Neil Young Rocks W. Bush

[KNOWTHIS]

www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,18825,00.html

Neil Young Rockin' Dubya's World

Neil Young's 1989 anthem "Rockin' in the Free World" was scathingly critical of the social policies of then President George Bush. Now the rock icon has found himself a new target: Bush's son.

The musican has announced via neilyoung.com plans to release Living with War, an album protesting the war Iraq that he recorded earlier this month in just three days.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

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Living with War, to be distributed by Warner/Reprise, takes sharp aim at the administration of President George W. Bush with the scathing tune "Let's Impeach the President."

Bushies, beware. Per online reports, the partisan call for the commander in chief's ousting will feature samples of Bush speeches laid over a 100-member chorus chanting "flip-flop."

Young described the hastily assembled 10-song set as a return of sorts to his '60s roots. In addition to his own guitar skills, the album features drums, bass and a trumpet, as well as the massive ensemble of vocalists.

"I think it's a metal version of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan...Metal Folk protest?" he wrote.

The singer-songwriter also revealed some of the lyrics for the title track:

"I'm living with war everyday...I'm living with war in my heart everyday...I'm living with war right now...and when the night falls, I pray for peace...try to remember peace (visualize)...I join the multitudes...I raise my hand in peace...I never bow to the laws of the though police...I take a holy vow...to never kill again...to never kill again."

Other tracks on the album include "Looking for a Leader" and an a cappella rendition of "America the Beautiful."

Reprise spokesman Bill Bentley told Reuters that the speed with which Young recorded Living with War came as a shock to Warner executives who were still busy promoting the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's last album, Prairie Wind, released a mere seven months ago.

"We didn't know he was making a record," the rep said.

Young's longtime manager, Elliot Roberts, stressed that the politically themed tunes were written in such a way as to have a broad appeal with all Americans, telling the New York Times that "it's not a political, Democratic versus Republican feel."

Before any Red Staters go thinking the prolific Canadian crooner should make a run for the border, it's worth noting that in 2001 he recorded the single, "Let's Roll," a poignant tribute to the victims of 9-11 and the passengers and crew of Flight 93 in particular.

Of course, Young is well known for penning politically-charged ditties. He's protested the Kent State massacre (Crosby, Still, Nash and Young's 1970 classic "Ohio"), racism (1970's "Southern Man"), corporate rock (1988's "This Note's for You") and, as previously noted, Papa Bush (1989's "Rockin' in the Free World").

When he's not exercising his freedom of speech or touring, the veteran rocker is turning up on the big screen. Last year, he teamed up with director Jonathan Demme for Heart of Gold, a concert film capturing Young's two-night stand in Nashville last August which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is currently in theaters.

No word yet when Living with War will hit record stores.

[KNOWTHIS]

Fox News and its smear merchant squad have been quick to denigrate his character by calling him what else but "un-American".

mediamatters.org/items/200604180008

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Blasting Canadian Neil Young for Bush criticism, Cavuto forgot his own Canada-bashing

Summary: Fox News' Neil Cavuto presented a segment dedicated to a forthcoming album by Neil Young. Noting that Young is Canadian, Cavuto asked Canadian attorney Patrice Brunet: "[H]ow would the people of Canada feel if an American artist devoted an entire record to telling the world what a bad place Canada is?" Brunet replied: "

eople, they laugh at Canadians all the time, so we're used to it. It's -- I guess it's your turn on this one." But Cavuto didn't mention that Canada has already had its "turn" to be publicly criticized by an American "Neil" -- Cavuto himself.

On the April 17 edition of Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto presented a segment dedicated to a forthcoming album by singer/songwriter Neil Young, that features a song reportedly called "Impeach the President." Noting that Young is Canadian, Cavuto asked Canadian lawyer and political analyst Patrice Brunet: "[H]ow would the people of Canada feel if an American artist devoted an entire record to telling the world what a bad place Canada is?" Brunet replied: "

eople, they laugh at Canadians all the time, so we're used to it. I guess it's your turn on this one." But Cavuto didn't mention that Canada has already had its "turn" to be publicly criticized by an American "Neil" -- Cavuto himself.

For example, Media Matters for America previously noted that in a December 2005 discussion with Brunet, Cavuto responded to former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's criticism of U.S. global environmental policies by wondering: "[H]ave the Canadians gotten a little bit too big for their britches?" Cavuto also suggested that "our neighbors to the north" could "soon become our enemies." He asked Brunet: "Do the Canadian people hate America as much as your politicians seem to?"

