> only slightly more recently, the Dixie Chicks. They called up advertisers as well.
If you want recent examples, look at WAP, its Super Bowl and Grammy's performances, Lil Nas X, or the NFL and Colin Kaepernick. There's also the witch hunt and boycott on teachers, companies and anyone else they believe are part of a nationwide critical race theory conspiracy.
This doesn't seem accurate. For example, The Dixie Chick backlash involved listeners calling radio stations and telling them to blacklist their music[1]:
> The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by thousands of country radio stations. On May 6, Colorado radio station KKCS suspended two DJs for playing their music. WTDR-FM in Talladega, Alabama, dropped the Dixie Chicks after more than 250 listeners called on a single day to complain about Maines's comments.
That's not to mention the baying for blood that happened in the early 2000s when anyone came out against the Iraq War[2].
“In a poll by an Atlanta radio station, 76 percent of listeners who participated responded they would return their Dixie Chicks CDs if they could.[15] Protesters in Bossier City, Louisiana, used a tractor to destroy Dixie Chicks CDs and other items.[13] The Kansas City station WDAF-AM placed trashcans outside its office for listeners to dispose of their CDs, and displayed hundreds of emails from listeners supporting the boycott.[13]
The drinks manufacturer Lipton canceled its promotional contract with the Dixie Chicks.[4] Maguire's tour bus driver resigned in protest of their remarks.[11] Maines said: "It seems unfathomable that someone would not want to drive us because of our political views. But we're learning more and more that it's not that unfathomable to a large percentage of the population."[11]”
> Search for the Dixie Chicks, a country group who spoke out against the war, and read about what happened to them.
In case anyone is curious, the group fka the Dixie Chicks spoke out against the Iraq war in 2003. In 2005, they won a Grammy award. In 2007, they won five Grammies, including all three overall major categories (excluding "best new artist" from the four general field categories, because they weren't new). They are also the first female band in chart history to have three albums debut at No. 1.
In 2020, the group dropped the word "Dixie" from their name ... because of cancel culture? In any case, the Chicks then performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
“ In March 2003, the American country band the Dixie Chicks, now known as the Chicks, publicly criticized President George W. Bush and the imminent Allied invasion of Iraq…
After the statement was reported by the British newspaper The Guardian, it led to backlash from American country listeners, who were mostly right-wing and supported the war. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by thousands of country radio stations, received death threats, and were criticized by other country musicians. The backlash damaged sales of the Dixie Chicks' music and concert tickets and lost them corporate sponsorship.”
I also think that, in context, this is not exactly surprising. Country has been political for a while, a fair amount of people have been blackballed from country like the Chicks (nee. the Dixie chicks), and performers who don’t align with conservative values in country get a lot of heat (e.g. Kacey Musgraves, Beyonce performing at the CMAs): https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/2016/11/4/13521928/...
And the entire notion of ‘equity’ is the current notion of ‘woke’ for others.
It went way beyond offending their audience. The Dixie Chicks were black listed. This was also a time when people started calling french fries, freedom fries, among other insane "patriotic" things.
> It's ironic that these Sixties artists who sang about freedom from "the man" are now trying to force a giant corporation to censor another artist.
It would be ironic if artist- and artist-backed-consumer boycotts against giant corporations over actions including political messaging and associations weren't as much a part of the strategy of those same people in the 1960s and the rest of the intervening years as it is today.
>We don't get "admonished" or sent to work camps for being insufficiently or even anti-nationalistic.
Colin Kaepernick was blackballed from the NFL for kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance. Look at what happened to the Dixie Chicks:
> On March 10, 2003, during a London concert, nine days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lead vocalist Maines told the audience: "We don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States (George W. Bush) is from Texas," which garnered a positive reaction from the British audience but led to a contrasting negative reaction, and ensuing boycotts, in the United States, where talk shows denounced the band, their albums were discarded in public protest and corporate broadcasting networks blacklisted them for the remainder of the Bush years.
Apologies if you felt shitted on, but I do believe that you are inventing straw men pressure groups and ignoring the fact that there might be a legitimate organic movement. So I am, in fact, making my case.
> It's a few [...] musicians making a negative publicity fuss
One thing I'd like to add on this point is that this kind of negative publicity fuss, raised by musicians, can be incredibly powerful. If you aren't familiar with the work and impact of Neil Young, especially songs like "Southern Man" and "Alabama," I encourage you to consider his work.
His music likely opened some eyes in the 70s while the American South was still gripped in racist fervor (as someone who grew up in the south, I too was impacted by these songs when I encountered them in the early 2000s). Musicians have the power to influence public opinion. That public opinion is influenced by them does not imply that all influence is the result of a greater agenda.
On a related note: arguably one of the biggest "cancellings" of the post-9/11 era was that of the Dixie Chicks [1].
"Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."
The above comment (made by the lead singer at a concert in England) was all it took for them to receive death threats and get blacklisted by thousands of radio stations in the US.
The Dixie Chicks are a great example. They vanished from the mainstream basically overnight. People still hate them to this day and probably don't even really remember what they said.
I don't remember where, but I heard a podcast with someone who did music promotion for some of these artists. They would call the newspapers and feed them stories about the terrible musicians who do things like "eat bats live on stage", to get outraged parents to boycott these concerts. This was a very successful promotional effort for them.
I think an interesting addition would be the sexualization of pop music through the 00s and 10s. The other child post referenced the Janet Jackson super bowl fiasco. There was plenty of outrage for Britney Spears and I’d say even more for somes like WAP and Cardi B. While I think there is an argument to be made this started much earlier than the 00s there has been a lot of “outrage” more recently than I remember.
I also think it’s interesting that pretty much all of these themes have existed in music for the last 50 years or so but for a song to get real outrage it really needs to penetrate the ether. For example, the company selling these shoes sold ones with holy water in the heels, that a very small, in comparison, number of people knew about. I’d consider something like that sacrilegious, but I didn’t hear of any public outrage.
The conservative cancellation of Dixie Chicks in 2003 would seem to suggest otherwise. From wikipedia "At a 2003 performance in London, Natalie Maines of the American country band the Dixie Chicks, now known as the Chicks, made a statement criticizing President George W. Bush and the imminent Allied invasion of Iraq. The criticism led to backlash from country listeners, who were mostly right-wing and supported the war. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by thousands of country radio stations, and the band members received death threats."
Intent is difficult to judge as well. The lyrics for the Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar are pretty clearly racist (among other things). It's not clear, however, if it's meant to promote racism.
Similar for incenting violence and "Pumped up kicks".
Edit: They could also add misogyny to the list and wipe out large swaths of entire music genres :)
If you want recent examples, look at WAP, its Super Bowl and Grammy's performances, Lil Nas X, or the NFL and Colin Kaepernick. There's also the witch hunt and boycott on teachers, companies and anyone else they believe are part of a nationwide critical race theory conspiracy.
reply