A Pearl Jam Poster Sets Off a New Dead President Controversy

Republicans are comparing the band to Kathy Griffin.

Roberto Silvino/ZUMA Press/Newscom

Pearl Jam is at the center of the latest provocation causing outrage among supporters of President Trump.

The Associated Press reports that the band performed in Missoula, Montana, on Monday night for a Rock2Vote concert in support of Sen. Jon Tester (D), who is running for re-election against Republican challenger Matt Rosendale. Bassist Jeff Ament, who is from Montana, collaborated with an artist named Bobby Brown to create a promotional poster for the event. The poster depicts a burning White House and an eagle picking at what many believe to be Trump's corpse.

Official artwork by Jeff Ament and Bobby Brown from last night's show in Missoula. #TheAwayShows #Rock2Vote pic.twitter.com/CQI4chGEjs

— Pearl Jam (@PearlJam) August 14, 2018

Rosendale and the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) compared the poster to comedian Kathy Griffin's 2017 video in which she held a bloodied head modeled after Trump's. Not only did Griffin lose several gigs, but Americans were subjected to weeks of commentary on what does and does not count as a threat against the president.

"In a state Trump won by 20 points, Senator Tester's silence…is quickly showing Montanans there's no stoop too low for him when it comes to attacking President Trump and his supporters," NRSC spokesperson Calvin Moore said in a statement.

"This poster from Pearl Jam is disgusting and reprehensible," Rosendale tweeted. "It depicts a dead President Trump and a burning White House. It's time for [Tester] to denounce this act of violence and blatant display of extremism!"

Comments

[John]

The bigger news is that Pearle Jam still exists. Talk about a blast from the past.

[The Last American Hero]

Well, they were parading around on stage with W's head on a stick in the early 00's, so this is nothing new. I must have missed that time they hung Obama in effigy. It's probably why you weren't sure if they still existed.

[Yellow Tony]

Well, they were parading around on stage with W's head on a stick in the early 00's
Who wasn't?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

There was a Sub Pop record event at Alki Beach in Seattle this weekend. I was walking the dog down there and saw a lot of the Sub Pop fans and faithful. Gen X is getting hella long in the tooth.

[John]

None of these bands have aged very well. Grunge sounded okay at the time but 20 years on it is just shitty, humorless hard rock. Hell, the 80s hair bands grunge replaced have aged better than grunge. That stuff sucked but at least it was fun.

[Daniel]

I can't remember which 80's hair band member said it, but I remember a quote from the 90s after grunge took off to which they commented (paraphrasing), "We were singing about chicks, drinking, and having a good time and the next thing you know these depressed kids started putting out music and then everything went to shit".

[John]

It is really true. I was just old enough to kind of miss out on grunge. Nirvana broke it big right before my senior year in college and I remember thinking they sounded like they wanted to be the Pixies but just were not cool enough. I never minded the grunge bands but I can't say I was ever a fan or understood why people considered Nevermind to be such a big deal. The Nirvana unplugged record is a thousand times better than Nevermind and really the only good record they ever made. I don't think Pearl Jam ever made a good record. The best band of the 90s was probably Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corigan is ten times the songwriter and musician Kurt Cobain ever was.

[Yellow Tony]

The best band of the 90s was probably Smashing Pumpkins.
I'm striking you off the list for this week's inter-dimensional orgy.

[John]

You leave Billy Corigan alone. And "best band of the 90s" is a seriously backhanded compliment. There were not that many good bands in the 90s.

[Yellow Tony]

The second revival of prog occurred in the 90s, meanie.
I once thought about you often when I had sex with my amputees, but now I'm not so sure I will be doing that anymore.

[Giant Realistic Flying Tiger]

Damn, Alternate-Universe Me, really? The Smashing Pumpkins kill it. The fact that you don't agree shows that either you suck, or your alternate dimension sucks.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Grunge came along at just the right time, when hair metal had finally grown stale, and rock stations and MTV began looking for the next flavor of the month to start pushing. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was close enough in tone to thrash rock that it was easy to treat them as a transition to promoting "alternative rock", so they ended up serving as a gateway to Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP, and Alice in Chains, as well as the chick-rock groups from that period.

Hilariously, it was arguably Hanson blowing up that put the final stake in alt-rock's heart, because that's really what started the boy-band and teen girl starlet craze that dominated the late 90s. People were just sick of hearing the "woe is me" stuff and wanted to move on to stuff that was light and fun.

