Idols of our youth...
Dec. 2nd, 2003 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walbournSo I'm flipping through channels last night on cable and I found Dolly Parton and Melissa Etheridge doing a special together on CMT Crossroads. Now, I'm a huge fan of Melissa's early work and had I had a chance I'd probably have recorded the entire thing onto my tapes of MLE sightings for completeness. Heck, I even like many of Dolly Parton's songs since my parents are 100% country listeners and that is what I grew up with.
With that said, the one or two songs I watched and the interview segment between them bothered me. I lived 25 years in Texas, but now that I'm no longer surrounded by people saying "ya'll" constantly, it bugged me when the interviewer said it about a half dozen times in 30 seconds. Dolly's frightening plastic overly-made-up appearance was disturbing. Heck, even Melissa was wearing way too much make-up. It was just all so goddamn Country!
Of course it didn't help that I only caught them doing one of MLE's songs and it was one of the newer ones that I'm not so enamored with...
And when did Melissa Ethereidge become the kind of performer to appear with Dolly on CMT and the Oprah show anyhow!?! The truth is that Melissa is pretty damn mainstream, and always worked really hard to remain 'acceptable' by neutral pronoun usage. I guess I should just be happy that the Republicans weren't trying to burn the lesbian, but it was all just so wrong somehow.
So I'm listening to her first album to try to remember what it is I love about her music in the first place... This is also why I really like Melissa Ferrick so much because she has the raw edge that MLE has lost somewhere along the way due to years of success, age, and probably better overall mental health.
With that said, the one or two songs I watched and the interview segment between them bothered me. I lived 25 years in Texas, but now that I'm no longer surrounded by people saying "ya'll" constantly, it bugged me when the interviewer said it about a half dozen times in 30 seconds. Dolly's frightening plastic overly-made-up appearance was disturbing. Heck, even Melissa was wearing way too much make-up. It was just all so goddamn Country!
Of course it didn't help that I only caught them doing one of MLE's songs and it was one of the newer ones that I'm not so enamored with...
And when did Melissa Ethereidge become the kind of performer to appear with Dolly on CMT and the Oprah show anyhow!?! The truth is that Melissa is pretty damn mainstream, and always worked really hard to remain 'acceptable' by neutral pronoun usage. I guess I should just be happy that the Republicans weren't trying to burn the lesbian, but it was all just so wrong somehow.
So I'm listening to her first album to try to remember what it is I love about her music in the first place... This is also why I really like Melissa Ferrick so much because she has the raw edge that MLE has lost somewhere along the way due to years of success, age, and probably better overall mental health.
