Jim Geraghty's Revenge Song

By now you've heard all about Barack Obama's radical pastor and secret Allah-worship, but Jim Geraghty's got the scoop about Obama's secret association with Portland-based indie rock bands. Yes, that's right, the Decemberists played Obama's 75,000 person rally. Quoth Geraghty, "I'm sure Obama would draw a big crowd either way, but wasn't that worth mentioning in the coverage?" Now Jason Linkins argues that "as the Decemberists are a modestly successful indie outfit, more apt to perform at venues such as the 1,200-person capacity 9:30 Club, it would be more accurate to suggest that the promise of an Obama rally is a great inducement to come see the Decemberists, rather than the reverse." Linkins misses the point, of course, that the Decemberists are popular enough to often play the 9:30 Club on consecutive nights so you can see that Obamamania's all hype.

More to the point, as Geraghty points out, this is yet more evidence that Obama is a Communist:

From Wikipedia: "Named both in reference to the Russian Decembrist Revolt (which may explain its use of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union as an introduction at many concerts)..." Lovely.

I wonder if they played, "Sixteen Military Wives." The video depicts a bully named "Henry Stowecroft" (Kissinger and Brent?) representing the United States in a grade school model United Nations who declares war on Luxembourg. I kid you not when I tell you the video begins with the bully putting on a flag pin.

And then of course there's their notorious song about an elephant-riding Spanish princess and the one about the crooked French Canadian who was gut-shot running gin. Indeed, they've actually got a song glorifying treason against the United States.

The time has come to ask, does Barack Obama have an indie rock problem?

UPDATE: Michael Goldfarb has more on this important story.

Comments

Did you eat your Wheaties this morning? You've been awfully feisty today.

Posted by drjimcooper | May 21, 2008 3:48 PM

Yes, but the Decemberists have also taken to instilling fear-as-defense among the victims of sectarian violence, so clearly they're Very Serious about foreign policy.

Posted by jhupp | May 21, 2008 3:55 PM

Barack Obama: Elitist Chimney Sweep?

Posted by Just Another Greg | May 21, 2008 3:57 PM

Sigh -- how son they forget?

http://markschmitt.typepad.com/

Posted by sam | May 21, 2008 3:59 PM

Sorry, I can't link, apparently. But I'm too lazy to find the URL I've since navigated away from, so I'll just say it's the lyrics to "The Shankill Butchers."

Posted by jhupp | May 21, 2008 3:59 PM

Can we really trust a man to keep us safe when he can't even keep his friend's bicycle safe?

Posted by SDM | May 21, 2008 4:04 PM

I love the "I kid you not" line, as though it is somehow shocking that artists might make fun of jingoism from time to time.

Hey, in Doctor Strangelove, the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is used ironically as the backdrop to a nuclear bombing mission sequence. I kid you not!

Posted by Dan Kervick | May 21, 2008 4:05 PM

How long before this scandal breaks at TalkLeft, No Quarter, and MyDD?

Posted by Hatch | May 21, 2008 4:08 PM

Don't forget the homoerotic song about a soldier's love for his mates!

Posted by mark f | May 21, 2008 4:08 PM

The Decembrists are contract employees of Capital Records, a division of EMI. There's nothing "independent" about them. On a planet where Gene Vincent or Lemmy Kilmister never lived they might (I say might) be considered a rock band. As an Obama supporter I'm really worried about this attachment to lukewarm dishwater bands like The Decembrists or Wilco.
I'd suggest they book a good, public transportation friendly band like It's Casual from Los Angeles. Look it up Matthew....

Posted by Bruce | May 21, 2008 4:10 PM

Matt's just testy because a large venue event for liberals to worship the religious/social/political cult figure reminds him of liberal fascism, which reminds him of that book by that other doughy Jewish guy, which reminds him of his own book . . .

Posted by Wile E. Coyote | May 21, 2008 4:10 PM

"By now you've heard all about Barack Obama's radical pastor and secret Allah-worship...."

It's really dishonest to lump these two things together. The radical pastor part is true, and the secret allah worshipping is not.

Posted by scottynx | May 21, 2008 4:20 PM

and the secret allah worshipping is not.

How would YOU know? It's a SECRET.

Posted by Anderson | May 21, 2008 4:24 PM

Bruce:
Right, because terms have never been appropriated and used for genres before. You know, like all those "pop"ular bands and groups that play music "alternative" to the mainstream.

Posted by mactbone | May 21, 2008 4:26 PM

This is definitely among the upper quintile of Yglesias post titles.

