Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea When was this album released? 1998 What were some singles from the album? "Oh Sister," "Engine," and "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," Did any of these songs top the charts? In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has been cited by several as one of the greatest albums of all time. Who was in the band at the time of release? Robert Schneider, Did they tour to promote this album? the record (along with the year of constant touring that succeeded it) took its toll on Mangum. The band abruptly went on hiatus, How long did they stay on hiatus for? indefinite hiatus,
Did they have to cancel any shows?
Did Neutral Milk Hotel have to cancel any shows?
The band's second album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, released in 1998 and also produced by Robert Schneider, is notable as a critically acclaimed and widely popular album. It is largely inspired by the story of Holocaust victim Anne Frank. During live performances, including the one released under the title Live at Jittery Joe's, Mangum has described some of the songs of this album as based on urgent, recurring dreams he had of a Jewish family during World War II. The album was highly praised by critics for its wildly inventive instrumentation and Mangum's provocative and impassioned lyrics. Although it was met with scant response from the general public when it was released, the recording has continued to gain momentum in indie music circles, selling over 300,000 copies, according to Merge Records. However, the record (along with the year of constant touring that succeeded it) took its toll on Mangum. The band abruptly went on hiatus, turning down all requests for shows, including a support slot for R.E.M.  Before Neutral Milk Hotel began their indefinite hiatus, Mangum played live at a house show on December 5, 1998 in Athens on Chris Bilheimer's birthday. The bill was shared with Elf Power, and the audience was made up almost completely of friends and bandmates. Playing solo and acoustic, Mangum opened the set with what was to be the only post-Aeroplane composition to be performed in public, "Little Birds," a song about a boy whose body becomes filled with miniature birds that protect him from his murderous father. Mangum finished the rest of the evening with most of the Aeroplane songs, encouraging the audience to sing along in substitute for the horn parts. For the last several songs, Scott Spillane took his trumpet into an adjacent room and played his parts through the wall. A recording of the show circulated on the internet, but it has never been officially released, most likely due to the poor quality of the recording.  Mangum played another show on December 31, 1998, at which he performed the songs "Oh Sister," "Engine," and "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," joined by Koster and Spillane.  In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has been cited by several as one of the greatest albums of all time. CANNOTANSWER
The band abruptly went on hiatus, turning down all requests for shows, including a support slot for R.E.M.
Neutral Milk Hotel was an American rock band formed in Ruston, Louisiana, by musician Jeff Mangum. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psychedelic folk. Mangum was the lyricist, and wrote surreal and opaque songs that covered a wide range of topics, including love, spirituality, nostalgia, sex, and loneliness. He and the other band members played a variety of instruments, including non-traditional rock instruments like the singing saw, uilleann pipes, and zanzithophone.

Neutral Milk Hotel began as one of Mangum's home recording projects, and in 1994, he released the song "Everything Is" on Cher Doll Records. The single's exposure convinced him to record more music under this name, and in 1996, he worked with childhood friend Robert Schneider to record the album On Avery Island. The album received modest reviews, and sold around 5,000 copies. After the release of On Avery Island, Mangum recruited musicians Julian Koster, Jeremy Barnes, and Scott Spillane. Neutral Milk Hotel's second album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, was released in 1998, and received mostly positive but not laudatory reviews.

While on tour, the band's newfound stardom through the Internet had a negative effect on Mangum, and his mental health began to deteriorate. He did not want to continue touring, and Neutral Milk Hotel went on hiatus shortly after. During the hiatus, Neutral Milk Hotel gained a cult following, and the critical standing of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea rose tremendously. Several music outlets such as Pitchfork and Blender called In the Aeroplane Over the Sea a landmark album for indie rock, and one of the greatest albums of the 1990s. Many indie rock groups such as Arcade Fire and the Decemberists were influenced by Neutral Milk Hotel's eclectic music and earnest lyrics. Neutral Milk Hotel reunited in 2013, and undertook a reunion tour before another hiatus in 2015.

History

Early years
Neutral Milk Hotel originated in Ruston, Louisiana, in the late 1980s, as one of the many home recording projects of musician Jeff Mangum. The project was initially called Milk, and Mangum made the recordings while in high school. Early Milk recordings such as Invent Yourself a Shortcake and Beauty were circulated between Mangum and his friends Robert Schneider, Bill Doss, and Will Cullen Hart. The constant stream of home recording cassette tapes the group made would eventually lead to the formation of a musical collective known as Elephant 6. They were not interested in trying to promote their music to record labels, and instead made the recordings for each other and their classmates. When Mangum learned of another band called Milk, he changed the name of the project to Neutral Milk Hotel, based on a name Hart had suggested.

After graduating from high school, Mangum attended Louisiana Tech University, but dropped out. He moved to Athens and played in a band called Synthetic Flying Machine with Doss and Hart, but left shortly after the band was formed. He then became a vagabond, and lived in cities such as Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Mangum occasionally recorded music during this period, including a 1993 demo album titled Hype City Soundtrack. Schneider says Hype City Soundtrack was a reaction to what Mangum believed was the rampant commercialization of music within large cities. While living in Seattle, Mangum overcame his apprehensions of the music industry and released the single "Everything Is" on Cher Doll Records, under the Neutral Milk Hotel name. The single's exposure convinced Mangum to record more music under this name. According to Mangum: "The single was a godsend because I was pretty much at the end of my rope with just about everything in my life at that point... I ended up sending a tape to [Nancy Ostrander] at Cher Doll Records and she saved me merely by saying she wanted to do a single."

