Part 1

It all started on February 1st, 2010 with this post on the Ateaseweb message board.

Poster, radiohead333 wrote:

The perception from day 1 has been that they are privileged wealthy ivy leaguers. The press for Contra made it clear, that the band vehemently opposed that notion, with one quote standing out as representative, "just because we enjoy wearing boat shoes and collared shirts doesnt make us wealthy. What are others thoughts on this? Doesnt the band need to look in the mirror literally, in order to judge the people who really brought on this supposed misconception? Or are they victims here?


I found this sort of puzzling for a variety of reasons.

1-the band went to Columbia, by definition an Ivy league school. Ivy League schools are also by definition more expensive than regular universities. Further, the image of those who attend Ivy League schools has always been that they are rich, priviliged and dress in the same ways that VW dress.

2 In almost every press photo I have ever seen, they dress in the ways i described. The boat shoes, collared shirts. They dress nice and fancy. Prim and Proper.

3. They describe their sound as Upper West Side Soweto. Upper West Side is obviously a place known for its wealthy residents.

4. They pepper their lyrics with references to Sloan Kettering, Cape Cod, Oxford, Wellfleet, Provincetown, Hyannisport, Louis Vuitton, Darjeeling, Cambridge

5. some of the songs sound frankly for the wealthy, or what wealthy people would listen to. M79 has that very prim and proper. Those violins suggest wealth.

What are others thoughts on this? Doesnt the band need to look in the mirror literally, in order to judge the people who really brought on this supposed misconception? Or are they victims here?

On the same page, several posts down, poster Heretix replied with:

those violins suggest wealth

The thread spiralled to 14 pages ridiculing the OP, radiohead333.

Part 2

At this point poster radiohead333 has made several bad thread and now has a sort of reputation in the music forum. The admins of the board then proceed to deface his account and put him in a custom user group called 'violins suggest wealth.'

Prolific boarder, robinpecknold, aka Robin Pecknold of the folk band Fleet Foxes also has his account defaced and is jokingly added to the 'violins suggest wealth' user group.

Part 3

Robin Pecknold creates a thread entitled Why do I have a violin by my name? / And why is my name pink.

The following groups/pages are made:
Last.fm group Those violins suggest wealth
Facebook fan page for Those violins suggest wealth

Robin then proceeded to join the Facebook page.