Why is there no Bob Vylan thread?

Guess now is as good a time as any to start one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFqhJyvly1g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BypJJCsNKdA

https://i.imgur.com/VohcG1S.png

lol I am not listening to "Bob Vylan" come on but I completely support their Glastonbury chant, solidarity

They are brilliant, pls ignore the silly name (which I now think is fine but once I was like you)

We already have a Bob Vylan thread

Artists You've Written Off/Pointedly Ignored because of their name

Is Bob Vylan overrated?

i like the name more than the music tbh

a little on the nose innit

holy shit I had missed this and "we live here" is fucking excellent

"we didn't appear out of thin air:
WE LIVE HERE"

is a fuckin excellent chorus. in the tank for Bob Vylan

on the rainy fascist island there are people literally calling for this guy to be given a prison sentence for starting an anti-IDF chant during a live performance. And Somerset police are reviewing footage, perhaps to see if they can arrest him or something. They really have lost the fucking plot.

Not sure if this helps tbh

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GummrEyWEAEuojO?format=jpg

Antisemitism?

Yeah disappointing response from Eavis, guessing they are scared about this attention from the worst bits of the UK media (all of it)

he also said this on stage, which oddly enough seems like a response to the Glastonbury statement.

https://i.postimg.cc/xC7qGjQ2/5e682ccf-2aae-42bc-8036-e5a8e2f3762b.jpg

realistically, how is it incitement to violence? I'd say good luck to anybody who has been inspired by his words to travel a few thousand miles so they can commit an act of violence against a foreign army.

how long until bob vylan are proscribed as a terrorist organisation

(xp) Especially anyone who's paid a squillion quid to go to Glastonbury.

Because the only other time I’ve seen that name I thought it was a typo.

Damn, that's a banger ("We Live Here").

Yeah disappointing response from Eavis, guessing they are scared about this attention from the worst bits of the UK media (all of it)

― Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 29 June 2025 bookmarkflaglink

Its weird though. They allowed Kneecap to perform.

he's a rich land-owning farmer, happily milking his cash cow. It doesn't surprise me he cares very little about what occurs beyond this, unless it disturbs his lucrative operation. Total cunt.

Bob Vylan seems ok

Yeah Eavis was always a cunt.

*Listening to "We Live Here"* this is Bob Dylan, to me

Glen Miller and his Orchestra caused controversy at the 1940 Glastonbury Swing & Dance Festival by encouraging a rabid crowd to chant anti-SS slogans. pic.twitter.com/KtDnUYAo1Y

— Simon Hedges (@Orwell_Fan) June 29, 2025

Hedges has still got it!

https://www.stereogum.com/2313553/glastonbury-appalled-by-bob-vylans-death-to-the-idf-chant/news/

As I lay in bed this morning, my phone buzzing non stop, inundated with messages of both support and hatred, I listen to my daughter typing out loud as she fills out a school survey asking for her feedback on the current state of her school dinners. She expressed that she would like healthier meals, more options and dishes inspired by other parts of the world. Listening to her voice her opinions on a matter that she cares about and affects her daily, reminds me that we may not be doomed after all. Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place. As we grow older and our fire possibly starts to dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us. Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered. Today it is a change in school dinners, tomorrow it is a change in foreign policy.

"We Live Here" is pretty great. I should have looked into this punny name sooner.

i still read it as Bob Vynal tbh

the first time I heard "We Live Here" was in early 2021, i remember thinking man I wish I'd heard it earlier so i could nom it for the 77 the prev year

still rules

Press in the UK doing their collective nuts over this story. The guy's going to jail, I guarantee it.

honestly, I think Starmer is going to repeal the murder act and personally prosecute this poor lad. Probably already building the gallows.

An Irish Catholic and a black guy. Almost laughably perfect hate figures for the British press.

seriously is there any legal difference between this chant and say, burning effigies of hated political figures as regularly happens at e.g. Lewes bonfire on an annual basis?

so much for the tolerant left!

the right wing media: bring back the death penalty for child killers, serial murderers and rapists

also the right wing media: wshing harm on the idf is frankly just too much, someone get the smelling salts quick

The IDF being an organisation, it's more like wishing death on the BBC or the Labour Party.

