Posted on 02/11/2007 8:44:17 AM PST by Thrusher
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Grammys could take a rare step into the political arena on Sunday if the Dixie Chicks win the coveted album-of-the-year award, as observers of the music industry's biggest honors are predicting.
The Texas country trio is reveling in its new outsider status after picking a fight with President George W. Bush in 2003, and watching its popularity plummet as the Republican-leaning country music establishment snubbed the chart-topping group.
The Chicks' first album since the brouhaha, "Taking the Long Way," yielded five Grammy nominations, including three for the wry single "Not Ready to Make Nice." The acclaimed album was the ninth-biggest seller in the United States last year, even if its commercial success fell short of its predecessors.
Grammy voters love underdogs and comeback stories, which could help the Dixie Chicks add to their collection of eight Grammys. But politically charged music arising from such turbulent times as Vietnam and Watergate has traditionally been ignored at awards time.
Indeed, for a liberal-leaning recording industry full of rebels and other creative misfits, there has been little acknowledgment in recent years that an unpopular conservative president is embroiled in a war that has cost the lives of more than 3,120 U.S. military personnel and over 50,000 Iraqis.
"I think people are paranoid," former Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart told Reuters. "I think that if they speak out, they think they're gonna get whacked by the government. It's pretty oppressive now. Look at the Dixie Chicks. They got whacked."
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
The Chixie Dicks, that who.
The ones who so effectively pointed out the restriction of their free speech by all those who:
* didn't go to their last concert
* didn't rush to buy their last album
* didn't give their CD's a Christmas gifts last year
* and most importantly, didn't invite her fat A$$ over to our houses for Krispy Kremes and gravy.
Who are they kidding? It's Rainforests, global warming, Darfur, etc. etc. every year at the Grannies.
Their attempts to be "edgy" are as pathetic as the awards themselves. A bunch of people pretending to be hip will give a bunch of awards to a Norah Jones. Jones may be talented but it's doubtful any significant percentage of the academy voters have ever heard of her. It's a peer-pressure, keep-up-with-the-Joneses farce.
Is ANYONE interested in seeing corporate mainstream music pat itself on the back? The safe choices are front and center every year.
Finally, let's not forget that this little mutual admiration society is the lead show pony for the RIAA, whose futile attempt to sweep the technological ocean back with a broom is well-documented.
Aw, gee. I won't be able to watch the Grammys this year.
I'll be far too busy NOT watching the Grammys this year.
"Anyone who wishes to watch that drivel is welcome to it."
Yeah, it has been a while since I tuned in as well.
Let's see, the last time I watched the LeftGrammys, some savage with a distended belly and a bone through his nose, won the Grammy for instrumental innovation for discovering that if you stretched an animal hide over a circular tree branch and hit it with your open palm, you could make a sound.
He called it a "drum", I think.
Grammys & Oscars shows=The Accolade shows. Your great!! Yes I am ,but not as great as you......blah,blah....
The Wreckers are a better country group that the saddams chicks anyhow..
It's like with Noam Chomsky. You get famous doing one thing, and when that begins to crumble, you get into politics because you can't stand to be a nobody.
All these pages of comments, and not the first one wondering how they heck they got nominated?
Their last album was crap! They were cancelling concerts across the country--Okalahoma City, Memphis, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Houston.
If you can't sell "country" music there (with perhaps the exception of Memphis), you can't sell it.
Another reason not to watch!
I hope Matt Drudge doesn't drivel on about the Grammy's tonight but he probably will.
I just KNEW Karl Rove was behind all those lousy concert ticket sales.
The Dixie Chicks,who cares!!
Ohhhh YUK!
Guess I'll skip it this year.
Actually, I can proudly say I've never watched it.
The what? The Grannies? Didn't they have something to do with those Milli Vanilli frauds? And when did the government "whack" the Ditzy Twits? What, did the Imperial GW Bush proclaim an edict against buying their music when I wasn't paying attention?
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