At the time, Mangum was also a bass guitarist for the Apples in Stereo, a band that Schneider formed while living in Denver. The members of the Apples in Stereo wanted to sign with SpinART Records, and met with their legal representative, Brian McPherson, in Los Angeles. McPherson was drawn to Mangum, who was wearing a Shrimper Records T-shirt. After learning that Mangum wrote "Everything Is", a song that McPherson had previously listened to and enjoyed, the two worked out a legal agreement for McPherson to become Neutral Milk Hotel's representative. McPherson sent copies of "Everything Is" and another song "Ruby-Bulbs" to Merge Records founders Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. The two liked the music, and added Neutral Milk Hotel to their roster.

On Avery Island and expansion to a quartet

Mangum moved to Denver to record the first Neutral Milk Hotel album, On Avery Island. Schneider served as the producer, and the recording sessions lasted from February to May 1995. Although Schneider was interested in an expansive Beatlesque production, he aligned with Mangum's preference for a lo-fi sound, admitting that "at first it was frustrating, but I came to enjoy it. That's how I learned to produce, doing that record, because I totally had to let go of what I thought it should be like." On Avery Island was released in the United States on March 26, 1996, by Merge Records, and in the United Kingdom on September 30, 1996, by Fire Records. It sold around 5,000 copies, which Merge considered a success. On Avery Island received positive reviews from critics, who characterized the music as lo-fi pop. Kurt Wolff of the Houston Chronicle described listening to the music as "a trippy experience," and ultimately called the album "a fresh, exciting standout." The British publication NME wrote: "Neutral Milk Hotel can convert miserable-as-sin introspection into folky mantras that bore into your skull like a well-aimed power drill." On Avery Island was ranked at number thirty-five on The Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll for 1996.

After the release of On Avery Island, Mangum sought other musicians to tour with. While living in Ruston, Mangum befriended New York musician Julian Koster. They exchanged demo tapes, and Koster joined Neutral Milk Hotel as the bassist. Around this period, Koster received a letter from Chicago drummer Jeremy Barnes, who wrote how he felt he was being led down a different life than he was supposed to live. The letter resonated with Koster and Mangum, and they traveled to Chicago to meet him. After a short audition, the two persuaded Barnes to drop out of DePaul University and join the band. The final band member came when Mangum was traveling to New York City to live with Koster. While on a stop in Austin, Texas, Mangum met former Rustonian musician Scott Spillane, who was working at a pizza shop. Mangum helped make pizzas during the late-night "drunk rush", after which he convinced Spillane to join the band.

The band members moved to New York City, and lived and rehearsed in a house owned by Koster's grandmother. Koster encouraged the band members to play instruments outside their comfort zones. For example, drummer Barnes learned to play the accordion, and Spillane learned how to play the horn parts from On Avery Island, practicing on a two-valve horn for hours every day. On April 28, 1997, Neutral Milk Hotel began a national tour, during which the band members learned to play as a unit. The On Avery Island tour generated enough money for the band members to afford to move to Athens, where a large group of Elephant 6 musicians were living. By the spring of 1997, Mangum had written and demoed nearly every song for a second album. He shared the demos with his bandmates before they moved to Denver to record the album.

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Neutral Milk Hotel's second album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, was produced by Schneider, and was recorded from July to September 1997. Schneider worked with Mangum to improve upon the lo-fi sound of On Avery Island, in particular with new recording techniques. Mangum liked having a layer of distortion over the music, but Schneider did not use standard effects equipment such as Big Muffs or distortion pedals. Instead, Schneider used heavy compression and placed a Bellari RP-220 tube mic pre-amp close to Mangum's guitar. Schneider then ran the sound through a mixing console, and maxed out the sound on a cassette tape. This process was done for nearly every instrument used on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Schneider claimed that the nonlinearities of microphone distortion gave the album its unique "warm" quality.

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was released on February 10, 1998. Merge pressed 5,500 CD and 1,600 vinyl copies, and expected sales to be similar to On Avery Island. These initial projections were correct, as the album sold moderately well for the first few months. Critical responses to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea were mostly positive, but not laudatory. Rob Brunner of Entertainment Weekly praised the unique instrumentation and "bouncy pop melodies", but described some of the songs as "lifeless acoustic warblers." Pitchfork M. Christian McDermott also commended the music, which he called a blend of "Sgt. Pepper with early 90s lo-fi" that he found "as catchy as it is frightening." A more negative review came from Ben Ratliff of Rolling Stone, who felt the heavy layer of distortion masked the absence of decent melodies. CMJ New Music Monthly ranked In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as the number one album of 1998, and it placed fifteenth in the Pazz & Jop poll for 1998.

To promote the album, Neutral Milk Hotel embarked on a tour of North America and Europe. Musicians John Fernandes and Will Westbrook were brought on as touring members, and were taught how to play the horn parts with Spillane. While on tour, Neutral Milk Hotel gained a reputation for chaotic and physically demanding concerts. Great Lakes member Ben Crum recalled: "It was definitely dangerous. There often seemed to be a very real chance that someone, probably Julian, would get hurt. Jeff was always doing things like picking him up and throwing him into the drums." This caused some audience members to become scared of the band members, who would often ask some audience members if they could spend the night at their house without realizing the homeowner was in fact terrified of them.

Hiatus, and the cult following
Some journalists have noted the release of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea coincided with the rise of the Internet. The album, and by extension Neutral Milk Hotel, became common fixtures on online message boards, and early music websites like Pitchfork gave the band an increased level of promotion. Their newfound high profile had a negative effect on Mangum, and his mental health began to deteriorate. He constantly told his bandmates that he wanted to quit, but never explained why. Some journalists have speculated he became tired of touring and constantly explaining his lyrics to fans, while Elephant 6 biographer Adam Clair believes he may have been overwhelmed by the way fans viewed his music, and the large expectations placed upon any subsequent recordings. Regardless of the reason, Mangum came to the conclusion that he could not continue performing, and instead wanted to disappear from the public eye. Instead of telling the other band members of his decision, he simply avoided the topic of new music altogether. This led to the unofficial breakup of Neutral Milk Hotel shortly after the tour. The final Neutral Milk Hotel live performance occurred on October 13, 1998, in London.