On April 14, Young confirmed rumors that he will soon release an album titled Living with War, which features songs about President Bush and the war in Iraq.

From the April 17 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

CAVUTO: Well, have you heard the fuss over rocker Neil Young's latest album? On it, he bashes America's president, American government, and the American war in Iraq. One song is even called "Impeach the President." And Neil Young, in case you didn't know, is a Canadian citizen, though he lives in the United States. So, we ask, how would the people of Canada feel if an American artist devoted an entire record to telling the world what a bad place Canada is? With us now from Québec is Patrice Brunet, he's a Canadian political activist. Patrice, A), what do you think of this whole album fuss?

BRUNET: Well, I mean, Neil, people, they laugh at Canadians all the time, so we're used to it. It's -- I guess it's your turn on this one. But, you know, we're used to getting shots at having, you know, we have moose walking down the street, we live in igloos, we live in a permanent permafrost. So, you know, it's just an artist expressing his views.

[KNOWTHIS]

Dixie Chicks are not backing down either.

www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/music/14326809.htm

Dixie Chicks aren’t ready to ‘Make Nice’

The Dixie Chicks release their new album, “Taking the Long Way,” late in May, but don’t look for them to soften up.

A few stations around the country are playing the first single, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which refers to the backlash the band received for speaking against the Bush administration in 2003.

The song features the lyric “I’m mad as hell and I can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should,” and the video shows the trio as leads in “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller’s play based on the Salem witch trials.

The video can be seen on the usual suspects — AOL, Quicktime, Yahoo! Music, VH1 and MTV — and on the Chicks’ site, dixiechicks .com.

[KNOWTHIS]

Fox News smear chief O'reilly puts the anti-journalistic hit on them as well...no surprise.

mediamatters.org/items/200601110010

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Stand by your band: O'Reilly falsely claimed Dixie Chicks "have not recovered" from controversial 2003 remarks

Summary: Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that country music trio the Dixie Chicks "have not recovered to this day" from a controversy surrounding remarks critical of President Bush during one of the group's concerts. In fact, in the months following the controversy, the band embarked on the top-grossing country tour of the year and has continued to enjoy strong commercial success.

During the January 9 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that country music trio the Dixie Chicks "have not recovered to this day" from a controversy surrounding remarks critical of President Bush during one of the group's concerts. In fact, in the months following the controversy, the band embarked on the top-grossing country tour of the year and has continued to enjoy strong commercial success.

In March 2003, group member Natalie Maines incited controversy after telling a London audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." Initial anger over the statements and a limited radio boycott did reportedly have an impact on the group's album sales. However, the Dixie Chicks' 2003 North American tour proved that any backlash was short-lived. In May, a mere two months after the controversy first erupted, the tour opened in Greenville, South Carolina, to a sold-out crowd. The tour then spent the summer crisscrossing North America and grossed $61 million, making the Dixie Chicks tour the top-grossing country tour of 2003. By the end of the year, their album, Home, ranked fourth on 2003's Billboard Top 200 Album chart, with the group itself finishing the year as the top-selling country group/duo and the third-highest-selling pop group/duo.

The trio's music has also consistently won major awards. Since the anti-Bush comments, it won the Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group Grammy in 2005. The group's song "I Hope," whose proceeds will go to victims of Hurricane Katrina, has been nominated in that category and in the Best Country Song category for the 2006 Grammys, which will be awarded February 8.

O'Reilly stated that "[t]he problem with the Dixie Chicks is they lobbed these bombs and then they wouldn't talk about it." However, the band was quick to aggressively and openly defend its antiwar views. Immediately after the London comments, the band officially stated: "While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost." Maines, whose comment provoked the controversy, further explained her remark:

I feel the president is ignoring the opinion of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world. My comments were made in frustration, and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view.

The band also made an appearance on ABC's Primetime Thursday in which Maines apologized for "the wrong wording" but remained steadfast: "Am I sorry that I asked questions and that I just don't follow? No." They also claimed the cover of the May 2, 2003, issue of Entertainment Weekly, with slogans such as "Traitors," "Saddam's Angels," "Free Speech," and "Proud Americans" scrawled across their nude bodies.

From the January 9 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

CALLER: Just wanted to [inaudible] on the Harry Belafonte comments. If you recall, the Dixie Chicks just a few years back made some comments -- Natalie Maines made comments regarding Bush not being from her state when she was over in England.

