Rolling Stone Is Full Of Hate!

First it was their referral of Queen's front man as Frankie Mercury, and now Rolling Stone is in the business of attacking artists and nearly getting them deported. Mordechai Shinefield the first winner of Rolling Stones "I'm From Rolling Stone" writing competition took it upon himself back in April to attack Sum 41 lead singer Deryck Whibley for song lyrics that refer to President Bush. From the beginning Mordi attacks the boys, interprets their lyrics for them and even puts some words in their mouth. He even manages to get a comment from a representative from the House Minority leader. WOW! As a result of this article Mr. Whidbley was nearly deported from the U.S.

We'll be honest we're not really Sum 41 fans but we in no way ever attack an artist for being an artist. You let personal feeling get involved Moredechai, and that's not journalism and for your efforts you nearly got Mr. Whidbley deported from the U.S. We wish you best as a writer just not as music critic. Gander On for the entire article by Mr. Shinefield and let Rolling Stone know what you think.



Courtesy of Rolling Stone

The snot-nosed punks of Sum 41 aren’t the first Canadian artists to pick a fight with the president — that honor belongs to Neil Young. But we’re pretty sure they’re the first to threaten the Commander In Chief’s life on a single. On Sum’s new “March of the Dogs,” frontman Deryck Whibley sings, “And now the president’s dead/ Because they blew off his head/ No more neck to be red/ I guess to heaven he fled.”

While calling out the President takes some balls — we’re sure Avril doesn’t want her husband interred indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay — Whibley almost immediately undid whatever bad-ass points he might’ve racked up for the stunt: When MTV asked Whibley to explain the lyrics, he waxed poetic, saying that they’re just a “metaphor for how Bush is so ineffectual and incompetent as a president.” It’s entirely possible that Whibley doesn’t actually know what a metaphor is, because the rest of the lyrics seem fairly straight-forward: “It may be I’m a pessimist/ But I say we need an exorcist, / The root of all evil standing tall, /Under god and above us all,” the song goes on to say.

Here’s the thing, Whibley: When you critique the President, call him “gay,” call for an exorcism, and then discuss his death, you aren’t constructing a metaphor. You’re using a different literary device: Rhetoric to incite violence. Punks pushing the envelope aren’t new (the Sex Pistols got in trouble for calling the British crown a “fascist regime”), but backing off your lyrics is weak. You’re supposed to be punk, so act like it.

What does this anti-Bush rant, metaphorical or otherwise, mean for Sum 41? We talked to a spokesperson for the house minority leader yesterday, who called the song “inflammatory and assinine” — perhaps best review Sum 41’s ever gotten. Could the Canadian rockers get deported? Hey, it’s happened before. Mr. Cat Stevens got shipped off to the U.K. when he tried to enter the United States in 2004. We’re all for free speech, but we wouldn’t be all that sad to see Whibley and his cohorts go.

Mordechai Shinefield