During the hiatus, Mangum occasionally worked on some projects, but nothing was widely publicized. When asked about a third Neutral Milk Hotel album in a 2002 interview, Mangum said: "I don't know. It would be nice, but sometimes I kind of doubt it." While Neutral Milk Hotel did not officially break up, the other band members worked on music with other Elephant 6 bands such as the Music Tapes, the Gerbils, Bablicon, and A Hawk and a Hacksaw. Koster notes how he and the other band members initially thought the hiatus would be a short break to focus on their other musical projects. Koster recounted: "The fact that Neutral Milk wasn't doing something just felt natural, because so much else was happening, and we had just done so much. It didn’t feel unusual at all. I suspected nothing."

Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel were not told why the band went on hiatus. Some were angry, and accused Mangum of being selfish, while others perpetuated hoaxes around what might have happened. The large response helped Neutral Milk Hotel and, in particular, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea gain a cult following and converted Mangum into a larger-than-life figure. In 2003, Creative Loafing writer Kevin Griffis dedicated an entire cover story to trying to track down Mangum for personal closure. The search ended when Mangum sent him an email that read: "I'm not an idea. I am a person, who obviously wants to be left alone." Journalist Mark Richardson attempted to explain In the Aeroplane Over the Sea rise in popularity: "Because [Mangum] was inaccessible, there was no outlet for connection other than the record itself and other fans who shared a passion. By doing nothing, Neutral Milk Hotel developed a cult."

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea critical standing rose tremendously in the years after its release, which journalist Luke Winkie attributes to the cult following. Domino Recording Company released a reissue in 2005, which was awarded a perfect 10/10 score by Mark Richardson of Pitchfork. Richardson wrote: "It's a record of images, associations, and threads; no single word describes it so well as the beautiful and overused kaleidoscope." Other music outlets such as AllMusic and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music also gave the album perfect scores. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea sales figures increased during the 2000s, with an estimated 140,000 copies sold by 2005. Fans of the album became incredibly passionate, recording covers for YouTube, writing poetry, and forming tribute bands. Polygon writer Garrett Martin said: "The fanbase might be relatively small, but it's fervent."

Reunion

Mangum resurfaced in 2008 with a few solo shows, before embarking on full solo tours in 2011 and 2012. During this time, Mangum curated a box set of Neutral Milk Hotel material, which included an extended play of unreleased songs titled Ferris Wheel on Fire. As Mangum was active again within the music industry, rumors began spreading among fans and music outlets of a potential Neutral Milk Hotel reunion.

On April 29, 2013, Neutral Milk Hotel officially announced a reunion tour with all four members of the band. In an interview with Orlando Weekly, Schneider said: "[The hiatus] certainly wasn't purposeful, and I'm not sure [Mangum] even realized he was being a recluse until it was overwhelmingly the case that everyone was talking about it. I've known for seven years that he was going to start touring. I didn't know if he was going to actually start doing it, but I knew in my heart that he was working toward it." Neutral Milk Hotel toured from 2013 to 2015. In a 2014 post on the Neutral Milk Hotel website, the band members wrote how their 2015 tour would be their last tour for the "foreseeable future", and that they were going to take an extended hiatus. The post stated: "Dear friends we love you but it's time to say goodbye for the never ending now."

Artistry

Music

Neutral Milk Hotel was known for its experimental sound, which has been described as a mixture of indie rock and psychedelic folk, with lo-fi production. Critics have noted many other musical influences, including Eastern European choral music, Canterbury Sound, circus music, marching band music, musique concrète, drone music, free jazz, and Tropicália. Neutral Milk Hotel songs typically involved simple chord progressions that Mangum would strum on an acoustic guitar. As the song progressed, more instruments could be introduced. The band members played a wide range of instruments; on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for example, conventional instruments like drums and distorted guitars were paired with unique instruments like the singing saw, uilleann pipes, and zanzithophone.

Neutral Milk Hotel's early music was considered rough, and featured a considerable amount of distortion. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork believes Mangum's songwriting was undeveloped, and described "Ruby Bulbs" as "raw and noisy and shouty and reflects Mangum's interest in aggro punk, an influence that didn't otherwise surface on his records." On Avery Island represented a move toward greater musical cohesion, and more experimentation. Critic Sasha Geffen said: "The album veers wildly between the accessible and the inscrutable... the abrupt transitions between perfect pop melodies and gaseous balls of noise lend the album a certain wildfire charm." The most experimental song on the album is the final track "Pree-Sisters Swallowing a Donkey's Eye," a thirteen-minute drone track influenced by gamelan and noise music.

Many critics believe In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is Neutral Milk Hotel's best and most fully developed release. By this point, Neutral Milk Hotel had four members as opposed to just Mangum, which allowed for a more complex and organic sound. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea emphasizes structure and texture, and tracks seamlessly segue into one another. The overall sound of the album sometimes abruptly shifts from track to track. Rolling Stone notes the range of musical styles present on the album, such as funeral marches and punk rock. Critic Chris DeVille offers similar commentary, writing: "On the musical axis, Neutral Milk Hotel veered from piercingly intimate psychedelic campfire sing-alongs to full-band segments that barreled ahead with haphazard grace."

Lyrics
Mangum served as the lyricist for Neutral Milk Hotel. His lyrics were surreal and opaque, and often featured a stream of consciousness style of songwriting. The lyrics would often include references to seemingly unrelated subject matter. Biographer Kim Cooper cites the song "King of Carrot Flowers, Pt.1" as an example of this style of songwriting; while the lyrics are about childhood fantasies, there are references to sexual awakenings, domestic violence, religious fanaticism, and tarot card readings. Critic Jim DeRogatis described Mangum's lyricism as "Dr. Seuss illustrating William S. Burroughs, or perhaps Sigmund Freud collaborating on lyrics with Syd Barrett."

