Kudos to the Dixie Chicks for cleaning up at the Grammy's last night.
From the NY Times:
... To some, the voting served not only as a referendum on President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, but also on what was perceived as country music’s rejection — and radio’s censorship — of the trio.
... the academy represents “the artist community, which was very angry at what radio did, because it was not very American.”
At the awards on Sunday, the band — Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison — swept all five of the Grammy categories in which it was nominated, including the top three — album, record and song of the year — the first time all three have been swept in 14 years.
The awards amounted to vindication for the Dixie Chicks, who found their career sidetracked in 2003 after the singer Ms. Maines told a London concert audience shortly before the invasion of Iraq that the band was “ashamed” that the president hailed from their home state, Texas. In the furor that followed, country radio programmers pulled the multiplatinum-selling trio’s music from the airwaves and rallied listeners to destroy their CDs.
The storm flared anew last year when the Dixie Chicks released the album “Taking the Long Way,” which included the single “Not Ready to Make Nice,” a defiant and bitter response to the group’s treatment. And things got worse when band members said in interviews that they were not interested in being part of the commercial country music business; Ms. Maguire, who plays the fiddle, said the group would rather have fans “who get it” instead of “people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith.” Country stations once again all but ignored the Dixie Chicks’ music.
The sweep reflected something of a retort to the Country Music Association’s annual awards, held in November, when the Dixie Chicks were shut out.
In an oddly fitting tribute to their moxie and to the the feelings of a large percentage of the country, one of our local heavy rock radio DJ's here in Phoenix said on the air how much he admired the Dixie Chicks and was glad they had won. In the world of entertainment and sports, where people will say something one day, and then recant the next day or where everything is filtered through publicists and corporate boards -- the Dixie Chicks stood up for what they believed in and never backed down even when a huge shitstorm threatened to bury them forever. In the typically homogenized and jingoistic world of Nashville and country music, that is saying something. Their music may sound country, but their attitude is pure rock-n-roll.
How apropos that Joan Baez introduced their performance last night. She knows just a little bit about politics and catching hell.
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Also, the Police ruled!!
And something that I never thought would happen, they are actually going to tour:
They are hitting both Phoenix and Vegas, so I'm going to try and get tickets for both shows. Money is no object. I'd do anything to catch these shows.
2 comments:
First, I am really glad the Chicks won. but Ithink it is sad that so much is being said about the politics of it, because, it was a really great album, and deserving on it's own merits.
Yahoo had a list of reunion tours coming up this year, and it sounds like a great concert summer coming up! Including:
The Police
Van Halen (with David Lee
Roth)
Genesis (possibly with Peter Gabriel doing some of the tour)
The Stooges (Iggy Pop back in the spotlight!)
Rage Against The Machine
Smashing Pumpkins
I'd gladly go to all those shows, but availability of tickets and my ability to pay for them may be a problem.
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