Music: Caught Between Rock And A Hard Place

Rock and country have traditionally been as divided as doves and hawks in times of war. During the Vietnam era, the Who sang "Won't Get Fooled Again" while Merle Haggard celebrated his redneck American roots in "Okie From Muskogee." Not much has changed: platinum-selling rockers System of a Down's video "Boom" is a montage of antiwar protests, while country crooner Darryl Worley's "Have You Forgotten?" calls for the support of U.S. troops in the Middle East. But what if you're a band that exists between the two worlds?

The Dixie Chicks are a little bit VH-1 and CMT, but their country contingency is less than happy with the trio these days. Why? Because Chick Natalie Maines told a London audience on March 10, "We're embarrassed the president of the United States is from Texas." Country stations from Dallas to San Diego stopped playing their new album, "Home," fans called the band unpatriotic and a Louisiana station used a tractor to destroy a pile of Dixie discs (Operation Ignoramus?). Though Maines released a statement apologizing to President Bush, singer Travis Tritt still encouraged a boycott: "The best way to get an entertainer's attention is to hit them in their pocketbooks." Even the South Carolina Legislature called on the ladies to give a free concert for the troops. Still, the outcry has barely hampered sales: the Dixies' single "Travelin' Soldier" slipped two notches on the country charts last week, but the album jumped from number 6 to 4 on the pop charts. Though the rock world can be as rigidly PC as country is conservative (could U2 survive doing a pro-war anthem?), System's Serj Tankian says politics are not the point. "You have to take risks. The beauty of America is exercising your freedom of speech."