According to Mangum, many of his lyrics stem from his subconscious, saying: "Some of it I don't understand, I don't know what it is, but it sounds real nice." Another source of inspiration were the visions, lucid dreams, and night terrors Mangum would have. Mangum would sometimes have full conversations between himself and Schneider while sleepwalking. After coming up with an idea for a song, Mangum would start writing "word bridges," which are small connecting ideas that would bridge the seemingly unrelated lyrics. Mangum cites the song "Two-Headed Boy" as an example, as each verse was written separately from each other over a long period of time, and he used the "word bridges" to connect the verses.

Neutral Milk Hotel songs explore many lyrical themes, including love, spirituality, nostalgia, sex, and loneliness. DeRogatis described Mangum's lyrics as a depiction of id, a personality component related to intrinsic desires. Mangum's lyrics can also be seen as a reaction to events that have happened in his life. For example, "Song Against Sex" was written as a reaction to the use of sex as a source of power in a relationship. A central lyrical topic in In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the life of Anne Frank, a teenage girl who died in a Nazi concentration camp. Tracks such as "Holland, 1945" and "Ghost" incorporate elements of Anne Frank's life into the lyrics. As a result, some listeners have labeled In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as a concept album. However, Frank's importance to the lyrics is a subject of debate. Some critics argue she is merely an inspiration for some of the tracks, as opposed to an important character within a narrative arc.

Live performances

Neutral Milk Hotel's live performances often featured the four main band members and several other musicians. For example, the reunion tour featured backing musicians Laura Carter, Jeremy Thal, and Mangum's wife Astra Taylor. Almost every musician on stage would play multiple instruments, and switch instruments between songs. Neutral Milk Hotel shows typically lasted between forty-five and ninety minutes. The equipment used onstage was cheap and of poor quality, although for the reunion tour more expensive equipment was used.

Early Neutral Milk Hotel shows were chaotic and disorganized. Butterglory toured with Neutral Milk Hotel in 1996, and member Matt Suggs recalled: "Mangum & Co were confused and disorganized and lovable." In these early performances, band members would wrestle and tickle each other on stage. During the In the Aeroplane Over the Sea tour, the audio technicians for most venues were confused and did not know what to expect. As a result, Carter took on the unusual role of "mix-board translator". According to Carter: "It was more like talking them through what was about to happen, because so much was happening onstage that without someone helping, it was a wail or squeal and the soundman would look at twenty instruments onstage and not know what to dive for."

Legacy
When Neutral Milk Hotel disbanded in 1998, the subsequent cult following propelled the band into a new level of stardom, which led many fans and journalists to call Neutral Milk Hotel an important indie rock band. Much of Neutral Milk Hotel's legacy is derived from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, which reached sales of roughly 400,000 by 2013. Music outlets such as Pitchfork and Blender have ranked it as one of the greatest indie rock albums of all time, as well as one of the best albums of the 1990s. Richardson noted that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has become ingrained in the indie rock canon, and consistently attracts new listeners. Chris Morgan of Uproxx wrote: "In short, people share a very deep passion for Neutral Milk Hotel's highly lauded sophomore album... Lots of albums are loved, but few seem to impact people so much, and so singularly." Some critics have discussed how other recordings of the band, such as On Avery Island, are often overlooked by fans due to the popularity of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

Part of Neutral Milk Hotel's legacy is also drawn from the general mystique surrounding Mangum. Elephant 6 biographer Adam Clair notes that Mangum's unexplained absence made him more notable than when he was an active member of the music industry. He actively avoided giving interviews, and as a result, music publications began to write clickbait-esque articles in which they would attempt to explain his disappearance with little to no substantive evidence. Even after Mangum resurfaced in 2008, music publications continued publishing emphatic reports on his life. Neutral Milk Hotel's legal representative Brian McPherson said: "When the guy sneezes it's on the front page of Pitchfork."

Neutral Milk Hotel has influenced many indie rock bands. According to Miles Raymer of Esquire, the band's cacophonous sound and earnest lyrics were in direct contrast to the underground music scene in the 1990s. While many groups focused on the theme of detached irony, Neutral Milk Hotel's abrasive and overtly emotional lyrics struck a chord with social outcasts. Groups influenced by Neutral Milk Hotel include Arcade Fire and the Decemberists, both of whom create psychedelic-folk inspired music with non-traditional instruments. Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler said that Neutral Milk Hotel's association with Merge Records was a contributing factor to their signing with Merge Records. Neutral Milk Hotel also influenced bands like AJJ, Beirut, Bright Eyes, The Lumineers, Okkervil River, and Pwr Bttm, as well as artists like Melanie Martinez and Amanda Palmer.

Members
Jeff Mangum – guitars, lead vocals, keyboards, bass guitar (studio only), drums (early) (1989–1998, 2013–2015)
Julian Koster – bass guitar, accordion, musical saw, bowed banjo, keyboards, organ (1996–1998, 2013–2015)
Scott Spillane – trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium, guitar, horn arrangements (1996–1998, 2013–2015)
 Jeremy Barnes – drums, piano, organ (1996–1998, 2013–2015)

Timeline

Discography

On Avery Island (1996)
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)

Notes

Footnotes

References

External links

 

The Elephant 6 Recording Company artists
Indie rock musical groups from Louisiana
Lo-fi music groups
Merge Records artists
Musical groups established in 1989
Musical groups disestablished in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2015
Musical groups reestablished in 2013
Cancel culture or call-out culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those subject to this ostracism are said to have been "cancelled". The expression "cancel culture" has mostly negative connotations and is used in debates on free speech and censorship.

