Dixie Chicks vs. Toby Keith

Who said country music was lame? Dixie Chicks frontwoman Natalie Maines’ loose tongue seems to have gotten her and her bandmates into trouble yet again. Hot on the heels of the controversy over Maines’ opinionated comments about President Bush, the feud between Maines and country singer Toby Keith has heated up considerably. The battle of the country stars started back in August 2002 when Maines criticized Keith’s single "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)." She said of the single, "I hate it. It’s ignorant." In turn, Keith was quoted in December 2002 as saying, "I’ll bury her. She has never written anything that’s been a hit."

Well, the war is on! On May 21, Maines performed on television at the AMC Awards wearing a F.U.T.K. tee shirt – which viewers declared a definite telling off of T.K. (Toby Keith). According to a Dixie Chicks rep, "It’s my understanding that according to chatter on their web site, Natalie’s T-shirt stands for FREEDOM, UNDERSTANDING, TRUTH, AND KNOWLEDGE." Yeah, right! If you are going to have the guts to make a bold statement, you should be able to back it up! The following night, Keith appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, while his faithful supporters showed up sporting tee shirts that read F.U.D.C. Maybe their tees mean Freedom, Understanding, Democracy and Country. Or maybe it is just what the message seems!

Whatever happened to freedom of speech? There are plenty of people out there that would like to sport tees that read F.U.C.M. (Country Music) So what?! We aren’t all programmed to like the same thing! So why the battle between Maines and Keith? It seems that The Dixie Chicks’ latest album Home remains steadfast at number 4 in the country music charts and Keith’s Unleashed remains at number 1! The conflict between the two just may be the reason they have remained at the top.