Pat Boone in a Mental Mood

The quote of the day comes from terrifying Aryan-pop crooner Pat Boone, in re the Dixie Chicks.

If I were the president of Iran, if I were Osama bin Laden or any of the terrorist organizers and I could have my wish list totally. I couldn't ask for anything better than for America's entertainers to bash their president, denigrate him, make him seem like an idiot and a self-serving fool, and then have the media go along with it and promote it like crazy and try to undermine the whole war effort.

"Couldn't ask for anything better"? What about, I dunno -- nukes?

This is a pretty good indicator of how the Dixie Chicks have brushed off the "scandal" of three years back. For more, check out the New York Times story on their strong new record sales. And it's always the right time to read Reason's reporting on musical politics.

Comments

[fyodor]

Attacking the messenger will never go out of fashion.

[David]

You'd think they'd wish for the U.S. to make Islam the official religion and impose shariah law.

[VM]

hmmmmm, there, David. maybe thou hast a veil fettish?????

hmmmmmmmm.

🙂
*gg

[Umbriel]

No way, David. Then they'd have to get real jobs.

[John]

If I were washed up cheese cake Nashville pop band, I couldn't ask for anything better than the free publicity fauning MSM coverage and doofus's like Pat Boone attacking us.

[David]

What can I say? Nothing makes a glimpse of ankle hotter than a burka. 😛

[SPD]

I don't think Bush needs anyone's help to seem like an idiot and a self-serving fool.

[Scott]

It only takes a podium and a microphone to make Bush look an idiot. Bashing the Dixie Chicks is stupid even for country radio, their views are now shared by about 70% of the country, Bush and the war are only supported by the hardcore 30% that would elect a dog president if it was Republican.

[Brian]

If I was Osama and I had one wish, I'd wish for a successful attack against the US that would draw them into a bloody, unpopular incursion into the Middle East, painting the West as crusading infidels and thereby cementing anti-US hatred in the region forever.

Seems he got his wish, dunnit?

[John]

Whatever happened to standing up for what you believe in and taking satisfaction in doing so and not worrying about the consequences? I don't blame Manes for saying what she did, if that is what she really believes, but what did she think was going to happen? It is the whining that bothers me.

Contrast Manes with K.D. Lang. K.D. Lang, who incidentally is about 20 times more talented than all three of the Chicks combined, had a budding Nashville career in the 1980s until she came out as being gay and a vegitarian. She made an anti-meat commercial. Of course the reaction rednecks that make up most country music fans stopped buying her records. To Lang's great credit, she never whined about it. She simply said that she wasn't going to play the game anymore and pretend to be someone she was not just to sell records. Lang has gone on to produce a whole range of very good records since then which have been everything from jazz to traditional pop to country. While Lang is still a tremendously respected musician, she is not a pop star and doesn't seem to give a damn about that fact. You really have to respect her for that.

Contrast Lang's behavior with Manes who comes out and says something that anyone with a brain would have known was going to piss off 90% of her fan base and then has the nerve to act shocked when said 90% quits buying her records. The First Amendment goes both ways; Manes has a right to speak her mind and her fans have the right to say fuck her and not buy her records. If Manes really had any convictions, she would speak her mind and be proud to bear the consequences rather than whining about how she doesn't get to be a pop star anymore.

[lunchstealer]

America's entertainers ... make him seem like an idiot and a self-serving fool

Hmm, The president, the veep, the defense secretary, both AGs, several assistant secdefs, both secs of state, FEMA, congress, the NSA etc ad nauseum have done a far better job of that than the Dixie Chicks. Why does George Bush hate America?

[lunchstealer]

America's entertainers ... make him seem like an idiot and a self-serving fool

Hmm, The president, the veep, the defense secretary, both AGs, several assistant secdefs, both secs of state, FEMA, congress, the NSA etc ad nauseum have done a far better job of that than the Dixie Chicks. Why does George Bush hate America?

[SR]

"Bush and the war are only supported by the hardcore 30% that would elect a dog president if it was Republican."

Actually, a recent Zogby poll showed an unnamed Golden Retriever would win the presidency running as an independent if the election was held today.

[President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]

Actually, my fondest wish is to have hot celebrities bash and denigrate the president. Have you seen the love handles on that Natalie Maines? Hoofah! Girlfriend, the burqa is not just for modesty.

[zeroentitlement]

If I were the president of Iran...I couldn't ask for anything better than for America's entertainers to bash their president...

The funny thing is, Pat, is that if the Dixie Chicks were an Iranian performing group (they'd have to be male, of course, since Iranian women aren't allowed to do jack), and they'd criticized or satirized Ahmedinejad, they'd be executed.

I guess when it comes right down to it, that's the system that Boone and other "dissent is treason" neocons prefer. Me, I like our way a little better.

[Floyd]

"Aryan-pop"? Screw you.

