Reasons to love the internet #7633

[andrewducker]

Amanda Palmer produced a song (along with Ben Folds, who rocks) about a girl who is date raped, has an abortion, and is ostracised in school for it, but is still happy, because her favourite band (Oasis) sent her an autographed photo, which has made her week.  It's been deliberately produced to be as upbeat as possible.  Every musical outlet in the UK has refused to play it, on the grounds that it “makes light of rape, religion and abortion”.

As she says on her blog:
WHEN YOU CANNOT JOKE ABOUT THE DARKNESS OF LIFE, THAT’S WHEN THE DARKNESS TAKES OVER.

And the thing I love most about the internet is that 10 years ago I never would have heard this controversy, I would never have heard the song, and I certainly wouldn't have seen the video:

And whether or not you like the music, or the video (and while I'm amused it's not really my kind of thing), that the artist can reach out to the audience without needing airplay from the media is fantastic.

Comments

[girl-onthego.livejournal.com]

I'm making a point to watch this movie pretty much any time people link to it because I am so completely behind the idea of artists communicating without being sanitized by the media. Whoo, hurray for YouTube!

[ms-tek.livejournal.com]

That mad3e me smile

[olliecrafoord.livejournal.com]

I love it. haha

[mb2u]

I am a fan of Amanda's, though this isn't one of her better songs. What I find amusing is that she thought people would get the irony and humor of the song. Really. Haven't we learned that anytime you do something mentioning pro-choice you're going to have the wingnuts go mental? That record companies will evacuate their bowels upon themselves at that thought of offending the (im)Moral (non-)Majority? Exactly.

I do agree that it's great that an artist can communicate directly with her fans, that she can talk about what is really going on (her record company going batshite over her showing her less-than-perfect belly in the "Leeds United" video because real women don't sell music in their opinion). Amanda deserves a lot of credit for showing what it's really like to tour, to be a great musician who has to scrape by to get her music out there.

[daisyflip.livejournal.com]

I would very much like to marry Amanda Palmer, particularly in the Leeds United video.

Oh and hurrah for political points

[andrewducker]

It does seem barking that she thought that this would get airplay in the first place.

[lizzie-and-ari.livejournal.com]

This is marvelous.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman's speaking at a local bookshop, and there's songs by her. That was awful, plinky plonky guff. Maybe I can sneak out half way...