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Tuesday, April 08, 2003
The Angry Country Music Fan I was bummed-out last night when I realized I had missed CMT’s Flameworthy Video Music Awards… (CMT desperately wants to be the country version of MTV, developing all kinds of lame rip-off versions of MTV shows and pushing actual music videos farther and farther into the background.) Correction… I was bummed until I caught the ‘wrap-up’ show. Not only did Toby Keith (who I can barely stand) co-host alongside Pamela Anderson(!?!), he also won three awards for his utterly disgusting song titled ‘Courtesy of The Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).’ The lyrics to the song include the lines: ‘And you'll be sorry that you messed with/The U S of A/'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass/It's the American way.’ Mmmmm. Nothing like glorifying the fact that the US is one of the most violent countries … After all, it’s just ‘the American way.’ BE PROUD OF IT, DAMNIT! This song literally turns my stomach… or maybe it’s more the response that it gets. I totally respect Toby Keith’s right to believe it and sing it, but when so many people jump, hoot, holler and cheer when they hear those lines, I cringe. And I’m not the only one. Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks has gone on record with her opinion. ‘Don't get me started,’ she told the Los Angeles Daily News about Keith's song. ‘I hate it. It's ignorant and it makes country music sound ignorant. It targets an entire culture--and not just the bad people who did bad things. You've got to have some tact. Anybody can write, 'We'll put a boot in your ass.’’ And to me, the inappropriateness of the song is even more stark when you contrast it with something like Alan Jackson’s beautiful tribute to the victims of 9/11 and reminder of the emotionally overwhelming experience we all shared, ‘Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).’ Although, it is interesting to think about how the success of Alan Jackson’s song right after 9/11 echoed all the outpouring of support and goodwill from the world. And, how the sentiment in Toby Keith’s song (anger, bravado, and retaliation) represents much of what has turned many in the international community against us… ‘the American Way’ | private feedback | |
Hey! I'm Shane... a proud gay progressive Democrat who has recently relocated to New York City from Ithaca, NY. As I am no longer in Ithaca, I haven't quite decided the fate of this blog. Drop me a line!
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