1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

AT&T 'regrets' edit of Pearl Jam's anti-Bush lyrics

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by oomp, Aug 9, 2007.

  1. oomp

    oomp Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2000
    Messages:
    4,557
    Likes Received:
    85
    Aug. 9, 2007, 3:01PM
    AT&T 'regrets' edit of Pearl Jam's anti-Bush lyrics


    Associated Press

    SAN ANTONIO — Lyrics performed by Pearl Jam criticizing President Bush should not have been censored from the live Webcast by AT&T Inc., a company spokesman acknowledged today.

    AT&T, through its Blue Room entertainment site, offered a Webcast of the band's headlining performance Sunday at Lollapalooza in Chicago, but two lines were cut by monitors hired by the company through a vendor.

    The monitors were only supposed to bleep out excessive profanity or nudity, said AT&T spokesman Michael Coe. Performances on the site are streamed live, but a brief delay allows the company to monitor excessive profanity by performers between songs and to catch "wardrobe malfunctions," he said.

    The lyrics silenced Sunday should not have been cut, Coe acknowledged. Coe said it was a mistake and the company was working with the vendor that produces the Webcasts to avoid future misunderstandings.

    The lines cut from a song to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" included "George Bush, leave this world alone" the second time it was sung and "George Bush find yourself another home," according to the band's Web site.

    "What was edited out of those songs should not have been edited out. That was a mistake, and we regret that," said Coe, who added that the company was working to secure the rights to post the entire song — part of a sing-along with the audience — on the Blue Room site.

    San Antonio-based AT&T uses the Blue Room site to offer live concerts, sports interviews, video game advice and other entertainment content that requires a high-speed Internet connection as a way to promote DSL services. The site's content is free.

    Besides Pearl Jam's show, AT&T Webcast 21 other performances ranging from Pete Yorn to G. Love and Special Sauce during the three-day Lollapalooza music festival. No other complaints have been made about censoring, Coe said.

    Pearl Jam said in a posting on its Web site that in the future, it would work harder to ensure live broadcasts or Webcasts are "free from arbitrary edits."

    "If a company that is controlling a Webcast is cutting out bits of our performance — not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations — fans have little choice but to watch the censored version," they said.

    The alternative rock band and Internet advocates were also using the incident to try to draw attention to questions about the future of net neutrality and whether Internet service providers, like AT&T, might be able to put some content on slower-moving Internet bandwidths.

    Jenny Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, said the incident is not a case of net neutrality being violated, but it raises questions about whether AT&T and other service providers can be trusted not to hurt artists by giving faster download times to some content and not to others.

    Internet speeds that depend only on the size of files, not the kind of content that's in them, is a democratizing force, she said.

    "We've got to protect that, and artists get that," Toomey said.

    But Coe said the issue of net neutrality — where the concern is Internet service providers giving preferential treatment to some Web sites and not others — is entirely separate from the mistake during the Pearl Jam show.

    "This was our own Web site," he noted.
     
  2. WildSweet&Cool

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2007
    Messages:
    1,768
    Likes Received:
    0
    Well, I usually don't like such censorship... but....

    friggin' Pearl Jam shouldn't be using a classic Pink Floyd song as a tool to slam George Bush.


    Hey!
    Pearl Jam!
    Leave Pink Floyd alone!
    All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
     
  3. DCkid

    DCkid Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2001
    Messages:
    9,555
    Likes Received:
    2,505
    I agree that it shouldn't have been censored...besides, it's not like anyone cares what Pearl Jam has to say anymore.
     
  4. peleincubus

    peleincubus Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2002
    Messages:
    25,313
    Likes Received:
    13,164

    some people care. actually anytime someone says something negative about georgie bush it makes me feel all warm inside.
     

Share This Page

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now