Can you get more ridiculous than this? From John Rich of Big & Rich: http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071025/ENTERTAINMENT05/71025039/1023/NEWS This is the industry that basically lynch mobbed the Dixie Chicks for having a political opinion and went on and on about how they shouldn't use their celebrity status as a pulpit. Funny how it's suddenly OK as long as the criticism applies to the Democratic party. Hypocrites. It's the same principle... where's the lifetime ban this time? Good thing public radio stations are so objective.
Strange how you post that 'country musicians' are hypocrites and should be subject to ridicule while supporting the Dixie Chicks, who are.....country musicians.
Its a good thing a lot of open minded liberals who want to listen to good ol' down-home-same-guitar-twang-in-every-song-obnoxiously-overpronunced-southern-accent "She broke my heart, I broke her Jawwwwww" caterwauling are up in arms about this.
To clarify, I'm referring to the radio industry as hypocritical, not musicians. Personally, I'm fine with entertainers expressing their views, even if they're idiotic like these quotes. But if you're going to make such a big deal (as a lot of folks in radio did) about how music and politics shouldn't be linked, it's hypocritical if you only apply that logic toward one political bias.
Fair enough. To clarify, I just want to point out that not only does every other genre of music have it's idiots, but country musicians are and have been just as socially conscious as any others. However, you wouldn't be the first to criticize the country music 'establishment' or country radio. You might recognize this guy:
Country music fans are largely republicans. The response to the Dixie Chicks must be viewed in light of that fact. There isn't some conspiracy in the country music industry to destroy democrats, they just want to make money, so they cater to the people buying the records. The Dixie Chicks weren't so much wrong for making anti-Bush comments (though I'm not sure how I feel about denigrating the President of the United States to a foreign audience) as they were stupid, because they weren't catering to their audience. It would be like a Gospel singer talking about how much they hate Martin Luther King.
Agreed. It is all about knowing who your audience is - Natalie Maines had a massive brain fart when she opened her mouth.
But it went beyond that. It wasn't like people just stopped buying their records. They were blackballed by Clear Channel, if I remember correctly. That's different from just saying something that pisses off your audience and thus losing an audience because people are upset with you.
Well, the audience where they played ate it up. But I get what y'all are saying. She didn't remember that it would immediately be beamed to US Americans via their AM radios.
I would accept that, but radio needs to show the numbers to back that up. The last numbers I've seen of any kind of survey, nearly 70 percent of country radio fans said the Dixie Chicks should be returned to the airwaves. Likewise, when are they going to start polling for things such as this comment from John Rich? From what I've read, the numbers favor open expression... but the industry is choosing to ignore those numbers. They're also choosing not to research numbers when controversy involves conservative politics. Also, it's more than that. I've heard dozens of radio personalities say since then that they're not playing politics; the excuse is always that no matter what side of the fence you're on, that celebrity shouldn't be used as a pulpit. To be more precise, they don't want it to be used as a pulpit contrary to their own beliefs. I agree that Natalie offended a good chunk of her audience -- but it's not as simple as market demand. There are a whole lot of other factors at play, many of which make them very hypocritical.
either that or she didnt care. im sure they all sleep pretty well at night on their millions of dollars. anyway, all she said was that she was ashamed that the president pretends he is from texas. it was hardly the inflammatory statement that it was made out to be and at this point, i think most of the country is ashamed of our president as well. i dont get the school of thought that says you can only like artists whom you agree with. its like when ani difranco married a dude and much of her lesbian fan-base turned on her. did they like her for her music or because they thought she was into chicks too? i get where the thread starter was coming from, and i find his statements to be ignorant, but i really dont think the big and rich guy should or would be banned from country music radio - most of his target audience probably feels the same way. its not like he put himself out there against his fanbase. i guess im kind of surprised by the statements b/c those two seem pretty close. i mean, look at them...
Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen, the list goes on & on. Hell, the entire Texas country scene both in the 60's/70's through today was founded on being anti-Nashville. Nashville's also the place that said Willie Nelson couldn't make it as a performer.
I am proud that Big & Rich are not affiliated with Texas. (please tell me they do not come from Texas, except maybe Dallas)
How big are the closets in Nashville? This dude couldn't shout that he is gay any louder than if he blew Tom Cruise on stage at an Erasure concert. Think of all of the garbage that has come out of the Republican party over the last few years because their homosexuals and drug addicts hated themselves so much that they made bigotry part of their platform. I'm talking to you, Karl Rove!
that mustache screams RUMP ROASTER!!! (sorry - i recently watched philadelphia w/ tom hanks and denzel washington and ive been waiting to use the term "rump roaster" or "pillow biter" or "flippity-flop" somewhere ever since)
I was about to chime in with a pithy comment, as I am WONT to do, on their "alienating some fans" line given that these two hicks are probably not exactly tearing up the Chelsea club dance charts - then I saw the pictures of these guys looking like Village People stand-ins, and now am just plain amused - is this a joke?
