Toby Keith - you have to be kidding...

[skreamer 1]

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And you'll be sorry that you messed with The U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way.

Lyric taken from the Nr. 1 selling album in the USA last week . What a load of jingoistic horse-shit! Is there anything people won't do to sell albums? And now I suppose anybody who points out the obvious crass exploitation will be labeled a 'traitor' or 'anti-American'. What scares me the most is that this is probably Dubya's favourite album...

Full lyric here : http://www.newsday.com/ny-tobylyrics.story

[nws01 0]

If you keep joking about us Americans we will put a boot in your arse! Seriously though, everybody is very patriotic over here ever since 9/11. What do you expect?

[jfields 0]

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And now I suppose anybody who points out the obvious crass exploitation will be labeled a 'traitor' or 'anti-American'.

Nothing like a terrorist action with thousands of casualties to make all the used car salesmen retrain to flag sales. As for the songs, isn't it the American way to hitch your career to the hot theme of the minute, only to dump it when the next one comes around? Right now, patriotism is in. It's all about playing the media, baby!

You're exactly right, Skreamer, and it is sad.

[Pammi 0]

There was actually a story on the radio not long ago where people were talking about how much commercialization Sept. 11th has gotten. People taking advantage of the situation to sell all kinds of crap relating to it.

I like the song lyrics better then any of that 'gangsta rap' stuff though!

[Lindsey 0]

Might makes right? Grandma's words come back clearly....

Peas!
Lindsey

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[Deuce 1]

Your right. Kamikaze attacks don't warrant a boot up the *ss.

[jfields 0]

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Kamikaze attacks don't warrant a boot up the *ss.

Skreamer isn't saying they don't deserve a boot up the ass. What he appears to be saying is that using the whole incident as a sales ploy is pretty damned pathetic.

[Deuce 1]

Artistic expression of rage shouldn't be made commercially available.

[skreamer 1]

Yep, but it isn't as if this sort of nonsense doesn't happen everywhere. Earlier this week two young girls were kidnapped in the UK. A british newspaper is now offering £1million for information leading to their return. Police are now being swamped with false leads by money whores, hampering the investigation. I suspect that the newspaper was more interested in selling papers using the '£1million reward' headline than in the safe return of the girls.

Anybody who can't see through this sort of shallow exploitation of public sentiment for financial gain (ie selling newspapers or albums) is a fucking idiot.

[Deuce 1]

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Anybody who can't see through this sort of shallow exploitation of public sentiment for financial gain (ie selling newspapers or albums) is a fucking idiot.

What a refreshing invitation to discuss the topic.

I am so grateful I live in a country where I can choose to buy or not buy, to listen or not listen to just about whatever I want.

I am so grateful that you are not in charge of making those choices for me, you would take it upon yourself to

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see through this sort of shallow exploitation of public sentiment for financial gain (ie selling newspapers or albums)" and prevent me from being

a fucking idiot***

I'm so glad I can choose to be a f*cking idiot if I want.

[westcoastchica 0]

hmmm..as an occasional poster, i usually don't end up in the "debate-y" type posts, but i figured hey, why not.

i am not a country music fan, but i actually read a few articles about this toby keith song and the controversy back around the 4th of july when he was bumped off the list of performers because the whole "boot up your ass" thing was (i guess) thought a little racey for the televised independence day celebration/show.

i don't know...the quotes i read from toby seemed pretty genuine. his dad was a veteran, a patriotic one at that, and toby lost him like, a few months before september 11th. he said that he wrote the song out of pure emotion that he felt for his family and country. seems honest enough for me.

i don't know much about this singer, but in the stats and what not they listed out in the articles, he seemed to have an okay career going before this, and the album that has the patriotic song on it also has a wide variety of other song topics on it. he's done a lot of charity work with this song and also toured a lot to military camps all over the world...where it seemed to really inspire the soldiers serving our nation.

could it be that this guy is just an honest joe making his living as a singer and writing about what he knows? it seems to me that historically, songwriters write about what they know...hell, if i could play the guitar, i would have set music to the poems that i wrote after sept. 11th too. everybody needs an outlet...this guy just happened have the opportunity to record his feelings and add them onto his "already in the works" album.

i understand there is a lot of exploitation out there, and it's easy to get irritated by it. but sometimes it doesn't hurt to try and look at things in a positive light. this song has helped to foster a new sense of patriotism in many americans.

i've only heard this song once or twice, but it struck me as something that would be very moving for a lot of those people that were left angered by the attacks of sept. 11th and didn't really know how to let their feelings out. sometimes singing along with a song that says, i love my country, and i'm mad, and we're going to fight back etc. etc. etc. helps let that tension out.

wow, i think this might be the most words i have ever written in a post. well, it's just something to think about. deuce is right though...we have the choice to let ourselves be victims of exploitation...nobody HAD to buy this album. and i bet you if you asked most of the people buying the album just for the "angry american song" if they felt exploited or empowered by purchasing the album and listening to that song...they'd probably tell you it was money well spent.

[TomAiello 26]

I encourage you to read the Economist column, "Lexington", entitled "Rock and Remembrance: A corny Bruce Springsteen Album may be the right way to pay homage to September 11th" (Economist. August 3, 2002). I have attached the article as a pdf file.

This is an excellent opinion on why commercial music (Springsteen, of course, but also Toby Keith, and many others--my particular favorite is "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?", by Alan Jackson, another country singer) may actually be one of the best, and most American responses to the September 11th attacks.

A quote:

"America is a proudly popular civilization: a country driven by the aspirations of ordinary people rather than the designs of elites..."

I encourage you to read the whole thing.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

Springsteen.pdf

[seedy 0]

Very well written. I agree with you.

I intend to live forever -- so far, so good.

