Quote:
Originally posted by sherbertlemons
Do you think that if they were male, their audience would be more likely to let them get away with it
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Garth Brooks has made some pretty outlandish political statments in his time and audiences loved him until the day he retired.
As for the banning of Dixie Chicks songs, that's a business decision, plain and simple. After working for a corporate owned country radio station, I can say that they're not trying to make a statement by banning them, they're trying to position themselves to the listeners as "their" station. If the fans are pissed at the Dixie Chicks, then the station is pissed at the Dixie Chicks and you can be damn sure they're going to remind the audience of it, to keep positioning them in the listener's mind as the station that agrees with their views to keep their Arbitron ratings up.
The country music audience is a very patriotic audience. That's why artists like Charlie Daniels can send out his open letter to the Hollywood liberals and feel safeguarded. That's why the country charts are filled with "The Angry American," "Riding with Private Malone," "Hey, Mr. President," "Have You Forgotten," and "Iraq and I Roll" (I swear to God I didn't make that title up.) Some songs are alright, some aren't. ("They tell me not to worry about Bin Laden/Have you forgotten"). But the country audience really likes this stuff.
And the Dixie Chicks knew this and they were cashing in on it. "Traveling Soldier" was at #2 on the country charts when Natalie Maines stuck her foot in her mouth. And now here's the backlash. If I were the Dixie Chicks, which I far from am, the best thing to do is just lie low and let it blow over. Someone else is going to do something stupid sometime soon and the public will forget about this. But newstories about them being threatened, a one hour interview on ABC and the cover of Entertainment Weekly are only keeping the situation fresh in America's mind. Some people thrive off of drama. I get the feeling the Dixie Chicks are three of those people.
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