Tonight I was having a lazy night in with a pizza and friends. We decided to watch a DVD called “Shut Up & Sing”. It follows the Dixie Chicks after their lead singer gets them into some hot water by saying, live on stage in London, that they were “ashamed the president is from Texas”. Unfortunately for the band this did not go down well with the majority of country music fans in th US who are mostly conservative. Natalie made this statement right before the war in Iraq broke out and President Bush’s popularity was at it’s height.

The best part about the following landslide of opinion was the unity shown between the three members of the band. The other two members never blamed their friend for what followed her statement, they just totally supported her in every way.

I would recommend you see this film. You don’t have to be a fan of country music, that’s not the point. It’s about free speech. A phase those americans love to throw around, but in this film you see it’s true power. They said what they wanted to say and some people agreed and some didn’t - some went as far as to gather on mass and distroy their CDs. What’s irritating is when people only agree with free speech when they agree with what’s being said. The challenge is always to be open to other opinions and in this a lot of people on this film feel down - badly. The band didn’t, however, at one point giving their audience a chance to boo them if they wanted to.

After a few years Bush wasn’t so popular and it all calmed down, the band ended up back “at the scene of the crime” and repeated the statement. You’ve got to admire people who stick to their guns.

When the film was over I found myself really admiring the band. After all this was over they never went back and just forgot all the radio staions that wouldn’t play their music but rather went on to achieve a No 1 album without them. Well done to them