Sunday, Mar. 16, 2003
Where are our political musicians?, posted at 2:56 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com That's great. The Dixie Chicks lead singer just apologized to President Bush for her comments on the war during a concert in England.I don't know how I feel about the war, but I know that I want there to be discussion about it. 76 percent of Dixie Chicks fans say they wish they could return their CDs to stores after the comments were made. More than a hundred country stations have pulled all Dixie Chicks songs off their playlist, and others have called for a boycott. This is the sort of ridiculous conservatism that threatens any sort of open conversation about the war.
One thing that was frustrating about the Grammies and the state of music in general is their lack of guts to say anything about the war. Sheryl Crow wore a "No War" guitar strap and Fred Durst made a pretty unintelligible comment, and that's it. It was sad. Regardless of how you feel about the war, I would hope you would welcome the discussion that celebrities can bring up or songs like "Fixing to Die Rag" and "Fortunate Son" can bring. Unfortunately, popular musicians aren't doing anything to add to the discussion, and political musicians (Ani DiFranco, Ben Harper, Tracy Chapman, Pearl Jam) either have not made comments - musical or otherwise - on the war, or their comments have been hidden.
It's great to hear that the Dixie Chicks said something, but disappointing that pressure from their record company and close-minded fans forced their apology. The Dixie Chicks, despite their name, actually are high-quality musicians who have written some intelligent and occasionally political music, and, while they're not the type who should be counted on to lead a political movement in music, at least they're saying something.