Dixie Chicks could bring political edge to Grammys
Sun Feb 11, 2007(I'm not posting their whole article, just the first page)
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Grammys could take a rare step into the political arena on Sunday if the Dixie Chicks win the coveted album-of-the-year award, as observers of the music industry's biggest honors are predicting.
The Texas country trio is reveling in its new outsider status after picking a fight with President George W. Bush in 2003, and watching its popularity plummet as the Republican-leaning country music establishment snubbed the chart-topping group.
The Chicks' first album since the brouhaha, "Taking the Long Way," yielded five Grammy nominations, including three for the wry single "Not Ready to Make Nice." The acclaimed album was the ninth-biggest seller in the United States last year, even if its commercial success fell short of its predecessors.
Grammy voters love underdogs and comeback stories, which could help the Dixie Chicks add to their collection of eight Grammys. But politically charged music arising from such turbulent times as Vietnam and Watergate has traditionally been ignored at awards time.
Indeed, for a liberal-leaning recording industry full of rebels and other creative misfits, there has been little acknowledgment in recent years that an unpopular conservative president is embroiled in a war that has cost the lives of more than 3,120 U.S. military personnel and over 50,000 Iraqis.
"I think people are paranoid," former Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart told Reuters. "I think that if they speak out, they think they're gonna get whacked by the government. It's pretty oppressive now. Look at the Dixie Chicks. They got whacked."
Here is the whole reason I posted this article. This shows what a lifetime of illicit drug use will do to your mind. This Grateful Dead idiot(and I love thier music by the way) actually thinks the government did something to the Dixie Chicks!?!?!? Mr. Hart, the government did absolutely nothing to the Dixie Chicks. THEIR FANS DID!!!!!!! They quit buying their albums and going to their concerts moron!!! That is all. Do they or any other musician types think there are no repurcussions for political statements they make (From their fan bases)? This type of faulty logic is why I can't (and no one should be for that matter) liberal. The bottom line with Natalie Maines is that she was stupid enough to shit where she eats. Now she and her bandmates have to live with the mess she created.
Not exactly "whacked" Mafia-style. Chicks' Singer Natalie Maines ignited the controversy when she said during a London concert that she was ashamed to hail from the same state as Bush. Continued...
