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The Guardian
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Justice for Phish! How the jam band shaped US culture – without awards or big hits
Bernie Sanders has called them 'one of the great American rock bands'. They've been together since 1983, selling out stadiums and hosting festivals where they're the only band on the bill, drawing tens of thousands. Last week, they won the fan vote for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with 330,000 votes, beating the runner-up, the rock supergroup Bad Company, by 50,000. Yet outside the US, Phish may be best known as the inspiration for Ben & Jerry's Phish Food flavor. They've never had a significant mainstream hit. And when the Hall of Fame inductees were announced on Sunday, Phish wasn't among them. Bad Company was. Many fans seemed unbothered: 'Phish is too out there, too innovative, not mainstream,' wrote one on a fan message board. 'Hall of Fame just isn't a Phish thing.' Added another: 'Let the disdain and misunderstandings continue.' It's all par for the course for the quartet, who have become a household name in the US thanks to their incredibly devoted fanbase – even if most people probably can't name any of their songs. Instead, they're best known for the stereotype of their most hardcore listeners: hippies who follow them around the country on tour, selling grilled cheese sandwiches in parking lots, obsessing over set lists (the band never plays the same show twice), and doing vast amounts of drugs. There is truth to the stereotype. To attend a Phish show is to wander through a parking lot full of people distributing veggie burritos and nitrous balloons, wearing tie-dye or shirts with obscure references to specific Phish compositions. Encyclopedic knowledge of the band's songs comes with bragging rights – there are about 1,000 of them, including covers; in a series of 13 shows at Madison Square Garden in 2017, they didn't repeat a single one. The band formed in Vermont in the 80s, and its fans are extremely white. They're also very male; during a three-show stretch at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles this weekend, there was a line out the door for the men's room and none at all for the women's; a Phish show is a place where men have feelings, which they demonstrate through unabashedly terrible dancing. An LA friend who reluctantly attended a concert last year, as an 'anthropological experiment', called Phish a band for east coast kids who loved summer camp. As Amanda Petrusich wrote in an in-depth New Yorker piece this month, 'people who love Phish do so with a devotion that is quasi-religious – deep, eternal and rhapsodic.' The pop-culture image of Phish has largely focused on their hardcore fans, which tends to distract from the band and the music itself. Hall of Fame or no, there's no question they've made their mark on American culture. The band has long allowed recording at their shows, and the passionate community, which traded cassette tapes and then long-form digital audio, helped to pioneer internet culture. While the band themselves are heirs to the Grateful Dead – often seen as the 'jam band' prototype – they helped spread the jam-band gospel, helping to lift or inspire a generation of bands including Dave Matthews Band and the very not-jammy Maroon 5. Festivals such as Bonnaroo are rooted in Phish culture – the band's guitarist, Trey Anastasio, headlined the first edition. As the BBC put it in 2019: 'Attending a Phish gig has become a rite of summer passage for American teens in the same way that attending Glastonbury has for British teenagers.' They began playing together in college, and the lineup hasn't changed since 1986: Anastasio on guitar and – usually – lead vocals, Mike Gordon on bass, Page McConnell on keyboards, Jon Fishman on drums. (They still play songs from Anastasio's college thesis composition.) They're generally categorized as a jam band – a term whose definition, Anastasio told the New Yorker, he's unsure about. He worries it means 'too much soloing'. But what makes the band fun to watch is how all four members – with an easy virtuosity – contribute to the impromptu evolution of each song. This isn't about a lone guitar playing endlessly while the rest of the band plays a looping chord progression. Instead, the musicians listen to each other, sometimes mimicking, sometimes diverging, always driving the song forward. Often, a song ends up totally different from where it began – new chords, new melody, new tempo, but still cohesive – so that given, say, the final minute of a song, even the most experienced Phish fan might not be able to identify the starting point. Either way, the improvised portions – which make up the majority of each show – are dynamic: the mood shifts from joyful to eerie to abstract and back again. There is a narrative structure, with tension slowly building to a raucous payoff. Phish are revered for their exhaustive knowledge of the past six decades of popular music, having covered songs from Joni Mitchell to the Five Stairsteps to Chumbawamba. They play bluegrass and funk and sing a cappella as a barbershop quartet, and they've performed with artists from Cher to Jay-Z. And they know how to put on a show. There are onstage dances and jumping on trampolines; Fishman 'plays' the vacuum cleaner, manipulating the air with his mouth. Each New Year's Eve brings a giant Madison Square Garden performance, with elaborate sets, costumes and dancers. One year, the band arrived riding a giant hot dog over the crowd; another, Fishman was supposedly shot from a cannon and went missing. They're weird, they're silly, and the fans can be a lot. But ultimately, what makes them one of 'the great American rock bands', as their fellow Vermonter put it, is summed up in a recent album title: joy. It pulses through their music, their stunts, and their community in a way that's always felt rare, and that the fans celebrate. As a touring band and an open secret, they exemplify a uniquely American tradition, rooted in 1960s counterculture but stretching well beyond it, tied to the country's vastness and unknowability. To attend a Phish show is to briefly join a caravan of characters – hippies, nerds, even frat bros – and step outside reality for a few hours. In a way, it's appropriate that they didn't make it into the Hall of Fame this year, despite hundreds of thousands of fan votes. It's in line with their whole career: a vast army of listeners, but no big hits. A part of American culture for 40 years, but never quite in the mainstream.
