When Taylor Swift wrote that now-famous lyric in “Shake It Off,” it resonated throughout the pop culture community because stars from the worlds of music, sports, TV, and film could certainly relate. As an artist, you may be able to control your content, but never the public and how they react to what you do.
Jimmy Kimmel’s “Mean Tweets” showcases the absurdity of fan vitriol, making light of the nasty things people say about artists and athletes from all walks of life. And yet the passing of George Michael over the holidays was a reminder of just how fast the pendulum can swing – in either direction.
As news of his death took over social media on Christmas Day, the accolades and memories came flooding in. And yet, in the past two decades, Michael was often a punch line because of his well-publicized problems and issues that dogged his career.
I know it’s popular to bring up the b-word – bullying – whenever anyone feels the least bit violated. But celebrity bullying takes place all the time in the music world, whether you’re Barry Manilow, Creed, or yes, George Michael.
That came to mind in of all places a video from none other than Mark Zuckerberg and his attempt to be cutesy about his digital servant, Jarvis – his version of Amazon’s Alexa. Voiced by the iconic Morgan Freeman, Zuckerberg tries to use humor to show how voice command technology will soon become standard equipment in all our homes and offices.
But the joke may have gone a bit over the top when he took a cheap whack at Nickelback. Asking Jarvis/Freeman to play “some good Nickelback songs,” the artificial intelligence response was:
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Mark. There are no good Nickelback songs.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHNyfG0YPqA
Now you can make the case that the world is loaded with serious problems and issues and that poking fun at Nickelback isn’t one of them. But everyone has feelings, and every band has an intensely loyalty following of diehard fans.
In response to the Jarvis video, Avril Lavigne – Chad Kroeger of Nickelback’s ex – took Zuckerberg on in a note on Twitter:
Dear @facebook, pic.twitter.com/1SCjWVV9TK
— Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) December 23, 2016
Whatever you think of Lavigne or Nickelback, Zuckerberg’s video was seen by a lot of people. After all, he lords over the 800 pound gorilla of social networks where nearly two billion people congregate to share photos, memories, observations – in short, their lives. As their mission statement reads, Facebook’s purpose is “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
With that power and reach comes a sense of responsibility to be mindful of the ways that Facebook users behave. And while we know there are trolls, creeps, bullies, and haters on every social network, we might expect a little more from the guy who created the Facebook community. And in the same spirit, radio stations play a similar role in their communities, setting the tone for how we present the music people enjoy.
The fact that Nickelback has sold 50 million+ albums should be a reminder to all of us in radio that there’s an audience for every band, and that joking about their talent or even vilifying them offends a lot of people.
I see this all the time when moderating focus groups. Discussions of music become personal when someone announces that if they hear Boston one more time, they’ll turn the station off forever. Those kinds of comments are almost always followed up by someone who declares that Boston is one their all-time favorite bands.
2016 was a cruel year for the music industry, starting with the passing of David Bowie in January, and ending with George Michael’s tragic exit late last month. The outpouring from fans is proof positive these artists were loved and idolized by millions, many of whom recall how their music helped get them through challenging and tough times.
Radio should celebrate its artists while they’re still with us, taking care to steer away from the cheap shots and low blows. This isn’t about defending Nickelback. Kroeger – and Lavigne – can do that on their own. But it is about setting a higher bar and a more civil tone, while respecting everyone’s tastes.
Haters gonna hate. But respecting the artists and their fans is something we can all aspire to.
You never know whose careers we’ll be memorializing in 2017.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I would say that your sentiments go far beyond attitudes toward musicians. I was listening to one of our competitors last summer, the top rated commercial rock station in our market. This station has a 10 share and a weekly cume of about 700,000. I was listening in the morning to the typical three ring circus that you hear on local morning radio in mid-sized markets. The crew was having a very good time making fun of Asian people, talking about how phlegmy they are, how they cough and sneeze all over other people and how gross it is. Then they did an obviously recorded interview with a local sports personality and their second question was “why are Asian people so phlegmy”. During the obviously recorded answer, they played sounds of people violently coughing, wheezing and blowing their noses….all the while, the hosts were laughing uncontrollably. When the interview was over, they had their “news” gal do a short newscast and the final story was about a potential hacking problem with Apple that may have compromised people’s personal information and that the source of the hacking may have been traced to China. That was the punchline this crew was looking for and the roar of laughter was deafening. They spent the next five minutes ragging on Asian people and how they must have sneezed on the mainframe somewhere. At one point while making generalized statements about Asian people, someone said “You mean, even the brown ones”? The answer was yes, even the brown ones are phlegmy.