[skreamer 1]

Hi Tom

I did read the whole thing, but I tend to believe the following (taken from that article) :

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The working-class hero pokes his snout out of his mansion to make yet another fortune out of the misfortunes of blue-collar workers (with the help of a foreign record-label, Sony).

I don't believe these artists motives are entirely altruistic. I strongly suspect that they are taking advantage of the situation to make money and further their careers. Maybe it is just human nature, or maybe these artists really do care more about this (and other) tragedies than their own careers.

I'm still not convinced though and feel that this is crass exploitation of a vulnerable (record buying!) public. Perhaps using 'fucking idiot' was too strong an expression to describe the average consumer, maybe I should've left it as 'idiot'.

[Deuce 1]

Skreamer, I can't listen to most Country music for any length of time. I've only listed to the song in question once, because it was played at opening ceremonies of a conference I attended. I don't own the album and I change the station when it comes on. I tend to agree that it's a little over the top.

But I will fight and die, and send my children to fight and die for the freedom to be able to produce, buy, and sell whatever we want within the laws of our Constitution.

That song is no more dangerous than a super size order of fries. I don't have to buy those either, but it's nice to know I can.

[skreamer 1]

OK, I think we can reach some common ground here :

He has the right to make that kind of music and sell it, I have the right to find his music exploitative and choose not to buy it.

Ain't democracy great?

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[Enrique 0]

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There was actually a story on the radio not long ago where people were talking about how much commercialization Sept. 11th has gotten. People taking advantage of the situation to sell all kinds of crap relating to it.***

Are you aware of the fact that, historically, all wars reactive a Country's economy? This last one came just when "America" was roughing it.

It really makes me think why the U.S.A. is ALWAYS involved in military conflicts, don't you think?

P.S. Why is the U.S.of A. referred to as "America", when that is the name of the entire continent, from top to bottom (i.e., if people from the U.S.A. are Americans, what are the rest of us??????)

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[jfields 0]

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Ain't democracy great?

How would you know? Don't you live somewhere that has a Royal Family, granted power by divine right?

[Deuce 1]

Yep.

Now, let's get on the plane. How 'bout a shuttlecock exit, rotate to a sit and attempt some foot docks?

It's Friday morning, 24 hours to load one. Anybody else going to Davis for the Freefly camp tomorrow?

Chow.

[FliegendeWolf 0]

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There was actually a story on the radio not long ago where people were talking about how much commercialization Sept. 11th has gotten. People taking advantage of the situation to sell all kinds of crap relating to it.

Yeah, I noticed this when Subway started running their ads. Remember? They were black with white text talking about the bravery of Americans and their remorse about the loss of innocent lives. However, they just couldn't resist sticking their logo in at the end, could they?

A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

[skreamer 1]

Dude, I live in England - how about you do the skydiving and then tell me about it on Monday (at least until my next holiday away from this rain magnet).

[skreamer 1]

Dude, I am a skydiver, I am a citizen of the world with diplomitic immunity on dropzones everywhere...

[AggieDave 6]

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Yeah, I noticed this when Subway started running their ads. Remember? They were black with white text talking about the bravery of Americans and their remorse about the loss of innocent lives. However, they just couldn't resist sticking their logo in at the end, could they?

Actually, out of all the ads that came out like this in the past few months, I'm partial to the Jack In The Box commercial. Yeah, I know it's an overt marketing ploy, but the first time I saw the commercial it did make me smile, you know the one where "Jack" is going on and on about how kick ass the USA is and that we're not going to be beaten down.

Look at it this way, with these people making commercials like this and people going to the places that make commercials like that, atleast it is getting money into our economy. That is what we need right now and it won't happen with the doubts coming from the consumer in the integrety of our financial structure.



Remember Lee Greenwood's song? Same thing 11 years ago. Remember something, these people are artists, people who have the ability to voice their feelings, doubts, fears, pride and anger via their medium. Did you know that he did a USO tour, motivating the hell out of our troops that are deployed across the globe?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[goose491 0]

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But I will fight and die,

Have fun buddy

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and send my children to fight and die

Are you sure you wouldn't rather just get a baby sitter? Are you not the one who is so hard up about:

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I am so grateful that you are not in charge of making those choices for me,

??? The idiots of the coutry are the ones fighting for it's the honnorable thing to do, or worse, the "American Way". I'm not saying that every American soldier abroad is stupid but let's face it. There are plenty 'o men out there who are fighting simply because their daddy fought or their grand-daddy fought and died. Putting a boot up someone's ass is not the honnorable thing to do.. Revenge is not the honnorable thing to do... And signing about how Others are going to put a boot up your ass is MOST DEFINATELY not the honnorable thing to do.... I'm pretty sure Toby Keith is not putting any boots in anybodys ass... He's just stoking the flames and encoraging other people (the ones who are not fighting either) to get angrier and want more blood... I remember in grade-school, the kid I hated most was not the bully, but the little snot-nosed piece of shit that followed him around saying "Yeah!" everytime the bully said something mean to another. You know who I'm talking about don't you? Every shcool had a bully and every bully has a peice 'o shit yes-man. I'd love to think that everybody learns stuff in grade school but I guess not. I'm not anti-America but holly shit man... You sure have a history of perpetuating anger!

If good Old Toby keith was told by sensors "Sorry, you can't release this song because it perpetuates violent desires"... People like you would protest saying we are free to buy the music we want to... My great-grandaddy died to make sure of that... It's important not to miss the point.. School yard bullies never cried out about their freedom of speech when the teachers caught them and told 'em to shut up

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[Schroeder 0]

did anyone notice how, right after 9/11, Subway ran some ads where Firemen were the "stars" rather than Jared? When I saw that, I was like "Whoa, cheap."