The notion of cancel culture is a variant on the term call-out culture and constitutes a form of boycotting or shunning involving an individual (often a celebrity) who is deemed to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner.

Some critics argue that cancel culture has a chilling effect on public discourse. Others argue that calls for "cancellation" are themselves a form of free speech and that they promote accountability. Some public figures claim to have been "cancelled" while continuing their careers as before.

Origins
"Call-out culture" has been in use since 2014 as part of the #MeToo movement.

In March 2014, activist Suey Park called out "a blatantly racist tweet about Asians" from the official Twitter account of The Colbert Report using the hashtag #cancelColbert, which generated widespread outrage against Stephen Colbert's and an even greater amount of backlash against Park, even though the Colbert Report tweet was a satirical tweet. By around 2015, the concept of canceling had become widespread on Black Twitter to refer to a personal decision, sometimes seriously and sometimes in jest, to stop supporting a person or work. According to Jonah Engel Bromwich of The New York Times, this usage of cancellation indicates the "total disinvestment in something (anything)". After numerous cases of online shaming gained wide notoriety, the term cancellation was increasingly used to describe a widespread, outraged, online response to a single provocative statement, against a single target. Over time, isolated instances of cancellation became both more frequent and the mob mentality more apparent, commentators began seeing a "culture" of outrage and cancellation.

The phrase cancel culture gained popularity since late 2019, most often as a recognition that society will exact accountability for offensive conduct. More recently, the phrase has become a shorthand employed by conservatives in the United States to refer to what are perceived to be disproportionate reactions to politically incorrect speech.

Etymology
The 1981 Chic album Take It Off includes the song "Your Love Is Cancelled" which compares a breakup to the cancellation of TV shows. The song was written by Nile Rodgers following a bad date Rodgers had with a woman who expected him to misuse his celebrity status on her behalf. "Your Love Is Cancelled" inspired screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper to include a reference to a woman being "cancelled" in the 1991 film New Jack City. This usage introduced the term to African-American Vernacular English, where it eventually became more common.

Description 

Merriam-Webster states that to "cancel", in this context, means "to stop giving support to [a] person". Dictionary.com, in its pop-culture dictionary, defines cancel culture as "withdrawing support for (i.e. 'canceling' ) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive." The phenomenon has occurred with both public figures and private citizens. Ligaya Mishan wrote in The New York Times, "The term is shambolically applied to incidents both online and off that range from vigilante justice to hostile debate to stalking, intimidation and harassment. ... Those who embrace the idea (if not the precise language) of canceling seek more than pat apologies and retractions, although it's not always clear whether the goal is to right a specific wrong and redress a larger imbalance of power."

Academic analysis 
According to the book The Coddling of the American Mind (2018) by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and free-speech activist Greg Lukianoff, call-out culture arises from what they call "safetyism" on college campuses. Keith Hampton, professor of media studies at Michigan State University, contends that the practice contributes to the polarization of American society, but does not lead to changes in opinion. Cancel culture has been described by media studies scholar Eve Ng as "a collective of typically marginalized voices 'calling out' and emphatically expressing their censure of a powerful figure." Cultural studies scholar Frances Lee states that call-out culture leads to self-policing of "wrong, oppressive, or inappropriate" opinions. According to Lisa Nakamura, University of Michigan professor of media studies, canceling someone is a form of "cultural boycott" and cancel culture is the "ultimate expression of agency" which is "born of a desire for control [as] people have limited power over what is presented to them on social media" and a need for "accountability which is not centralized".

Some academics proposed alternatives and improvements to cancel culture. Critical multiculturalism professor Anita Bright proposed "calling in" rather than "calling out" in order to bring forward the former's idea of accountability but in a more "humane, humble, and bridge-building" light. Clinical counsellor Anna Richards, who specializes in conflict mediation, says that "learning to analyze our own motivations when offering criticism" helps call-out culture work productively.

Professor Joshua Knobe, of the Philosophy Department at Yale, contends that public denunciation is not effective, and that society is too quick to pass judgement against those they view as public offenders or persona non-grata. Knobe asserts that these actions have the opposite effect on individuals and that it is best to bring attention to the positive actions in which most of society participates.

Reactions 
The expression cancel culture has mostly negative connotations and is used in debates on free speech and censorship.

Former US President Barack Obama warned against social media call-out culture, saying that "People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids and, you know, share certain things with you."

Former US President Donald Trump criticized cancel culture in a speech in July 2020, comparing it to totalitarianism and saying that it is a political weapon used to punish and shame dissenters by driving them from their jobs and demanding submission. He was criticized as being hypocritical for having attempted to "cancel" a number of people and companies in the past himself.

Pope Francis said that cancel culture is "a form of ideological colonization, one that leaves no room for freedom of expression", saying that it "ends up cancelling all sense of identity".

Open letter 

Dalvin Brown, writing in USA Today, has described an open letter signed by 153 public figures and published in Harper's Magazine as marking a "high point" in the debate on the topic. The letter set out arguments against "an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty."

A response letter organized by lecturer Arionne Nettles, "A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate,” was signed by over 160 people in academia and media. It criticized the Harper's letter as a plea to end cancel culture by successful professionals with large platforms who wanted to exclude others who have been "cancelled for generations.” The writers ultimately stated that the Harper’s letter was intended to further silence already marginalized people. “It reads as a caustic reaction to a diversifying industry — one that’s starting to challenge diversifying norms that have protected bigotry,” they wrote.

