18 Jul
Natalie Maines Criticizes President Bush
Country music is known for its political conservatism and unquestioning patriotism; so what happens when a country star criticizes the President of the United States a couple of weeks before he orders an invasion of Iraq? Natalie Maines and her two partners in the Dixie Chicks are the best-selling female country act of all time, but after Maines said she was ashamed that the President was from Texas, her home state, there was an outcry against the Chicks and many stations wouldn’t play them. A weak apology from Maines only served to anger her supporters. But the band has hung in there, with songs like “Not Ready to Make Nice”– they’ve won Grammys, topped the charts, and won international acclaim.
How could this top the opening of the most important club in music history — the Hacienda!!! This club, owned in part by New Order spawned a global dance scene and was the genesis for all great music clubs to follow….
July 19th, 2007 at 7:40 pmThis description of the Dixie Chicks’ criticism of President Bush does not include the full context of Natalie Mains comments, and is insulting to those people that enjoy country music. Her comments were made overseas to a British audience, rather than in the US, which is one of the reasons why people took offense. It used to be that public people didn’t go overseas to criticize the US; Jimmy Carter has been rightfully criticized for doing the same thing. Secondly, few people who enjoy country music would agree that it has “unquestioning patriotism.” Country music has done a much better job at exploring the complexities of the war and its impact on the soldiers and their families than pop music has. I think that the author of the brief has not listened to much recent country music, and that the editorializing was unnecessary.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:30 pm