Somewhere in the text of my Grammys post I stated the fact that the Dixie Chicks won several awards and expressed the opinion that this occurrence may have angered Toby Keith fans.
Well, I don't know if my right wing pal Flounder is a Toby Keith fan, but he sure was angry that the Dixie Chicks took home some hardware.
It doesn't bother me that Flounder expresses his opinion, but I still would like to address his comments, which are as follows:
"Rascal Flats is the band that should have won all the awards that the Dixie Whores won.
"I guess if you open your pie hole and spew some rhetoric with which the liberal recording arts academy agrees, they just hand you over a bunch of awards.
"BTW - The Dixie Chicks haven't recorded a real country album in about 4 years."
Okay, I just don't get it. I don't get the animosity, after all of these years, toward these three women. The lead singer made a very tame anti-Bush comment and people tried (and had some success) to destroy their careers. Flounder, the Dixie Chicks aren't whores because of their political beliefs. However, Ann Coulter is a cunt because of hers. Sorry; my blog, my rules.
Seriously, can someone - anyone, it doesn't have to be Flounder - tell me why what Natalie Maines said is still such a big deal? She never said one negative word about American soldiers; she just said she didn't like the President. SHE SAID IT, SHE DIDN'T SING IT. Unlike Toby Keith, who shamelessly used American deaths to line his pockets, the Dixie Chicks didn't write a song about their dislike of George W.
And if the Dixie Chicks won their awards because of their "liberal rhetoric" why did Milli Vanilli win a Grammy? Or Hanson? Did the recording arts academy like their politics, too? The Grammys are a JOKE, but they're pretty much a non-partisan joke.
It should be noted that I'm not really a Dixie Chicks fan. I don't own any of their CDs, but they harmonize well and make non-horrible country pop. Good for them.
As for their new record not being "country", well who could blame them? Country radio tried to ruin their lives. They wouldn't play their songs, they wouldn't accept paid commercials for Dixie Chicks concerts in the South, and in some cases they urged their listeners to boycott the group altogether. I can't believe the Dixie Chicks aren't embracing the country music establishment after that stellar treatment!
That's my two cents on the subject. Please folks, no personal attacks on other bloggers. We can disagree without name-calling.
21 Comments:
Some comments.
I'm not actually a huge Dixie Chicks fan-- they're actually not country enough for me-- yes, I'm an old punk rocker, but I loves me some Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Dolly Parton, Freddy Fender, and a bunch of others. I'll agree with some people on the point that the Dixie Chicks weren't country purists. But let he who is without sin, cast the first stone. Most country music is middle of the road crap. So is most R & B, Rock, Bluegrass, Punk, Folk, Salsa, etc.-- all genres I find something to love about. Artists come to a point where they make the choice to stay "pure" or to pay their bills, and maybe send their kids to college.
But I do love the Dixie Chicks' message. The fact of the matter is that they were right. This war has been a disaster on just about every level. My college roommate, who is 43, got called up from the reserves for this war. He served without flinching, ending a long-term relationship and worrying friends and family in order to do it. He watched one of the best non-com's, he's ever worked with, one of his seargents, die in an ambush, and to what end? Did it bring democracy to Iraq? Did it feed a hungry kid here in the United States, or anywhere else? Did it do one iota of good?
No, what it did was, in the case of his sergeant getting killed was 1. Kill a guy who was a very good cop as a civilian, and 2. Kill a guy who was a role model for hispanic males here in the U.S.
It also made millions for Halliburton. Hundreds of millions.
What it has not done is made this world safer.
Fact: There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction. The CIA reported it. The UN reported it. The DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) reported it. Yet, this administration fudged data, twisted arms when people wouldn't provide the "facts" to go along with a headlong rush into a war with a country that had done nothing to us!
Fact: The war has not, as some of he people who pushed for it wanted, created a stable democracy in the Mideast. It has, in fact, created a big cesspool of unbelievable instability and violence.
To make matters worse, it appears that the war will end up making Iraq a "failed state," and, ironically, a haven for the kind of lunatics that perpetrated the 9/11 attacks.
So I guess the lesson is that when there is dissent, a few things:
1. Dissenting is not "unpatriotic." It's a key ingredient to a vital democracy. It's why those wise guys a couple of hundred years ago put free speech in the very first amendment to that magnificent document, the U.S. Constitution. It's not a speed-bump to our great nation-- it's what makes us different, and makes our country worth fighting for. I guess they thought dissent might be an important part of democracy.
2. "Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels."- Mark Twain.
I suspect that the Dixie Chicks' biggest crime, in the eyes of some people, was being women and having an opinion.
Whoa.. let's leave Hanson out of this. Those chicks are hot.
i don't know what the problem is either. more power to her. isn't that what this country is about? voicing your opionions? you can either like it or not, but it's everyone's right.
right? wrong? who the fuck cares?? they are people who stated their opinions. it has nothing to do with their music. if you like 'em, fine...listen to 'em.
as far as calling them whores...any time a man doesn't like a woman, that's what he calls her. i personally don't find it an insult...heh.