American public opinion 
A poll of American registered voters conducted by Morning Consult in July 2020 showed that cancel culture, defined as "the practice of withdrawing support for (or canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive", was common: 40% of respondents said they had withdrawn support from public figures and companies, including on social media, because they had done or said something considered objectionable or offensive, with 8% having engaged in this often. Behavior differed according to age, with a majority (55%) of voters 18 to 34 years old saying they have taken part in cancel culture, while only about a third (32%) of voters over 65 said they had joined a social media pile-on. Attitude towards the practice was mixed, with 44% of respondents saying they disapproved of cancel culture, 32% who approved, and 24% who did not know or had no opinion. Furthermore, 46% believed cancel culture had gone too far, with only 10% thinking it had not gone far enough. Additionally, 53% believed that people should expect social consequences for expressing unpopular opinions in public, such as those that may be construed as deeply offensive to other people.

A March 2021 poll by the Harvard Center for American Political Studies and the Harris Poll found that 64% of respondents viewed "a growing cancel culture" as a threat to their freedom, while the other 36% did not. 36% of respondents said that cancel culture is a big problem, 32% called it a moderate problem, 20% called it a small problem, and 13% said it is not a problem. 54% said they were concerned that if they expressed their opinions online, they would be banned or fired, while the other 46% said they were not concerned.

A November 2021 Hill/HarrisX poll found that 71% of registered voters strongly or somewhat felt that cancel culture went too far, with similar amounts of Republicans (76%), Democrats (70%), and Independents (68%) saying so. The same poll found that 69% of registered voters felt that cancel culture unfairly punishes people for their past actions or statements, compared to 31% who said it did not. Republicans were more likely to agree with the statement (79%), compared to Democrats (65%) and Independents (64%).

Criticism of the concept 
A number of professors, politicians, journalists, and activists question the validity of cancel culture as an actual phenomenon.

Danielle Kurtzleben, a political reporter for NPR, wrote in 2021 that overuse of the phrase "cancel culture" in American politics (particularly by Republicans) has made it "arguably background noise". Per Kurtzleben and others, the term has undergone semantic bleaching to lose its original meaning.

Connor Garel, writing for Vice, states that cancel culture "rarely has any tangible or meaningful effect on the lives and comfortability of the cancelled."

Historian C. J. Coventry argues that the term has been incorrectly applied, and that it more accurately reflects the propensity of people to hide historical instances of injustice:

Another historian, David Olusoga, similarly argued:

Indigenous governance professor and activist Pamela Palmater writes in Maclean's magazine that cancel culture differs from accountability; her article covers the public backlash surrounding Canadian politicians who vacationed during COVID-19, despite pandemic restrictions forbidding such behavior.

Former US Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia says that cancel culture is a form of free speech, and is therefore protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. According to Scalia, cancel culture can, however, interfere with the right to counsel, as some lawyers would not be willing to risk their personal and professional reputation on controversial topics.

Sarah Manavis wrote for the New Statesman magazine that while free speech advocates are more likely to make accusations of "cancel culture", criticism is part of free speech and rarely results in consequences for those in power who are criticized. She argues that social media is an extension and reincarnation of a longer tradition of expression in a liberal society, "a new space for historical power structures to be solidified" and that online criticism by people who do not hold actual power in society tends to not affect existing power structures. She adds that most prominent people who criticized public opinion as canceling still have highly profitable businesses and concludes by saying, "So even if you fear the monster under the bed, it will never do you harm. It can't, because it was never there in the first place. Repercussions rarely come for those in power. Why punch down, when you've already won?"

Consequence culture 
Some media commentators (including Sunny Hostin and Levar Burton) have stated that cancel culture should be renamed consequence culture. The terms have different connotations: cancel culture focusing on the effect whereby discussion is limited by a desire to maintain one certain viewpoint, whereas consequence culture focuses on the idea that those that write or publish opinions or make statements should bear some responsibility for the effects of these on people.

In popular culture 
The American animated television series South Park mocked cancel culture with its own "#CancelSouthPark" campaign in promotion of the show's twenty-second season (2018). In the season's third episode, "The Problem with a Poo", there are references to the 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu, the cancellation of Roseanne after a controversial tweet by the show's eponymous actress, and the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In 2019, cancel culture was a primary theme in the stand-up comedy show Sticks & Stones by Dave Chappelle.

Both the Chicks, for their outspoken criticism of the Iraq War and President Bush, and Bill Maher have said they are victims of cancel culture.

In November 2021, John Cleese protested cancel culture by blacklisting himself over a Hitler impersonation controversy at the Cambridge Union.

See also 

 At-will employment
 Blacklisting
 Character assassination
 Culture war
 Damnatio memoriae
 Dehumanisation
 Deplatforming
 Deviationism
 Divestment
 Double standard
 Enemy of the people
 False accusation
 Forced disappearance
 Freedom of speech
 Heckler's veto
 Internet vigilantism
 Marooning
 McCarthyism
 Mob lynching
 Online shaming
 Outcast
 Political correctness
 Politicization
 Persona non grata
 Presumption of guilt
 Purge
 Relational aggression
 Send to Coventry
 Shunning
 Social exclusion
 Social justice warrior
 Thoughtcrime
 Woke
 Witch-hunt

Notes

References

Further reading 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2010s neologisms
Boycotts
Internet-related controversies
Pejorative terms
Social rejection
Shunning TV by the Numbers was a website devoted to collecting and analyzing television ratings data in the United States that operated from 2007 to 2020. It was a part of Nexstar Media Group's Zap2it television news/listings site.

History
An Internet and statistical analyst, Robert Seidman had previously worked for IBM and Charles Schwab, and published an online newsletter about the Internet and AOL before founding TV by the Numbers; Bill Gorman had been an AOL executive until 1998, and had read Seidman's column. Friends since the early 1990s when they met near Washington, D.C., both were fond of television, as Gorman loved numbers and Seidman enjoyed statistics relating to it; the subject of television ratings data entered into one of their conversations. Gorman was dismayed at being unable to find other blogs devoted solely to television data, and after a Google search confirmed this, he and Seidman thought of the idea for a website devoted solely to the subject. In Gorman's words, while there were sites devoted to disseminating certain subjects, "there was no site that did the same thing for the television industry. That is, compile the numbers in a way, and analyze them in a way, that consumers would understand". Gorman elaborated in a 2010 interview:

We try to focus on publicly available facts. We're not breaking any news. We're not interviewing people to try to get the last bit of juicy gossip. We focus on publicly available, either ratings or financial information, and what that likely means for your favorite show. Whether they're coming back or going away.

