XPost: alt.music.country, rec.music.country, rec.sport.football.college   
   From: Ike@SHAEF.NET   
      
   Bryan S. Slick wrote:   
   > Yeah, I mean it.   
   >   
   > The song "Travelin' Soldier" just came on the radio station I'm   
   > listening to, and it got me to thinking on this tangent.   
   >   
   > It seems to me that a great many artists take advantage of the jingoism   
   > rampant in this nation to make a quick dime.  Whether they agree with   
   > the sentiments in their music or not is fairly irrelevant in this   
   > context.  World events beget wars beget patriotic fervor begets..   
   > profit.  On some level, this is fairly repugnant.   
   >   
   > Naturally, the argument can be made that most artist are simply   
   > expressing themselves on the issues of the day, and if they make money   
   > off of that whether the issue of the day involves American soldiers in   
   > combat or not, they're simply doing what they do and they have every   
   > right to make a living doing so.  I have no quibble with said argument.   
   >   
   > In the case of the Dixie Chicks, however, we have an interesting example   
   > of artists that could have exploited world events to their own gain, and   
   > yet did the exact opposite.  When "Travelin' Soldier" debuted on the   
   > radio, an outpouring of love and attention for the Dixie Chicks came   
   > down the Billboard charts as an avalanche down a Swiss Alp.  The song is   
   > a poignant description of a snippet of the life of a young American   
   > soldier sent off to fight in Viet Nam, and his interaction with a young   
   > girl in her senior year of high school.  Throughout the song, letters   
   > are exchanged, and Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines busts out   
   > doleful and dulcet tones, pouring emotion into the lyrics.  As the song   
   > reaches its conclusion, the "Travelin' Soldier" is killed, and the focus   
   > of the song switches to the impact of his death on the young girl to   
   > which he was writing.  The song ends shortly thereafter.   
   >   
   > Shortly after the release of 'Travelin' Soldier', as mentioned   
   > previously, the Dixie Chicks were riding high, and seemed to be on the   
   > rebound after a brief drop in popularity after the impossibly high   
   > crescendo reached after the release of their debut, "Wide Open Spaces".   
   >   
   > And then one concert in Europe changed everything.  While political   
   > fervor aimed in the main at President George W. Bush raged in the United   
   > States, Chicks' member Maines addressed the crowd.  In remarks that were   
   > replayed ad infinitum on American talk radio and country stations, she   
   > told the crowd not to worry, that the Chicks were embarassed to be from   
   > the same state as the American President.   
   >   
   > The backlash back at home was immediate and severe.  The Dixie Chicks   
   > and their music were cast down into the pit of No Play/No Mention.   
   > Requests for their music were rebuffed by DJs.  CD-burning parties were   
   > held, and sales of the Dixie Chicks' music dropped to near-zero.   
   >   
   > While it can be said without question that Maines' comment was rather   
   > ridiculous, particularly in the context of a concert (people come to   
   > concerts to hear music, not the political views of the artists), on at   
   > least one level, to make the statement at all was courageous on the part   
   > of Maines.  The women of the Dixie Chicks are not stupid, and Maines had   
   > to be aware of the fact that her comments would be replayed back in the   
   > United States, and yet she took the opportunity to express her dissent,   
   > regardless of the consequences.  While stupendously foolish from a   
   > public relations standpoint, again, such a move was courageous from a   
   > personal standpoint.  If Maines truly felt that it was important for her   
   > to express her opinion on the American President, and was willing to   
   > assume the PR penalties back home, then bravo to her.  The right to   
   > express dissent with the ruling government is a fundamental right of all   
   > Americans, and there's no guarantee that the expression of same comes   
   > with the right to be considered popular.  Knowing this, Maines chose to   
   > exercise her rights.  Whether her message was pointless and foolish or   
   > not (in my opinion, it was).. the expression of same was uniquely   
   > American.   
   >   
   > This is assuming, of course, that she knew what she was doing and didn't   
   > care about the consequences.  If she simply didn't think it through,   
   > well then shame on her for not thinking before she spoke.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >   
      
      
   A good comparison may be Charles Lindbergh-   
      
   He was riding high before the Nazi sympathizer label was slapped on him   
   due to his statements and actions.   
      
   --   
      
     **********************   
   "Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real   
   sports. . . all others are children's games ."   
   --Ernest Hemingway   
      
     **********************   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)