Shut Up and Sing

During the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks, the entire mindset of the American populous changed.  Americans began living in terror that every Muslim wanted to kill them and that the United States would soon crumble.  So naturally, people wanted to be comforted by the same things that had comforted them before the attacks- music. Pop music was more than happy to oblige and started pumping out compilations of pro-American music, and rereleasing patriotic songs from the past.  These new pop songs would influence pop culture, how Americans felt about the war and politics.  An example of this would be Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the U.S.A.”  This song did not even reach the Top 100 chart when it was released in 1984, yet reached 16^th on the Hot 100 in 2001.  However, artists were no longer allowed to speak their minds freely, or use the First Amendment, for fear that their careers would be in jeopardy. 

 After the 9/11 attacks, there was a massive uproar for war with the Middle East and specifically Iraq.  Backed by Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a speech he would later call the “lowest point in his life,” the United States declared war on terror and started preparations to invade Iraq.  Ten days before the invasion began, during a concert in London, England, the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, made a comment about how she was ashamed that the current president, George W. Bush, was from Texas.  This prompted a huge outcry from the American public and country music.  In a line of work that had always been about free expression, music turned its back on artists for doing just that.  It is strange to note that when this comment was made during the height of Bush’s approval, everyone responded so negatively.  We became blind from our rage that we were caught off guard and took it out on people who did not have the same ideals as us by calling them “unpatriotic” or “anti-American.”  In spite of this, now that we know that there were no WMDs in Iraq and we were hoodwinked by our own government, if the same statement was made today by Maines, it would probably be followed by applause and would not receive any media attention.  Therefore, the experiences of the Dixie Chicks are indicative of contemporary political issues by the fact that people will often change their mood or opinion within a few years.  Even though country music has not come back to the Dixie Chicks, the national music scene has.  In a year where the Dixie Chicks did not receive any nominations for strictly country music awards, they received five Grammys including: Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

Through the experiences of the Dixie Chicks, we can learn that people do not take lightly what artists say.  A combination of fear and frustration can turn anyone against their favorite musical artists.  With knowing that people identify and are influenced by music, politicians need to worry about what types of music they play at campaign conventions and during political commercials.  In 2008, both John McCain and Barack Obama chose country music to play at conventions because the thought was that country music is wholesome, sincere, American music.  This election would be a start to the “new America” where the economy and employment would prosper.  During John McCain’s conventions, he would play contemporary songs that a younger generation would be able to relate to making him seem more current and in tune with pop culture.  At the same time, Barack Obama chose more classic and old timey songs that an earlier generation would understand.  He did this because it was assumed that he already had the younger generations vote and needed to win over older Americans that had only seen a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant as president.  This has shown us that when people listen to music with a certain cultural values, they tend to start agreeing with what they are listening to and are more inclined to do something, such as vote for a certain political figure for office. 

In my hometown, the year after 9/11, the community put together a concert and fireworks show.  A cover band was be hired and would play a range of classic rock, pop rock and country.  Now normally, if you played country in Bergen County, New Jersey you would be considered weird.  But on that night, when everyone got together, we found that our patriotic, core American values, were really only being expressed through country music.  As we sat there watching the fireworks explode in the sky on a warm September night, I remember the tears precipitating down everyone’s faces and only really having a limited understanding of what had happened a year prior.  Following 9/11, the world changed drastically, whether seven year old me was cognizant or not.  People changed, especially in my area, because everyone knew someone that had been affected by this catastrophe.  I learned that what my Dad had always called where we lived “the land of fair,” was true.  The world was mean, nasty and unfortunately, real.  People, just like myself, had consciously crashed a plane into two buildings twenty minutes from where I lay my head at night. 

If there ever was another terrorist attack of that scale ever again, I do believe that hate would blind the people of today again which would make them lash out at anyone who dared spew unpatriotic and anti-American words.  Less than ten years separate the Natalie Maines controversy from today, so I doubt that people have really changed all that much.  Plus, people still have not gotten over the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists so it would be like opening a newly healed wound and cutting deeper.  I believe that George Santayana holds true, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

In the song “Anarchy in the U.K.” by Sex Pistols, lead singer Johnny Rotten calls for anarchy as being a better substitute for democracy until a better, more equal type of government is found.  The song reflects the punk scene in England during the 70s and the angry, bitterness and frustration that the young listeners felt throughout that time period.

During the immediate aftermath of September 11^th, pop music was changed forever.  Artists that would normally be anti-war were too scared to put pen to paper and write songs against the war because it would be career ending.  However, the Dixie Chicks overcame these odds and became even more popular because of their refusal to retract their statement about the president.  It is sad that country music and the Dixie Chicks have never really reconciled even after public approval of George W. Bush reached new lows.  Now, I bet the Dixie Chicks aren’t the only people who are ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.