This day and age I find myself constantly wondering if people actually believe the points that they posit... Sputnik music needs to be a place where common sense and decency are the common denominator so dont get too riled y'all

Album Rating: 3.5

"Sure, my review starts with a date followed by some exposition, and yours follows the exact same format. Complete coincidence...."

Lol, as a matter of fact, yes it is a pretty funny coincidence, but a coincidence nevertheless. Don't get too stuck in your feelings about this bud. This review is definitely not about you.

Is Butch's use of the F word acceptable in this sense since it is artistic? Or would we rather attack each other's motivations?

Album Rating: 3.5

"Is Butch's use of the F word acceptable in this sense since it is artistic?"

Actually a good question. I was asking myself that before eventually went with the censored version when I quoted it in the review after conferring with my contribros.

"So, by the object standard of math, blacks are no less than 136 times as likely to kill whites than the reverse. Shockingly more than a little."

Ok, that's not how math works (thanks Sitar for the explanation) but also not at all how any sort of research or statistics works. For example, confounding variables are incredibly important. What impacts the numbers? Probably the systemic oppression that I mentioned earlier, which I'm assuming you're still doing the research on. It's well important to have numbers, but much more important to explain those numbers.
So go ahead and explain to me why you think it is that that murder rate is higher. And what do you do propose we do to change it? Depending on your answer, you're right, I should probably remove the word "dogwhistle" from the phrase "racist dogwhistle". But I want to be optimistic and hope that we might be on the same page in thinking that we need to address the oppressive systems created by white Americans that have created this disparity

Actually a good question. I was asking myself that before eventually went with the censored version when I quoted it in the review after conferring with my contribros.

I mean I know nothing about the dude I'm assuming he is a cis white male? Is it OK for the wrong demo to use a slur in attempt to bring light to the issue?

Album Rating: 3.5

"I mean I know nothing about the dude I'm assuming he is a cis white male? Is it OK for the wrong demo to use a slur in attempt to bring light to the issue?"

Despite having been a fan of him for years, I don't actually know. He's definitely white, but I don't know anything about his personal life except that he has a teenage son who is gay.

I also once heard a rumour that he's gay too and that his son was conceived and birthed via IVF and surrogacy and adopted thereafter, but I don't know how true any of that is.

What should we do, policy wise?

End the war on drugs, release all nonviolent drug "offenders", restore incentive structures that encourage children to be born to two parent homes with gainful employment.

Ok. Math lesson. Let's say there are 10 apples and 15 oranges. I take 9 apples and 13 oranges. I now have more oranges than apples. However, do I have a higher rate of apples or oranges? Well 9/10 is 90%, while 13/15 is 86%. So even though 13>9, I have a higher rate of apples than oranges because there were more oranges than apples.

Now let's take what we just learned and apply it to your numbers.

There are 42.6 million black Americans and 264 million white Americans. There are 243 black Americans killed by White Americans and 533 white Americans killed by black Americans. Well 243/42.6 million black Americans are killed by white Americans, or .00057%. 533/264 million white Americans are killed by black Americans, or .0002%. So even though 533>243, there is a higher rate of black Americans being killed by white Americans than white Americans being killed by Black Americans.

Edit: Also addressing your policies, hard agree on the war on drugs, not quite sure what your point is on parenting (although comprehensive sex ed I think could call under this), but I'm still not sure why you think these numbers are higher or how these will impact violent crime rates directly, since those are the crime rates you seem to be most passionate about.

o nice a new shithouse political dumpster fire. what up america 🔥

nice rev

Can't wait for this thread to get the Ulcerate treatment so we can comment on page 1 again.

Album Rating: 3.5

Don't say that. I'm planning on revisiting this thread for a while for the laughs. :[

Album Rating: 3.0

I think in any case it's prudent not to get too lost in the debate to the point where common sense takes a back seat. Statistics don't make this any less of a tragedy. There’s no scenario that I can think of where someone entering a house under construction (even if they were burglarizing it, which there is no evidence of) would constitute hopping in your truck, following the man, and shooting him dead in the street. I understand that often with political debates things launch into a broader purview, but please, don't be daft.