Posted by Neil the Ethical Werewolf | May 21, 2008 4:28 PM

I know this is all in good cheeky fun- but I was at the rally and own a lot of Decembrists records and can positively attest that no one knew the Decembrists were playing. We walked during 16 Military Wives (so yes they did play it Mr Geraghty)and thought it was just canned background music. An entire song passed before we realized that it was the actual band on stage. In fact, never once in the 2 1/2 hours I stood in line was the word "Decembrist" even mentioned and it was nowhere to be found on any of the invitations that brought me there in the first place.

To sum up: I know the Decembrists, I like the Decembrists, but I sure as hell am not standing in a 25 block long line for close to three hours just to see them play at Waterfront Park for free (especially when I don't even know it's an option). Now to hear a 45 minute long stump speech by some politician...

Posted by mkd in pdx | May 21, 2008 4:32 PM

The Decembrist revolt took place in the early nineteenth century, and had nothing to do with Communism.

Posted by William Burns | May 21, 2008 4:32 PM

It's so cute that Goldfarb remembers to throw out the obligatory snipe at the rock band calling them "noise pollution".

It’s like he felt it necessary to clarify that Republicans are still against sex, drugs and Rock n’ Roll .

Posted by Christopher Colaninno | May 21, 2008 4:33 PM

How the hell is Obama supposed to lead from the belly of a whale?!

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | May 21, 2008 4:33 PM

How the hell is Obama supposed to lead from the belly of a whale?!

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | May 21, 2008 4:36 PM

I heard a rumor that The Last Poets baptized his kids and the title of his 1st book was taken from a Royal Trux song.

Posted by j | May 21, 2008 4:37 PM

Mactbone, I kid. But indie rock really isn't a genre, if anything it's a circuit. As in Chitlin Circuit. But I'm not kidding when I say the Decembrists couldn't rock their way out of a wet paper bag.

Posted by Bruce | May 21, 2008 4:39 PM

Obama is probably also in favor of your kids running away from home to become gay prostitutes.

Posted by ibid | May 21, 2008 4:40 PM

Hmmm, motivated by this post, I decided to check out the sixteen military wives video on Youtube (I own Picaresque, but never saw the video before), and saw several recent comments denouncing liberalism. I wonder...

Tremble before the Wingnutosphere!

Posted by Kraz | May 21, 2008 4:41 PM

That's "Chimbley Sweep" to you, Just Another Greg.

Posted by john i | May 21, 2008 4:44 PM

but wasn't that worth mentioning in the coverage?

I mentioned it on my blog which two people read, and linked to Pitchfork's photos of the performance. Why won't Jim Geraghty give Pitchfork and I the credit we deserve?

Posted by washerdreyer | May 21, 2008 4:44 PM

as a decemberist fan, this is simply the craziest
thing for republicans to get outraged over, ever.
just when i think i've seen it all, they top themselves.

ps. gene vincent recorded for capitol, too.

Posted by dj spellchecka | May 21, 2008 4:47 PM

The best part of this is the UPDATE on Geraghty's original post. He's apparently been clued into the stupidity of this meme and so has doubled down by implying the Decembrists drew 20,000 to a free concert in Chicago.

He fails to mention it was part of their symphony tour, it was a free orchestra show and the majority of the audiece (especially those pictured in the link) were CLEARLY not Decembrists fans. And it's highly unlikely there were 10K there.

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | May 21, 2008 4:48 PM

I love the Decemberists, but I am a little shocked to find out that they really have been using the Soviet National Anthem to open concerts (there's at least one YouTube clip to prove it). I assumed it was "The Internationale" and the stupid columnists simply didn't know the difference, but nope, sure enough it's "Soyuz nerushimyi (A Union, unbreakable)" the Stalinist and post Stalinist anthem. That's not cool, dudes. Sometimes people on the left can do really stupid things just to show how alternative they are.

Commie kitsch can be cool and funny if it's done by people with Soviet roots like Gogol Bordello, but for Americans to appropriate it is sort of like a white guy trying to tell Richard Pryor jokes. If you haven't suffered the pain, leave it alone.

Posted by vanya | May 21, 2008 4:50 PM

Here's the best part of the Goldberg post:

Hugh also notes that The Decemberists typically open their shows with what I'm sure is a stirring rendition of the Soviet national anthem. No word on whether they opened the Obama rally with such a performance, but I'm certain our trusted media would have reported it if they did.

He's trying to be ironic, implying that the Liberal Media Conspiracy would not have reported that Obama's rally opened with the Soviet national anthem, a claim so absurd that it's hard to believe that he actually believes it.

