I don’t really like country, but now and again, there are songs that I think are ‘catchy’. The Dixie Chicks released that song “Wide Open Spaces” a few years ago, and though it had pretty harmonies and a ‘good beat’, I didn’t buy it. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to find more than 2 songs on the whole CD that I liked.
When the whole controversy rolled out (Dixie Chicks ashamed to be from the same state as Bush), I was amazed. Now, their fans are entitled to stop buying their product if they don’t agree with the group’s beliefs. Their prerogative. But their peers in the country music industry? Jocks across the country refusing to play their music? I was trying to draw a parallel in typically leftist Hollywood…to find some performer whose right-wing beliefs left s/he shunned by peers and other members of the industry, preventing him/her from working and distributing his/her work. Only I couldn’t find a parallel. One could argue that films and other projects that move too far to the left or right of Hollywood don’t get made, and I’m sure that’s true, but we’re talking about peers blacklisting a high-profile fellow peer strictly because of a statement expressing a political leaning. When the Dixie Chicks won “Album of the Year” at the Grammys, I felt vindicated. Not just for the Dixie Chicks, but for anyone and everyone who had the nerve to express an unpopular opinion at any given point in time of this crappy state our country has fallen into. Shit, I’m ashamed to be from the same country as Bush…what’s the crime in saying that? So what if I say it in Belgium or Nepal or Cleveland?! Love the song. I’m gonna go buy their CD. Glad that they didn’t make nice after all.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Dixie Chicks - Grammy performance - Not Ready To Make Nice
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6 comments:
I am going to go out and buy their new album just BECAUSE of their statements.
My sentiments exactly!
I agree with everything you said...but what do you expect in a business that actually made Toby Keith a star? I'd like to put a boot up HIS ass.
Historically, there have been artists in the country music genre who have pushed the limits, and opened the music up to topics such as alcholism and domestic abuse, even at a time when these things weren't commonplace in the industry. Political commentary? Not a genre so well known for that. When did being a country music artist/fan become synonymous w/ towing the nationalistic line? Toby Keith is that boot up your ass guy? Cripes. Ranks right up there w/ the guy who sang "Proud to be an American".
That would be Lee Greenwood. I used to love him for a song he sang called I.O.U. But after 9/11 they played Proud to be an American so much I was barfing. BTW, Toby also sings one called American Soldier. He's gotten real political. I dont think we'll see him on any Mid-East tours anytime soon! I used to love country music and still cherish a lot of the oldies, but some of it is just too Fox News for my taste.
I was thrilled that they won all those Grammys!!
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