Public Order offences are so loose it’s possible that they might get charged with something minor if they think they can demonstrate someone in the vicinity might have been caused ‘alarm or distress’ but it’s a bit of a stretch and I can’t see they could plausibly try to apply anything as serious as the Kneecap charges.

But but Lucy Connelly.

I guess there could have been some alarmed and distressed IDF war criminals in the crowd who thought they had come to see bob dylan

if they want to jail him they will find a way, plenty of vague public order laws brought in this century and applied when they feel like it.

Convicting him would surely make him tbh

(We Live Here (whole album) is banging obv)

I think they’d need to either claim that it amounted to incitement to racial hatred or that it caused individuals in the crowd a fear of immediate violence, if they wanted something with a custodial sentence. Tough to see either of those being successful.

Starmer is already shitting his pants over the Two Tier Keir label, so they'll be working overtime to find some reason to bang this guy up.

Antisemitic apparently.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jun/30/bbc-should-have-pulled-live-stream-bob-vylan-glastonbury-anti-idf-chants

It's got to be close to the point where people accused of anti-semitism just say yes ok if you like, or at least stop bothering to defend themselves against it.

I highly doubt they'll convict him, let alone jail him unless they really really wanted to make an example, of course.

No matter who was right, or what the intent was, or whose feathers were ruffled, or if it even helped, if someone stands up in a public place encouraging people to shout "Death to (any particular person or group of people)", and someone complains, the police are pretty much forced to look into it as a matter of course

Yes, had some uncomfortable chats with the police after my "death to the taliban" post back in the day.

"The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable"

That's a BBC statement, way way beyond the IHRA "definition" afaict. I hope BV can at least challenge them on that.

this is kinda Pussy Riot 2.0 for me: good and necessary message--solidarity all around--but shame about the music

xp
Yeah, I don't think it was calling for dismantling of the military machine, tbh. I saw ppl on x/bs interpreting it that way on the day, and i think they were trying to excuse it. It was calling for the death of soldiers in the army. Which, if this is either a war or a genocide is acceptable. We keep hearing from genocide apologists that this is a war, civilians die in war, it's perfectly fine. It's surely therefore acceptable to wish the combatant aggressors, whoever you decide them to be, to be killed. The UK and US governments are more than wishing, they are enabling the mass slaughter of civilians, women and children, through the instrument of arms to the IDF. Death to the aggressor soldiers is unexceptionable. To avoid dealing with that issue head on, the political class has of course resorted to claims about racism, which is as ludicrous as it is offensive and antisemitic.

Everything else is right on.

lol at all the blue check replies saying “Your career is over.” Oh, is pop radio going to stop playing Bob Vylan songs now?

You can't simply assert "It was calling for the death of soldiers in the army" and pretend there is zero room for ambiguity. "Death to the IDF" could absolutely, reasonably mean "death to the institution of the army" not "death to the soldiers in the army." I'd even argue that by saying *the* IDF you are more likely to mean the former than the latter, and in common speech "death to" can readily be interpreted as literal or figurative. But more to the point, there's no way to objectively determine the meaning of that chant.

I agree with the rest of your post, but as a 90s-humanities-pilled nerd, the varieties of Chant Discourse the world has been doing since 10/7 have been v aggravating

when i say death to america i mean that everybody in america should die

this is kinda Pussy Riot 2.0 for me: good and necessary message--solidarity all around--but shame about the music

― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, July 1, 2025 8:13 AM (one hour ago)

not to derail this thread, but uhh, a lot of the acts that have gotten attention for their pro-Palestinian stance have sucked musically lol

a Free Palestine will mean I will never have to hear Macklemore's "Hind's Hall" soundtracking an IG reel ever again

lol at all the blue check replies saying “Your career is over.” Oh, is pop radio going to stop playing Bob Vylan songs now?

Oh noes, our gig in Spokane has been cancelled!

Start an investigation on this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsjjE8jXDts

xp
There might be some room for ambiguity, but I really don't think he meant it that way, I think it was retconned. The context is an invading army, who are involved in death and killing, not an institution. Let's think of other examples. When people talk about ending ICE, or police depts, do they generally say "death to", or do they say dismantle, defund, destroy, abolish, get rid of. And it's clear that the institution is being referred to.

