Posted on 04/29/2005 12:54:16 PM PDT by FatherBreadloaf
Two years ago, the Dixie Chicks were one of the most popular groups in the country.
In February 2003, the Texas group had taken home some Grammy awards and were on “top of the world,” to quote one of their popular songs.
That all changed the following month just days before the invasion of Iraq. That was when the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines told an audience in London, England that they were not happy with President George W. Bush, saying, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” Printed in the UK Guardian and picked up by the Associated Press, the news of this negative comment spread like a brushfire on a hot and windy summer day. The outcry from patriotic country fans was deafening and conservative talk radio had a field day with the news, particularly since Maines made the statment while playing overseas and during wartime.
Not surprisingly, country radio stations across America, particularly in the “red states,” began dropping the Chicks’ music from their playlists. Ironically, the Chicks’ chart topping hit was called “Travelin’ Soldier.” And up in Bossier City, outside Barksdale Air Force Base, a tractor sales company and radio station combined efforts to hold a “Chicks Bash” rally where they ran over the group’s CDs with a tractor.
It was all reminiscent of 1966, when John Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Beatle records were burned in several Southern cities.
Interestingly, the Chicks’ other hit, a remake of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” was doing well on adult contemporary stations and didn’t face the precipitous drop in airplay that “Travelin’ Soldier” and other songs on thier playlist did in the wake of Maines’ comments.
So, feeling the heat, Maines released an apology, telling the Associated Press: “I feel the president is ignoring the opinion of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world. My comments were made in frustration, and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view.”
That “point of view” didn’t sit well with many in the public. And with country fans known as being fiercely patriotic, it wasn’t surprising when sales of their then recent studio release, “Home,” began to plummet.
And it was this week two years ago that Entertainment Weekly featured the three defiant Chicks -- Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire -- on the cover, naked and painted with various slogans from “Saddam’s angels” to “free speech.”
And despite having a live album out now, the Dixie Chicks have still not released a full-length studio album of new material since that time.
In the world of popular music, two or more years between albums can seem like a lifetime in the career of a music artist. Just ask the guys in the rock band Boston.
Locally, songs by the Dixie Chicks are nowhere to be found. There are several reasons for this, which are more about business choices rather than a political stance.
Steve Casey, program director for Alexandria’s Clear Channel stations which included country station KRRV 100.3 FM, said that his station played Dixie Chicks songs for “a good six months” after the controversy first hit the media.
“We never stopped playing them because of that,” Casey said, adding that industry tests that rate certain songs began showing that Dixie Chicks songs were rating poorly.
And during that time they did get comments from listeners, both pro and con. Casey said families with soldiers serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom would call up and complain. But there were others, a Vietnam veteran for instance, who Casey said that while the group’s singer, Natalie Maines, did insult President Bush just days before the start of the war in Iraq, she did say that “we’re behind the soldiers, behind the troops. That didn’t get mentioned, though.”
As for the older songs, Casey said those aren’t played right now because of what is known as song “burn out.” Of course, they could return to the airwaves at a future point, depending on how well they test with audiences.
Over in Leesville, at country station KVVP “The Big Dog,” station manager Rick Barnikel said that the Dixie Chicks are still played on his station. But at the time, some fans weren’t happy that their songs were getting airplay.
“We got so many phone calls that we pulled their music for a couple of months and then we started playing them again,” Barnikel said. To him and his staff, “It was over and done with.”
But there were those who did complain.
“We got some who’d call up and cuss out our music director but he’d just say this is a free country and we have free speech,” Barnikel said.
Barnikel added that it will be interesting to see what happens next for the group, saying that “their legitimacy is in question because at this point we’re not sure if they’re country or rock. You just couldn’t pigeonhole them.”
But some people are still mad at the Dixie Chicks two years later, with Natalie Maines’ hometown of Lubbock, Texas being one of the anti-Chick hotspots.
Online, the conservative website FreeRepublic.com posted a question, asking “Is it time for the Dixie Chicks to return to Lubbock radio?”
Posters on FreeRepublic.com, known as Freepers, answered the question with an emphatic “No!”
William Kerns, entertainment editor at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal said that in that west Texas city, there are those who haven’t forgiven Maines and the group. He says it’s the “vocal” people who are demanding that the Dixie Chicks be banned from Lubbock radio. Kerns said Lloyd Maines, Natalie’s producer and musician father, feels betrayed by the city of Lubbock for not supporting his daughter’s right to voice her opinion.
“He said at the time that, if Lubbock was boycotting Natalie, he was boycotting Lubbock,” Kerns wrote in an e-mail to The Town Talk. Kerns said local radio wants to play the Dixie Chicks but because of those same “vocal” people, who are threatening boycotts of station advertisers, they won’t play their music.
Scott Harris, general manager at Lubbock station KLLL will play them again when the time is right. He said that the Bush comment may not be the only reason the Dixie Chicks have upset country music listeners. Maines’ public spat with uber-patriotic country superstar Toby Keith and an “un-remorseful attitude” have “kept the negative feelings alive.”
“I’ve not experienced what appears to be such an unforgiving and unforgetting reaction from listeners in my entire career,” Harris said. “ Natalie and/or The Dixie Chicks might be the ‘Hanoi Jane’(s) of this generation. I hope not, because it’s undeserving and they are super talented.”
Jane Fonda comparisons aside, the Chicks have played recently, though. It was last fall before largely liberal audiences as part of the pro-Democrat “Vote for Change” tour that supported presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry.
