Accountability in Music • Page 20

I would never downplay it, BUT DID I MENTION IT WAS TEN YEARS AGO. but we're treating this seriously. And also ten years ago.

 

Using "allegation" 6 times in a statement is almost impressive in its awfulness

 

Man that is a shitty ass statement. I am (was?) a huge fan of their music. It took them forever to release a statement and that's what they go with? Unbelievably bad.

 

for the record i have no problem digging up past sexual misconduct

 

Terrible statement, but RE: the use of "allegation", they legally HAVE to use this word surely? It's not like they can say "factually true statement", or they would be sued for everything the band has ever made?

 

Man, this statement is up there with Melanie Martinez as being the worst statement I’ve seen. Yikes.

 

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons facing lawsuit alleging sexual battery during Southern California interview – San Bernardino Sun

 

well color me the least surprised ever. glad someone's trying to put a stop to it though

 

Gene Simmons has been a tremendous piece of shit since the dawn of time

 

Thanks. I've read the post about fifteen times over. It's worth the read, if you are into deconstructing these things.

Thoughts:

1) Number one and above all, yes, the post is all about denying responsibility and distancing the band and everyone with the band from the problematic allegations against their former band member (referred to once as "Mike"). From the first word to the last, that's what it's mainly about. Look at how the statement starts out: "...From the day we started this band, the four of us agreed that we not only wanted to write and play songs together for the rest of our lives, but we also wanted to build a strong community through our music and provide a safe place for ourselves and our fans to express our shared values..." Like making a lot of money and hooking up with fans never really was a high priority, and if you don't accept that then stop reading and unfollow, ok?

2) Secondly, it's also coming out at an interesting time -- about as late as it could come out and still give time for All Time Low (and the businesses involved) to get another qualified band to open for their UK tour in the spring, and so also as long as they could wait after the initial allegations came out about a month ago, to help ensure this statement/social media "release" doesn't feed the reaction that their fans and the general public had to the allegations coming out in the first place. This way, even if the media picks up on this story, it's going to be buried under many, many other stories and only written in reference to a former member of Pierce the Veil, etc. The timing of this statement, if nothing else, is something that the music press should give us some commentary and insight about, because it seems like it really is meant just to distance the band from the allegations and get out of the UK tour in time for another act to be announced.

3) "over ten years ago" -- yeah, it's been about that long. And what was going on at the time? Blood on the Dance Floor and Brokencyde were doing well and touring extensively on and off Warped Tour, but not quite at the peak of their popularity. The music industry involved with the related genres though were at their peak (or depths) of denial over abusive behavior in the scene and feedback from fans on Myspace, Livejournal, and elsewhere online, and near its peak of vulnerability for thing like this (with Mike) to happen. At that's how "ten years ago" helps frame the "allegations" in one's mind -- a long time ago, we didn't know any better, we were young and vulnerable ourselves, so if you feel sorry for her, you should feel sorry for us as well. And a lot of their fans do feel sorry for them, as their comments clearly say -- few comments seem to be genuinely angry at the woman for what she's saying, they're more sorry and expressing sympathy for the band.

4) There's one and only one statement from the band about this, and it's the Facebook post metioned above. Nothing on Twitter or Instagram, though Mike's Instagram is now set to private (wonder why just that and not his Twitter as well?). It looks like the band really does not want fan feedback on this, or they've decided that they have taken in all the feedback they want, and want discussion to end here. Either way, I bet this will be all the band says, and anything one gets from their record company, management, etc, will be paraphrases of the same thing, making me wonder if it was actually parties with those companies who wrote this statement -- and if not, gave their explicit approval for this statement.

5) It would be interesting to get All Time Low's take on this, but I bet it would be like the statements we've heard from more than one occasion from Alex, as in: Alex Gaskarth educates new bands: “You’re not here to f*ck around with girls” - News - Alternative Press In so many words, "treat them like queens" and "we're here to do a job." I can't find any other links but this quote from September 2015 was verbatim the same thing he said a few years earlier in another context. Maybe this is another example of a statement that sounds like it was written or approved by someone in management, and also what we'd expect to hear from a band that started in 2003 and likely went through whatever problems they might have ever had like this long before social media as we know it today would have recorded chatter about it.

 

I wouldn't be taking moral advice from All Time Low, a band of 30-somethings who used to collect bras on stage from, and make jokes about their dicks in front of, mostly underage girls... But that's just my opinion.

 

They didn't do that to give moral advice, they did it for a cause. I have to go to work now, I'll let someone else describe the cause if needed. :)

 

This is the same guy that found a way to get banned from Fox News. Sorry South Park, Gene Simmons overtakes Bono as the biggest piece of shit in the world.

 

that started weirdly in their early days but they've at least turned it into a good cause and they've generally gotten better with this sort of thing. they could do more but i wouldn't call them problematic at their current phase

 

True, I wouldn't go as far as to call them problematic as such.

 

Tim Lambesis wrote a statement on Facebook yesterday. People are actually saying he just “made a mistake”. Holy shit, how have we as a society gotten so far away from a remotely decent moral compass.

 

Thought the same thing when I saw it. How is he even out already? It doesn't feel like any real time was served at all.

 

Right?! It’s pretty mind boggling.

 

California has insane prison overcrowding. So long as you behave while incarcerated, by statute you will only serve 50% of your sentence.

 

I typically creep in this thread becasue I don't have much to add to the convo, but holy shit thats one of the most disturbing facebook comment section I think I've ever seen.

 

Gotta get the gears in motion for the 2018 Austrian Death Machine reunion tour.

In all seriousness, it just reads like all of the other statements made recently where all of these perpetrators are trying to absolve themselves from their past actions and ultimately serves no one but themselves. I'm sure Tim thought it was a well-intentioned post, but like...he actually served jail time for what he did. Trying to hire a hitman to kill your ex isn't "lol, just made a mistake, bro" kind of shit. Ugh.

 

The number of people commenting with "everyone makes mistakes" or "I forgive you" on that post is actually mind boggling.

I know I usually say that once is a mistake, repetition makes abuse, but... I'm gonna go ahead and suspend that in this situation. Kidnapping ones kids and trying to hire a hitman to murder ones wife just isn't "mistake" territory.

 

What if she actually did get murdered? Would these sick fucks still say everyone makes mistakes?

 

whomstve amongst us hasnt *squints* uhh.....hired a hitman to kill the love of our life