It was only a matter of time. The social justice warrior march through lifestyle institutions continues and is even starting to pick up speed. Video games, Star Wars, anything that can earn some money and occupy the mindspace of citizens (when not tuned into MSNBC or #hashtag activism), must be sanitized by social justice warriors (SJWs).
Music is one of the oldest forms of art and found in every culture. Rock is a relatively new form of music and has been associated with rebellion, edginess, and freedom.
Not anymore. Rock and pop music were able to push boundaries for decades, and musicians were allowed to play with imagery that was fascist, anarchist, nihilist, and even sadomasochist. It was all part of the freedom of rock.
Not any longer. The SJWs are here to make sure that acts are rebellious in the proper fashion and that they are inclusive of every new group within the progressive coalition. The year 2015 saw multiple flare-ups that enforced SJW thought codes. In some instances, there was no rhyme and little financial reason to do so. In the progressive world, ideology trumps cash.
A proudly queer band by the name of Gloss received some media publicity. It was a bit odd, though, as they are mediocre and had only recorded an eight-minute demo. If you read media reviews, the media always crows about how Gloss sings of the pain and sorrow that follows a transgendered teen. They are speaking for those with no voice, just as Bruce Jenner spoke for twenty-five minutes at the ESPYs after coming out in a nationally televised interview, since trans* people are never given the microphone. The band has trans* performers. If this band sang in a foreign country with all this press for little output, you would assume it was a State Department-CIA operation—like Pussy Riot.
Some people pushed back.
Sorry, only one band pushed back: Whirr. Whirr poked fun at Gloss for being terrible and pushed the idea that Gloss was going trans* as a gimmick to get press and make money. In the process, they also tweeted some hilarious Buffalo Bill images and jokes. This could have created a great inter-band beef between young musicians, which could have generated heat and publicity. No. Whirr’s label dropped them in a heartbeat. Jokes and teasing were called “transphobic” by the media. They have not tweeted since the shunning and shaming. Whirr is off-limits and must pay the price for their crimes.
Social media plays an element to this, as discrepancies in shaming, shunning, and punishing, pop up in peculiar ways. Somebody started this petition to get Deafheaven banned from playing a music festival and a couple of sites caught on to it. They found out that Kerry McCoy (Deafheaven’s guitarist) tweeted “faggot” a few times on Twitter three years ago and decided they should never be allowed to play a festival again. This is funny because Deafheaven is seen as a progressive band in most people’s eyes, while much of metal leans right. They play with the notion of metal (traditionalist) and constantly flirt with the idea of what metal music really is. Their metal is pretty and even references songs like “Kiss Me, Kiss Me” and “Champagne Supernova.” It’s funny to see the left try to punish a band as harmless as Deafheaven when there are many artists still working who have an actually gruesome and terrifying record. But somehow, no one seems to care about them.
A couple weeks ago, I went to a store to break up a drive, and I noticed the cashier was wearing a Burzum shirt. He was roughly thirty. If you know anything about Burzum, aka Varg Virkernes, you know he was part of Mayhem, a brutal Norwegian black metal band that was known for burning churches and killing gays for the hell of it. Burzum still makes music and plays shows, even though he murdered the frontman to Mayhem back in the early 90s. You just might have to be a Nazi enthusiast to get kicked off a bill. There is very little consistency here in the SJW witch hunts. Twitter and social media become a part of it because the users of said media are the type to be hypersensitive and narc on anyone, in order to enforce the SJW code.
These SJW purges do not even make economic sense. Geoff Rickly ended his partnership with Martin Shkreli, and the label they founded basically went bankrupt. Rickly did this over the price gouging incident, which was perfectly legal but bad-think in the eyes of progressives. He was the villain of the moment, and despite entering a partnership with him, Rickly terminated their endeavor immediately. He expressed some regrets later for possibly jumping the gun, but Shkreli is in jail now—so, water under the bridge, right? Wrong. An entire label went under due to “muh feelings.” The 2 Minute Hate called for a sacrifice and show of virtue. Rickly answered that call to sacrifice.
This points to an element of the language enforcement, namely strict enforcement for groups considered part of the tribe. The betrayal is worse compared to a dumb hick who does not know better and never would have been considered an ally.
That leads to the passion of Mark Kozelek. Mark Kozelek has been making music since the late 80s and finally hit a high note within the indie sphere with his critically acclaimed and truly masterful record Benji under the name Sun Kil Moon.