I dunno, I don't think being dishonest about this helps, but on the other hand, if he can persuade people that's what he meant, fine, and good for him, it's arguably a more respectable position.

I usually see "Death to" as the edge-lordy version of "Down With" as it's usually said by people who have intention or ability to murder an army.

"Death to the IDF" rhymes though.

Bob Vylan are much better than Pussy Riot or fucking Macklemore, their set was brilliant and it's a shame more people here haven't been able to watch the whole thing. do you think that maybe going into band threads and saying they suck is kind of a dick move? I mean we've all done it but can we try not to?

forgot to mention the other obvious point; dismantling the IDF is obviously only something the Israeli govt can do; as a supporter of Palestine's struggle against its occupiers and murderers, he is supporting the only thing that they can do to resist. I've thought about the "the" and I don't think it matters.
If an Irish republican soldier in battle chants "death to the British army" its obvious what he means

This band are no more in control of any putative Palestinian combatants than they are of the IDF so that makes no sense. I’m happy to accept their own explanation of the words they said.

Equating them to actual armed soldiers in a battle is unhelpful/weird

no offence, glumdalclitch but the more you explain the less persuasive I find your interpretation. it's a short (rhyming as Tom aptly mentioned) chant not a manifesto. the "dismantle" analogy doesn't work for me -- as you yourself point out, you use that language when it's "your" police, ICE, etc. and crisp otm with the IRA analogy, I think you're moving further away from the point here.

but anyway I'm not actually trying to convince you it doesn't mean "murder Israeli soldiers," I'm only saying its meaning is inherently and irreducibly uncertain. Plus, I'm conscious of the larger context where people have been asserting that the meanings of "globalize the intifada," "from the river to the sea," and even "free Palestine" are all unambiguous, violent, and immoral

Sure, that's fine. I just want to clarify that I don't think it means "murder Israeli soldiers" - it's a war and/or a genocide, so "murder" is not applicable.
Also I agree with you that there is less ambiguity about the other phrases, because they have been explained ad infinitum.
Also for crisp, I am not equating them to armed soldiers at all, I'm saying they are on the side of one party who evidently cannot dismantle the IDF.
Anyway, I'll leave it at that. I'll say it's pretty obvious to most ppl in the UK what it meant on Saturday.

You said if an Irish republican soldier said death to the British army in battle it’s obvious what he means. Or was that an unrelated point?

The issue there is with the word "equating". I wasn't saying they are soldiers, but yeah I was comparing the language. Because it makes it clearer what the language means. But, even if they say something that matches a soldier might say in battle, I don't think they are liable as a combatant would be, and the British state didn't think so up until recently. So I'm not comparing their liabilities with that of the soldier. But the language they used could easily be, probably is, something a Hamas brigade might say, let's be honest about that ffs. Still no liability, and no equation of the band as soldiers. Hope that's clearer.

If a right-wing musician (Morrissey, say) had said 'Death to Hamas' on stage, there would be no threats of prosecution, even though they would likely literally mean "I want every Hamas member to be killed."

That's the name of his forthcoming single, I believe.

Well yeah in that context (a soldier in a battle) there is a sense of proximity and immediacy which removes ambiguity from the language. In the actual context (a band at a gig in England) it’s not unreasonable to accept alternative interpretations of the same words.

xps

If a right-wing musician (Morrissey, say) had said 'Death to Hamas' on stage, there would be no threats of prosecution, even though they would likely literally mean "I want every Hamas member to be killed."

I just assume that the musician with the really stupid name is unhappy with all those people who are murdering Palestinians and exploding their society/world and he probably wishes that the people committing those atrocities would just fuck off and die already to which I say “Sure Bob Whateverthefuck, death to the IDF.” It’s not my chosen chant but I totally get it.

Watching the clip I, and I think many people, find it risible to imagine that he meant "I am calling for the institution of the IDF to be dismantled", but I would lie to the police about that if it would help him avoid arrest. I also think the irreducible complexity thing is a bit of a cop out, but again, artistic statements have that freedom too.

Is it okay to say “war pigs, fuck off and die?”

Really, it should be "DEATH TO WAR CRIMINALS." That's pretty clear, but not a great chant. Maybe on a sign?

"Do you mean death to all of the IDF soldiers?"