NO NAME CALLING?????
what the hell is this? a hippie love in?
I don't know why it was a big deal that she said she was embarrassed to be from Texas because that's where Bush is from. I'm from America and I'm embarrassed because that's where Bush is from.
Happy Valentine's Day!
But I like personal attacks on other Bloggers!!!!! As a matter of fact I think I shall attack that one cunt that I hate so much that hasn't even commented here in a while... :) OK fine, I will play nice.
Love ya Todd.
I don't have an opinion on the Chicks other than that Natalie one looks odd... even when she is super skinny she still manages to look fat. I'm not sayin' I wouldn't do her...
The thing that makes me crazy about the Dixie Chicks is their defiance. They invite animosity.
Rather than making a pseudo-apology like, Well, I really don't agree with the President's policy on Iraq, but maybe I shouldn't have made them in such a chickenshit manor thousands of miles away from America, they show up on the cover of magazines naked and heavily airbrushed and start playing the victim role.
Then the next song they release is called Not Ready to Make Nice? Guess what Natalie, neither are we. That's why you had to cancel most of your tour due to poor ticket sales. Maybe you can put those Grammys on e-Bay and make some cash to make up for it.
I genuinely love Natalie's voice and think that it is the perfect country female voice, but I won't buy their albums on principal. I'll stick with Gretchen Wilson.
Oh, and the Grammys are retarded and Ann Coulter is one sexy bitch.
I'm going to order a Dixie Chicks CD right now, just to counteract Flounder's defiance. So there. I'm not ready to make nice either!
Except with Flounder. He pisses me off but I heart him so.
I think they made their comments before the rest of the US and the rest of the world for that matter, were ready to believe what a cockhead Bush is.
If they said it again now, nobody would give a fuck.
And I too and am going to buy a few of their CD's just to piss flounder off. :P
I agree that the Grammy's suck-- they always have. Dylan won his first Grammy for "Slow Train Coming," a very lame album. He was completely ignored in his prime. They're like the Academy Awards, a big industry circle-jerk.
Speaking of airbrushing, I was inclined to think, despite disagreeing with her views, that Ms. Coulter sexy was as well-- I'd only seen photos of her previously-- until I saw her on Letterman-- she was scary looking. Daisy Fuentes is a much sexier conservative.
And I guess I find defiance attractive in women. I must. I keep marrying defiant women.
Flounder, how about you appear naked on a magazine cover, as "airbrushed" as you like, before you start making snarky comments about someone else being heavily "airbrushed." Just a thought...
I've never understood the hatred for the Dixie Chicks - other than that the right felt betrayed by them because country music is supposed to be "their" music. If your CDs are filed under "Country," you're supposed to sing the kind of jingoistic idiocy that Toby Keith does.
But then again, I've never understood how anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size ever thought invading Iraq was a good idea to begin with.
Hulkster, I'm a fat guy and I know enough to NOT appear naked on a magazine cover.
Besides, I have never felt the need to portray myself as a victim like they have done since they made the comments.
The Chicks' win was the industry's way of flipping the bird to Clear Channel and all the others that censored the Chicks. And it was censorship. And any artist should be appalled at censorship. What happened to the Chicks was no different than a book burning. Personally, I don't care about the personal beliefs of musical (or other) artists unless their art is related to those beliefs. Just because I pay for tickets doesn't mean I care what they think. I don't have to like the person or their politics to love their music (i.e. Frank Sinatra). So it was in that sense superfluous at best for Maines to say what she did. But it would have best been ignored. I say this as someone who also agrees with what she said.
Please don't tell other bloggers not to personally attack me or I'll never get ANY kind of response on my gay-ass blog. And just a quick note to April, calling a woman a whore definitely does not mean you don't like her. The last time I called a woman a dirty little whore she let me do things to her that are illegal in 28 states.
LMAO!
Now I can't decide which Nick I like better.
;)
I missed the whole hulabaloo in the last post, but after this post, I think you have a platform for running for President.
I couldn't agree more with everything you've said.
I get tired of people saying stupid shit in response to celebrities voicing their opinions. I bet I heard "Shut up and sing!" about 500 times in the months after the Dixie Chicks chick said that about Bush. Being famous doesn't mean you relinquish your right to say whatever the hell you want. At the same time, I have no problem with people refusing to buy their records for any idiotic reason they choose. Same with the radio stations. Play whomever you like and say 'Fuck you!' to the others. Big deal. It's all part of being American, right?
Quel controversy!
I heart you, Todd.
That is all.
I prefer the name-calling to the folks who post such long fucking comments on other peoples' blogs that they should really be posts on their own blogs.
It's a comment people, not a gotdamn dissertation forum on every aspect of the original post!
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