This segment took up 20 minutes of my commute. The question is this: what is the responsibility of all broadcasters to set a respectful tone in a civil society? Making fun of George Michael and Nickleback pale in comparison to the insensitivity and disrespect I heard on the air that morning. We mourn the deaths of people gunned down in churches, schools and nightclubs, but we chase the allmightly advertising dollar by allowing on-air personalities to say vile and disgusting things, which tells their listeners that its perfectly acceptable to disrespect people who don’t look like them. At this juncture in our country, shouldn’t our industry take that responsibility more seriously?
Abby, no question the issue transcends music and impacts the areas you discuss. I’d like to think the industry has come a long way since those early “shock jock” days of the ’90s. Thanks for taking the time to remind us that bullying on the radio remains an issue in some quarters. Other opinions welcome here.
Here at our station, we do everything we can to make the artist and the listener a “part of the family”.
The objective is simple, EVERY artist we play has a story (beyond the music) to tell. We do poke fun (a lot) at the “things” of our world (they are things, NOT people) and some circumstances (like the Gary Cherrone era of Van Halen).
To ANY Van Halen fan, that was not a “bright spot” in a very polarizing, debate–vocally). We never said (or say) anything to hate on HIM, but the circumstance (there are a couple of good VH/Cherrone cuts–BTW)…
To counter that, when you can hear on our station — in Eddie Van Halen’s words that he was bullied as a kid and go into Eruption, that speaks VOLUMES!
We can’t hate, because whether we (as programmers) might dislike an artist, those artists have touched someone’s life, and that same artist helped us — as a radio station get to where we are now (on the road to great ratings health)….
Rating Book #8–NO H8!
Max, thanks for weighing in on this. It’s about respecting the artists, but also the audience. Appreciate the thoughts and you reading our blog.
Mocking popular music? Where’s my D.R.E.A.D. card?
Seriously, thanks for the reminder that some PD’s and jocks forget. Every song we play is someone’s favorite song.
Jerry, hopefully we’ve come a long way since those anti-disco days. Thanks for the great comment.
I wasn’t aware of Zuck’s video — a cheap laugh, grabbing onto a hurtful meme. Nickelback can laugh all the way to the bank, of course, but I agree with you Fred. And for the record, without any embarrassment, I hereby declare that I like Nickelback. 🙂
Brad, appreciate the comment. And for the record, I’ve always liked Boston.
I don’t get the dis-respect for Nickelback. I worked for bands in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It is hard work. Practicing, traveling, gigging 5 or 6 nights a week. They have earned their pay check. Kudos.
Kent, thanks for the perspective that many people don’t see.
What a great blog subject today. When I worked at Sirius in New York I spent an afternoon with a member of Nickelback. It was a new band with a hit album at that time. After the interview we sat and talked about the normal stuff people have going on in their lives. He told me of the joy of being able to buy a home and if that was what he got out of his success then it would be enough. I like the band and never understood the razzing they received. My point, in the end they are human beings like the rest of us. They hear the negative comments. Some people actually think it makes them sound smarter when they participate in bullying performers. I refused to record some sweepers years ago that used Barry Manilow as a figure of derision. My sensitivity to this subject came when I worked at station in my hometown of Detroit. A comedian that was popular at the time was coming to town and the ad campaign on the station I worked for used an ugly joke about gay people. The spot played over and over for a couple of weeks. I asked for it to be changed and was told it was just a joke and to lighten up. I wondered at the time if the PD, who was of Polish ancestry, would have felt that way if the joke denigrated Polish people. Thanks again for the blog.
Great story and “backstage” perspective. Thanks for tying it together with an early look at Nickelback. Even after selling all those albums, the insults hurt. Thanks for commenting.
I wanna go on record and say I like Nickelback and Boston and DISCO, too!
🙂