Posted by goethean | May 21, 2008 4:51 PM

What a wanker Jim Geraghty is. I bet he didn't even watch the video. Anyway, he automatically hears Russia and thinks Communism, despite that they took their name from something that happened long before Lenin was around. What a tool. No wonder the Republican/Conservative movement is intellectually bankrupt.

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | May 21, 2008 4:59 PM

I saw the Decemberists' first public performance of the Crane Wife songs at tiny Acme here in Portland. They were billed as the December Brides, but leaked the show through their myspace page, etc. About 50 people hung around outside the club after it reached its capacity of roughly 200--Colin Meloy eventually egged the staff to let the diehards in, after cadging rounds of drinks for the band (and anyone near enough the bandstand) out of each of the local media present.

I'm mainly just bragging about having been at that show. But the Republican media is seriously off its nut here. Most of Portland was at the coast on Sunday, nobody was promoting the rally as a free concert, and the Decemberists would draw about the same for an outdoor concert on a sunny day as Captain Bogg & Salty.

Posted by doshaburi | May 21, 2008 5:00 PM

Of course this is much more important than the fact that John McCain actively sought the endorsement of a nutcase preacher who thinks that God allowed Hitler to slaughter the Jews so that Israel could be founded.

Posted by Dave | May 21, 2008 5:01 PM

If Obama has an indie problem it's because the Decemberists completely blow. I got into the rally just after their set finished and Colin Molloy was mouthing off about some inane thing and I just figured my timing had worked out pretty well.

If Obama's campaign was as bland and lame as the Decemberists, he never would have made it out of Iowa.

Posted by ACLS | May 21, 2008 5:02 PM

Spellchecka - don't I know it. Motorhead recorded for Mercury.

Posted by Bruce | May 21, 2008 5:11 PM

ACLS just said what I was trying to say. But better. Much better.

Posted by Bruce | May 21, 2008 5:17 PM

It's like he felt it necessary to clarify that Republicans are still against sex, drugs and Rock n' Roll .

In Goldfarb's defense, that sort of angle is a much better, more honest improvement over the various attempts at making conservatism "cool."

But still, the unironic use of the term "noise pollution" was still pretty surprising. People talk like that?

Posted by Tyro | May 21, 2008 5:22 PM

I think that the fact the Dekabrists = Decemberists rebelled something like 25 years before Communist Manifesto is no excuse. We cannot tolerate such pernicious ideas like ending the serfdom and the autocratic rule of the Czar. (In any case, Czar Alexander most assuredly did not.) Ah, good all days when a ruler could actually STYLE himself an autocrat

Posted by piotr | May 21, 2008 5:29 PM

But still, the unironic use of the term "noise pollution" was still pretty surprising. People talk like that?

I'm assuming that he's trying to pick a fight with AC/DC.

Posted by daveNYC | May 21, 2008 5:35 PM

Ed Kowalczyk of Live played a few acoustic songs at Obama's 30,000-strong Philadelphia rally ("Lightning Crashes," and a version of "Imagine" with cleverly updated lyrics like, "Imagine change in Washington...").

Maybe the real question is if Obama has a '90s problem. I thought he was trying to move beyond the generic "unplugged" politics of the past.

Posted by Dr. I Don't Know | May 21, 2008 5:47 PM

Well, speaking as someone who was there, if the crowd came out for the Decemberists first and foremost, they certainly didn't act like it. Colin kept trying to get people to participate in the music-type stuff, and the crowd was having none of it. The community organizer who came on after him got a better response.

Oh, and Bruce? The Decemberists are pretty smart-transit friendly, what with their songs about Portland's Trimet Bus system, bicycles and dirigibles.

Posted by Erik | May 21, 2008 5:54 PM

Little Green Footballs has a thread on this w/ 500 comments. I only scanned them, but it didn't appear that anyone had investigated the question of whether it was remotely plausible that the band, rather than Obama, attracted the audience--for example, by finding out where the band typically appeared. But, hey, why worry about facts when outrage is so much easier.

Posted by THS | May 21, 2008 5:57 PM

Obama the Decembrist!

Matt, William Burns and piotr above are correct: The Decembrists of 1825 were young Russian noblemen who hoped to DEMOCRATIZE the dark, authoritarian reign of the Romanovs.

Russia's bard, Alexksandr Pushkin was associated enough with them that he got banished to his father's estate for a good while.

Hey--Pushkin was part-black! So's Barack! (Cue Twilight Zone theme....)

Posted by elle loco | May 21, 2008 6:11 PM

I know this isn't a terribly important point, but it's worth pointing out that the original premise -- that the national media didn't report that the Decemberists performed at the Oregon rally -- is untrue.