E.D. HILL (co-host): Um-hmm.

CALLER: There was a huge backlash.

HILL: Yep.

CALLER: Radio stations refused to play their songs.

O'REILLY: Right.

CALLER: Not that Harry Belafonte has anything out, but where's the backlash from his supporters?

O'REILLY: Well, I don't think he has any.

HILL: No.

O'REILLY: He's not a commercial entity. Dixie Chicks, it hurt them.

HILL: It did.

O'REILLY: It hurt them.

HILL: I heard the band members were mad at her.

O'REILLY: And they have not recovered to this day. Look, if you're an entertainer and you rely on the goodwill of the American people, then -- I don't say you can't say anything, but you have to come in and explain it rationally. The problem with the Dixie Chicks is they lobbed these bombs and then they wouldn't talk about it.

[KNOWTHIS]

O’reilly said “they haven’t recovered” implying that the Dixie Chicks career is more or less over and they wouldn’t be popular anymore because of Bush criticism.

Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to make Nice" hits Billboard with a bullet; O'Reilly predicts reduced sales


Bill O'reilly interviewed Scott McKenzie from Billboard Magazine today 3/15/06 on The Factor, specifically about the release of The Dixie Chicks' new single, "Not Ready to Make Nice", and their upcoming album, "Taking the Long Way" (due out May 23). Of course the main thrust of the conversation was Natalie Maines remark in 2003 that she was not proud to be from the same state as George Bush. She has since apologized for her choice of words, though not the sentiment, and O'Reilly predicts that their record sales will suffer forever for it.

O'Reilly made a big deal that their song play on country radio had dropped 30% since Natalie's comment, and it was agreed that country music fans lean conservative. McKenzie thinks the Chicks mean to crossover into the pop genre and may find a whole new audience of fans. Their new single is getting "a surprising" lot of radio airplay in markets as diverse as Chicago, LA, Dallas, Minneapolis, and it's moving very quickly. They'll be touring to promote the album, and O'Reilly asks for predictions about this new one. Instead we get a history of their last album, "Home", which sold an outstanding 780,000 units its first week, debuting at #1, and ultimately 6,000,000 worldwide total sales.

O'Reilly predicted that they won't sell nearly that many this time around, saying "I don't see them doing that this time around." (Comment: there he goes, pulling things out of *thin air* again. Now he's a music industry analyst? Wishful thinking, big BORe - like a child he's trying to put the whammy on them.) In response, McKenzie seemed to be making excuses for why it will be a big seller: of course there are the die-hard fans, and the curiosity seekers who either want to see what they're talking about, or who disagree with what they're talking about..." O'Reilly interrupts to say he predicts 2,000,000 tops and asks McKenzie what he thinks. McKenzie says it depends on the first week and he expects 300,000-400,000 units. O'Reilly, clearly alarmed by that, says yeah, but then it will drop off, that's their fans and they haven't had any product in four years.

O'Reilly says that if it had been rappers or stoned-out acid-rockers making the comments it wouldn't have mattered at all- they could diss Bush all day long in those environments. I am amazed at the casual manner in which he generalizes and dismisses people based on exterior criteria. Apparently the thought police are not yet after the "fringe" people - it's the mainstream they want tightly controlled. McKenzie reinforces that, saying country really comes under the microscope every time there's criticism of a Republican president.

He says the Dixie Chicks are already crossing over to adult Top 40 and adult contemporary radio stations. O'Reilly vows to track it; my prediction is if the album is a soaring success we won't hear another word.

[KNOWTHIS]

Wouldn't you just love to punch Tucker in his face? What he says makes no sense. He claims that by dissing Bush you can't be a rebellious rocker because Bush haters are in the majority. He says the cooler, riskier rock n roll thing to do would be to support Bush.

How stupid. The music is about generating large scale social movements. If the majority of the people are backing the message it means that the rebellion was a great success. Manson understood this. He once said, "you have to first become part of the mainstream in order to then overcome it". To throw that all away just to avoid being labeled as part of the mainstream is pointless. Tucker sees that his side is losing the war and he’s reaching for straws.

I like what Maddow said about toenail fungus.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12531759/

CARLSON: OK. Now I know you have a special in to the washed up protest rocker community, so maybe you can translate this stanza for me.

Quote, “What if al Qaeda blew up the levees? Would New Orleans have been safer that way? Sheltered by our government‘s protection. Or was someone just not home that day?”