On June 30, 2009, in response to pressure from Nielsen Media Research, TV by the Numbers made large changes to their archives. The main ratings archives no longer go past 2 weeks prior to the date a reader accesses them.

On November 10, 2010, TV by the Numbers announced that they were partnering with TV news website Zap2it. As a result, the website's URL changed to a subdomain of the zap2it.com domain. In addition, Zap2it features such as TV listings began to appear on the site.

In response to The New York Times decision in 2011 to start charging for access to online content, Gorman wrote an article stressing his website will remain free.

In January 2012, Gorman and Seidman expressed interest in hiring writers to do the day-to-day writing on their site. On February 12, 2012, they announced that Sara Bibel and Amanda Kondolojy would be joining the website.

On April 3, 2014, Zap2It owner Tribune Digital Ventures purchased the site in full.

On January 31, 2020, the website's staff released a statement declaring TV By The Numbers to be inactive starting the very next day, February 1, 2020. The staff bid goodbye and thanked readers. As of August 2020, its URL redirects to Zap2It's TV listings service.

Impact
According to one source, much of the information Gorman and Seidman had access to was not readily available to the media, and thus their efforts to analyze the data led to many "savvy readers" becoming interested in the workings of the ratings process.

TV by the Numbers was cited by such media outlets as CNN, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and former sister publication the Chicago Tribune.

Harry's Law
TV by the Numbers received criticism from several facets of the television industry for their ratings analyses. Harry's Law star Kathy Bates publicly bashed the website's ideas about ratings and their symbol "The Cancellation Bear", in an interview for Entertainment Weekly. She stated, "Some of these people are just so stupid. I don’t even get it.... All [they] talk about is the blessed [18–49] demo this, demo that, and how the Cancellation Bear is gonna eat us and all that stuff. So we’ll see. We'll just see." Harry's Law executive producer Bill D'Elia agreed with Bates, stating in subsequent Twitter messages, "WTF is TV by the numbers? Who cares what they think? #harryslaw is most viewed scripted drama on NBC and will return....First, tv by the numbers doesn't know anything. They are misinformed at best, ignorant at worst. Second, Kathy is right."

After Harry's Law was cancelled in May 2012 and the site issued a passive-aggressive response to the news, D'Elia again turned to Twitter to express his feelings on the website, stating, "TVBTN Negativism fuels belief to not watch shows. He influences viewers to not watch something, self-fulfilling his prophecy. Just awful"

Suburgatory
The Cancellation Bear was mentioned in the Suburgatory season 2 episode "Body Talk". Suburgatory showrunner Emily Kapnek subsequently did an interview with TV by the Numbers, explaining: "we just thought it would be really funny to have [the show's] school TV station governed by the same panic and hysteria that everyone feels watching their shows live and die and get discussed online so we thought it was just a really fun shout out because we’re all on your site all the time."

Galavant

In May 2015, TV By the Numbers predicted that the musical-comedy series Galavant would be canceled after its first season. After a surprise renewal, the second season began with an episode titled "A New Season aka Suck It Cancellation Bear" in mockery of the website.

Features
TV by the Numbers had many features. Most focused on television ratings and the analysis of those ratings.

News categories

The site was well known for its coverage of Nielsen ratings. The following is a list of all of the types of ratings covered by the site:
 Broadcast Overnight
 Daily preliminary rating reports for television series airing in prime time on the five major broadcast television networks – ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, and NBC; ratings in this category were published the day after a program aired.
 Broadcast Final
 Identical to overnight reports, with the exception of additional processing and revising and were updated on weekdays; ratings for Monday through Thursday's broadcasts were released the following Friday, with ratings for Friday released on Monday and Sunday's ratings on Tuesdays. Final ratings from Saturday were omitted from this category.
 Cable Final
 Rating reports for cable networks, updated on weekdays; the site received a list of the top 100 cable shows for the night in the 25–54 age demographic from Nielsen. The site processed the information to list programs by viewers within the 18–49 demographic.
 Cable News
 Ratings lists for programs broadcast on major cable news networks; updated on weekdays
 Broadcast DVR
 Lists of programs that increased their viewership the most after seven days of DVR usage were indicated; reports in this category were published the second Monday after a show aired.
 Weekly Broadcast Network
 The average ratings for each of the major broadcast networks from the previous week (Monday through Sunday), published on Tuesdays
 Weekly Cable Network
 The average ratings for the top cable networks from the previous week; published on Tuesdays
 Top-25 Broadcast Shows
 The top-25 television programs on broadcast television, in terms of both total viewers and the 18–49 age demographic; published on Tuesdays
 Top-25 Cable Shows
 The top-25 programs on cable television with identical terms as the above; published on Tuesdays
 Top-25 Syndicated Shows
 The top-25 syndicated programs for both cable and broadcast networks; reports in this category had a one-week lag and were published on Tuesdays
 Season-to-Date Broadcast Network
 Comparisons of season-to-date ratings for the top-five broadcast networks; published on Tuesdays
 Late Night
 Ratings for programs broadcast after 11:30 p.m.; published on Thursdays
 Evening News
 Ratings for news programs broadcast in the evening; published on Thursdays
 Morning News
 Ratings for daytime news programs; published on Thursdays
 Soap Opera
 Ratings for soap operas broadcast in the daytime; published on Fridays

News
TV by the Numbers published news stories about schedule changes and ratings in television. These mostly consisted of press releases.