Kerns said he believes the city of Lubbock will at some point want to add Natalie Maines’ name to the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame.
“They are going to want her to return and accept the honor. I believe that,” Kerns said. “But I would have thought the initial anger would have run its course by now.”
And so what are the Dixie Chicks doing now?
Kathy Allmand Best, who runs Front Page Publicity, the company which represents not only the Dixie Chicks but George Strait and Martina McBride, among others, declined to address the controversy but did say in an e-mail that the Chicks “are in the studio working on new music but I have no time-line at this point on when it will be ready.”
So, it will be interesting to see what direction the Chicks take and what their strategy will be in terms of reintroducing themselves to their country audience.
And Kerns is awaiting word on what the Dixie Chicks will be offering the public when their next album is released and they return to the spotlight.
“I’d hate to think they wouldn’t be able to resume their career because of this,” Kerns said.
To the Chicks I say good luck pinning your entire future on the whims of the left, hope you invested well in the past.
You got me. They're supposedly going to be working all year on this new album, and probably won't tour this year, but early next year. Probably end the tour just in time to "help" major Democrats in the 2006 elections. Ha Ha.
i was just thinking that they released a "hits" album rather than new material because the record comany was smartly afraid that it would be a waste of money on studio time if it didn't sell when the other songs are already in the can so to speak... prolly be awhile till any new stuff comes out
And as a former resident of Lubbock I am so proud of the reaction there!
No offense, but what gives you any idea you have the knowledge to speak about politics too?
They have just as much right to say anything as us normal Joe Schmos. I dont agree with her but I dont think we have any right to say they dont know anymore than we do... we might, but there is no scale to rank ourselves to a "star". They are just fortunate enough to have a platform. If I had one, you bet I would say something that's on my mind too...just like Curt Schilling and any other pro-Bush star. Your disagreement with them doesnt make their right to voice their opinion less.
I never went through political science...and ill never run for office...can I post here? Am I allowed to protest any future democrat president?
They might be morons...we might want them to "shut up and sing" but I will never believe for a second that those morons have less a right to make an ass out of themselves just because of their career choices. Im in web development...am I qualified?
I really loved the Dixie Chicks until this ,have not listened to them since.
That whole Beatles thing is the biggest straw man of the year. When Lennon said they were bigger than Jesus, he wasn't bragging about it or trying to diss Christianity. He was making a cultural statement. At the time, they were bigger. He was actually rather astonished about it.
Maines et al, on the other hand, were just plain being typically bigmouth frog leftists. They knew darn well what they were saying, and meant every word exactly as spoken. Bites on the posterior, dunnit girls?
I wouldn't. They're free to say whatever they like and we're free to react however we want to. Why can't the big mouth libs understand such a simple thing like that?
I will forever boycott the DCs
Some things the chicks do not want anyone to know, especially their new LIBERAL fan base.
They were W's "PERSONAL FRIENDS". They sang for his innaguration. They would sit with him in his box seats and eat hot dogs at Rangers games when he was the owner. They used his popularity in Texas to garner fans. He is partly responsible for their once popularity. They had no shame of him until they said they were in front of those who they said were ANTI-AMERICAN. So they pandered to them at his expense, to appease them, to sell more cd's. They are lower than pond scum. I have never questioned her "Right" to say what she did. But I have serious questions about the motivations behind what she did considering they were "Personal Friends". I make such an emphasis on the "personal friends" phrase, because when they were up and coming, they would go sing the National Anthem at Rangers games, they would have the announcer introduce them as "personal friends" of the then owner (George W Bush).
What they did was back stab a friend who afforded them the stage in which they pronounced their shame of that friend from. That is the reason so many in Lubbock or even Texas are unforgiving. They know the TRUTH. The chicks and their management team choreographed the entire free speech martyr routine to camoflauge what really went down. To me, an many others, what they did, is and always will be, unforgivable.
I take my boycott a step further. When their new album drops, I will buy ABC (anyone but chicks) to push them DOWN the charts. Same with airplay, I will request ABC to push them down the charts. I encourage all other to do the same and it works!
Their last album Top Of The World, a live double disc set of their concert has been out nearly 18 months, they have yet to sell a million copies of it. I wish their next album the same fate!
Very interesting.
Thanks.
Their obnoxiously stated opinions were and remain anathema to their core,previously paying audience.
Besides, we all like Toby Keith way more.
They can and did freely commit career suicide.
It happens.
Perhaps they should make a movie with Jane Fonda.
I'm sure that will put them right back on the top of the charts. /EXTREME SARCASM NOTICE//
Dixie chics? And all this time i thought they were the d...skin chicks!
No one denys anyone the right to speach. What seems to be left out of everything is the FACT that she was on FOREIGN SOIL. She was being disloyal to our Country. It seems that it would be understood that you don't go to a foreign country and run your President/Government down.
I heard a song of theirs on the radio the other day and immediately thought YUK and changed the channel. I just can't enjoy their music anymore and I used to own a couple of their CDs (legally purchased and not downloaded, by the way). If other people want to listen to them, that's their business, I'm not going to call the radio station and complain, just gonna change the channel whenever I hear them.
Same here. I could care less if they release a new album, I wont buy it.
Course Carrie Underwood is gonna release a country album, you know from that show for the unwashed masses, American Idol. Yes I admit it, I watch it, I enjoy it, and the first step is admitting it!
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