[joe]

"If I were washed up cheese cake Nashville pop band..."

"...the nerve to act shocked when said 90% quits buying her records..."

John, just an FYI - the Dixie Chicks certainly took a lot of crap, but they were, and continue to be, extremely commercially successful. The pre-release sales of their latest album were, IIRC, about 300,000 units.

Scott, isn't it interesting that the Dixie Chicks, appearing under the words "Radical Chicks" on the cover of this week's Time magazine, are routinely painted as out of touch with mainstream opinion for holding those landslide-popular beliefs?

[John]

Joe,

They aren't getting played and their single is at 36 on the charts. They are not what they were circa 2001. In fact, I think Manes recent statement is pretty much planned as a way to do something, anything, to get some publicity and try to bring back thier career. Absent the 1st Amendment martyr routine, they would never have been on the cover of Time or gotten any buzz for thier record. Even after all of that, they still are not selling that well because the people who agree with them tend not to listen to country music. Regardless of what you think of thier politics, you can't get around the fact that they are a pretty standard cheesecake Nashville band. I sware there is a factory somewhere in Nashville that makes these type of bands. They caught on, made the record comapany a some millions and that is pretty much it as the next big thing comes along.

As far their beliefs being so landslide popular, there is a big difference between approving of the President's handling of the office and agreeing with Manes. You can be mad at one side without agreeing with the other. If what you are saying is true, Howard Dean needs to be running for Pres again. Somehow I don't think old Howard is going to get elected anytime soon.

[Jon H]

John writes: "Contrast Lang's behavior with Manes who comes out and says something that anyone with a brain would have known was going to piss off 90% of her fan base and then has the nerve to act shocked when said 90% quits buying her records. "

That's not what happened. She made the comments early in the tour for their record 'Home'. Despite the right-wing hype, the tour was sold out, and few people requested refunds.

"Home" has sold 6 million copies, down a bit from the 10 million of prior releases, but still a very strong seller and far from losing "90%" of sales.

A handful of right-wing GOP tools who control America's country music stations squelched them, but "real Americans" continued to buy their music and attend their concerts.

The whole "Dixie Chicks are pariahs" is little more than a right-wing media fantasy.

[Jon H]

John writes: "They aren't getting played and their single is at 36 on the charts."

Country music stations nationwide are controlled by a few music executives and they only play a handful of songs on heavy rotation.

If they aren't getting played, they join the ranks of Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, etc. Pretty good company for them to be in.

[John]

John H,

They only thing they have in common with Loretta Lyn is that all of them pea sitting down and they don't even have that in common with Johnny Cash. Yes, Home sold 6 million records but most of that was before the famous statement. Regardless of thier politics, they just are not very good. All real Americans with bad musical tastes are still buying them I am sure. I never said they were a pariah, I just said they were has beens and they suck. That would be true regardless of their politics.

[just another lurker]

Am I going to be the only one here to flag the obscure reference in the title?

I've actually got a copy of Pat Boone's "In a Metal Mood". Boone did it as a joke, in cooperation with his friend/neighbor Alice Cooper.

His version of Metallica's "Enter Sandman", done in an upbeat cheesy lounge singer style, really isn't bad to listen to. Once or twice.

[John]

Luker,

I hear record is actually not that bad in a really strange kind of way.

[just another lurker]

John:

Yeah, it really isn't bad, just weird. But for some people just putting it on will make their head explode. (Maybe that's what I'm holding onto it for!)

BTW, I did appreciate your comments about k.d. lang. She does have a lot of class as an artist, and she's got an incredible voice. I really like her version of "Black Coffee", an old torch song. Good for her for not caring about getting pigeonholed into a musical genre.

[PoliticalCritic]

People like Pat Boone are narrow minded and short-sighted. They think any dissent of political leaders is somehow giving aid to the enemy. Give me a break. It's called a Democracy for a reason.

[PoliticalCritic]

People like Pat Boone are narrow minded and short-sighted. They think any dissent of political leaders is somehow giving aid to the enemy. Give me a break. It's called a Democracy for a reason.

[John]

Lurker,

She does a Johnny Mercer song called Skylark on the Midnight and the Garden of Good and Evil soundtrack that could make the Devil's heart melt. She really is fantastic.

[SmokingPenguin]

His version of Metallica's "Enter Sandman", done in an upbeat cheesy lounge singer style, really isn't bad to listen to. Once or twice.

If you like cheesy lounge singer style covers, you might like to listen to this guy. The "Once or twice" rule holds, though.

[Dogzilla]

Criticizing the President about the war is SUPPOSED to undermine the war effort. It's not a side effect. That said, I'm all for it.

[Kevin Carson]

Uh, how about for the president to BE an idiot and a self-serving fool? The best part of that worthless piece of shit ran down his father's leg.

[Islamic Radicals]

No, it's true. We want the nuclear weapons. And you're going to let us have them.