With the announcement of Sonic Youth, Citizen Cope and Cat Power as this year's Spring Fling concert artists, some students have begun to voice discontent with the Social Planning and Events Committee's selections.
"I think in past years we've probably seen better artists for Fling," College senior Jared Platt said. "I've been to all of them since freshman year. ... I might skip out this year."
A few students have displayed their dissatisfaction with the bands by joining an online group on thefacebook.com entitled "Students Against Sonic Youth."
Engineering freshman Andy Magnes, a co-founder of the group, feels that the selection of Sonic Youth was a "bail-out."
"To have someone that wasn't too popular with the student body is just not a good idea," Magnes said.
But SPEC Concerts directors say that no matter who they bring to campus, they cannot please everyone.
"The reality is there's no band that everyone's going to like," College senior and SPEC Concerts co-Director Tom Kurland said.
"It's the type of thing that everyone has an opinion about. Everyone thinks that their musical taste is clearly the best and everyone should agree about it."
Kurland and other SPEC Concerts directors say they are challenging students to take a chance.
"We know the show is a little controversial, and we like that because it's different," Kurland said.
"Just because you haven't heard of someone doesn't mean that they're not really cool and doesn't mean that they don't put on a great live show, and it doesn't mean the reason we hire them is because we're cheap and lazy."
He also said that the majority of the members of the group on thefacebook.com were freshmen, who have yet to experience Spring Fling.
"The older kids realize that if you don't like it, there are other things to do," he said.
Although the directors emphasize that SPEC has "a great opportunity to do something really cool and unique and different that sets Penn apart," many students still hoped for a more mainstream act.
College freshman Rachel Aresty, a member of the online group, said she has never heard of Sonic Youth, a group which opened for artist George Clinton at the 1995 Spring Fling concert.
"This is our first year at Penn; I feel like it's all hyped up," Aresty said. "Cornell has Snoop Dogg -- why can't we get someone good like that?"
Kurland said that many bands are not available because the concert date is fixed. For example, Ryan Adams and The Shins both agreed to play at Penn but could not make it on April 15.
In addition, Penn's location in a city such as Philadelphia is a disadvantage because most bands would rather play at locations such as the Wachovia Center or the Electric Factory instead of an outdoor college facility.
Magnes said he will be going to a different concert downtown on April 15 instead of seeing Sonic Youth, but that he will still enjoy Spring Fling.
"Even though the concert [choice] didn't fulfill my expectations, it's not going to ruin my weekend," he said.
