When Natalie
Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks uttered that she was, “…ashamed that
the President of the United States is from Texas,” at a concert in England, she
sparked a national outrage through the U.S. This claim was in reference to the
recent terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq at the commencement
of the War in Iraq, of which the country group did not agree with. Although
they received a huge ovation at the show, back home there was a national outcry
of appall and hatred towards the performers and anything having to do with
them. Diehard fans threw away merchandise, country radio stations refused to
play any of their music and if they did, would lose fans themselves, even
non-country fans decided to take part in the argument all because someone had a
different opinion than the mass majority. In defense of the situation, the
remark was made only two years after the events of 9/11 and the country might
have still been very sensitive about any sort of negative comment or dissent
that went against the beliefs of the victims at hand.
This whole situation exemplifies just how connected the ideas of music and politics can be. Just because they had a different voicing, the Dixie Chicks were thought of the modern day Communists, of which are becoming terrorists; in other words, Natalie Maines, Emily Robinson, and Martie Maguire went from being America’s own sweethearts to America’s very own enemies. Fans and listeners, although wanting nothing to do with their music, wanted to pay attention to and watch and comment on every move they make – political or not. One such example is when Toby Keith had associated Natalie Maines with Osama bin Laden as if they had been working together and Natalie voiced that she was disapproving of any such coalition and disliked Toby Keith himself. She proceeded to sport a shirt with the initials F.U.T.K. at a following concert of which everyone took notice. The initials obviously represented a disdain for the opposing country singer and thus groups of people made their own shirts but with the letters F.U.D.C. instead.
Needless to say, when it comes to the war on terror or touchy subjects of the like, Americans tend to be fueled by a sense of overwhelming patriotism as opposed to open-minded thinking. With this, they also assume that any other American would act the same way. This is why the comment about former-president Bush was such an outrage. Music has always been a sort of connecting force for people and politics – it helps drive home ideas and thoughts that the government plans on dealing or in some cases not dealing with. One such case of the latter is when rapper Kanye West made a comment in 2005 during a Hurricane Katrina relief fund that George Bush did not care about black people. The time frame is just about the same as the Dixie Chicks, only 2 years apart but still a sensitive time for Americans. The response however was much different. The Dixie Chicks made their comment during a concert in England and notice was taken three to four days after the event. Kanye West made a negative comment about the president on national television during a fund to help victims of another travesty. The main difference is that Kanye was known to make outrageous remarks similar to the one he made so no one really thought it was anything too wild. Another primary difference is that of race and gender, him being a black male. Many thought he was just speaking for others because he was a minority figure and chose to speak out because he was a man. No one thought of it as being anything out of the ordinary. He was not viewed as being non-patriotic or anything of the sort.
This whole situation exemplifies just how connected the ideas of music and politics can be. Just because they had a different voicing, the Dixie Chicks were thought of the modern day Communists, of which are becoming terrorists; in other words, Natalie Maines, Emily Robinson, and Martie Maguire went from being America’s own sweethearts to America’s very own enemies. Fans and listeners, although wanting nothing to do with their music, wanted to pay attention to and watch and comment on every move they make – political or not. One such example is when Toby Keith had associated Natalie Maines with Osama bin Laden as if they had been working together and Natalie voiced that she was disapproving of any such coalition and disliked Toby Keith himself. She proceeded to sport a shirt with the initials F.U.T.K. at a following concert of which everyone took notice. The initials obviously represented a disdain for the opposing country singer and thus groups of people made their own shirts but with the letters F.U.D.C. instead.
Needless to say, when it comes to the war on terror or touchy subjects of the like, Americans tend to be fueled by a sense of overwhelming patriotism as opposed to open-minded thinking. With this, they also assume that any other American would act the same way. This is why the comment about former-president Bush was such an outrage. Music has always been a sort of connecting force for people and politics – it helps drive home ideas and thoughts that the government plans on dealing or in some cases not dealing with. One such case of the latter is when rapper Kanye West made a comment in 2005 during a Hurricane Katrina relief fund that George Bush did not care about black people. The time frame is just about the same as the Dixie Chicks, only 2 years apart but still a sensitive time for Americans. The response however was much different. The Dixie Chicks made their comment during a concert in England and notice was taken three to four days after the event. Kanye West made a negative comment about the president on national television during a fund to help victims of another travesty. The main difference is that Kanye was known to make outrageous remarks similar to the one he made so no one really thought it was anything too wild. Another primary difference is that of race and gender, him being a black male. Many thought he was just speaking for others because he was a minority figure and chose to speak out because he was a man. No one thought of it as being anything out of the ordinary. He was not viewed as being non-patriotic or anything of the sort.
Country music
was typically used as the foundation for modern patriotic music following the
events of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq due to very radical views of retaliation
and response so as soon as one country group decided to step outside of that
realm, chaos ensued. In the most recent election, country music was mostly used
by the candidates to show how they were “real Americans,” and if country music
was not used, numerous artists from varying genres of music were brought
together to perform certain songs of differing styles to signify that
unification of people from different realms, but whichever side you choose to
accent, the truth still stand that contemporary American politics has a very
tight connection with music. Music has always been able to establish an
emotional connection with most listeners and has the power and ability to
elaborate upon certain opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of presidential
candidates. It is an art form that is also a form of expression and in some
cases explanation. When the Dixie Chicks spoke out against the common opinion,
they were hated upon and lost millions of fans because they did not want to be
viewed as explaining and elaborating the views of the country during that time.
During a time of fighting a war on terror, these women were thought to be part
of the effort to increase the powers of the terrorists. It is obvious they had
no such degree of power as the common enemy; however they still were a part of
it primarily because they had remarked that their view was much different than
the majority of United States citizens.
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