You Go, Girls!
The Dixie Chicks swept the Grammy Awards last night, winning top honors for best record, best song, and album of the year. This after they were shut out at the Country Music Association awards. I say good for them and good for the Grammy voters.
The country music establishment was happy to embrace the Chicks when they were singing (mostly) tongue-in-cheek ditties about white trash weddings and killing abusive men, but once they spoke out against Bush and his war policies, they were ostracized and even threatened by supposedly “patriotic” Americans. They hit back last year with Taking the Long Way, particularly the kick-ass single “Not Ready To Make Nice”, and the Grammy voters rewarded them with wins in all five categories in which they were nominated (they also won country album of the year and best country performance by a duo or group with vocal).
But these awards don’t just reflect support for their political opinions; they recognize what the country music bigwigs knew before they stuck their heads in the sand — these women are extremely talented, highly skilled musicians who have worked hard for their success. Hey, CMA, it’s your loss.
(Oh, btw, I don’t like Toby Keith’s macho, uber-”patriotic” music, but I’ve never felt moved to send him a death threat. I just don’t listen to him. What a concept.)
In case you haven’t had the pleasure, here’s the video of “Not Ready To Make Nice”:
February 12th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Not a fan, but I am glad they won.
Speaking of Toby Keith, did you see that he’s now claiming he never really supported the war? The guy isn’t just an asshole, he’s also a spineless coward.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Uh huh. Sure, Toby.
February 12th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Very happy the Dixie Chicks won! The Nashville Church of Country Music didn’t have the balls to award them for an incredible album, but the real music industry did!
February 12th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I don’t like country but I bought the CD to support them last year. It’s got a good beat and it’s easy to dance to.
February 13th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Why are the Grammy voters giving people awards based on political opinion? Surely these awards aren’t based on the popularity of the songs or even their sales, which one would assume would be correlated to popularity.
Call the Grammy’s what they are, a bunch of snooty hollywood liberals that want to spend $100,000 on a dress and then claim we aren’t doing enough to feed the homeless. Then they vote for their buddies so they can get more money and more press by patting each other on the back with meaningless awards.
Come on, I mean seriously, the majority of these people are so out of touch with reality, why would we even give a shit what their warped opinion is on anything. I need to go watch the South Park guys make fun of the celebs in the movie Team America again to blow off some steam.
I am sick of all these stupid cheesy award shows, Oscars, Grammy’s, CMA, Emmy’s etc. They all want to spout their political opinions and say they support the troops and don’t support the war, or some support the troops and do support the war, either way they are all more interested in walking the red carpet and writing their thank you speech. How many times did the best movie, song, tv show, etc actually win? These things all are rigged and really suck. That was my opinion before the Dixie Chicks won and that only reinforced it. Calling them heroes is absolutely ridiculous. And don’t tell me they risked their financial well-being on this, I am willing to bet they would be alright either way.
I only really have respect for a few of the celebs that actually put their money where their mouth is, I may not agree with them all but at least they do a little more than the average celeb. Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughan, Mark Wills, Gary Sinese, football cheerleaders, are a few of the guys that really went out of their way to visit the troops. Even Al Franken took some interesting trips. All of these guys went on convoys or helicopters to remote locations to visit troops. Sure I appreciate the ones that visit, but there is a big difference between stopping in BIAP and flying in a helicopter to sinjar mountian to visit a small group of soldiers on a outpost.
The only thing coming clear these days is that the liberal left is now truly invested in ensuring failure in Iraq. Stick your head in the sand if you want but that is the fact of the matter. The nightmare Nancy Pelosi and other high ranking democrats have each night involves success in Iraq before the 2008 elections. Then again they can sleep soundly each night because no matter what happens the media is going to spin it as a failure.
February 13th, 2007 at 8:04 am
BL,
I have hesitated to take you on on this topic becasue I defer to your service to our country. But your talk about the Pelosi nightmare is just BS.
I have liked the Dixie Chicks for years and still do. What Hollywood thinks is no big deal. The album is excellent (not necessarily their best and their music is certainly not of the genre that normally wins album of the year). So you may have a point, but so what?
Talking about the nightmare, that matters. We are in the middle of a civil war between religious zealots and othes undesirables who hate each other. The only thing that unites them is their hatred for us. And we believe putting our kids over there to be targets for both sides or to get in the way as they shoot each other is going to lead to “success” of some kind.
I have hesitated to respond to you on this becasue I appreciate your service (and usually your willingness to listen to logic when you don’t agree). But you are the one who needs to get your head out of the sand. This is not a winnable situation in a military sense. We won the traditional military victory within a month. But we continue to lose the peace as a military occupier every day. And in a political sense, it is an unmitigated disaster.
