I should change the title of this blog to TL;DR

Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy and I-married-Ashlee-Simpson semi-fame) wrote an article for the Huffington Post about Invisible Children and the RESCUE event happening this weekend. That one terrible comma splice aside, I have to say I'm impressed.

There was some huge drama last week re: the Believers Never Die Part Deux tour, mostly centered around the fact that some people think FOB should quit trying to talk about politics (because their fanbase skews younger than most) and stick to what they do with admirable mediocrity: play concerts! Other people kind of disagreed. Pete Wentz adamantly refuses to stop these political antics because he believes that it is absolutely important to discuss this kind of stuff, even if you're doing it at a live show, and he also believes that today's youth are a lot more perceptive than the rest of the world (and...the kids themselves) seems to think/actually have the emotional and mental capacity to care about political and social issues.

I think FOB's live show is actually pretty amazing, whether you like the band or not, mostly because of the fact that MUSIC is something personal; it's just as real for me as it is for you, no matter what our respective opinions are. It's also about the being-there-in-the-moment-ness of being at a concert, in the pit, sweating all your makeup off, throwing yourself around, singing the shit out of songs that make you feel actual emotions! and accidentally hitting people in the face with your elbows when you all throw your cameras in the air (and wave them like you just don't care, har har). It doesn't matter which band is on stage.

Forgive the cheesiness of the rest of this entry, but this is precisely the reason I think that music can be a POWERFUL vehicle for political action and motivation. Music inspires emotion in people. Political action is, IMO, a direct result of EMOTION. Action occurs because you feel strongly or passionately about some issue and want to DO something about it. I think that music can be a powerful tool for bands like Fall Out Boy that actually want to talk about these issues -- or for bands that are far more "legit" than Fall Out Boy, if that's your feeling.

Because music is something so intensely personal and subjective, it goes without saying that no one else can really dictate what IS good music and what that music says to you. No one else can take away the fact that this music, whatever it is, makes you feel something and is therefore truly important to you. It's integral to the person that you are and to the person you could become. If I'm having a rocking experience at a concert, loving the band and all they choose to be (even if what they choose to be is something totally silly), there is definitely the potential for motivation in the situation. So why can't bands like Fall Out Boy use live shows and music to promote a political message?

I don't see why they can't. Some people would say that Fall Out Boy is totally insignificant because they sing silly, whimsical songs written by the dude who accidentally put pictures of his dick on the internet, and that this automatically means they are never allowed to BE SERIOUS ABOUT SOMETHING they feel is important. I don't think anyone can convincingly argue that Invisible Children is not a good cause. But they can argue that Fall Out Boy's attempts to talk about it and other issues will automatically be null and void -- simply because they're Fall Out Boy. How is that in any way relevant to the conversation? And how is it in any way fair? It sounds more like sour grapes to me. I think we should be thankful that someone with considerable influence over a certain portion of the population is even trying to talk about this kind of thing in a time when people arguably care less than they should. Musical artists definitely have INFLUENCE because they're appealing to emotion through music, and I think they should use it for good causes.

I guess my point is this: true, the Jonas Brothers don't exactly have a subversive political agenda attached to their music, but that doesn't in any way invalidate who they are and what they COULD say -- if they really wanted to say it.

Whether or not we like what they actually have to say is a completely different issue.