Weeks ago I watch the Grammy’s. Or at least, I tried to watch most of the Grammy’s as I was flipping between the awards ceremony and FOX’s animations. Ah…Family Guy.
So I didn’t get to see everything. And frankly, a lot didn’t strike me. It was so run of the mill, that I really only remember two things.
The Dixie Chicks and Justin Timberlake.
If that doesn’t bring me back to my teenage years, I’m not sure what would.
I heard the opening bars of “Not Ready to Make Nice” so many times throughout the show, between the quick clips as they announce the nominees and then again when they announced the Chicks as winners.
They swept the Grammy’s. And each award, the three women became more speechless, and tearier eyed. And the audience reveled in it.
The next day, I went to Yahoo! Music Videos and searched for this song. I heard the beginning so many times and I wanted to hear the rest of it. I enjoyed it. I’ve always enjoyed most of the Dixie Chick songs. The only one that was too backward-Country was “Goodbye Earl.” *Ahemwhitetrash.*
Of course now I hear they were shutout of the Country Music Awards. How does a band that sweeps every category they were nominated for in the Grammy’s—the most prestigious musical award—get snubbed at the CMA’s?
The radio dj’s said “Oh yeah, so the Grammy’s were completely political.”
I don’t think that’s the whole story though. I’m sure that a majority of the Grammy voters are more of the liberal persuasion than the Country ones. Not to mention that the majority of the country audience were the ones who revolted so strongly against the Dixie Chicks when they made the anti-Bush statements.
Because these were the people who elected him. They’ll follow him blindly because they “stick to their guns” and their idea of liberty is either “you’re with us or you’re against us.”
I know. I’m generalizing.
But if they can call me a hippy because I vote democrat and have generally liberal views, I can call them white trash and country hicks.
But more than that, I’m calling them wrong. That’s how I understand liberty. I can say that without fear of execution. We can disagree and if we’re big enough to put aside our differences, we can still be friends.
That’s all the Chicks were doing. They said Bush was wrong. And since “all Texans stick together” they were ashamed to be associated with the man. There’s nothing wrong with that.
But the country hicks freaked out and started the downward spiral of the Chicks’ career. Death threats? Come on.
If Johnny made a political statement that I absolutely disagreed with I’d like to think I would weigh how much I liked his music against how I felt about following and giving money to someone who’s ideals I can’t morally stand with.
I’d suck it up and say I connect to the music for a different reason. Or I throw away or sell all my cd’s and change the station when they came on.
I wouldn’t make death threats.
If someone I disliked, like Britany did it, it would fuel my fire a little. I would say, “See I always knew they were wrong.” I would throw words around like Satan and evil, but only in jest with friends. Much like I would say, this –20 weather is evil. But I don’t think I would leap to the extreme as the country audience leapt.
So in that respect, it’s political because the culture of country music is on the other end of the political spectrum that Chicks represent.
Don’t forget that how the Recording Academy votes is probably subjective. What qualifies it (artist, song, album) as best? The song? The lyrics? How it makes you feel? Most record sales? Most requests? Downloads? Impact in society? Impact of the career?
I thought “Iris” was the better song over your “My Heart Will Go On.” And it got more play after the first wave of Titanic’s momentum. It didn’t impact society as much as Heart and it probably wasn’t requested as much or sold as many copies. But it certainly propelled the Goo Goo Dolls forward more than Celine Dion and John Howard. They were already superstars. Now they had their name connected to the epic Titanic. Another notch on the belt.
So what does that mean? Notes and lyrics: the better song lost. But all the tangibles added up, Titanic’s song tipped the scales.
Now, I don’t listen to country music. So I don’t know if “Not Ready to Make Nice” tips the scales against its competitors. But when it was against the music I did know, I think it deserved to win.
The Country Music Academy and whoever weighs in on these awards made a bad decision if they shunned the Chicks because of the political biases. The Chicks transcend country music, like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. They have the ability to reach a public larger than the country spectrum. And crossover artists are only good for business.
They should be embraced, not because of their political ideologies. But because they dared to create an album beyond the Country Music Trinity: Cheatin’, Tractors and the love of God.
Like I said, I don’t listen to country music. So if they didn’t get nominations because the music, songs and lyrics simply weren’t as good as the others: You did your job.
But with the Grammy sweep, I’m so sure that’s the case.
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