thedrifter
07-28-04, 11:13 AM
August 02, 2004
Patriotic country
The music standing behind today’s troops
By C. Mark Brinkley
Times staff writer
There was a time when the entertainment industry crushed the war movement. Everyone from Jane Fonda to Muhammad Ali to John Lennon was on the same page. Give peace a chance, they sang. War, what is it good for, absolutelynothin’sayitagain. The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.
It was a full-court press, and support for Vietnam crumbled like the L.A. Lakers’ defense. Down-home songs like “Galveston” and “Okie from Muskogee” slowed the hemorrhaging but couldn’t prevent widespread depictions of fighting men as murderers and baby killers.
But the times, they are a-changin’.
These days, people such as shockumentary filmmaker Michael Moore, actor Sean Penn and “Rock Against Bush” band The Offspring are still raging against the war machine. But now the country music growl — fueled by four decades of increasing popularity and changing tastes in music — is showing teeth.
They’re not just proud to be Americans anymore. As Toby Keith says, if you’re an enemy of America today, they’ll “put a boot in your ass.”
The only ’60s reruns we’re seeing these days are on “Nick at Nite.”
“I think that the pop and [adult contemporary] artists are probably influenced by the Hollywood aloofness,” said Lee Greenwood, a Grammy winner and performer of the oft-heard patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA.”
“It’s more hip to not talk about the Army so much and to follow your own — even if I have to say it — liberal attitudes toward the United States,” he said. “We are, I think, as country folks, more rooted in family and traditions. And the tradition is, you support the military because the military keeps us free. So I think that maybe that might be the mind-set.”
‘A sense of comfort’
Tune into a country station, and you won’t wait long to hear a patriotic anthem. Songs about personal sacrifice, such as John Michael Montgomery’s “Letters from Home” and Toby Keith’s “American Soldier.” Calls to action, like Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” and Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?”
Such songs probably aren’t swaying opinions in the war-protester ranks, but they help balance out the negatives. And, one historian said, they offer everyday people a way to identify with the individuals who are overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I would consider [the songs] to be very positive,” said Michael Coventry, a professor for the communication, culture and technology program at Georgetown University who has studied historical links between popular culture and service members. “Whatever one’s own personal position on this or any other war, I don’t think anyone would argue with the need to be aware.
“Whether you agree with the fact that people are there, they are there and they’re sacrificing,” Coventry said. “Disagreeing with the war doesn’t negate the fact that they’re there in someone else’s place.”
For military families, the songs can provide a broader sense of support for their sacrifices. For troops, they help boost morale.
“It definitely gives them motivation and makes them think about it, when they’re over there,” said rising country star Josh Gracin, an active-duty Marine who parlayed his stint on “American Idol 2” into a music contract. “It gives them a sense of comfort. I really do think it helps.”
His new album includes a patriotic song, “The Other Little Soldier,” a story of sacrifice told from the perspective of a child whose father goes to war and doesn’t come home.
“It’s not a normal military song,” Gracin said. “I didn’t want to go out there and do what everybody else is doing — do a patriotic soldier song, a war song. That’s why I did this song, because it’s so different from anything that’s ever been done.
“It talks about military life from a child’s point of view, something that ... nobody’s ever sat down and said anything about, really,” said Gracin, the father of a young girl.
And while such songs aren’t causing widespread outpourings of patriotism, they do change some minds. Coventry recalled a student who joined the ROTC program after hearing Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”
“Sept. 11 just really was a searing event for him, and he felt the need to participate in the protection of his ideals and values, and so that’s why he joined ROTC,” Coventry said.
The student’s final presentation for Coventry’s class dealt with listening to the song again while riding on a bus to his first live-fire exercise, “and how different it was to hear that song on his way to go train with live ammunition, as opposed to when he heard it immediately after Sept. 11,” Coventry said. “So, I think [country music] has power, but I’m not sure how much it sways.”
A more ‘grown-up’ America
That is not to say that music’s power alone changed America in the 1960s. But, Coventry pointed out, changes in technology and an increase in options have a lot to do with the impact. These days, most people listen only to what they like.
“Country music speaks to the country music audience, but it really doesn’t have a lot of crossover,” said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a Washington, D.C., think tank that studies the content of news and entertainment media. “So, in a sense, it’s preaching to the choir. But it’s a good pep talk, at a time when we need all the pep talks we can get.”
Plus, America has grown up a lot since Woodstock.
“I think now we can believe that soldiers are human and sometimes they do bad things,” Coventry said. “Then, we were just so naive that it just came as a shock. A lot of people have learned that lesson and have learned the lesson that you can’t abandon people and have everyone end up like ‘The Deer Hunter’ or something.
“I think that that’s one lesson that a lot of people learned, and I think even anti-war people have learned that lesson,” he said.
