Events
- March 10 — During a concert in London, England, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines said that the band was "ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas" (referring to Maines' hometown of Lubbock and President Bush hailing from the same state). The comment sparked intense controversy and outrage among Americans, including a large share of country music fans.
- Those who took offense to Maines' comments based their feelings on a number of grounds, including that the country was then on the verge of declaring war on Iraq (which happened less than two weeks later) and that Maines made the comments on foreign soil. Chicks' supporters, meanwhile, cited their right to free speech. Radio stations – perhaps riding the wave of fan sentiment – refuse to play their music on the air, including their then-current hit, "Travelin' Soldier" (which ironically was about a soldier who is about to go to war); some even sponsor anti-Dixie Chicks promotional events, such as disposing and destroying Chicks' compact discs and other merchandise. Maines, meanwhile, defended her stance during a televised interview with Diane Sawyer.
- Maines and her bandmates – Emily Robison and Martie Maguire – appeared nude (with private parts strategically covered) on the May 2 cover of Entertainment Weekly. Their bodies were covered with words such as "Saddam's Angels" and "Traitor."
- June 11 – Country Music magazine announces that it will cease publication, effective with the August/September 2003 issue. The final issue's cover artist was Martina McBride, as part of a salute to women in country music. The magazine's sister publication, Country Weekly, which had largely taken over the market for country music-related journalism, picks up part of the slack left by the closure of Country Music, both of which were published by American Media Inc.
- July — The Rascal Flatts video, "I Melt," comes under fire by conservative groups because it contains brief scenes of nudity. The video stars band member Joe Don Rooney and model Christina Auria. Groups called for the video to be banned from airplay on CMT and Great American Country. Eventually, Rascal Flatts released an edited version of the video, which aired during daytime hours on the two country music-oriented networks.
- December — The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honors Loretta Lynn for her lifetime contributions to the arts.
Read more about this topic: 2003 In Country Music
Famous quotes containing the word events:
“The phenomenon of nature is more splendid than the daily events of nature, certainly, so then the twentieth century is splendid.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“I have no time to read newspapers. If you chance to live and move and have your being in that thin stratum in which the events which make the news transpire—thinner than the paper on which it is printed—then these things will fill the world for you; but if you soar above or dive below that plane, you cannot remember nor be reminded of them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“On the most profitable lie, the course of events presently lays a destructive tax; whilst frankness invites frankness, puts the parties on a convenient footing, and makes their business a friendship.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)