• just_another_person@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Don’t give the Foo Fighters a pass for doing corporate gigs for these assholes either. They knew exactly what they were doing.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Easily the least rock and roll thing a rock star can do is take a big check to play a private show for a wealthy corporation lmao.

        🤘

        • techt@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          What would be extremely rock and roll-- punk rock, even – is donating all of the proceeds from that show to pro-union efforts.

          #DonateItDave, or something

          • LordGimp@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            Blood money put to good use is still a karmic negative. Amazon dehumanizes people. Israel dehumanizes people. At some point the excuses aren’t enough anymore.

            • ddh@lemmy.sdf.org
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              4 months ago

              Maybe look at it this way: Foo Fighters effectively get Amazon to fund union activity by playing on stage for a couple of hours.

      • Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Right? Dave has always been a very sneaky raging narcissist. I’m glad he’s finally showing his true self.

          • Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Yes, he absolutly has. He’s treated a couple friends of mine that work at a local amphitheater like shit. I’ve heard a lot about him otherwise, here and there. He just has a really good PR team.

    • Duallight@lemmy.today
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      4 months ago

      Eh, all he did was accept money to do exactly what he does: play a concert. Now if he canceled other concerts just for this, that would be a different story IMO. The Amazon execs would just buy a yacht or something instead if Dave declined.

      • Isoprenoid@programming.dev
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        4 months ago

        Ah the ol’ “If I didn’t accept the money to do something unethical, then someone else would have done it.” argument.

        • Duallight@lemmy.today
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          4 months ago

          Yeah, I can see how it could be seen that way. I’m thinking more along the lines of “Dave performs for money. Someone wants to pay a lot of money for a special performance, and it doesn’t affect any of his other shows so of course he would do it”. IMO what Dave did isn’t unethical, but I can see how it could be seen that way. But I also think if the article was “Amazon Execs bought a multi million dollar yacht after massive layoffs”, no one would be blaming the yacht manufacturer. Just the execs.

          • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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            4 months ago

            no one would be blaming the yacht manufacturer

            I already don’t support yacht manufacturers. I own foo fighters albums. There is a massive difference in your example.

            • Duallight@lemmy.today
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              4 months ago

              The yacht was a bad example. What I’m getting at is that not hating something is not the same as supporting it. I don’t support Dave doing this, but I don’t hate him for doing it either.

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    It is a musician’s business to know who they are performing for and why - and the more famous they are, the more it starts to matter. Grohl knows this.

    The people on here who is excusing this with “capitalism bad except when people I like is doing it” arguments is just demonstrating how empty “liberal values” get when push comes to shove.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      That’s actually their manager’s business. Literally what they hire them for. And honestly, if you’re going to fault them for performing a private venue for an Amazon event, you should also fault every artist that’s ever performed in like, Vegas. Casinos have been bleeding people to death long before Amazon hit the scene.

      I’m not going to fault a performer for literally doing their job and taking a fat payday. I’d probably do the same in their shoes, anybody who insists otherwise isn’t being honest with themselves.

      It’s not like the rider said “play show at Amazon, these guys just laid a lot of people off and are screaming about budget cuts so they want you to play for the rest. Here’s 4 million dollars.”

      It probably said “corporate event for 6-10k people. Here’s a check for 4 million dollars”

      • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        So you’re arguing that selling out any supposed values you might have is fine as long as the check is big enough.

        Foo Fighters are a huge band. They aren’t at the whims of some all powerful manager. And Amazon’s crimes are not new, they’re not obscure information. They’re incredibly well known, frequently discussed, and go hand in hand with the mention of Amazon. They knew what they were doing, who they were doing it for.

        Now, if you want to discuss the power that record labels and their business relationships hold and their contracts with the bands they produce, that’s a possible explanation for this. But we’re talking about aging millionaire white guys. Chances are, they had veto power, knew what they were doing and probably could’ve accepted a monetary fine from the record company for defying a contract obligation if that’s why they were being forced to do it. And, honestly, probably would’ve leaked that information, gotten a ton of great press, maybe gotten into a public dispute with the record label if they chose to speak out about it, and then cashed in on that.

        But, like you said, they did it for a fat paycheck. They didn’t stick up for the well-documented abused workers of Amazon while cashing in on it — “virtue signaling,” as people say. They decided to do this. For money. From Amazon executives.

        And that’s…not better.

        The fact that this comes at the end of typical corporate purse string tightening at the expense of workers is really just the steaming shit nugget on top of this diarrhea sundae.

        • Wogi@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I’m arguing that you’re villainising the wrong people.

          • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            And that was me telling you your assumption of who’s at fault was way off the mark.

            They’re rockstars. They knew what they were doing and made the choice themselves.

