women

these duders clearly cannot be trusted to name their own bands
i hereby dub them Wards of the State

'Ruff-Puffs' would be a good band name

Didn't a fuckload of young men flee to canada to escape the draft? I mean, Denmark didn't play a role as well, but we know who the Viet Cong were. I could def see a Danish band name themselves Viet Cong - or FARC or PLF or whatever - but I'd expect some kind of ready response to controversy. Or at least some kind of indication that there was a thought behind it, other than 'badass!'. I mean, 'Viet Cong' kinda describes the album pretty well.

Actually, the best Danish post-punk song ever used lyrics by Mao about Chinese women:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws1HYz7ojr0

Quite a coincidence, but any excuse to post that song. Bab bab. Baba-dee-oh-oh.

L.L. Qaeda

agree w mordy, framing this as "appropriation" or insensitivity to groups (or w/e) seems more like concern trolling than engagement with anything worth worrying about

Here's a particularly fine example of the "some"/"while others" construction:

http://mcgilltribune.com/a-e/pop-rhetoric-whats-in-a-viet-cong/

Some Vietnamese viewed them as freedom fighters battling long-standing western occupation, while other Vietnamese people were brutally killed or alienated by their violent guerilla campaigns.

yeah but who considered them badasses

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_MzYZcVIAQVKjP.png

lol
try again bozos

http://www.asianmanrecords.com/images/bands/pics/hardgirls.jpg

Ahem, allow me to quote:

The powerful associative effect of names is often misunderstood. While fondly thought of, mammalian names are a mistake--unless one chooses a mythical beast. A wild animal is a graceful creature that needs no clothes or grooming to look spectacular, and your onlookers--their expectations heightened--will inevitably be disappointed by the oafish onstage display of whatever crew of humanoids you've managed to muster. "Oh dear," they will say, "they are nothing like wolves/foxes/etc." If one hangs sucha name on one's group, one is raising the bar too high.

Male groups with "Girls" in their name have a similar problem. In literature and film, the "girl" represents the reader's/viewer's pure self-image. The audience is supposed to identify with the "girl," who is innocent, brave, artless, attractive, and clever (e.g., Chihiro of Spirited Away, Pippi Longstocking, and Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz). Film noir is predicated on the opposite idea--that audiences like to identify with cynical, morally bankrupt, been-there done-thats. These roles are typically played by middle-aged men with five o'clock shadows (Humphry Bogart, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum). Most groups now resemble the stars of the noir genre, physically if not sartorially. Bands with "Girl" in their name are almost invariably these kinds of hairy and less attractive men. As a rule, then, males should avoid group names with "Girl."

(Ian Svenonius, Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock'n'Roll Group

http://www.asianmanrecords.com/images/bands/pics/hardgirls.jpg

l-r: Humphry Bogart, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum

i do remember reading an incident wherein some college kid thought it would be clever to put a sticker for the band "this bike is a pipe bomb" on his bike. hilarity ensued. well, not really, but at least the kid's bike got dismantled.

ian svenonius otm

jeez you'd think these guys quoted the horst wessel lied on their record or something

Similarly, as a student booker who ultimately represents Oberlin by booking college-funded acts, I must be aware of Oberlin’s history as a progressive and highly conscious institution with an important legacy of social justice and action that needs to be upheld to this day. This legacy is seen notably in the student protests, demands, and direct action that took place on our campus during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the spring of 1970, in response to the Kent State shootings and President Nixon’s decision to send troops into Cambodia as part of the war against North Vietnam, Oberlin College ended the semester two weeks early. Time reported: “Oberlin College President Robert Carr simply canceled final exams, gave all his students credits for their courses and turned over the campus to antiwar planning.” Students today commonly and falsely believe that Oberlin does not require its graduating students to don traditional commencement regalia simply because Oberlin is “quirky”; the truth is that the cap and gown was first rejected by students in protest of the Vietnam War and the United States’ involvement in it. As detailed in “Academic Regalia at Oberlin: the Establishment and Dissolution of a Tradition,” a monograph written by S.E. Plank and published in the Northeast Ohio Journal of History, “The abandonment of cap and gown by the senior class was multivalent in its effectiveness. The refund money from the gown rental could go to the student, to the Strike Fund (in support of the antiwar activities), or to a class gift fund in support of local community projects.

The dramatic contrast from traditional expectation vividly underscored that given the extraordinary circumstances of May, 1970, ‘business as usual’ was an impossible response. Certainly the innovative dress brought wider attention to the issues of the day and to the school itself.” To allow a band called “Viet Cong” to play a show and make money at Oberlin College would be in complete disregard of Oberlin’s radical history and of the values it professes to uphold.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fgomHGSQHEaVNrkIWmCGH1-wO61VoGhLnpr9NGCLyWY/edit

Imo the student was completely in the right to do this, and shows an awareness of genuine anti-war principles. Funny that most music sites writing about this don't talk about the activist history of Oberlin - for instance an alumni being arrested as one of the Chicago Seven - but surprise surprise at lack of anti-war stuff in media. /s

It seems like undercutting antiwar politics was just as big a part of the decision to cancel as the blog-headline worthy "offensive name? appropriation?" reasons.

http://pitchfork.com/news/58874-viet-cong-release-statement-regarding-name-controversy/

Our band, Viet Cong, has existed for a little over three years now. When we named ourselves, we were naive about the history of a war in a country we knew very little about. We now better understand the weight behind the words Viet Cong. While we don't take any concerns about the name lightly, we feel it is important to let you know that we never meant to trivialize the atrocities or violence that occurred on both sides of the Vietnam War. We never intended for our name to be provocative or hurtful.

We truly appreciate the seriousness of the feedback we've received, and we will continue to be open to listening to issues and concerns from all perspectives.

With love from the band Viet Cong.

I have reportage from their performance in Chicago on Friday night:

I wasn't there, but a friend was. He said that the festival crowd was definitely there to see VC and then there was a mass exodus before the headliner. That's all he had to say about the band Viet Cong.

what was the reaction to the band joy division at the time? was there an outcry?

I am officially on board with Viet Cong, unfortunate name notwithstanding. Joy Division comparisons are there, but there's a sinister edge to the proceedings, and an artistry that makes me shrug off the pretension as an asset rather than a curse, and some dark psychedelia as well.

http://pitchfork.com/news/61277-viet-cong-are-changing-their-name/

About time, love their pass agg "we were gonna do this anyway" part at the end.

these guys are good at playing rock music (or at least they were as Women - caught a really good set from them in the Public Strain era) but vv bad at picking names, they should let someone else come up with the next one

'Ruff-Puffs' would be a good band name

I stand by this

is the s/t any good? i've been listening to public strain recently and liking it. byrds + this heat ??

it's good, same sound/vibe but much less developed songwriting.