Thank you for posting that. "Beach Privilege" may just be the dumbest thing I'd read in many a year.
It's ridiculous. Very 2016 clickbaity.
What about Brian's lyric "We are all connected, the whole human race" on Make a Wish? Or Mike's attempts to tackle social issues in Student Demonstration Time and Summer in Paradise? And the fact that the band broke down some barriers of the lineup being a bunch of white guys in the early '70s?
Not that the band *had* to go out of their way to lyrically sing about social issues; they often sang about simple, basic elements like love and teenage desires. I think it's preposterous to "retcon" some shoehorned modern agenda into their catalog. Just as it's ridiculous to try and say that any modern band NEEDS to sing about any particular issue, and absent such song topics, they are worthy of criticism for being privileged. Just as much as it's nobody's business to try and insinuate that someone non-white and from a non-privileged social background NEEDS to be singing about any particular topic. The era we live in has gotten preposterous.
Why doesn't someone write an article about how ALL American bands are privileged to not be recording music in a third-world country without electricity, and thus it needs to be discussed how the majority of American bands' lyrics aren't about genocide, finding a clean water supply, and other such problems that many people unfortunately sometimes encounter in very poor nations? Let's just keep complaining until everyone except the poorest poor person on the planet is in need of being called privileged, and thus the merits of their work in need of being "reassessed". Seriously, where will it end?
I've always been a liberal democrat, but I can understand - to a small degree - how Trumpism has arisen, I imagine in no small part due to repeated ridiculous notions like this being propagated, where it's insinuated that artists like The BBs are to in some way be shamed for having grown up in So Cal, and their work reflecting such. Not really actually "shamed", but that I believe their contributions are being diminished, even if indirectly, by making it a problem, or something in need of what comes off as finger-wagging discussion by getting into "privileged" talk. Yes, they are lucky, that is inarguable. White guys in Southern Cali. Why it's particularly necessary to get into what seems like a judgmental, scholarly discussion in an actual article is a bit beyond my wheelhouse. It becomes a very pointless road to be going down, in my opinion. I agree the band comes off as lily-white to some people, but I don't see what the endgame is of articles like this.
I'm just sick of people finding reasons to sh*t on my favorite music in the world - even if that's not the intention - and I think that some online authors have some bizarre, misguided overly-PC-rooted desire to knock the band's music down a few notches simply because they were white and didn't often get too political. The band's music is largely escapism and simply music to get lost in. But it's often rich and deep, and that's why it's beloved. Yet I feel like the author *wants* people to be a tad embarrassed to listen to the band.
Curious to know what others think...