[Dillinger]

um-bop.

[Dillinger]

Alice. In. Chains.

[sarcasmic]

STP is more than a lubricant...

[Weygand]

Sub-thread Over. Collect your winner's trophy at the registration shack please.

[Weygand]

Meaning Dillinger

[Dillinger]

sweet. also would have accepted Mad Season

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

these depressed kids started putting out music and then everything went to shit".

That's us, baby, that's Gen X. It's not just millennials who ruined everything.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

None of these bands have aged very well.

Doesn't help that their frontmen have a habit of dying from suicides and drug addiction. The hair metal guys are showing the typical effects of advanced age, but at least most of them managed to stay alive and some are even doing pretty well on the Gen-X nostalgia circuit.

[John]

I was thinking more of the music not that bands themselves.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Well sure, the music sounds horribly dated at this point, too. That's really the whole point of the music industry, sadly--keep cycling through new music trends until you can't squeeze any more money out of them, then move on to the next trend. It's a marker of just how superficial American culture has become, because what's being pushed is a disposable aculture that's designed for nothing more than hoovering money out of wallets.

Look at the Grammy nominees from just 10 years ago. Is there really anything there that could be considered impactful today? Hell, the big winner from that year was a booze and smack junkie who mocked her addictions as a joke, and is now worm food.

[LeaveTrumpAloneLiberal-tarian]

This is exactly the reason why Trump got elected. Stuff like this? said by a band.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

Not at all. Drumpf's (fraudulent) election was due to the following factors:

(1) Russia hacked the election.
(2) The right-wing corporate media gave him free airtime while normalizing him and downplaying his flaws.
(3) The same media continued its decades-long vendetta against Hillary Clinton, exaggerating both her health "problems" (who doesn't occasionally faint in September weather?) and her e-mail non-story.
(4) The electoral college, a grotesque system in which a candidate can win by million of votes and still "lose."
(5) GamerGate, a misogynistic online harassment campaign whose members have translated their hatred of women to the political arena.
(6) Sexism among voters, including among many women (absurdly, Drumpf won white women).
(7) Unfortunately, tens of millions of Americans are white nationalists who will vote for "Build a Wall" over the most qualified candidate ever.

#StillWithHer

[LeaveTrumpAloneLiberal-tarian]

No, it wasn't any of those things. It was Obvious that Hillary Clinton was a warmonger who would have initiated WW3 with the Russians on Day 1. That and she enabled her husband's rape of Monica Lewinsky by staying married to him when she should have bailed on him and his daughter after 20 years of marriage. Add in Trump's demonstrated commitment to the working class and his exemplary record of appointing the tremendously talented crew he brought with him from Celebrity Apprentice and is it any wonder why White women would have voted for him. Get over it, loser. You guys won by 3 million votes only because Mexico shipped its lumpenproles up north? an accusation that isn't at all racist.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Another example of why the sequel is never as good as the original.

[Nardz]

One good post and people told it to take on OBL.
Some just don't have the talent, and it don't have it

[Nardz]

Oh, and OBL:
+1 for throwing gamer gate in there

[Rossami]

Parody? Sarcasm? I honestly can't tell, OpenBorders.

[Yellow Tony]

One of these days I'll pay an artist to draw a gender-bendered* Trump and gender-bendered* Bernie having sweet delicious dickgirl sex.
The only problem is finding an artist willing to do this that is both good and okay with this.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Red Tony is quite the artist. Ask him.

[Rossami]

Rule 34. It's already out there somewhere.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The Associated Press reports that the band performed in Missoula, Montana

Talk about preaching to the choir.

[John]

The funny thing is that Tester is a big gun rights guy. He gets an A rating from the NRA. I wonder if Pearl Jam's prog fans back in Seattle know this.

[Just Say'n]

I'm sure that Pearl Jam is really going to help Tester's re-election. Smart move, guy

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Remember this outrage when the media demanded to know the identity of the artist?

[John]

Or when the media ruined the career of the rodeo clown who wore the Obama mask.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Is that why paper mache heads of the president disappeared for 8 years?

[John]

Yes. Can you imagine the stroke the media would have had if the tea party rally in Washington had included a bunch of paper mache heads of Obama and they had burned him in effigy?

