School competition turns political

Park band plays anti-Trump song at event

Juniors+Ben+Romain+%28on+keyboard%29+and+Lukas+Levin+%28on+bass%29+play+Bonzo+Goes+to+Bitburg+by+the+Ramones.+Photo+was+taken+at+Battle+of+the+Bands+on+February+23rd.

Juniors Ben Romain (on keyboard) and Lukas Levin (on bass) play “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” by the Ramones. Photo was taken at Battle of the Bands on February 23rd.

“Dopeamine” donned masks of President Donald Trump, with X’s drawn through his eyes, before playing a protest song Feb. 23 at battle of the bands, an event held by Student Council leading up to the Snodaze dance Feb. 25.

According to senior Student Council President Megan Aune, “Dopeamine” won the competition against Park band “The Outlanders” by a vote of 20-16.

Junior “Dopeamine” lead singer Ben Romain said the band chose to play the song after they noticed similarities in the lyrics to Trump’s presidency.

“The song is called “Bonzo Goes To Bitburg,” it’s by The Ramones,” Romain said. “The song was in ‘School of Rock’ and (junior Liam Sivanich) suggested it and we all really wanted to play it. We looked up the lyrics and thought ‘hey this could really work as an anti-Trump song.”

Student Council adviser Sarah Lindenberg said she believes students often turn to music for protest.

“A lot of protesting in general happens a lot through music,” Lindenberg said. “Students are able to express their opinions the way that they want to, and music a lot of times ends up being a venue that people choose to express themselves and their political opinions.”

Romain said he believes although the song was originally written to protest Ronald Reagan, it still applied to messages the band hoped to convey.

“The song was made as an Anti-Reagan song, but we thought the lyrics fit well with the current (administration) and it could be turned into an anti-Trump song really easily,” Romain said. “We thought that would be a good opportunity to do something like that.”

Senior Benjamin Chapelle said while he agreed with the message, he doesn’t believe it’s reflective of Park’s student body.

“I’m down with that message,” Chapelle said. “I don’t think it speaks so much about the student body, because I still think the student body is pretty divided about this thing.”

Chapelle said he supports efforts by Park’s administration to provide students the opportunity to protest, in spite of how he feels they’ve dealt with other post-election events.

“I think it speaks about the administration for giving us an outlet, and I appreciate that,” Chapelle said. “I don’t think they’re handling everything perfectly, but I think there’s an effort there.