I think the album's "caricature" of the evil cis white male (as Sitar described) is both annoyingly clichéd (they basically took the characters in this story and made them the most stereotypical amalgamations possible... but this is also a rock opera so I digress) but it's also sadly accurate on enough occasions (see the latest event that sparked national outrage) to ring with some truth. Listen, I'm a straight white male who grew up in a Christian house --- and I didn't feel personally attacked by this album. It's just telling a story and the characters that comprise it are meant to play specific roles (with the larger arc of accepting one another's differences). Is it corny and clichéd? Absolutely. Did Butch Walker also combine his well-meaning message with lyrics so abysmally on-the-nose that nobody will take them seriously? Unfortunately.

Anyway, I'm all for intelligent discourse but I'll be cleaning up what needs cleaning thus far and checking back frequently. Don't purposely send this flying off the rails please :-)

Album Rating: 3.5

"please, don't be daft."



That should be on the Sputnikmusic banner somewhere.

Thanks for that point about statistics vs. tragedy Sowing. That's what gets me - No matter what the numbers are, it doesn't change what happened to Ahmaud Arbery and why it happened. Appreciate the moderation - Sput is where I normally go to escape from direct political talk, but sometimes letting loose just feels nice lol

Finally listening to this and I agree with pretty much what everyone said. It's not that the character Butch created isn't real, as I know far too many people like the character, but this album isn't going to change their views. None of the people that inspire the character will listen to this or if they do, there's nothing about it that will change their viewpoints. In fact, part of his message seems to be "For people to change bigoted views their life has to be personally and directly impacted" and I don't know if I like that message. It seems like an album made for the woke suburban moms that want to have their daily dose of "social justice" and will think it's enough to listen to this album and then do nothing else. I think most people who listen to this will generally already agree with the message and not have anything new too take away, cause there's literally no nuance to it all.

Also, is it just me or does "Fuck It (I Don't Like Love)" have the same verse as "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock? Is that on purpose?

Album Rating: 3.5

"Also, is it just me or does "Fuck It (I Don't Like Love)" have the same verse as "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock? Is that on purpose?"

HAHA! I certainly hope not! He's probably referencing Sweet Home Alabama, which Kid Rock was too. There's tons of little lyrical and melodic homages to classic rock songs on the album. A couple of licks from the Allman Brothers and Boston, some drum grooves from Phil Collins, some keyboards from John Mellencamp.

That's something that Butch constantly and knowingly does.

Oh duh, Sweet Home Alabama. I’m an idiot lol. I definitely picked up on some of the other references, this one was just slightly less obvious so I couldn’t tell if I was making it up.
I will say I quite enjoyed some of this musically, so will probably dive into some other Butch

Album Rating: 3.5

Also, RE: The point about this album being for woke suburban moms.

On the one hand, yes, it's not going to change anyone's mind, and maybe that's a problem. But is it Butch's job in this instance to try? Is that even really possible via conversation and music in 2020? A friend of mine unearthed a closed Facebook group called "Justice for Gregory and Travic McMichael". As of yesterday that group had 94k members. How unapologetically fucked up is that?

This album seems, to me, as much about Butch speaking his own truth and achieving catharsis through it, as it is to try and convince people about that truth. I mean, if a clearly incompetent President spends a month constantly lying and gaslighting his way through a national emergency still has 40% approval in the country, what else is there left to say?

^Oh 100%. The suburban mom comment was probably a little too harsh. I don’t mean it to be a hit against Butch, because the last thing I want to do is criticize someone for attempting to write music that addresses the themes he went for here. Even if I think the execution is off, I still respect him for making it. I’ll probably not rate it for that reason
I also do like the idea of making music with these themes in a little more accessible “adult contemporary” style. Even though it’s not my cup of tea, I’d be thrilled if this became the runaway hit of the year