
国家利益往往成为压制公民人身自由的借口,中国如此,美国同样如此,尤其是,当国家利益成为一种所谓群众集体无意识的迫害,这个社会便成为一个恐怖的炼狱。不过,就在这炼狱中,有三个母亲却依旧玩儿得很开心,她们踩着群众的脊梁舞蹈,在群众恐怖主义的刀口上肆意狂欢,她们就是“史上唱片销量最大的女性团体”Dixie Chicks。以下是CNN的相关报道。
Country group is back with new album, but will anybody buy it?
乡村团体携新专辑杀回来了,可还有人会买她们的唱片么?
Natalie Maines is one of those people born middle finger first.
Natalie Maines是这几个受到中指待遇的人之一。
As a high school senior in Lubbock, Texas, she'd skip a class a day in an attempt to prove that because she never got caught and some Mexican students did, the system was racist.
还在高中的时候,她就每天翘一节课以此证明学校体制是种族主义的,因为她从来不被老师抓,而一些墨西哥同学却总是被抓。
After Maines joined the Dixie Chicks, and the Dixie Chicks became the biggest-selling female group in music history -- with suspiciously little cash to show for it -- she and her bandmates told their record label, Sony, they were declaring themselves free agents. (In the high school that is Nashville, this is way worse than skipping class.)
Maines加入Dixie Chicks且Dixie Chicks成为史上唱片销量最大的女性团体之后,她和她的另外两个姐妹正告他们的东家Sony,他们要自己代理自己的音乐事业。
Now that she's truly notorious, having told a London audience in 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas," Maines has one regret: the apology she offered George W. Bush at the onset of her infamy. "I apologized for disrespecting the office of the president," says Maines. "But I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."
她们如今已经声名狼藉,皆因2003年伊拉克战争前夕,她们对一个伦敦听众说:“正如你所知道的,我们以一个来自德克萨斯的总统为耻。”但她们后来对被攻击对象小布什表示了歉意。Maines对此表示有些懊悔:“我为无礼冒犯总统表示道歉,但仅此而已。我并不认为他有理由获得更多的尊重。”
A sizable chunk of their once adoring audience feels the same way about the Dixie Chicks. After Maines' pronouncement, which was vigorously seconded by bandmates Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, the group received death threats and was banned by thousands of country radio stations, many of which still have informal bans in place.
讽刺的是,这也是很多歌迷对待她们的态度。在Maines的声明被另外两位成员Martie Maguire和Emily Robison以更强硬的态度复述之后,乐队收到了死亡恐吓并遭到无数乡村电台封杀,其中不少电台仍然在耍非正式的手段。
The Dixie Chicks have mass appeal -- you can't sell 10 million copies of two of your three albums without engaging lots of different people -- but country radio is an indispensable part of how they reach people.
无疑,Dixie Chicks确实有魅力,否则她们也不可能获得不同听众的喜爱三张唱片有两张卖过千万,但是别忘了,乡村电台功不可没。
Programmers say that even now a heartfelt apology could help set things right with listeners, but it's not happening. "If people are going to ask me to apologize based on who I am," says Maines, "I don't know what to do about that. I can't change who I am."
负责安排节目的电台工作人员说,只有一个由衷的道歉才能挽回听众的心,可这并没有发生。“如果人们希望我的道歉是发自肺腑的,”Maines,“我真不知道该怎么办了。因为我的肺腑就是那个样子。”
As proof, the first single from the Dixie Chicks' new album, "Taking the Long Way" (out May 23), is called "Not Ready to Make Nice." It is, as one country radio programmer says, "a four-minute f--- you to the format and our listeners. I like the Chicks, and I won't play it."
新专辑《Taking the Long Way》的第一首单曲《Not Ready to Make Nice》证明了这点。正如一个负责安排节目的电台工作人员说的,“它这根本是在用4分钟操听众。我喜欢Dixie Chicks,但我不会放她们的歌。”
Few other stations are playing Not Ready to Make Nice, and while it has done well on iTunes, it's quite possible that in singing about their anger at people who were already livid with them and were once their target audience, the Chicks have written their own ticket to the pop-culture glue factory.
当《Not Ready to Make Nice》在iTunes下载榜上表现不俗的时候,其他的电台也几乎没有播放这首歌。它很可能是表达了乐队对于那些曾经迁怒于她们的歌迷的愤怒,Dixie Chicks在以自己的方式重返流行文化生产线。
"I guess if we really cared, we wouldn't have released that single first," says Maguire. "That was just making people mad. But I don't think it was a mistake."
“我想如果我们不在乎的话,就不会首先发行这支单曲。”Maguire,“它可能会激怒听众,但我不认为这有什么错的。”
Whether the Dixie Chicks recover their sales luster or not, the choice of single has turned their album release into a referendum. "Taking the Long Way" is designed to thumb its nose at country's intolerance for ideological hell raising, and buying it or cursing it reveals something about you and your politics -- or at least your ability to put a grudge above your listening pleasure.
不管Dixie Chicks是否能再现辉煌,单曲的选择问题已经上升到了政治高度。《Taking the Long Way》就像是一次针对国家意识形态偏见的投票,购买它和咒骂它将暴露你的政治立场——至少说明你把怨恨强加于听觉乐趣之上。
And however you vote, it's tough to deny that by gambling their careers, three Texas women have the biggest balls in American music.
无论你投哪一方的票,都不能否认这三个德克萨斯女人正在用自己的前途在美国音乐史上赌一场最盛大的狂欢舞会。
Over lunch in decidedly uncountry Santa Monica, California, where they have lived part time while recording "Long Way," the Dixie Chicks -- in fancy jeans, tank tops and designer sunglasses -- seem less like provocateurs than busy moms (they have seven kids in all, ages 1 to 5) amped up by a little free time.
在她们为了录制《Taking the Long Way》而暂时居住的圣莫尼卡,吃过午饭之后的Dixie Chicks三个成员穿着花式牛仔裤、小背心和高档墨镜,看起来根本不像是什么煽动家而更像是闲暇时背着电吉他的忙碌的妈妈(她们一共有七个孩子,1岁到5岁)。
In conversation they are loud and unembarrassable, celebrating their lack of boundaries in that escalating, I-can-be-more-blunt-than-you way unique to sisters (which Maguire and Robison are) and women who have shared a tour-bus bathroom.
她们大声地交谈着,旁若无人、肆无忌惮,这几个共用一个巡演巴士洗手间的好姐妹唯恐不如对方直爽。
They eagerly discuss the soullessness of Tom Cruise, the creepiness of Charlie Sheen and the price-fixing practices of hair colorists.
她们津津乐道地讨论Tom Cruise的冷酷无情、Charlie Sheen的心怀不轨和染发师限价培训。
But sex is the perennial champ, and they are in a constant state of speculation about which of their kids' nannies is most likely to "get some" on tour this summer. "We're all married," says Maguire, "so it's not like we're going to."
但性是永恒的话题,她们就像这个国家其他人一样担心自己孩子们的保姆在自己的夏天巡演其间会发生什么故事。“我们都结婚了,”Maguire说,“所以我们不可能也那样。”
延伸阅读:
《Not Ready to Make Nice》的歌词
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting
I'm through with doubt
There's nothing left for me to figure out
I've paid a price
And I'll keep paying
I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting
I'm through with doubt
There's nothing left for me to figure out
I've paid a price
And I'll keep paying
I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting
I'm through with doubt
There's nothing left for me to figure out
I've paid a price
And I'll keep paying
I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round