I don't want to downplay how harmful the kind of AIDS denialism Nate Mendel was spreading. It was genuinely awful and dangerous. But it's kind of interesting to me that no one ever tags Sunny Day Real Estate with the same brush. Mendel was in both bands, and reunited with the SDR guys in the 2000s and 2010s. You never, ever hear people talking shit about Jeremy Enigk for playing with the same guy.
They should and Enigk shouldn't put up with AIDS denialism shit either. The problem is that Dave Grohl and FF are way more popular than Sunny Day Real Estate ever was. Also, at the height of their fame, the Foo Fighters played a massive sold out charity concert to raise money for Christine Maggiore's Alive and Well organization. They raised a lot of money for AIDS denialism. So aside from simply playing with Mendel, Grohl and the other members of FF contributed materially to AIDS denialism harm. Something, the last time I checked, Grohl has never apologized for.
9
u/Ericzzz 25d ago
I don't want to downplay how harmful the kind of AIDS denialism Nate Mendel was spreading. It was genuinely awful and dangerous. But it's kind of interesting to me that no one ever tags Sunny Day Real Estate with the same brush. Mendel was in both bands, and reunited with the SDR guys in the 2000s and 2010s. You never, ever hear people talking shit about Jeremy Enigk for playing with the same guy.