Renew/Cancel Index
The Renew/Cancel Index was a mathematical formula developed and used by Gorman to predict whether scripted series on the Big 5 broadcast networks would be renewed or cancelled that season.

During the 2007–2008 broadcast season, Gorman experimented with different ways to predict the fates of television series. They were all unsuccessful, until close to the end of the season when he developed the Renew/Cancel Index.

The Renew/Cancel Index differed from Gorman's previous attempts in that it compared a series' average ratings to the average ratings for their own network, as opposed to a basic numerical hierarchy or comparing ratings to an overall average from all the networks. Gorman formulated the numbers by dividing a series's season-to-date ratings average by the season-to-date average of all the scripted series on that network (in the latter half of the season, Gorman used only numbers since that January for season-to-date numbers, as that seemed to help renewal predictions). The resulting number (rounded to the nearest hundredth) showed how a series's average related to the network's average (which always came out to 1.00).

Using these numbers, Gorman then created a grading scale. There were five levels on the scale: Certain to be Renewed, Likely to be Renewed, Toss-Up, Likely to be Cancelled, and Certain to be Cancelled. Series above 1.00 were almost always certain to be renewed, while series directly below that were likely to be renewed. The distinction between likely to be renewed and toss-up was at 0.90. Although this number was 0.92 in the original incarnation, it later changed. The toss-up range continued down to 0.75, when the likely to be cancelled level started. There was no clear-cut line between the likely to be cancelled and certain to be cancelled levels, but Gorman said that discerning between likely/certain cancellations was usually just trivial, and thus unimportant. Friday series, being on a lesser-viewed night, were graded differently. The toss-up range was between 0.55 and 0.70, with the numbers above it being likely/certain renewals and the numbers below it being likely/certain cancellations.

Gorman did not always follow the index numbers religiously. For example, series that were within a season of reaching the 88-episode mark (the usual requirement for stripped syndication) usually received a large boost. In Fall 2011, Gorman stated that no series that fell into this category would be ranked less than a toss-up. In Fall 2013, he even made the point of putting most series in this category as Certain to be Renewed, despite the fact that many of them had not aired yet. On the other hand, he did not take internal issues (contract disputes, scheduling arguments, etc.) into account.

The Renew/Cancel index was updated with a new article every Tuesday, from the beginning of the broadcast season in late September to the dates of the network upfront presentations in mid-May.

Bubble Watch
Seidman created the Bubble Watch which, similarly to the Renew/Cancel Index, aimed to predict based upon ratings data which television series would be canceled and which would be renewed. It used a scale for sorting series that was similar to the Renew/Cancel Index, with On the Bubble being identical to Gorman's Toss-Up category. Series above the bubble were in the Renewal Predicted category, while series below the bubble were in the Cancellation Predicted category.

Unlike the Renew/Cancel Index, the Bubble Watch did not use a mathematical formula. Additionally, it took the possibilities of future ratings into account, something that Gorman strictly did not do with his index. In the end, though, the predictions of the Bubble Watch and the Renew/Cancel Index were usually very similar.

In October 2012, Seidman decided to stop publishing the Bubble Watch and replaced it with a simple list of the renewed and the cancelled series. He did not disclose his reasons, but said that it might or might not be temporary. Many readers were disappointed and expressed their disappointment to Seidman. Seidman recognized that and reinstated the Bubble Watch on November 4, 2012. He stated that readership levels were basically the same for the Bubble Watch and its temporary replacement, but he wanted to "give the vocal minority who really cares about the table format the table format they asked for."

The Bubble Watch was updated with a new article every Sunday, during the same period as the Renew/Cancel Index. Seidman wrote every update from the Bubble Watch's inception until May 2013. He then took a break for an unspecified period of time, and longtime reader and occasional contributor Tom Shaw took his place in September 2013.

The Bubble Watch did not return for the 2014–15 season, however Tom Shaw contributed to Renew/Cancel Index posts and there was a one-week edition of the Bubble Watch in December.

Other features

Scripted Cable Series Renew/Cancel Status
Readers of the Renew/Cancel Index and the Bubble Watch inquired many times to Seidman and Gorman about why they did not predict the renewal chances of cable series. In response, Gorman and Seidman explained that the cable networks were not limited to the strict structure of the broadcast networks. This results in them being much more erratic in renewals and cancellations, and thus too hard to predict accurately. Seidman decided to make a compromise of sorts and made a simple list of the renewed and the cancelled cable series. Called the Scripted Cable Renew/Cancel Status, its first post was published on November 7, 2012.

The Scripted Cable Renew/Cancel Status explicitly did not predict the fates of television series. It only stated their status. If a series had been cancelled or had been renewed for an upcoming season, it would have been stated in the list. If a series's future beyond the season that was currently airing (or, if the series was on hiatus, the season that had just been previously airing) had not been officially declared by the network, there would have been a blank spot in that series's row on the list. The Scripted Cable Renew/Cancel Status did not include unscripted series, children's and teens' series, late night series on the Adult Swim network, and series airing on minor broadcast networks (such as PBS). These exclusions were necessary to keep the list short.

The Scripted Cable Renew/Cancel Status was published every Saturday, a total of 12 times. On March 30, 2013, Seidman announced he would stop publishing the posts, citing low readership as the reason for the discontinuation.

See also 
 Nielsen ratings

References

External links
 
 List of Renew/Cancel Index posts
 List of Bubble Watch posts
 List of Scripted Cable Renew/Cancel Status posts

Internet properties established in 2007
Internet properties disestablished in 2020
Nexstar Media Group
Defunct American websites
American entertainment websites
Television websites
2007 establishments in the United States
2020 disestablishments in the United States