The Consumer Goods - Hockey Night in Afghanada

Video for the Consumer Goods' "Hockey Night in Afghanada" from their 2008 record "The Anti-Imperial Cabaret." Please consider helping us make more music by purchasing songs or albums at www.theconsumergoods.bandcamp.com .

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Afghanada
• Pop
• Winnipeg
• Jets
• Hockey
• Canada
• Afghanistan
• Consumer
• Goods
• Political
• Don
• Cherry
• Ron
• MacLean
• CBC
• Indie
• Grumpy
• Cloud
• Satire
• Humour
• Militarism
• HNIC
• Tyler
• Shipley

[madnecromancer]

Have you or are you going to write about the Palestinian occupation? Or do you only do Canadian politics? Or do you like other Canadians shy away from potentially criticizing Israel?

[tylershipley]

The struggle against Israeli Apartheid is one of the most important contemporary anti-imperial projects, and (speaking for myself, not the entire band) I consider it one of many sites that demand the attention of anyone who claims to resist injustice. My own subject position has, thus far, put me in a position where I feel more comfortable lending my support to voices already speaking to this matter than to speak to it myself. So, nothing (yet) on our records that speaks directly to Palestine.

[madnecromancer]

Tyler, if you don't mind, can u very briefly explain what inspired this song (which is very interesting and catchy), does the NHL have connections to the army or something?

[tylershipley]

You bet. The song is suggesting that there is something wildly wrong about the way that CBC has used its Hockey Night in Canada telecast to promote and legitimate a pro-occupation position. Don Cherry (himself an outspoken bigot) is given a pulpit from which to tell us that our troops are heroes who are 'fighting for our freedom.

[tylershipley]

However, there is no voice on the program to respond to this nonsensical propaganda, and when it is echoed by influential people like Ron MacLean and legitimated by grand tributes to the troops at hockey games, it becomes 'common knowledge' that the war in Afghanistan is good and that 'our boys' are heroes. The show gives us moments of silence for each Canadian soldier killed, but makes no mention of the hundreds of Afghan people killed by our soldiers in the process of occupying their country.

[eunicesux]

Don has wrecked Coach's Corner with his pounding the drum about a war that's none of our business. I don't watch coach's corner any more. The war has nothing to do with hockey. Did HE ever fight in a war? NO! Why is he so raring to encourage others to go. He played only one game in the NHL! If he wants to make political statements, go into news broadcasting.

[davesteele1917]

great song, great band.

If you want to really support the troops - bring them home - ALIVE!

[whiskycopter]

Putting politics aside, I would just like to say that the Consumer Goods has some of the most solid songwriting and production I've heard from any Canadian pop/rock band in the past decade. I saw them open for Boats a year or two ago in Waterloo, and I was just blown away. Great stuff.

[nightside242]

To be fair to MacLean, he's usually doing an epic private face-palm while Cherry is getting his erecto-rant on.

[nightside242]

Got to love the Jets!

[Ronin27x]

by the way, the Jets did beat Toronto 5-2 on October 14, 1984.

[Ronin27x]

Aside from Cherry's political views. This guy enjoys complaining about foreign players, wearing visors, and putting down Ovechkin

[xWittgensteinx]

They were probably up 6-3 and then blew it. That's how the Jets played after all.

[lucite11]

People are always trying to give womens rights, or ending islamic fundamentalism as justifications for the Afghanistan war but Is it really so impossible to realize that that's just not how capitalist states operate. There's always a noble bullshit reason given for public consumption, but states operate and take on military action based on cold calulated economic or geostrategic reasons.

[ralph435z]

Did the Jets ever beat the Leafs six to three?