys push it..."

Bloodhound Gang? Oh, yeah, the guys in the chimp suits. Intrigued, but yet knowing exactly what I was going to see, I went into the Bloodhound Gang's website, and perused their message board. Sure enough, a whole lot of misspelled tirades by trigger-happy morons on both sides of the issue. On the one hand, we have the well-intentioned but misguided kids who screech "RACIST!" and then turn around and refer to the band as the "GAYhound Gang." On the other, we have the kids who yell "First Amendment!" (even though they'd probably be hard-pressed to tell you who their state representative is).

What do I think? Well, let's see a sampling of the lyrics in question:

Hilarious.

Now, I'm in an interesting position in that I play in a band that very much straddles the line between satirical and downright offensive. It would make sense for me to jump to the defense of the Bloodhound Gang and their right to sing about whatever they want. I'm not going to do that.

Are they racists? Probably not.

Are they opportunists? Oh, mais oui.

I think it's unfortunate that a band like the Bloodhound Gang feels it necessary to cater to the lowest common denominator in order to get attention. I think it's unfortunate that there seems to be a large number of people who think the Bloodhound Gang are genuinely funny, or act as

provocateurs. I love it when a band or artist pens some hateful song about gays or immigrants and then is quick to don the hat of the satirist. "I'm just getting people to think," one might say, "I'm just playing a character." Nice try. It's very easy to imagine the Bloodhound Gang sitting in their bongwater-soaked practice space, patting each other on the back and saying, "Duuude, this song is so fuckin' funny; people are going to freak!"

Again, I occupy shaky ground on this issue, since my band often throws a song out there that could be construed as sexist or offensive. On the other hand, though, we're seriously not making a play for superstardom, nor do we do anything to deliberately hurt or provoke anybody. We've been extremely fortunate in that our fan base includes folks of all ethnicities and sexual preferences, and they all "get the joke."

Problem with the Bloodhound Gang, is that they're just not funny.

I could continue on with this thread, but the truth of the matter is that this band will soon sink back into the murky depths of obscurity, and I genuinely don't think it's worth anyone's time or energy to get bunged up about a bunch of guys who won't be on TRL 2 months from now...

lisamcc at 09:56:11

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