As Nigel reported here on May 22, Natalie Maines wore a shirt with "F.U.T.K" during her May 21 performance at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Although I disagreed with her assessment of the war and Bush that caused all the original flap, the reaction was way overblown, and the self-righteous puds in the country industry and the grandstanding douchebags at Clear Channel who amplified fan "outrage" out of any semblance of reality, should be booted in the ass repeatedly.
Regarding Natalie Maines: I love that little shit! She can't keep her mouth shut to save her life, she absolutely cannot not refrain from agitating and instigating no matter what is at stake. She reminds me of myself. Also, as my brother mentioned yesterday, Toby Keith is just a novelty singer working up the jingoists into a lather and tilting at straw Chicks. Equating silly Natalie with evil babyraper Saddam Hussein is a bit, um, heavy-handed. No wonder she wore the shirt:
- For WXTU Philadelphia assistant program director/music director Cadillac Jack, Maines' shirt was the show's only disappointment. "With all the patriotism in the air that night, it was a downer and completely unnecessary," he says. "I was disappointed with them yet again."
"Just when you think it's safe to add the Chicks back into rotation," KZKX Lincoln, Nebraska, PD Brian Jennings says. "Oh, Natalie, why do you make it so hard to love you?"
KSCS Dallas assistant PD/music director Chris Huff calls the awards show "a perfect opportunity for the Chicks to showcase their music, and unfortunately it's now all overshadowed by four letters. No one's talking about the song they performed. They're talking about the four letters Natalie chose to wear on her shirt. How anyone could believe such an act would be a prudent move is totally beyond me."
Article comments
1 - Nigel Richardson
Well put, Eric. If there's any musical genre screaming out for its own equivalent of a merciless, take-no-prisoners, punk rock revolution it's Country. (The first two Meat Puppets albums were two decades too soon, I guess.)
I mean, I don't want to get all Greil Marcus here, but wasn't country music once supposed to be some kind of outlaw music, the songs of hope and honest, heartfelt aspiration in the face of adversity rather than a soundtrack for selling trucks, lite beer and neatly trimmed facial hair? But seriously, is there any real country music left outside of mavericks like Gillian Welch these days?
It's no wonder Johnny Cash records Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode songs these days.
Oh, and it must really hurt to be dissed by a grown-up who goes under the name of "Cadillac Jack" and whose most lasting contributing to music to date was called SKATE WITH ELVIS.