Don’t get me wrong, I am all for political activism. I feel as though it is the most vital part of a democracy but sometimes musicians take it too far. Music has long been a medium for political expression but somewhere artists seem to have lost their ability to be subtle, and in some cases, sensible.

Fans should not have been surprised at festivals and concerts this summer when their favorite artists decided to take time out of their sets to talk about how they feel this country is being run. I can appreciate their passion but most of the time I don’t want to hear the message.

Please, lead singers of punk bands, find something more interesting to say than, “Fuck Bush” or “Fuck Iraq.” We get that the war sucks, so why don’t you take the time that you have wasted and enlighten us with a few phrases that we can learn from not just “This Government doesn’t care about you.” Contrary to popular belief, singers have been able to spread their political gossip in intelligent ways. Look at Bob Dylan as a great example he was a great voice in the civil rights movement, but put his opinions in the lyrics of his topical songs rather than just standing on stage yelling, “Fuck racism!”

A few months back I had the amazing opportunity to sit through a set from southern California’s (Hed) P.E. First let me explain that my opportunity was amazing not because (Hed) P.E is an especially talented band, but rather because they might be the worst band I have ever seen perform. I apologize if anyone who reads this is a fan (all five of you that are out there), but this was the worst concert I have ever been to. I also have an extremely big pet-peeve with bands who have ridiculously spelled names with symbols and such but I will leave that to another column.

So at the brofest that is a (Hed) P.E show, Jahred, the lead singer, decided to take it upon himself to teach the masses in Sacramento. Mind you, Jahred is the scariest looking dude I have seen in my entire life; he’s tall, sweaty, shirtless, his face is painted all white, his eyes are outlined like a raccoon and he is bald except for a line of a thin dreadlock mohawk. He starts off yelling that his fans should beat up emo kids, all the while I am standing there, 5’5 in my skinny jeans and a To Write Love On Her Arms shirt, really stoked to get my ass kicked by dudes in wifebeaters and Dickies. He then gets more excited and screams, “Listen up, I want to teach you guys about the truth! The truth about the government! The truth about the war! And the truth about aliens!”

Call me rude but when he said that shit about aliens I started cracking my little emo ass up in the back. The crazy thing about it though, was the mass of fans there at this venue were fucking stoked. They were screaming and cheering, “Shit yeah aliens are real!” and I’m not kidding this is the real deal.

This is when I realized that if bands want to speak their minds and want people to listen, they should do two things:

• Have crazy fucking fans that will believe anything you tell them because perhaps they lacked solid role models as kids and are just really like X-Files.
• Mix how angry you are at the government with some facts that you know might not be true but also could get attention.

I don’t attend shows to be lectured on what a shitty job my state, local, and federal government are doing; I go to enjoy music and have a fun time. It is within me to accept and appreciate that musicians genuinely care about the state of this great land of ours but put your feelings into song! If (Hed) P.E wrote a song about aliens I don’t think I can go as far as to say that I would listen to it but it would at least be funny.