If you’ve been paying attention to news headlines recently, you’ve probably seen titles such as; “Dropkick Murphys Mocks Wisconsin GOP Senate Candidate.” – Huffington Post “Dropkick Murphys Rip Wisconsin Senate Candidate.” – CBS “Obama Declares War On Irish Punk.” – Sean Hannity. But you might have missed how outraged some fans became because of the Murphy’s ethos.
First a little back story. Wisconsin State Representative Jeff Fitzgerald used the song “Shipping Up To Boston” to introduce himself at a Republican Party convention. Oh yeah, and he did it without asking permission. Now to be fair, it was only “Shipping Up To Boston.” People can take different things form music. However, it’s apparent that his top notch research team didn’t listen to albums such as, Do Or Die, The Gang’s All Here, Sing Loud, Sing Proud and so on.
This is where it gets interesting. The Dropkick Murphy’s went to their Facebook page to point out the irony by saying the following. “A Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate – and crony of anti-Union Governor Scott Walker – using a Dropkick Murphys song as an intro is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap!” Immediately the comments on the page exploded. What I found surprising was the number of people threatening to boycott the band because of their political beliefs. The Dropkick Murphy’s have always made it clear where they stand. For every drinking song, sports anthem, and traditional cover, there are about five working-class pro union songs.
Personally, I feel some fans might be blowing this out of proportion. While I might not agree with a musicians politics, religious beliefs, or lack thereof, I can still appreciate good music and listen to the songs I enjoy. So my question for you is, would you stop listening to a band because of their political beliefs? Now I’ll leave you with some real gems you can find on the Murphy’s Facebook fan page.
Tisk Tisk, telling an artist what to sing and not sing about.
Accusing another party of not having anything intelligent to say. Following it up with Godwin’s law.
Fox News talking points with no actual argument on the negatives of unions? Check. Conspiracy theories? Check. Bigotry? Check. He could have saved a lot of characters just by saying “I’m a Libertarian.”
I have nothing witty to say about this guys comment. I just wanted to point out he listed his favorite bands as – Nickelback, Linkin Park, Evanences, Rascal Flatts, Black Eyed Peas, Toby Keith.
So essentially what you’re saying is vote Republican if you want Anarchy?