    • Railing5132@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      So we’re just skipping the part about the execs treating themselves to a concert after many years of union busting, horrid working conditions, innumerable other abuses, and excluding the workers. But we’re going to shit on the people they hired for a gig.

      Coolcoolcoolcoolcool.

      • masquenox@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        So we’re just skipping the part about the execs

        No… we actually talk about Amazon’s shitfuckery a lot. Where have you been?

        • Railing5132@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I’m talking about the point of the article and you know it. Which is why I have you noted as “Bad Faith”

          • batmanifesto@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            and you know it.

            This is where you are wrong. You aren’t commenting on the article… You aren’t even commenting on the post about the article. Your responding to a comment left on the post about the article.

            It’s you that’s arguing in bad faith here, or at least not recognising the context of what you’re saying, presumably because you’re too busy trying to get across your own point.

            I don’t think your initial point about the criticism that should be levelled at Amazon is wrong (I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone on here that supports what Amazon have done), but that isn’t to say that the Foo Fighters shouldn’t be being criticised here.

            Both things can be true.

            But by responding to a comment that points out the band’s faults with whatabouttery you’re kind of coming across like you’re defending the band whilst also ignoring all the other people saying the same thing you are. Then on top of that having a go at the OP when he points out other people are talking about the Amazon issue by saying you’re clearly taking about the article… If you’re commenting on the article why are you replying to some other post?!

          • masquenox@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Which is why I have you noted as “Bad Faith”

            As all the liberals festering around here does. I’ll just throw this badge on the heap with the others, okay?

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      At the end of the day they’re people too though. And this is music, not war. There’s a pretty big gray area for “participating in capitalism does not equal approval of capitalism.”

      • masquenox@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        There’s a pretty big gray area for “participating in capitalism does not equal approval of capitalism.”

        That only goes for the working class - the people who are forced to participate in capitalism. Not for filthy rich musicians.

        And this is music, not war.

        There is no aspect of our enforced existence under capitalism that is free from it’s insidious influence - and that includes music.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Not unlike all the excuses we’re seeing for genocide now that it’s Biden shipping the bombs over to Israel.

      • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 months ago

        Have yet to see anybody ‘excusing’ it. Everybody’s just holding their noses and sticking with him because the alternative is convicted felon Trump.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Oh they straight up deny it’s happening. Nobody tries to say it’s a genocide and it’s okay, they just deny it or deflect to talking about Trump.

          • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            4 months ago

            Trump is not a ‘deflection’ from Biden. Trump is the only alternative, and a much worse one for pretty much everybody on the planet, even if some don’t realise it.

  • JesusSon@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    If those dirty fucking workers had just worked harder they could have a Foo Fighters concert too.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Yeah I heard some of them had the gall to use the actual restroom on work hours. Like, get yourself a bigger bottle, and some better bootstraps! Amirite?

    • Mellow@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Die a hero or live long enough to become a villain. Kurt punched his card before it could happen to him too.

        • Kongar@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 months ago

          Agree 100%

          I’m sure it was presented to the band like this “hey will you do a private show for a dump truck of money?” Of course the answer is yes. As if he has any way of knowing what’s going on inside a company, who’s specifically on the invite list - come on…. He’s a rock star - he plays shows for money, bitches, and blow. That’s all there is to it - he ain’t the villain here.

        • HonkyTonkWoman@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Seriously. This is as shitty as the Right boycotting Budlight.

          Go ahead & burn your FF tunes. Hell make a social media post about it. It’ll do good, we promise.

          Why don’t you wait & see what Dave does with money? Anybody know what his charitable interests are?

          Y’all just want to burn some one & you’ll burn your heroes as easily as your villains. Buncha fuckin’ assholes.

        • WldFyre@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Didn’t he and the band literally promote AIDs conspiracy theories at concerts?

    • aStonedSanta@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I dunno. Man’s getting paid to play music. If he takes that money and does something better with it. That’s still a positive. Don’t be a hipster lol

      • aDuckk@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Imagine if they gave some or all of it to an Amazon union drive. A prank of historical proportions

  • twig@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    The ruling class needs a very poignant reminder that their perceived value is entirely manufactured by the working class, on whose shoulders they stand. These people have no real value if the people they exploit are able exert their own agency.

    Fuck these parasites. And as a matter of course, fuck the foo fighters.

      • Phegan@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        We have to all work together to give those consequences. Workers need to act as a united force to push back against the ruling class. Checking out hurt the movement. Help us show them the consequences.

        • Pilferjinx@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          History has a way of repeating itself. Best we can hope for is a soft reset. It will always be this way until human avarice is somehow ejected from our genome.

        • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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          4 months ago

          Most of the people in those concerts are employed. They’ll have stock with Amazon, as does everyone working for Amazon on a full time, permanent contract.

          You do realise Amazon is a public company, don’t you? If your country allows fractional shares, you could become an owner of Amazon for £10.

