That was probably for the best, given where Scott Weiland’s head was during that particular period of music history. Questions about song lyrics would probably have been answered with offers to trade sexual favors for heroin.

Is it that whole white male thing again?

Could be. Alternately, it could just be that most people rightly figured that Johnny Cash could do whatever he damn well wanted, ’cause he was Johnny Cash. Also, even agreeing with what the Dixie Chicks had to say, I can’t say that I was surprised by the response that they got. America was insane, and it didn’t matter that the people denouncing the president weren’t white males. Any country singer, regardless of race or gender, would have gotten the same reaction to what they said. The further history takes us from 2001/2002, the happier I am.

Oh, uh, thanks, I guess.  Yeah, don’t think I’ve ever seen that in print.  Firefox doesn’t like that one, go figure.  I should have had a clue when Pollock wasn’t flagged.  Anyway, I fixed your html.

Scott Weiland doesn’t say “I didn’t do that, I just want to do it sometimes.”

Scott Weiland didn’t say shit.  Which was kind of my point.  It was left to his band-mate to try to fill in the gaps — ineptly, at that.  And I don’t think T was saying “It’s OK to shoot a cop.”  That’s not how I read it.  He didn’t say, “If things don’t get better, niggas are going to have to start capping some pigs.”  I’m pretty sure that theoretical line has too many gs in it (ha!).  The bassist for Rage Against the Machine, however, was quoted as saying “If things don’t change, people are going to have to start mailing bombs or something.”  And again, I had Rage albums.

But the blind eye to Johnny Cash — with his drug addiction, imprisonment, outreach to convicts, violent lyrics, and everything — has always really thrown me.  The Dixie Chicks said something way more sedate than shooting a man in Reno, and people were lining up to denounce them.  Is it that whole white male thing again?

Both artists are playing a role, obviously, but the role that Ice T plays is cast in a positive light by the artist, while the role that Weiland plays is cast in a negative light by the artist. Scott Weiland doesn’t say “I didn’t do that, I just want to do it sometimes.”

In either case, I think that the fury over Cop Killer was wildly misplaced. You never saw white politicians lining up to denounce Johnny Cash for shooting a man in Reno (just to watch him die, no less!).

Try to be a smartass, and you end up looking like a dumbass.

Pollock joke?

Pollock joke?

It is to your credit as a sensitive liberal dude that you spelled “Polack” incorrectly. I’m totally going to make jokes about it on my comedy alblum.