Jeremiah's School of Levitation
Upsy-Daisy!
Monday, March 27, 2006
When Dixie Chicks Go Bad
Well, well, well. It looks like the Dixie Chicks are bringing back their own brand of shock-country and releasing a single, called "Not Ready To Make Nice," which is something of a retort to all the gasping and groaning coming out the back 40 when Natalie Maines spoke her mind a couple of years ago and said that she was ashamed to be from the same home state as George Bush. That comment met with a chaw-dropping response: they got banned from country radio stations a-cross the nation, and to this day, are still not being played in some spots, and not just in Moonshine County, but apparently in what I thought were world-aware cities, with running water and electricity, like St. Louis and Denver. Whew. They really hit a nerve.
I actually was a victim of the Dixie "Sex Pistols" Chicks backlash a couple of years ago. I was making talky talk with a young lady who sang country and I told her I liked the Dixie Chicks, and our already strained conversation became suddenly more like me trying to talk to a pan of hot, splattering grease. She scrunched up her face and told me, in the indignant tone of Zeus talking to worm shit, that the Dixie Chicks had best keep their politics to themselves. I, of course, flicked some meat in the pan and went on to say that, in addition to the fact they are a freaking amazing band, kind of a female version of the Eagles, I also like them because I once saw a photo of Maines wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt. I asked my country singer "buddy" if she had ever in her life seen a country singer wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt. She answered with a frowny face that looked more like a fist and she spat some kind of response that indicated to me that it was now time for me to go. I think I made the parting remark that I never thought that music was the ideal place to keep your politics to yourself. Quite the goddamned contrary.
But, anyway, it frightens me how close-minded that country community can be. I'm a little scared now that I walk among this shit and that I could be thinking I'm blending in by playing the Dixie Chicks and, suddenly, be chased out of town with pitchforks and torches. And, what's with radio bending to this? Why do country music DJs think they need to pander to close-minded thinking? I know why. Money, of course. Money always wins over being a responsible, open-minded human. If'n the public don't like it, then, don't mess with their money. Ban the best damn country band to come around this decade because they happen to think that the slaughter of your sons and daughters for no reason is a bad thing.
Fuck it. I'm putting on my Dixie Chicks t-shirt and taking a walk to the rodeo. I'll die for Natalie Maines! You go girl!
I actually was a victim of the Dixie "Sex Pistols" Chicks backlash a couple of years ago. I was making talky talk with a young lady who sang country and I told her I liked the Dixie Chicks, and our already strained conversation became suddenly more like me trying to talk to a pan of hot, splattering grease. She scrunched up her face and told me, in the indignant tone of Zeus talking to worm shit, that the Dixie Chicks had best keep their politics to themselves. I, of course, flicked some meat in the pan and went on to say that, in addition to the fact they are a freaking amazing band, kind of a female version of the Eagles, I also like them because I once saw a photo of Maines wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt. I asked my country singer "buddy" if she had ever in her life seen a country singer wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt. She answered with a frowny face that looked more like a fist and she spat some kind of response that indicated to me that it was now time for me to go. I think I made the parting remark that I never thought that music was the ideal place to keep your politics to yourself. Quite the goddamned contrary.
But, anyway, it frightens me how close-minded that country community can be. I'm a little scared now that I walk among this shit and that I could be thinking I'm blending in by playing the Dixie Chicks and, suddenly, be chased out of town with pitchforks and torches. And, what's with radio bending to this? Why do country music DJs think they need to pander to close-minded thinking? I know why. Money, of course. Money always wins over being a responsible, open-minded human. If'n the public don't like it, then, don't mess with their money. Ban the best damn country band to come around this decade because they happen to think that the slaughter of your sons and daughters for no reason is a bad thing.
Fuck it. I'm putting on my Dixie Chicks t-shirt and taking a walk to the rodeo. I'll die for Natalie Maines! You go girl!
Elliot, 10:54 AM
2 Back at me:
Dixie Chicks RAWK. They also sing on 'Asleep at the Wheel', and that Natalie...woodoggie!...can she belt one out!
Wear that DC shirt, man, wear it proud!
Wear that DC shirt, man, wear it proud!
I LOVE dixie chicks.