I was watching "Ballot Bowl" on CNN (ie - the national media) which will often cut to live portions of candidate's speeches. They had a correspondent on site who reported that Obama's speech would begin after local rock band, the Decemberists, were finished playing.

So the national media did in fact report that the Decemberists performed at the rally. The entire premise for this ridiculous series of posts is flawed.

Posted by Tim | May 21, 2008 6:17 PM

I think as long as it continues to exist then we all have an indie rock problem. Couldn't he have gotten Toto or somebody?

Posted by DRR | May 21, 2008 6:49 PM

The Decemberists are "modestly successful"? Yikes. About as 'modestly successful', I'd say, as Senator Obama.

Posted by Thomas Richard | May 21, 2008 6:53 PM

You guys are missing a the real angle here, which is that Colin Meloy is also secretly a Montanan, which makes the choice of the Decemberists a clever sub rosa strategic move in the upcoming Montana primary.

Of course, the MSM missed this, too.

Posted by Zach | May 21, 2008 7:13 PM

Zach:
What's your point? Pearl Jam got involved in the Oregon Senate primary when the bassist is from Montana and EV is a native of Illinois(I don't know where the two guitarists and the drummer are from originally). ;-)

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | May 21, 2008 7:28 PM

I understand the Murder City Devils have reunited. I'd go to a double bill of Obama/MCD any day of the week.

Posted by tom | May 21, 2008 8:59 PM

"I kid you not when I tell you the video begins with the bully putting on a flag pin."
I once did an essay for women's studies on that video called:

"His Tears Drip Down From Ten Little Eyes": Anti-War Discourses, Female Empowerment and Metatextuality in the Decemberists' 16 Military Wives Music Video

I cited "commentator Matthew Yglesias", natch.

Posted by Jacob | May 21, 2008 9:27 PM

The most comprehensive playlist you will find on the internet with 100 songs supporting Barack Obama: http://tinyurl.com/2t4mjf

So Mr. Yglesias and his "journalist" friends have a lot of artists to "investigate". Good luck!

Posted by Svarten | May 21, 2008 9:40 PM

Obama actually has better taste than that in music. A lot of evidence suggests that his all-time favorite artist is Stevie Wonder.

Posted by Steve Sailer | May 21, 2008 10:12 PM

He really should have Sonic Youth come out for one of his rallies, to court the older white vote. They might have helped him carry New York way back when.

Posted by Angry Sam | May 21, 2008 11:47 PM

It's great to see MattY back in full-on hack mode, however, he might consider pointing out that their most popular vid has 400,000 views on YT. That would seem to indicate wide interest in the group. Their appearance was also promoted here:

my.barackobama.com/page/s/portlandevent

So, it would be intellectually honest to say that they played some role in bringing people out. And, it would be intellectually honest to take the MSM to task for failing to note their influence in the turnout, even if it was relatively minor.

Of course, "MattY" and "intellectually honest" are almost never used in the same sentence.

Posted by TLB | May 22, 2008 12:03 AM

I updated my post about this. Looks like MattY is a lot less influential than he probably thinks he is.

Posted by TLB | May 22, 2008 1:09 AM

Yeah, just wait until Obama gets Pussy Galore to reunite to play the Star Spangled Banner at the Democratic National Convention.

Posted by Ben | May 22, 2008 2:20 AM

Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon Enjoys Huge Early Lead in Missouri's Race for Governor:

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=56747b35-b96a-4d18-98cd-ade699e03dc6

Look at the Crosstabs. Then donate what you can to help him keep the lead through the summer & fall. This campaign will be one of the most expensive, tough, and important races in the country.

http://www.nixonforgovernor.com/

Posted by JBS | May 22, 2008 9:27 AM

I updated my post about this. Looks like MattY is a lot less influential than he probably thinks he is.

So, in your world a few hundred thousand links on the internet is like 75,000 people showing up in person?

Yeah, you're a wacko alright.

Posted by Sam hutcheson | May 22, 2008 9:44 AM

TLB -- Thanks for clearing up the definition of "intellectual honesty" for us.

I'm confident that your scrupulously honest reporting on this massive scandal will note the eyewitness reports that the performance by the Decemberists was not advertised in advance.

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | May 22, 2008 10:22 AM

Hey Erik:
I know and envy the Portland division of Cascadia's commitment to mass transit. And bikes. My pal Strategy's new album "Music for Lamping" was devised for pedestrian and bicycular (sp?) listening.
But if you want a concept album about mass transit where the music actually kicks some behind, I humbly suggest everybody out there gets "The New Los Angeles" by It's Casual.

