The Avalanches Accuse Bon Iver Of Selling Out
A Twitter argument about Bon Iver's Grammy comments and whiskey ads.
Last week, The New York Times made public previously unpublished comments from Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon about his dislike for the Grammy Awards, after his band has been nominated for four. Vernon's controversial comments included saying that if he was to receive one of the awards, he would secretly be thinking "Everyone should go home, this is ridiculous. You should not be doing this. We should not be gathering in a big room and looking at each other and pretending this is important" and "98 percent of the people in that room, their art is compromised by the fact that they're thinking that, and that they're hoping to get that award." This obviously ruffled the feathers of a fair few fellow musicians, namely The Avalanches, who argued that Bon Iver's affiliation with whiskey company Bushmills could be perceived as a compromise of art. The Avalanches got #angryontheinternet and Tweeted last night:
Vernon - aka blobtower (?), then asked The Avalanches if they drink whiskey, to which they responded:
The Avalanches also Tweeted that they're $130,000 in debt and have turned down casino ads because they didn't want to sell out, also commenting that:
Vernon offered to settle it over a drink and even though his hashtag doesn't make very much sense, we're guessing it's sarcastic:
We're used to seeing pop stars attaching themselves to anything and everything but it's a bit different when it's an indie band, like Bon Iver, and they're thought to maintain some sort of cultural authenticity and integrity. But hey, at least there's no Bon Iver fragrance.
Ingrid Kesa