C. Mark Brinkley, senior writer for Lifelines, shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. He can be reached via e-mail at cmark@atpco.com or at (910) 455-8354 if you have a quarter … and want to call someone who cares.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-275173.php
Ellie
Patriotic country
The music standing behind today’s troops
By C. Mark Brinkley
Times staff writer
There was a time when the entertainment industry crushed the war movement. Everyone from Jane Fonda to Muhammad Ali to John Lennon was on the same page. Give peace a chance, they sang. War, what is it good for, absolutelynothin’sayitagain. The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.
It was a full-court press, and support for Vietnam crumbled like the L.A. Lakers’ defense. Down-home songs like “Galveston” and “Okie from Muskogee” slowed the hemorrhaging but couldn’t prevent widespread depictions of fighting men as murderers and baby killers.
But the times, they are a-changin’.
These days, people such as shockumentary filmmaker Michael Moore, actor Sean Penn and “Rock Against Bush” band The Offspring are still raging against the war machine. But now the country music growl — fueled by four decades of increasing popularity and changing tastes in music — is showing teeth.
They’re not just proud to be Americans anymore. As Toby Keith says, if you’re an enemy of America today, they’ll “put a boot in your ass.”
The only ’60s reruns we’re seeing these days are on “Nick at Nite.”
“I think that the pop and [adult contemporary] artists are probably influenced by the Hollywood aloofness,” said Lee Greenwood, a Grammy winner and performer of the oft-heard patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA.”
“It’s more hip to not talk about the Army so much and to follow your own — even if I have to say it — liberal attitudes toward the United States,” he said. “We are, I think, as country folks, more rooted in family and traditions. And the tradition is, you support the military because the military keeps us free. So I think that maybe that might be the mind-set.”
‘A sense of comfort’
Tune into a country station, and you won’t wait long to hear a patriotic anthem. Songs about personal sacrifice, such as John Michael Montgomery’s “Letters from Home” and Toby Keith’s “American Soldier.” Calls to action, like Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” and Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten?”
Such songs probably aren’t swaying opinions in the war-protester ranks, but they help balance out the negatives. And, one historian said, they offer everyday people a way to identify with the individuals who are overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I would consider [the songs] to be very positive,” said Michael Coventry, a professor for the communication, culture and technology program at Georgetown University who has studied historical links between popular culture and service members. “Whatever one’s own personal position on this or any other war, I don’t think anyone would argue with the need to be aware.
“Whether you agree with the fact that people are there, they are there and they’re sacrificing,” Coventry said. “Disagreeing with the war doesn’t negate the fact that they’re there in someone else’s place.”
For military families, the songs can provide a broader sense of support for their sacrifices. For troops, they help boost morale.
“It definitely gives them motivation and makes them think about it, when they’re over there,” said rising country star Josh Gracin, an active-duty Marine who parlayed his stint on “American Idol 2” into a music contract. “It gives them a sense of comfort. I really do think it helps.”
His new album includes a patriotic song, “The Other Little Soldier,” a story of sacrifice told from the perspective of a child whose father goes to war and doesn’t come home.
“It’s not a normal military song,” Gracin said. “I didn’t want to go out there and do what everybody else is doing — do a patriotic soldier song, a war song. That’s why I did this song, because it’s so different from anything that’s ever been done.
“It talks about military life from a child’s point of view, something that ... nobody’s ever sat down and said anything about, really,” said Gracin, the father of a young girl.
And while such songs aren’t causing widespread outpourings of patriotism, they do change some minds. Coventry recalled a student who joined the ROTC program after hearing Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”
“Sept. 11 just really was a searing event for him, and he felt the need to participate in the protection of his ideals and values, and so that’s why he joined ROTC,” Coventry said.
The student’s final presentation for Coventry’s class dealt with listening to the song again while riding on a bus to his first live-fire exercise, “and how different it was to hear that song on his way to go train with live ammunition, as opposed to when he heard it immediately after Sept. 11,” Coventry said. “So, I think [country music] has power, but I’m not sure how much it sways.”
A more ‘grown-up’ America
That is not to say that music’s power alone changed America in the 1960s. But, Coventry pointed out, changes in technology and an increase in options have a lot to do with the impact. These days, most people listen only to what they like.
“Country music speaks to the country music audience, but it really doesn’t have a lot of crossover,” said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a Washington, D.C., think tank that studies the content of news and entertainment media. “So, in a sense, it’s preaching to the choir. But it’s a good pep talk, at a time when we need all the pep talks we can get.”
Plus, America has grown up a lot since Woodstock.
“I think now we can believe that soldiers are human and sometimes they do bad things,” Coventry said. “Then, we were just so naive that it just came as a shock. A lot of people have learned that lesson and have learned the lesson that you can’t abandon people and have everyone end up like ‘The Deer Hunter’ or something.
“I think that that’s one lesson that a lot of people learned, and I think even anti-war people have learned that lesson,” he said.
C. Mark Brinkley, senior writer for Lifelines, shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. He can be reached via e-mail at cmark@atpco.com or at (910) 455-8354 if you have a quarter … and want to call someone who cares.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-275173.php
Ellie