Good stuff. Sounds like someone‘s just not home in Neil Young‘s house. But how does that mean?

MADDOW: You should invite Neil Young on and have him explain.

CARLSON: He wouldn‘t—I don‘t think he would come. So we have—we have you.

MADDOW: My interpretation of this art...

CARLSON: Yes.

MADDOW: ... as a radio show host would be that he‘s saying, you know what, when New Orleans got wiped off the map a lot of Americans were scared that if that had been another terrorist attack our response was that bad we‘d be in really bad shape as a country.

CARLSON: Boy.

MADDOW: How about that?

CARLSON: Nice try. Nice try.

MADDOW: What‘s the matter with Neil Young writing a protest song?

American rock ‘n‘ roll has always...

CARLSON: I totally—look, you‘ll never hear me contesting the legal right, certainly, of anybody to write basically anything. So I‘m not saying he doesn‘t have a right to do it. Good luck, Neil Young, you loser.

But I‘m just saying, it‘s so conventional and so stupid. I wish—here‘s my point. Here‘s my point. If you‘re going to be a protester, be cutting edge. Be interesting. Cut against the grain of popular—of popular and received wisdom. Right? So a real cutting edge song would be like “Go Bush, you‘re cool.” Everyone hates Bush.

So the next stanza. Here it is. “Let‘s impeach the president for hijacking our religion and using it to get elected. Dividing our country into colors. And still leaving black people neglected.”

MADDOW: Yes.

CARLSON: That‘s—I think you can say a lot of things about Bush, I don‘t think he‘s super smart. I think Iraq is a disaster. I think he‘s arrogant, whatever. He‘s not a racist. They hit the same notes every time, and they‘re false notes. And they‘re stupid notes.

MADDOW: No, I mean, you look at Katrina. Black people disproportionately affected by Katrina.

CARLSON: It‘s not Bush‘s fault.

MADDOW: The response to Katrina is Bush‘s fault. The government in action in response to it is Bush‘s fault.

But whether you agree with Neil Young in a situation like this, the fact is about, you know, 70 percent of the American public thinks that Bush is doing a bad job as president. About 30 percent thinks he‘s doing a good job, if you look at the polls. So you know, that leaves 90 million Americans among whom some could sing. And maybe they could...

CARLSON: But that‘s the point. That is exactly the point. You made the point exactly.

MADDOW: Yes.

CARLSON: The very point I wanted to make, which is now these so-called cutting edge rockers are actually voicing majority opinion. They‘re on the side much of every dumb soccer mom with an SUV, right? Bush is bad. He was mean to the people in New Orleans.

When is, like, the truly radical political equivalent of punk rock going to come out where somebody says something unexpected?

MADDOW: I can see. It‘s going to be you and Bo Derek and Ron Silver, and you will do a duet together. And you‘ll do a duet about the things that people love about Bush. He‘s a really good exerciser. People love that. He‘s very handsome. The Bush twins are pretty.

CARLSON: I‘m not a Bush fan. OK? I‘m not a Bush fan. I‘m not a Bush defender. I think he‘s better than the left. But I‘m still not a fan.

I want to love Bush because all the conventional people, all the people had take their cues from, like, “The New York Times” and other kind of middle brow organs like that, they hate him. You‘re supposed to hate him. Still want to love him, though.

MADDOW: Tucker, people hate toenail fungus, too. That doesn‘t make loving toenail fungus the radical cool thing. Sometimes people hate Bush because Bush is the worst president ever.

CARLSON: Where are the real radicals? I want the real radicals to show up, somewhere.

MADDOW: You know where they are?

CARLSON: They‘re the libertarians. They‘re the real radicals. They‘re like the people who actually say things you hadn‘t thought of before. Not Neil Young.

MADDOW: I love toenail fungus. All right, Tucker.

[madcitizen]

Artist: Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse
Album: Broken Arrow
1996


Great album!..

[kola]

anyone hearing Neil's anti-bush song being played on the radio? I think he has been
ex-communicated from the air waves...damn shame.

grrrrr, kola

[Swamp Gas]

kola said:

anyone hearing Neil's anti-bush song being played on the radio? I think he has been
ex-communicated from the air waves...damn shame.

grrrrr, kola

The Zionist-controlled media does not want Peace with middle east, for there's no money in peace.

We as a society have de-volved pretty far since the 60s and 70s, where protest songs were common on the radio

[kola]

i agree swamp......the media has been pimped off....

Kola

[increase 1776]

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