New York Post
22-04-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Unilever threatens to pull funding for Ben & Jerry's Foundation as progressive battle escalates: report
Unilever has threatened to pull funding for the Ben & Jerry's Foundation – escalating its battle to muzzle the left-leaning ice cream brand's progressive activism, according to a report. The company has demanded Ben & Jerry's Foundation submit to an expedited audit of its donations to continue receiving funding, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Unilever, which is based in London, gives approximately $5 million to the foundation each year, based on a formula of the ice cream company's sales and inflation, sources told Reuters. 3 Unilever has threatened to pull funding for the Ben & Jerry's Foundation, according to a report. REUTERS Ben & Jerry's and Unilever did not immediately respond to The Post's requests for comment. Ben & Jerry's Foundation donates to social justice grassroots organizations in the US, with an emphasis on groups in Vermont, where Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield founded the ice cream brand. It has supported the Human Rights Coalition, a prison reform group led by formerly incarcerated individuals; Felony Murder Elimination Project, which protests a California rule that allows the death penalty for felons who did not commit a murder; and Adelante Student Voices, a network for undocumented students. The company's threat to yank funding is retaliation for a lawsuit filed in November, when Ben & Jerry's accused Unilever of attempting to silence its pro-Palestinian messaging, the sources said. Ben & Jerry's has protested the war in Gaza and called for police departments to be defunded. The ice cream company – known for funky flavors like Phish Food, Half Baked and Chunky Monkey – has also accused Unilever of preventing it from speaking out against President Trump. 3 Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen, co-founders of Ben & Jerry's, serving free ice cream during a Scoop The Vote event. Getty Images for MoveOn Cohen, who co-founded Ben & Jerry's in 1978, earlier this month revealed he's trying to gather a group of investors to buy back the brand, as Unilever prepares to spin off the company and the rest of its ice cream businesses. He pleaded with Unilever to 'set us free.' Tensions have been bubbling up for months as the parent company tried to silence its unruly ice cream brand. In March, Ben & Jerry's claimed Unilever fired chief executive David Stever – who started as a tour guide for the ice cream brand's Waterbury factory – over the company's anti-Trump political activism. 3 Ben & Jerry's claimed Unilever fired its longtime chief executive. Getty Images Ben & Jerry's said the firing violated its 2000 merger agreement with the London firm. Unilever, however, argued it has the authority to appoint a new chief executive, and that the decision would only be made after speaking with the board. It's unclear whether Stever is still with the company. With Post wires
Miami Herald
07-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Ben & Jerry's is giving away free ice cream cones. When can you get one?
Ben & Jerry's is treating its fans to free scoops of ice cream. On Tuesday, April 8, the Vermont-based company said it plans to give away more than a million scoops of ice cream as part of its annual free cone day event. The yearly tradition began a 'thank you' to customers for helping Ben & Jerry's weather its first Vermont winter in 1979, the year it opened its first scoop shop in a renovated gas station, according to a news release. No purchase is required, and fans can return to the line as many times as they like, Ben & Jerry's said. Customers can choose from classic flavors including Phish Food, chocolate fudge brownie and dairy-free chocolate chip cookie dough. Opening times may vary by location, so ice cream lovers are encouraged to check beforehand. Find your nearest Ben & Jerry's scoop shop here.
USA Today
05-03-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Ben & Jerry's 'Free Cone Day' is back: What to know about the sweetest day of the year
Ben & Jerry's 'Free Cone Day' is back: What to know about the sweetest day of the year One of the sweetest days of the year is right around the corner. Ben & Jerry's will service up free scoops of ice cream at participating stores during Free Cone Day on Tuesday, April 8, about three weeks after Dairy Queen does their own free cone giveaway. "During the much-loved tradition, Ben & Jerry's aims to spread some joy across the globe, one ice cream-filled cone at a time," Ben & Jerry's said in a news release on Tuesday. Ben & Jerry's scoopers served up over 1 million scoops of ice cream on Free Cone Day in 2024, the Vermont-based company said. "Free Cone Day has always been about gratitude – we want to thank our fans for being the best fans in the world with free ice cream and a moment of pure joy,' Dave Stever, Ben & Jerry's CEO, said a statement. 'This year, more than ever, we're reminded how powerful those small moments of happiness can be." Here's what to know about Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day, including how to get the sweet treat. When is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's? Free Cone Day is on Tuesday, April 8 from 12 to 8 p.m. local time. Ben & Jerry's has celebrated Free Cone Day since 1979, a year after the ice cream company was founded. The event has been a way for Ben & Jerry's to give back to the community of Burlington, Vermont, which helped it grow from a single Scoop Shop in a renovated gas station to one of the most beloved ice cream companies worldwide. "What started as a simple 'thank you' from co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to fans for helpingthem survive their first Vermont winter, where average temperatures reached a record low of 14.1°F and the winter season snowfall set a record of 52.9 inches, Free Cone Day has turned into a global celebration, with fans lining up for free scoops in more than 35 countries," according to Ben & Jerry's. How to get a free Ben & Jerry's cone All that's needed to get a free Ben & Jerry's scoop and cone is to turn up at any participating Scoop Shop anywhere in the world from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday, April 8. No minimum purchase is required. "Join the line and dream of which flavor to choose from − there's a flavor sure to sweeten up everyone's day, from a classic like Phish Food, a Scoop Shop exclusive like Mango, a Non-Dairy favorite like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, or an ice cream with a mission like Chocolate Fudge Brownie." Ice cream enthusiasts are encouraged to "get back in line as many times as they'd like so why choose one flavor when they can try them all," the news release read. To find your nearest participating Scoop Shop, visit the Ben & Jerry's website.
