One of the coolest things about supporting Bernie Sanders for president—aside, of course, from advocating for free healthcare and infuriating rich assholes—is that his rallies feature good bands instead of 3 Doors Down. But, unlike Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton, who in trying to appear hip and relatable only further emphasized their disconnect from reality, Bernie never panders. He doesn’t pretend to know who these 22-year-olds with guitars are. He doesn’t “back that azz up” onstage with them. He knows only that the crowd likes them and they support him. He thanks them, courteously and professionally, which is, to be honest, all an opener really wants from a headliner.
And since so many of Bernie’s supporters know what it’s like to toil without acknowledgement, they’ve begun to take great joy in isolating clips of the presidential hopeful thanking these musical acts in his thick Brooklyn accent.. The emphasis, however, isn’t on the huge bands that have rallied for him—Vampire Weekend, The Strokes, Run The Jewels, Bon Iver—but rather the great lineup of burgeoning indie outfits with primarily youthful fanbases and the occasional ridiculous name.
This phenomenon began last month when Bernie thanked “the Ratboys”—their new album is excellent, by the way—and has continued with clips of Bernie offering his appreciation to acts like Soccer Mommy, Joyce Manor, Lucy Dacus, Pet Symmetry, and, perhaps most amusingly, the Kitty Kat Fan Club.
Bernie is so earnest and dutiful in his thank yous that we can forgive him for calling Sparta “Sparter.”
Yes, this presidential race is a nightmare and the stakes are absurdly high and Joe Biden is out there malfunctioning, but the tunes are still good. As such, we decided to throw together a playlist of songs we like by acts we like that have played 2020 Bernie rallies. This playlist is in no way comprehensive, of course, but we hope you like it anyway.
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42 Comments
I always had the sense that Vampire Weekend were maybe more moderate, because of their whole prep school attire, every song they’ve ever written being about privileged youth, etc. But there’s something sort of endearing about finding out they’re politically progressive and back Sanders.
I mean, aren’t they like a lot of his more prominent supporters – rich kids who like to slum it with the proletariat, but in sad actuality, come from families who benefit far more from Trump’s policies?
No.
Bernie is set to appear on the new 100 gecs remix album.
Bernie never pandersWish we could say the same for you, Randall. Or AV Club in general, for that matter.
OK Boomer
Gotta go back to 2016 and get that Tacocat endorsement!
Best Bernie band is easily, easily Run the Jewels
Who keeps changing the definition of “good”? Must be hell on the people who print dictionaries.
#Spotify4All
I saw Sanders speak twice and Clinton speak once in 2016.
Both times, Sanders had great local musicians that I immediately purchased albums by, they were so good.
Clinton, on the other hand, had what sounded like my mom’s FM radio preferences from the early 1990s, with no live acts.
I’m not sure what Sanders is doing differently — every campaign wants to have good songs, but they mostly adopt theme songs without checking with the artist, or come up with bland pablum no one likes — but it feels like there’s a real market in his campaign staff explaining how it’s done to other campaigns.
It has to be written down somewhere, since the logistics of running a campaign are already complicated enough without roping in screening and hiring local talent, and the national staff has to have trained the local organizations how to do it.
Bernie’s campaign is different in that they aren’t roping in musicians to play rallies. The bands are lining up to support Bernie.Not me. Us.
Probably, but that’s true of a lot of political figures, who turn them away or don’t actually use them as an opening act, instead of having some member of Congress no one in the room knows and only a few like open for them.
(I’ve been to too many of these events.)
Obama had way better bands
“I’m not sure what Sanders is doing differently”
“Hey young people, you take care of the music, I’m too old for this shit. And don’t choose shit you think I like, I’m old, my tastes are shit and my peers are dead or dying, choose something y’all like”
Is probably simply what he’s doing differently.
Every campaign is suffused with young people, and they can’t manage it.
My suspicion is the answer is two-fold:
1) The campaign actually listens to its young staffers
2) There’s someone at the national level who cares about this, and makes sure #1 happens
Too many words, he usually just turns red and mumbles something about billionaires
“…only further emphasized their disconnect from reality, Bernie never panders.”R.I.P. Irony.
Randall doesn’t even OWN a dictionary.Seriously, what the FUCK happened to this site.
I am missing something here. Is it that the AVClub panders?
It’s that Bernie Sanders panders all the fucking time. But the writer here are too busy poll riding BErnie to even mention things like Joe Rogan or Cenk Uygur.
Hey, you know what rhymes with panders? Sanders!
If it was just a joke about the rhyme, fine. But no candidate panders less than Bernie Sanders.
I am not disagreeing, and to boot, you will find no slanders.
Really? Free college? Dismissal of all student debt? Green New Deal? No, Bernie doesn’t pander at all. Pie in the sky promises from a guy who has gotten basically nothing passed in Congress? Nah, no pandering there.
Because small-minded thinking has worked so well for the Democrats. He’s advocating better uses for our taxes. BTW, if the Senate doesn’t flip, nothing proposed by the Democrats will be enacted anyway, so why not go with someone who has actual principles.
Because, honestly, I have no desire to spend my salary on unpaid student loans. Instead of spending money on that, let’s rethink higher education and train people for needed jobs instead.
College is not supposed to be training for your job. Education available to all would improve society.
So you think college is for everyone.
Everyone who wants it. Not for eliminating private colleges. State universities/colleges and local community colleges. Also, not every “free” college has to accept every student based on that student’s record, but even huge fuckups should get a second chance at community college.
Don’t forget the humdinger in the debates about how weed will be legalized on his first day in office despite that being an absolute legal impossibility.
lol imagine believing this shit
Reality is tough for some people.
Twenty-two years ago, this was satire:https://www.theonion.com/clinton-criticized-for-not-supporting-local-music-scene-1819564691
I keep forgetting how old The Onion is. Years and years ago I had a job where someone taped a funny article about Clinton deploying vowels to Bosnia next to the copier, and now that article always gets mentioned when someone writes about the history of the Onion because it was their first article to go viral. They weren’t online yet and back then being taped next to a copier was what constituted “viral.”
Someone get Gibby Haynes’s booking agent on the phone immediately.
I found the anti Saunders political ads appearing on this article confusing at first as I thought they were part of the article..of course as a non American I found muck taking political ads just ..insane ..
I kinda find myself in the strange but similar position as conservative fans of liberal singers and bands. Not exactly the same, but in the ballpark. Bands would regularly play Rock for Choice shows, and I would always hear people complain that they’re anti-choice, so they can’t go to that show. Similarly, I’m not a big Bernie fan at all (I lean Warren), so I would have probably skipped these rallies even though I love Ratboys and Lucy Dacus (and the new Soccer Mommy is really good!) because of my political leanings. I wouldn’t complain of them playing…I would just feel like I can’t go to these rallies.
What a Bernie rally needs to play are some select cuts from The Clash’s Sandinista! album.
We get it, you’re Bernie Bros
No portugal. the man on that playlist? they opened for him a week or 2 ago