February 13th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Um, BL, the Dixie Chicks are really good musicians who’ve spent a lot of years honing their craft and working hard to make it in the music business. You may not like their politics, and you may not like their style, but if you know anything about music at all you have to acknowledge that. Sure, there was some politics involved, just as there was when the CMA shunned them, but the Grammy voters also rewarded serious talent.
They were willing to express what was at the time a very unpopular opinion and stick to it, even though their music was pretty much banned from the only venues where it was played and their concert ticket sales plummeted. That was their livelihood. Not to mention the charming death threats they received. Real talent won out, and they’re doing better now, but they didn’t know it would happen. If you don’t like them, fine, but I admire them.
And, although I realize this is a popular Republican talking point, I don’t know a single person who wants failure in Iraq. Most of us, left, moderate, and even right, recognize that the failure has already occurred. We got rid of Saddam (good), but we opened Pandora’s box (very bad). I keep hearing Bush say we have to succeed, but I don’t hear him define what that means. What it looks like from where I’m standing is “we have to keep the war going till I leave office so history won’t blame me for the debacle”.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Bill-
Please by all means debate, I don’t my service as a shield for criticism, I just think it helps bring an another view point to the table which is always good. Don’t worry you won’t offend me. As for my Pelosi comments, I think they are right on. She and the Democrat leaders have hedged their bets long enough and now that they see the way political winds are blowing they placed their bets on failure and jumped off the fence. How else could you explain their opposition to the troop surge after they argued against stay the course and even advocated more troops before Bush announced it? Which by the way, the surge and change in tactics has been very effective. I agree the situation is messy over there, but stop listening to the media that all of the Iraqi’s hate us. That is the real BS here. One of the biggest things the media is missing is the sacrifices made by Iraqi’s trying to make their country free from violence. One of the most heartbreaking moments I experienced was after I returned and was told one of our Iraqi interpreters was captured and beheaded for standing up against the insurgents. Many more Iraqi’s are standing with us rather than against us. Sure enough they want us to leave as soon as possible, but the realize we are necessary until they can do it on their own. The buzz and politics with failure are ruling the day and ignoring the forward progress that has been made. Finally, your argument that this is unwinnable is also ridiculous. Winning isn’t the question, the question is whether or not we have the strength of character to committ to winning. Thinking our country can’t win anything is crazy. Remember South Vietnam was still holding out the north after we pulled out the troops, only after the democrats cut funding did Saigon fall. If we show the strength to suceed, I am beginning to believe Osama Bin Laden that Americans would rather bury their heads in the sand than stand and fight.
Kathy- Hey, I don’t mind the Dixie Chick music either, but other than the Stevie Nicks cover they did, the record was mediocre at best. Definitely not deserving of 5 Grammy’s. If I was a singer (thank God I am not, I can’t carry a tune in a suitcase), I would be offended that political views won over talent and good works. I also don’t care if CMA shunned them. I don’t care about any of these award shows. Show me an award show for a doctor working on the cure for cancer or heart disease, now those guys are heroes not the Dixie Chicks, I would tune in for that. As soon as I see the red carpet crap I turn the channel or leave the room (my wife likes to look at the dresses). Throwing around the word hero to a singer that says Bush sucks and FUTK is hardly worthy praise. As for the “we have to keep the war going till I leave office so history won’t blame me for the debacle”, don’t worry, the media will take care of that. We don’t blame Kennedy and Johnson for Vietnam, the liberal media ensured it would be called “Nixon’s war”, even though he was the one that actually pulled out troops.
February 13th, 2007 at 10:48 am
“Nixon’s war”? Who calls it that? Nixon had some major issues, but I don’t recall anyone blaming him for Vietnam. Could you possibly be thinking of someone who’s mad that he didn’t stay there and “win”, whatever that would have meant?
February 13th, 2007 at 11:00 am
John Kerry called it Nixon’s War. Not to mention the Vietnam specials and news reports that like to spin history. You’re right I am sure Kerry was really steamed that Nixon didn’t stay in Vietnam longer so he could throw some more medals at the White House and make more exaggerated claims about his atrocities.
February 13th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
BL says: “Which by the way, the surge and change in tactics has been very effective.”
Runaway winner for Best Use of BS in a Supporting Role.
Maybe I don’t understand the word “effective.”
February 13th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
So Roy, what is your evidence to the contrary? Let me guess, the fine reporting by CBS anchor Katie Couric. Or maybe it was one of those Dan Rather Reports shows, his senility barely manages to affect his judgement. I stand corrected the media has done a completely honest and fair job reporting events in Iraq.
February 13th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
My parents, when the whole thing came about, they were throwing a fit because they weren’t “supporting the president.” I asked them why they weren’t entitled to free speech and they said, “because they are celebrities, they should just keep quite and not try to use their stardom for politics.”
Hmmmm, MOST celebrities do this, and they never had a problem with it before!!!!
I’m glad to see that they kicked ass at the Grammy’s. They are a rocking group and I’m not a huge fan of country!!!