He’s a terrific songwriter and truly masculine, but not in a goofy, cartoonish caricature, like many country, rock, or hip-hop acts. His masculinity echoes older ideas—like a sort of Hemingway, which has been showing more and more as he ages. His writing leans towards sports (boxing specifically) and is not only historically rich, but also personally rich. Before this recent foray, Kozelek had been making records with The Red House Painters (another critically acclaimed band). His album Benji was lauded as a masterpiece and already named one of the best albums of the decade by Pitchfork earlier that year. That is, until Mark started saying things that are not nice.
The first incident was back in 2014. When some hillbillies wouldn’t shut up at one of his concerts, he proceeded to say, “Shut the fuck up, you fucking hillbillies.” Now, people laughed about this. It was fine, until another one of his shows was interrupted again by another band: The War on Drugs. This is when the the real media circus started and Mark trolled them like a true champ. Mark ended up writing the song The War On Drugs Can Suck My Cock and playing it live. The War on Drugs’ wounded pride elicited an interview, in which they literally said, “Mark Kozelek is a douche.” Like a troll spawned from the outer right, Mark Kozelek made another song, “Adam Gronofsky Blues.” Now all this is happening and the SJWs and media are eating it up like a stoner with a bowl of cheesy popcorn. His targets were approved: hillbillies and white rockers who take themselves too seriously.
Not everyone is happy, and of course, the media asked for Kozelek to tone it down. It started with Mark Kozelek I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down, and then things take a Megyn Kelly vs. Donald Trump turn. Meredith Graves, a girl in a pretty mediocre band, had some really laughable thoughts on the whole thing in an essay she wrote entitled Mark Kozelek and The Language of Male Violence, which reads like a masterpiece in faux concern. This is rock ‘n’ roll. Pitchfork’s audience is overwhelmingly young, white males. This is an opportunity for an SJW in media form to lecture the young, white male readers about the dangers of their words.
Kozelek turns this all around, but in doing so, the media T-cells all activate. The high note of all this comes mid-2015 when Mark Kozelek released his new album Universal Themes and made a direct reference to the Mark Kozelek “I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down” article with his song, “Cry Me A River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues“ and smashed the two mirrors that most journalist feel they have when talking about another artist and their work. They talk a little bit about it in their Premature Evaluation of his new album and in the comments section. All of this affected the tastemakers’ stance on Kozelek as an artist. Many now consider him to be a mean bully. Kozelek is of an old breed and understands there is more to life than whining about what other people say. Kozelek is basically a knight in shining armor fighting against the SJWs of the music Left.
A lot of people see him as a bully that’s out of touch. I see someone who’s learned how to work the unbelievable media circus that would print anything he says. He boasts on one of his new songs that he ended up spending $17,000 on tickets for the recent Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, due to his album Benji selling so many records. This guy seriously knows how ridiculously soft the world around him is, and he’s playing with it. It was not over for Kozelek, though, as they came after him with one of the weakest, trumped up charges. He called a reporter who interviewed him a “bitch” onstage.
Fainting couches sold out in Williamsburg. Stereogum reported this as a “targeted journalist” valiantly fighting the good journalist fight to slay this beastly, politically incorrect man. She could only respond with the entire media on her side, isolating Kozelek, who despite his artistic growth, was a bully who engaged in violent rhetoric. This is all media orchestration and manipulation. Onstage, Kozelek in a playful, lyrical switch said the journalist “totally wants to fuck me,” “totally wants to have my babies,” and “get in line, bitch.”
The SJW-infused media of the music world is similar to the ESPNSJW sports world. One can not rest without being assured all progressive narratives are approved, pushed and followed 100% of the time. Per the media’s narrative, Kozelek is a misogynist who engages in violent language to bully people. The act was fine when he targeted appropriate targets. The crimethink could only be tolerated so long, and the media had to retcon the past where they could now say they did not approve of his old bullying, but did not say so until this new, meaner bullying. Kozelek sold albums and packed halls, but the narrative trumps money. His words twisted beyond any meaning or context, his livelihood attacked, and his career damaged, all for daring to be a man and mock the sacred cow of faux rebellious music media members.
Rock is dead. If you ever doubted the purge industry, the year of SJW thought crime persecutions poured cement on the coffin, despite fan protestations.
Mark Kozelek’s publicity agent was reached for a potential podcast interview or comment on this essay. He is not doing any interviews at this time. I do not blame him.