"No! The ones working from within to sabotage the war crimes are totally fine. There's bound to be a few."

xps

‘Many people’ seem to have watched the clip and decided that it meant ‘angry Black man wants to kill all white people’, and I’m sure would consider it risible that anyone thinks differently, it doesn’t make them right. Perhaps you’re right, or perhaps they meant ‘down with the IDF’ or ‘fuck the IDF’, I just don’t think trying to illustrate the irrefutable rightness of your opinion by drawing parallels with soldiers or other people enacting actual violence is helpful, particularly in the current climate. Anyway, never mind.

o god pls, death to this thread now

by which i mean none you individually

Death death to ilx

that's anti-knobheadism

was thinking back in the 90's there might have been US Dem politicians campaigning for Kneecap to get their US visas returned .. at least until they realised that they are not as sickeningly a false equivalencing bunch of melt arseholes as Bono was and then they'd be revoking it again!

the funniest example of lukewarm criticism towards Bob Vylan I have seen was that he was just being quite performative there (during a live performance).

Bit of an odd discussion above but crisp's posting feels right to me.

Never mind all that. Its great to see Vylan not backing down, do far. Kneecap have somewhat toned it down, which I think is why they were even allowed to perform at glasto in the first place. That, and, you know, ongoing attempts at prosecution.

I watched the Kneecap set on iPlayer and the only edit I noticed was a laughable complete muting of the end of 'Get Your Brits Out'.

Are they being investigated over hate speech against sniffer dogs?

They probably won't be able to play anywhere for a long time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz09y1r1y1ro

Dunno, Kneecap were dropped from TRNSMT but were still allowed to put on a gig elsewhere in Glasgow instead. Suppose it's ok if they're preaching to the converted rather than subverting random passers-by who are otherwise cool with genocide.

Owen Jones tells Piers Morgan he '100%' believes Bob Vylan wasn't chanting for the death of actual soldiers.

Piers then plays him a new clip that makes him eat his words...

Full episode dropping at 6pm (1pm ET).@piersmorgan | @owenjonesjourno pic.twitter.com/zt7CzDMQhd

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) July 3, 2025

(vylan is still right, and righteous, imo)

Marl Karx
@BareLeft
·
37m
Case study in why the Optics Left should never lead our thinking.

Their inherent desire to defuse any amount of radicalism from the message or the actions just ends up looking ingenuine at best, or at worst; stupid like this.

The IDF are legitimate targets.

Marl Karx
@BareLeft
You don't have to like it, but if the occupying military force - known for their deep sense of cruelty - of a fascist ethnostate credibly accused of committing genocide isn't a legitimate target, who is?

otm

In a just world Britain and the USA would be fighting the IDF and bombing Tel Aviv

(and yes i know Israel's a nuclear power, I'm not proposing that as actual strategy)

In a just world Britain and the USA would be fighting the IDF and bombing Tel Aviv

― glumdalclitch, Thursday, 3 July 2025 bookmarkflaglink

Why would imperialist powers bomb their client state, as Israel are using bombs given by them in the first place?

Exactly, it is not the world we live in. You obviously get my hypothetical point.

Israel manufactures and exports lot of arms itself, though not the heaviest bombs.

props to these guys for recognizing that the controversy is a distraction and continually using their social media in the past week or so to continually deflect to the real issue(s) at hand

Found the whole gig online

https://archive.org/details/bob-v-glastonbury-2025

Relevant parts from 41 minutes in if you aren't here for the music

Bands start boycotting Radar festival after @BobbyVylan removed from line-up https://t.co/vlVDPQRV2Q

— NME (@NME) July 4, 2025

Turns out it was a solid performance all round. Thanks. (XP) They're pretty much the only pop music I've been in the mood for this week.

Some solid tracks here: https://bobvylan.bandcamp.com/

Band name is great and certainly less cringe than Ringo Deathstarr

admittedly not a high bar

in my playlist, i can’t help but love when he

FEEL BLESSED
LIKE THE HOLY GHOST IS IN
HALLELUJAH!

i rly liked price of life and listened to it a a lot from my own playlist, but i refuse to spotify. so i have to be looking for new things (23 yrs of thx to ya ilm— ur my algorithm). i missed hlts completely, til the glastonbury shit. album has several v good peak moments.