Abstract
In the United States, country music has long served as a conveyer of values that go far beyond mere entertainment. Certainly, like any genre of popular music, country has a functional value as entertainment, just as a car has functional value as transportation. Also like the automobile, country music has exchange value. Toby Keith’s new country CD costs $17.98; a BMW 5 Series 525i costs $40,000. But beyond this, country music—like other commodities—has sign value.1 A BMW or a Jaguar can be used as a sign of social distinction or social status, just as the Mini Cooper—immortalized by Madonna in the pop song “American Life”—gained currency as a signifier of urban hip, progressive style, and understated consumer satisfaction.2 As part of this process of social distinction, we do not buy just one product, but we typically buy into a whole system of products and develop a lifestyle around such commodities. The Madonna fan, driving along in his Mini Cooper, wears designer jeans, drinks double soy lattes, and attends Pilates classes. The Toby Keith fan drives a Ford truck, shops at Wal-Mart, drinks Bud Light, and attends church with her kids. Marketers assume this clustering of products, as do, undoubtedly, political campaigners and analysts.
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Notes
David Aikman, A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush (Nashville, Tenn.: W Pub. Group, 2004), 176–177.
Melton A. McLaurin, “Proud to Be an American: Patriotism in Country Music,” in America’s Musical Pulse: Popular Music in Twentieth-Century Society, ed. K. J. Bindas (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1992).
Curtis W. Ellison, Country Music Culture: From Hard Times to Heaven (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995).
Barbara Ching, Wrong’s What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 5.
George H. W. Bush, All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings (New York: Scribner, 1999), 326–327.
Joe Eszterhas, American Rhapsody (New York: Knopf, 2000), 296.
Greenwood, Lee. “God Bless the U.S.A.” Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, © 1988 MCA.
Keith, Toby. “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (Angry American),” Unleashed, © 2002 SKG Music Nashville.
Stevens, Ray. “Osama-Yo’ Mama,” Osama-Yo’ Mama, © 2002 Curb Records.
Williams Jr., Hank. “America Will Survive,” Almeria Club Recordings, © 2002 Curb Records.
Worley, Darryl. “Have You Forgotten?” Have You Forgotten? © 2003 SKG Music Nashville.
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© 2005 Dana Heller
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Hart, W. (2005). The Country Connection: Country Music, 9/11, and the War on Terrorism. In: Heller, D. (eds) The Selling of 9/11. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-08003-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-08003-5_7
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