[Just Say'n]

Anyone with half a brain realizes the hypocrisy....well, anyone who isn't too interested in Georgetown cocktail parties that is

[mad.casual]

Between Jack Nicholson's 1989 portrayal of the Joker in "Batman" and Heath Ledger's 2008 characterization in "The Dark Knight," something sinister happened to the villain's iconic makeup. What had been a mask, with the clearly delineated lines of a carnival character, became simply war paint, and not very well applied.

Only a Millennial too young or a boomer too old to have seen Nicholson's Joker would've made this mistake. This is as bad as citing Rear Window as justification for why people shouldn't be allowed to live in high-rises with windows. I wonder how long it is before somebody sites Raiders Of The Lost Ark as an example of what we should do to the Nazis?

[Deconstructed Potato]

It already happened. There were articles citing Indiana Jones for the defense when that shrieking lunatic landed a cheap shot on that alt-right "heil Trump" douchebag's head. This failed to point out that Indiana Jones didn't hide behind a mask, was punching Nazis twice his size, could actually take a punch, didn't scream at bystanders, and is a fictional character.

[Deconstructed Potato]

NB: Harrison Ford apparently insisted on being punched for real for authenticity

[Cynical Asshole]

Philip Kennicott on Images: Obama as the Joker Betrays Racial Ugliness, Fears

Good God, just reading the headline is almost enough to cause any sane person's head to explode.

[Idle Hands]

This whole story is incredibly lame. Everyone involved should feel bad.

Pearl Jam is at the center of the latest provocation causing outrage among supporters of President Trump.

is it just me or is reason gas-lighting it's own readership?

[John]

Five guys on Twitter with a combined following of 50 is what counts for newsworthy "outrage" these days.

[Idle Hands]

don't forget the politician running against tester. Some politician trying to tar another for association with crayon drawing.

[Idle Hands]

I'm positive it doesn't deserve any coverage whatsoever.

[Just Say'n]

It wants you to forget what happened to anyone who mocked the previous president. There are cocktail parties on the line, here!

[jcw]

Snowflaking.

[Jerryskids]

"This poster from Pearl Jam is disgusting and reprehensible," Rosendale tweeted. "It depicts a dead President Trump and a burning White House. It's time for [Tester] to denounce this act of violence and blatant display of extremism!"

Well, I guess it's a start toward bi-partisan comity, we're all agreed now that speech is violence. And that in the victim Olympics, the biggest cry-baby is the winner.

[Cynical Asshole]

in the victim Olympics, the biggest cry-baby is the winner.

Someone with more talent than me should do a re-make of Monty Python's famous "upper class twit of the year" sketch, only call it the "upper class snowflake cry-baby of the year."

[Shirley Knott]

Um, excuse me, but Peal Jam?

[Shirley Knott]

Or is it not just the commentariat that needs an edit button?

[John]

That was my first response as well Shirley.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

It's nostalgia rock now.

tip: You know your generation's music has become "safe" when you hear it in the grocery store.

[Leo Kovalensky II]

It's just nice to see that the right is all for freedom of speech like our resident conservatarians always like to point out.

[John]

Who is demanding this be censored? Just because they are free to do it doesn't mean people are not free to criticize them for doing so.

[ThomasD]

Hey John, cut Leo some slack. I mean, his choices were either a false equivalency or cries of whataboutism.

Some leftitarian had to jump on that rhetorical grenade and he was just the one to do it.

[Paulpemb]

Not seeing any free speech issues here. Pearl Jam has every right to use whatever disgusting imagery they want on their concert posters, and their critics have every right to call them out on it and ask the politician that the concert was explicitly being held in support of if he agrees with it.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's not like Pearl Jam's politics haven't been known for their entire existence. Let us know when Pearl Jam gets de-platformed for hate speech.

[ThomasD]

It's hard to simultaneously stay politically edgy and sell $500 a seat tickets.

But they are trying.

[Cynical Asshole]

At this point coming out as Trump supporters would probably make them more "politically edgy" than staying conventionally, plain vanilla progressive left.

[Dillinger]

band sucks, but were they official art-okayers before they took the stage? also who cares it's art.

[Paulpemb]

Considering a member of the band helped design it, I'd say they were on board.

[Dillinger]

shuts me up ... except for the who cares it's art part.

what do you call a guy with no arms and no legs on the wall?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Check out Mr. "akshually" here ^^^

[Ken Shultz]

Twitter is for shitheads.