Posted by Bruce | May 22, 2008 10:54 AM

TLB, although I expressed my loathing for the Decemberists and their droning and winding lyrics and boring melodies above, I think you are failing to consider that the sort of people who would go to a Decemberists show are demographically a subgroup of the type of people who would go to an Obama rally.

We must thank our makers that the converse is not true. Although the young, white, well-off urban hipster can serve a useful function at the ballot box, their effects on music radio are ghastly and generally unacknowledged.

Posted by ACLS | May 22, 2008 11:29 AM

Oh, full disclosure: I am a young, white, well-off, urban hipster who lives in Portland, Oregon and voted for Barack Obama. I just hate the Decemberists.

I'm fairly certain it was my vote that provided the nudge into the fabled "seventeenth delegate" that clinched the majority.

Posted by ALCS | May 22, 2008 12:27 PM

LaFollette Progressive writes: I'm confident that your scrupulously honest reporting on this massive scandal will note the eyewitness reports that the performance by the Decemberists was not advertised in advance.

You did see this link I provided above, right?

my.barackobama.com/page/s/portlandevent

Reminder: think, then post.

Posted by TLB | May 22, 2008 1:35 PM

TLB projecting:

It's great to see MattY back in full-on hack mode, however, he might consider pointing out that their most popular vid has 400,000 views on YT. That would seem to indicate wide interest in the group.

Their appearance was also promoted here:
my.barackobama.com/page/s/portlandevent

So, it would be intellectually honest to say that they played some role in bringing people out. And, it would be intellectually honest to take the MSM to task for failing to note their influence in the turnout, even if it was relatively minor.

Of course, "MattY" and "intellectually honest" are almost never used in the same sentence.

-------------------------------

actually the obama page that's linked doesn't say that the decemberists are playing. It says, for some reason, "Special Guest Performance by: Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen."

TLB appearantly thinks that 400,000 views over a two year period is some sort of big number.
popular music videos get 4 million views.
heck, that nature vid where the lions and the crocs fight it out was seen 29 million times.

As Tim points out: "CNN had a correspondent on site who reported that Obama's speech would begin after local rock band, the Decemberists, were finished playing."

let's be silly and say that the decemberists drew 20,000 people to that rally. that still means obama drew 50,000. newsworthy, i'd say.

that anyone thinks that they way this story was handled proves some sort of media bias for obama is a moron.

Posted by dj spellchecka | May 22, 2008 4:28 PM

The 75,000 crowd was there because of Obama, and I'm sure the Decemberists helped to inspire the crowd, but should not be considered independent from the rally.

The Decemberists attract younger college age liberals just as Obama attracts the young generation. McCain and Hillary attract the older population, a population who is not interested in progressive and liberal ideology.

75,000 people came to see Obama because he is alive, and his message is energetic and gives hope to a new generation.

Hillary can rally perhaps a few thousand as of lately, and McCain might rally half that. No way could they both, and combined, have attracted anything close to the numbers that were seen in Portland. My city was flooding from the streets downtown, to the waters edge. It was a "Moses on the Willamette" sort of convention..

Posted by Jim | May 22, 2008 10:18 PM

Just as a point of reference, there was an Obama rally here in Carrboro, NC (next door to Chapel Hill) that had members of Arcade Fire and Superchunk as performers, but Obama himself did not appear. 2000 people showed up so I don't think the musical act is what is drawing people in.

Posted by Col Bat Guano | May 22, 2008 10:37 PM

I find it hard to believe no-one's talking about this http://youtube.com/watch?v=vtbJtcuKMBg&feature=related

It's a 'new song' that the Decemberists played at the Obama rally. Called Valerie Plame.

Posted by Gaston | May 23, 2008 12:21 AM

I find it hard to believe no-one's talking about this http://youtube.com/watch?v=vtbJtcuKMBg&feature=related

It's a 'new song' that the Decemberists played at the Obama rally. Called Valerie Plame.

Posted by Gaston | May 23, 2008 12:32 AM

Don't forget that the Arcade Fire has also been performing free concerts for Obama. Their idea of transportation policy is building a tunnel from my window to yours. You know who else builds tunnels? Hamas.

He better renounce them immediately!

Posted by Nordy | May 23, 2008 9:18 AM

Didn't Kerry have REM play at one of his rallies? Doesn't REM stand for "world revolution?"

Time to bring back HUAC. Hugh Hewitt is on the case.

Posted by Comment | May 23, 2008 12:11 PM