Lost In Hollywood Magazine: Make Fun of Bush = Change Your Whole Image

While performing at Shepherds Bush Empire in London, England, Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks said, "We're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." Fans cheered in agreement and seemed to strongly believe what Maines was saying. So why did her whole career turn around after that? The fans cheered but shortly after the concert The Dixie Chicks were taken off of most country radio stations and they lost many fans. It is easy to see why some patriots would boycott the music after this incident but lets look at other artists who have made fun of Bush. P!nk talks all about Bush in her song "Dear Mr. President" but that song is played on the radio all the time. If anything, P!nk gained fans from that song. Kanye West said that George Bush didn't care about black people on national TV after Hurricane Katrina. Kanye's incident was quickly forgotten. So why were The Dixie Chicks criticized for their comment? There are many things that we need to look at to correctly analyze why celebrities like Kanye West and P!nk can get away with making fun of Bush.

Audience and genre have a huge impact on why The Dixie Chicks were virtually boycotted by most radio stations. They were mainly played on country stations and the majority of country listeners are very patriotic. They love their country and they love their president. They are for the war and not against it. Criticizing Bush is like criticizing your audience if your a country band or singer and for that short time, criticizing The Dixie Chicks would get you tons of fans if you were a country band or singer. Toby Keith did this and he got many fans but Natalie Maines fought back by wearing a shirt that said "F.U.T.K" on stage at one of her concerts. Despite her actions, she still wasn't out of the dark and her music still wasn't being played. The difference with P!nk and Kanye is that P!nk sings carefree, rebel music so she was praised for her song. As for Kanye's comment, he is one of the most popular hip-hop artists today and no radio station would take him off the air.

The time that the comments and songs were made also effects how they were interpreted. Maines made her comment when the war was going on so all of the people that supported the war and that believed everything that George Bush was telling them hated her comment. They supported the war so anything that went against the war went against their beliefs. P!nks song was written after the war and after everyone found out that there were no weapons of mass destruction. This is why she didn't get and bad feedback for her song.

The point is that Natalie said the wrong thing at the wrong time. If she had made that comment after the war she might still have the same fans and the same image she had before. Since she made the comment before the war she had to change the music she was playing so that she could attract a new audience and continue to make money doing the thing she loves; playing music.

Here's the Shut Up and Sing trailer.