[sarcasmic]

Stone Gossard is an awesome guitarist. Too bad he's stuck in a shitty band.

[Agammamon]

'compared to Kathy Griffin'

In that they're both 'D' list celebrities today?

[Cynical Asshole]

It's time for [Tester] to denounce this act of violence

A poster is an act of violence now?

Also, where's the eagle picking at (supposedly) Trump's corpse? Am I going blind? I don't see it.

[Cynical Asshole]

where's the eagle picking at (supposedly) Trump's corpse?

Nevermind, you have to go to Twitter and then click on the picture to see the whole thing. I couldn't tell if the eagle was picking at Trump's corpse a cartoon man with blonde hair or if the it was just perched on the blonde dude's ass. Or if the blonde dude was literally shitting out a bald eagle, which I maintain should be considered a compliment. What's more "Murican than pooping out an eagle?

[Cynical Asshole]

Good God, we had LeaveTrumpAloneLiberal-tarian and OBL arguing with each other up there for a couple of minutes. Thankfully, they couldn't keep it going. I'm not sure the internet could survive a derp singularity of that magnitude for very long. This entire comment thread was in serious danger of disappearing completely up their enormous asses.

[LeaveTrumpAloneLiberal-tarian]

A couple minutes? Hardly. My position is simple. The problematic aspects of the Trump presidency, while few, can all be laid as the feet of out-of-control Social Justice Warriors. Who can argue with that self-evident position?

[Giant Realistic Flying Tiger]

The problem is that OBL doesn't often reply. LTA has improved, but there's very little chance we'll see a debate between them. Personally, I'd love to see it.

[LeaveTrumpAloneLiberal-tarian]

Why would i want to argue with someone who blames President Trump's election on the racism of White people? To make that accusation is both inflammatory and insulting? especially in consideration of how this country has triumphed over its racist past. I mean just look at the actions of it's fine police forces and the example set by President Trump, which I think we can all agree is the model for which the rest of the world should follow.

[Nardz]

"Why would i want to argue with someone who blames President Trump's election on the racism of White people? To make that accusation is both inflammatory and insulting? especially in consideration of how this country has triumphed over its racist past."

The problem is that you think these are absurd statements. They are not. Matters of opinion, yes, but matters of opinion that are logically consistent and quite reasonable.
OBL posts absurdity - the actual position of progressives in clear and direct terms. They are absurd because they display the logical inconsistency and irrationality of progressive beliefs.
Progressivism is ripe for parody, and OBL is great at seizing on that. Conservatism is less so, but I can think of at least a few directions you could go with it. The police angle was one, but falls woefully flat as presented.
Like all Progressives who try to be funny, you have no idea where the humor is in satire. Pointing at someone and saying "look, he's dumb!" may get you the applause of trained seals, a la the Daily Show, but it's not actually funny.

[Nardz]

Progressivism is narcissism as ideology. Thus progressives, as you did, think to yourself that the above statement is funny because it's ridiculous. You fail to, and here there is a chuckle (at your expense), that your own perspective is delusional and literally irrational.

That you think

"Why would i want to argue with someone who blames President Trump's election on the racism of White people? To make that accusation is both inflammatory and insulting? especially in consideration of how this country has triumphed over its racist past."

is satirical indicates a hopeless lack of perspective and absent sense of humor.

You could go another direction along the same lines - perhaps something like,

"Why would I want to argue with one who doesn't understand the inherently superior wisdom of whites in selecting Trump? It's inflammatory and insulting to doubt such a thing, especially as whites were considerate enough to bring blacks to the US and provide them with food and housing."

That's actual satire (good or bad, but my ability isn't the point here). That's parody. Unfortunately for progressives, such as yourself, that's too transgressive (a key component of comedy)... and perhaps a bit to fundamentally reflective of your own belief system.

[Elilis Wyatt]

Anyone who believes the bullshit about an eagle and Trump's (or anyone's) corpse is obviously a Trumptard.
Hysteria RULES!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dumbfuck Hihnsano drops another turd of ignorance.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

Republicans are comparing the band to Kathy Griffin.

You don't have to be a Republican to know that both acts have been past their primes for 20 years.

[Ben_]

Pearl Jam has talent. Kathy Griffin does not.