Indie Rock Bands Give Hummer The Finger

Photo of Trans Am, a DC band that turned down $180k from Hummer
(not my photo!)

A band I love from Portland, OR., The Thermals, has been offered tens of thousands of dollars to allow Hummer to use a song of theirs in an ad. They turned it down. I love The Thermals even more now. $50,000 is more money than most indie bands will make in a year. Hell, that's more money than some will net in their music careers -- and yet bands are turning down the cash because they refuse to help promote gas-guzzling penis-extention danger-to-everyone-else-on-the-road parking-hog Sport Utility Tanks.

This ranks up there with the Earth On Empty 'ticketing SUVs' campaign, and with the awesome FUH2 website that hosts over 2500 photos of people flipping off Hummers. And The White Stripes (another band I love) turning down $1 million from The GAP a few years back, even though that had nothing to do with fuel efficiency.

Did you know that the US government exempts Hummers from fuel economy tests?

Did you know that the US government gives people tax credits for buying Hummers?

Did you know that the Bush adminstration is up to Secretary of Endless War Donald Rumsfeld's beady little eyes in oil industry connections, connections, and more connections?

But I digress...

Hummers are a symbol of how greedy, selfish, stupid, and disconnected from the reality their owners are.

I'm not sure who's joke it was, but some comedian said that anyone who buys a Hummer should be pointed toward the Middle East, handed a gas can and a rifle, and told to go fill it up themselves.

The FOX affiliate in Minnesota posted a Hummer joke of it's own. Of course, the piece was meant to be an investigative report and not a joke, but all journalistic integrity flew out the window when the author excused the Hummer's poor gas mileage because "some pick-up trucks and SUVs don't get much better mileage and there are a lot more of those on the road in Minnesota." And that's AFTER mentioning the damning fact that "while the Hummer is big on the outside, it only has seating for five adults." At least those pick-up trucks can haul some eco-terrorists down to the local sheriff's office, boy howdy.

Read more about bands dissing Hummer.

(originally posted at the BAGeL Radio blog)