Comments on: Say What? – Hank Williams Jr.

By: Travis McClain @TravisSMcClain

Travis McClain @TravisSMcClain — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 02:38:27 +0000

His bizarre fixation on the idea of his parents living happily ever after has always convinced me he’s not terribly comfortable living in the world the rest of us live in anyway. There was, of course, the report a few years ago when his daughters were hospitalized following that accident that he had pitched a fit to get them a white doctor. In fairness, I dismissed it as gossip but I admit it certainly didn’t surprise me that the guy who recorded “If the South Woulda Won” might not embrace racial diversity.

By: GloFish

GloFish — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 02:28:55 +0000

Sounds like he’s fallen off the wagon…

Make no doubt about it, he made some fabulous music back in the ’70s and into the late ’80s, “Pride’s Not Hard to Swallow” is an under heard masterpiece, but his buffoonery since he jumped on the Palin freight train to nowhere has just been a sad, embarrassing epilogue to his legacy.

By: Rachael Sarah Williams

Rachael Sarah Williams — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:31:11 +0000

ZING!

Thanks, Kevin. This post makes a far more elegant point than I can.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:25:52 +0000

…where just does this absurd conviction derive from that love for one’s country would appear so much bigger, when linked with putting down others?

“too country? – i don’t understand…” (“whispering” bill anderson)

By: Ethan

Ethan — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:34:37 +0000

I agree with John that the most disappointing thing about the points Kevin makes is that they’re not surprising at all. But it IS rare to hear such clear-headed outspokenness in the arena of country music about this blatant ignorance that infects the fan base. As an aspiring country artist, and a gay man, I can only hope that “othering” will soon die out if country music is to be, as Tim McGraw said at the CMA Awards years ago, “truly music for everyone.”

By: Erik North

Erik North — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:22:59 +0000

One thing I widely suspect about HW Jr. now is that, at the very least, he is extremely uncomfortable about there being a colored guy in the White House. And at the worst, I suspect him of being, if not a closet member of the Klan, then probably an out-in-the-open member of the John Birch Society, which is just a couple of steps removed from the Klan.

Whatever the case may be, we need to speak out against demagogues of his ilk who clearly want to take this country backwards to when anyone who wasn’t White was to be bullied, beaten, or lynched. Those people have no place in America whatsoever.

By: Travis McClain @TravisSMcClain

Travis McClain @TravisSMcClain — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:54:46 +0000

There’s one very important point here, as regards public reaction: mainstream radio hasn’t really paid Hank, Jr. any attention since the early 90s. It’s hard to want to see him denied radio play since no one really plays his new stuff anyway. That’s quite different from where the Dixie Chicks were in March, 2003, when they were on the cusp of their third consecutive #1 from Home.

Essentially, he has a free pass to say and do as he pleases. How much money is he even generating for Curb Records? It can’t be much, since he hasn’t had a gold or platinum certification from the RIAA since his Greatest Hits was certified 5x platinum nine years ago. So what if he upsets people who weren’t buying his music anyway? He’s very unlikely to lose any of the active fan base he still has.

And there’s the rub. Throughout the Obama administration, I’ve heard one outrageous thing after another from one crank after another. Each time, someone dismissed their views by saying, “It’s just that one guy. Who cares what Donald Trump/Ted Nugent/Hank, Jr./whomever says?”

Except, it’s not just that one guy. They give voice to scores of people who think and feel the same way. That’s why it’s so disgusting. If it was just Hank, Jr., so be it. As someone tweeted last year when he spouted off over the Obama/Boehner golf match:

“I trust Hank Williams Jr on Political Theory almost as much as I trust Hank Williams Jr on Good Clean Livin.’”

https://twitter.com/JohnFugelsang/status/120988029052653568

The problem isn’t with this one paranoid bigot. The problem is with the millions (and yes, there are millions) of paranoid bigots for whom he really does speak. Any discussion about Hank or any of the others must acknowledge that these are not isolated incidents of marginal cranks running their mouths. They represent a very strong strain of people and it is an egregious mistake to underestimate how dangerous they are.

By: Sound Bite: Hank Williams Jr. and ignorance | Tara Seetharam

Sound Bite: Hank Williams Jr. and ignorance | Tara Seetharam — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:19:46 +0000

[...] not like me. You do not believe what I believe. You are the enemy.” -Kevin Coyne in this from-the-gut post. A must read. Share this:Share Tags: Country Universe, Hank Williams Jr. Click here to cancel [...]

By: Kevin John Coyne

Kevin John Coyne — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:12:45 +0000

I don’t think that you have to serve in the military to be patriotic or to support military action.

That disclaimer aside, Ted Nugent’s dodging of military service is legendary, at least in some of his personal recollections of it:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/nugent.asp

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:51:47 +0000

Let’s leave John Wayne out of this – he’s been dead for 33 years. Moreover, the Wiki has this to say about him (an account I’ve seen corroboration): “America’s entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). He repeatedly wrote to John Ford, asking to be placed in Ford’s military unit, but consistently postponed it until “after he finished one more film”,[27] Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him; Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract[28] and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne’s further deferment.[29]

Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944…”

Chuck Norris four years in the USAF, so I’d say he did his share. Moreover, he’s had significant involvement in charitable matters.

I can’t really speak to Charlie Daniels or Ted “Kill It and Grill It” Nugent.

I suspect that Hank Jr is suffering delayed effects of his fall, perhaps coupled with the effects of some form aging related illness such as Alzheimers or some other form of dementia.
The young Hank Jr was considerably different that the version that emerged after his nearly fatal injuries. I’ll just say that during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s he was a great artist. Since then he’s become a characture of himself