          Is the “ruling class” anyone who has a report at Amazon?

      • Xanis@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Oh well see that would actually require communication and commitment.

        We don’t do that. Something about needing that job that they definitely won’t pull out from under us to pay those bills that never go up.

  • bulwark@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    They should pour out a piss bottle for the warehouse employees who couldn’t attend.

  • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    To think this is a problem with just Amazon is silly. This is every American corporation. The executives of every major corporation in this country treat themselves very very well on company dimes while their workers all languish in starvation wages. The only way to fight this is to raise the minimum wage to something that is livable for the average worker. The government needs to force these companies to behave. They will never and I mean abso-fucking-lutely never choose to treat their workers with respect and dignity by paying them a decent living wage.

    And the politicians that are in all of their pockets will never ever go against their corporate masters. The only way to make them listen is to get every single American to acknowledge that this is something that is needed and then push their politicians to do it or threaten their jobs by voting for someone else. This goes for both Democrats and Republicans, not quite equally but there’s definitely a few Democrats that need to be replaced.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      My last job, we removed two departments and fired them all, then forced to have a “virtual retreat” to save money. Three months later, they showed a PowerPoint how this was their best year ever.

      By that point, I was already looking for a new job.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      While you’re breaking your back, they’re getting paid millions to eat sushi off of a porn star’s back.

    • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      The only way to fight this is to raise the minimum wage to something that is livable for the average worker.

      Then what do you do when only the Amazons and Walmarts of the world with the deepest pockets can afford that, and small business basically ceases to exist, as a result? People talk a lot about ‘if you can’t pay a livable wage you don’t deserve to be in business’, but the same people also complain about monopolies and lack of choice at the same time. How do you propose this be reconciled?

      Also, no one’s ever going to be able to begin to enforce a “living wage”, even if they wanted to, until that wage is given a concrete definition–at the very least, a formula with variables to account for cost of living differences across the country. Until then, all this clamoring for a “living wage” is completely pointless.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    You break your back for pennies while they get millions a second to eat sushi off of a porn star’s back.

    • Aux@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      The funny thing is that people always forget about old money - people who don’t know what work is or what actual money is. And who see billionaires as just mere peasants.

      • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
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        4 months ago

        There is a lot of old money where I grew up, and it was funny hearing about Blackrock trying to buy their properties. They would offer these people ten times the value, but old money was just “but, that’s just a little bit more money in the money bin. I have a massive house and estate to look at the peasants. Why would I bother?”

        • Aux@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          And now imagine old money in Europe. For example, the British aristocracy owns at least 30% of land in England (that’s the official number, but Land Registry doesn’t have information about who owns 15% of land at all and it is most likely owned by aristocracy as well). And England has a leasehold system. So if Blackrock would come to a king or some lord to buy some of their land, the land would be sold to them easily as a long term lease, for like 100+ years. And then Blackrock would also pay yearly rent on top of that. Because you ain’t buying shit here, dirty peasant.

          Another thing to keep in mind is that old money here have their wealth for over a thousand years. They’re not simply entrenched, they’re a part of the fabric of the country itself. They have all kinds of exceptions in the laws and regulations and exist above everyone else not only in social status, but also in economic and political status as well.

          People can hate the rich as much as they want, but there’s a layer in the society which doesn’t care about the existence of the rich and the poor. And they are all related to each other through centuries of strategic marriages, so basically one incredibly large family spread across the whole of Europe.

    • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I wonder when “selling out” or being called a “sell out” stopped being a thing. It happened during my lifetime for sure. Now basically everyone everywhere you look in the music business not only is one, but the public seems to not even consider it an option to not sell out, and I think most people dream of being able to be a sell out themselves so much they pardon others preemptively and almost instinctively.

      But like in this case, Dave Grohl is already a multimillionaire, does he really have to further prostitute himself for Amazon cash?

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        It fell victim to the “gig economy”, now it’s less “Selling out” and more “Get that bag”

        • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          🤷 and maybe someone was holding his dog hostage until he performed, but that pic doesn’t look like someone who is having a terrible time fulfilling his label obligations

      • chrishazfun@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        I’m kind of bewildered by it, like there wasn’t any expectations but this is the sort of thing a creatively spent band would do, one of their best (imo) albums came out last year they absolutely could’ve passed on this. I’m hoping they at least put on a dogshit show, “Corporate magazines still suck” on Rolling Stone type move.

    • debil@lemmy.world
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      Dave is a businessman first and foremost. I wonder how Pat is dealing with this sort of shit.

  • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    The real question is, how many pee bottles did they force Dave Grohl to fill in order to make his song quota in time?

  • profdc9@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Yup, this is really maximize shareholder value. I can totally see this teambuilding event doubling dividends. Wait? You said the company never pays dividends and rarely buys back its stock? Wow, I am really seeing those profits!