HOT: Fear of Getting Dixie Chicked Still Strong
Rolling Stone examined the response from Country artists following the white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Va. that resulted in the murder of activist Heather Heyer by a “white nationalist.” While hit-makers like Kip Moore and Kacey Musgraves issued unequivocal denunciations of white supremacy, most superstars were silent. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were exceptions, but the angry attacks on their social media condemnations speak to why they are so alone, something RS postulates is a hangover from Country music’s successful ostracization of the Dixie Chicks over their post-9/11 anti-George Bush stance. Artists afraid that stating “racism is bad” would end their career is sad and deplorable on so many levels.
Another apparent outlier — current hit-maker Kip Moore decided that saying racism sucks is worth losing racist fans over:
WARM: Streaming Hate
The Tiki-torch racists who rallied in Charlottesville were protesting the removal of a statue honoring a Confederate general, but as a result, the Confederacy took another “L,” as officials across the country began removing similar monuments in response. Digitalmusicnews.com was also inspired post-rally, identifying 37 neo-Nazi acts that had music streaming on Spotify. The service announced it would remove the racist bands and be more vigilant, although, as Pitchfork pointed out, such music generally runs wild in the digital music jungle.
COLD: Morbid Beatles Souvenirs
The copy of Double Fantasy John Lennon autographed for Mark David Chapman hours before he murdered Lennon went to auction last month seeking $2 million (it's still available if you're interested). For a less creepy but still morbid artifact with a smaller price tag (around $3,000), fans can bid on the deed for the Liverpool gravesite of Eleanor Rigby, whose gravestone inspired the 1966 Beatles hit that shares her name. According to The Guardian, the winning bid gets some documents and a Bible with Rigby’s name written inside, but not the rights to be buried alongside Rigby, as was initially reported, forcing the news site to issue a correction to its grave error. But several other music sites ran items about the auction before the correction, most without following up themselves, so there are about a million headlines like "You Could Be Buried With Eleanor Rigby" still floating around.
