JIM TREACHER: Sorry, Beyoncé — Charley Pride Got There First.
Dang. And I thought Taylor Swift fans were nuts!
“Record-breaker and history-maker”? [Michelle Obama] has left the White House behind forever(?), but she still likes making $#!+ up.
Contrary to the former First Lady, Beyoncé isn’t the first African-American to hit #1 on the country chart. Do you know who is?
Of course you know. I just told you in the headline. It’s this guy:
That’s right, Charley Pride. That was his first #1 Billboard country single, all the way back in 1969. It came out a few months before the moon landing. For all we know, Neil Armstrong was listening to it on his way to work.
Okay, maybe not. But he sure wasn’t listening to Beyoncé.
Pride went on to rack up an incredible 29 #1 hits in his career. That’s more than Dolly freakin’ Parton!
Hell, he had his first #1 album on the country chart when MLK Jr. was still alive. At a time of violent racial strife, barely a century after the abolition of slavery, Charley Pride sold 70 million records to the whitest people in America.
That’s something to be proud of, isn’t it? So why are all the headlines lately about the first black woman to make such an achievement?
Why are we erasing this man’s legacy? Doesn’t ol’ Charley count anymore?
See also: Erasure of the accomplishments of Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, Carrie Fisher, and Scarlett Johansson in sci-fi and comic book movies, not to mention the behind the scenes talents of women like Marcia Lucas and Gale Anne Hurd to pretend today’s crop of female stars are revolutionary feminist breakthroughs.
On the other hand, let’s praise Beyoncé for what she did accomplish! Page Six: Beyoncé Saved Dying Genre Known As Country Music.
The genre was dying so much that she wanted to cash in on it.
— The Hanford Institute 🐶 (@ThiccInstitute) March 29, 2024