When I first heard about what was happening with the band Pussy Riot (and if you haven’t heard by now, look it up) I thought that it was some kind of a joke. I thought maybe it was part of some reality show or movie because clearly this could not be real. Madonna could not be painting the name of an actual band across her back, could she?
Since it was still fresh in my news-driven mind (Though otherwise seemingly unrelated), I couldn’t help but think of the Dark Knight shootings in Colorado and how it reminded me of the movie “Natural Born Killers”. In this same aspect, I thought of this story being like the movie “Airheads”. (If you haven’t seen the movie, watch it)
I’ll be the first to admit that I had never heard of the band Pussy Riot before, much less heard one of their songs, but that didn’t mean that this story didn’t affect me. This whole concept was never about whether their music was good or not, and it wasn’t about the freedoms and liberties we appreciate as Americans. This is about basic human rights—not American, but human.
In some weird way though, I can’t help but thinking about how much success the band will probably now endure because of this. I am in no way implying that they did what they did for a publicity stunt because 1) I don’t know enough about it to question their actions and 2) I highly doubt anyone would have suspected this to become the international news sensation that it is when the courts describe it as “hooliganism” (Something I probably commit on an hourly basis [Yes, even in my sleep])
If you knew that you could break big as a band and all it took was a two year jail stint (or maybe less, pending that appeal), would you do it? I know a lot of musicians who would enjoy this type of publicity and have busting their asses for much longer than two years. So what do you do? Do you keep touring/recording/relentless plugging of your band, or do you go to jail for what isn’t really that long (Okay, I’m not saying I want to be in jail for even a day, but two years isn’t exactly that long compared to, I don’t know… 25 to life? I am in no way saying it’s a justified punishment, though it is a small price to pay in comparison to even ten years or more) and come out knowing you’re going to be an international music sensation?
But what about the music of Pussy Riot? How does it sound exactly? Don’t know, personally, I still haven’t bothered to listen to it. But I can tell you that for many people (especially Americans) it will sound like freedom. It could sound worse than Good Charlotte and I bet people would show up just because it’s “that band that went to jail”.
Aside from the potential fan base, think about the media. Every journalist in this great country of ours is going to want to interview Pussy Riot when they come to their town. (Well, okay, maybe almost every journalist, as it’s a bit too mainstream for me even to be writing this) They will grace the cover of possibly every major magazine at newsstands on their tour of the United States, and not just the so-called music mags but things like Newsweek and Time because this definitely has a political stance and if nothing else Americans want to prove that they’re better than other countries so we have to rub it in their faces of “This wouldn’t have happened here”.
So would you do it? Would you go to jail for two years to have Madonna and countless other musicians give you some free press which will most likely result in your band becoming a semi-household name?
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