HOT: A Crushing Ignorance
Some Country music fans are outraged over a new single by Little Big Town, with attempts to “Dixie Chick” the group underway. The group’s single “Girl Crush” is about jealousy over an ex-boyfriend’s new flame, but once the song began to receive airplay, a few stations started getting boycott threats over the track’s promotion of a “gay agenda.” The track shows some light nuance in the lyrics, but it’s clearly about envy, with lines (sung by Karen Fairchild) like, “I want to taste her lips, yeah ’cause they taste like you/I want to drown myself in a bottle of her perfume.” Country stars like Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley and many others have shown their support for the song, though it’s ridiculous that they even have to (even if it was about lesbianism).
WARM: Not So Fast, Borat
News about production of a feature film based on the life of Queen singer Freddie Mercury has been talked about for nearly a decade, but without any concrete information. So when Queen’s manager allegedly remarked in a speech that Sacha Baron Cohen (once attached to the role, though he severed ties when his grittier version didn’t jibe with the band’s rosier vision) was set to write, direct and star in the film, the project appeared to be making progress. The next day, however, Queen guitarist Brian May said the manager was “making a small joke” and actually said the Borat actor would portray “all four major roles.” I guess you had to be there; maybe the manager was making the universal “jerking off” hand gesture while making the statement.
COLD: Cruz-in’ for a Losin’
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was given a softball question on CBS This Morning when asked what kind of music he likes. He responded with the kind of pandering bullshit answer that defines what people mean when they joke, “You sound like a politician!” Cruz said he used to like Rock, but he didn’t like how rockers responded after 9/11 (like raising millions of dollars for 9/11 relief?) and instead found himself drawn to Country because those artists’ response “resonated” with him. A good follow-up question would have been to ask what post-9/11 Country song he likes more — the one about getting “Drunk on a Plane” or the one about skipping work and “Day Drinking.”