Look, you can spaz all you want about their big mouths, and their idiot rants. You can even not like their music, but they are GOOD musicians. This is coming from one who doesn't listen to their music in a regular rotation and doesn't really care to listen, but I know decent musicians when I hear them.
Now, I will be the first one to say NAtalie is a very immature person and a COMPLETE IDIOT and, she, basically, has cost the entire band millions and millions of dollars....just so she could run her mouth. And, when told she was being an idiot, rather than heed advice and warnings, she chose to ramp it up and totally destroy the bands future.... basically the same thing many 10 year olds do when they are told to shut up or get smacked....they end up getting smacked. Some learn...some don't. NAtalie seems to weak and immature to accept her consequences, shut her mouth and try again....she'll keep pushing and pushing - insisting she was right and the millions of people not going to their concerts are stupid, backwards, country hicks....which, unfortunately for her - IS HER AUDIENCE!!!! They wanted to "cross over" to more top-40-ish type music...but they won't be able to. They are regarded as a country act...so top40 won't touch them...and they are doomed in country circles. They will either break up (when MArnie & her sister realize that Natalie screwed them good) or languish in a semi-limelight forever (this is probably the best as it will cause permanent dissatisfaction with life, regret and angst in all of them - which they deserve).
However, they are an EXCELLENT band. One of the best in country music. I have their first 3 CD's and LOVE each one and would consider them amongst my favorite CD's (along with Queen II, Yessongs, Rush - Hemispheres, Crack the Sky Live WBAB, and CLint BLacks - D'lectrified and ALice in Chains "Jar of FLies" , oh and don't forget ALice Cooper "Love it to death" - I have an extensive and well-rounded collection - and a wide range of taste!).
So, my poiint is, trash the chicks all you want...they deserve it. But, don't "diss" their music...I guarantee they are better musicians than YOU probably are (unless, of course, Freeper Tony Kaye is reading - in which case - you can say ANYTHING you want - you HAVE that right!).
I just hate the "groupthink" mentality around here sometimes....reminds me of DU. ANd, it's embarassing.
Doesn't matter if people won't listen to them.
..so what.
We don't like their politics.
Lindsay Lohan, the actress, was asked about some political issue once. She replied that half her fan-base was Republican and half was Democratic, so why should she say something to alienate either half?
Any half way decent musician can be made to sound good in a studio. Have you seen them live?
Take away the flashy looks and put them beside a real bluegrass pickers and you might change your mind. The Dixie Chicks are the bluegrass equivalent to a "boy band" in pop music. They have moderate tallent, but compared to real bluegrass pickers, they just don't cut it.
Compare them to Sam Bush, Mark O'Conner, Bela Fleck, Alison Kraus, New Grass Revival, The Nashville Cats, Edgar Meyer, Ricky Skaggs or any of a host of real bluegrass tallent and you'll see what I mean.....
There are tons of good musicians in the world, most of them toiling in obscurity. That's where the Ditzy Chix belong.
The standard of decency must have risen a bit since you last checked.
Unless what you're saying is "decent - nothing more." They are moderately competent musicians, nothing special. Maines at least can hold pitch, although she overdoes the sliding between notes. She's a little screechy on top, but that may be a "country thing" (country music is definitely not my area of expertise). But the backup singers are dull and not always dead on pitch, and the accompaniment is so over-engineered - damped and tweaked and remixed - that it doesn't sound "real".
I have never heard them sing live, so I have no idea if they actually can sing in tune. It's amazing what sound engineers can do. (Best examples I know of this are the Who and Fleetwood Mac. It was embarassing to hear them live, as they wandered around hunting for the pitch.)
They are GOOD musicians yes... but they are MUSICIANS.. and they aren't GREAT musicians, but pretty good ones...
Chix were made by the largest promotional push in SONY'S history... Sony spent more money making them stars than any act EVER.... and they collectively got too big for their britches, and threw it all away.
I won't deny their talent, but without SONY's backing they'd still be playing county fairs, and community days.
I really don't care if they are ready to make nice or not... they are entertainers.. that means you step and fetch for money, not run around spouting off idiotic political diatribes and then insulting your fan base. To quote another entertainer...
Know your role and shut your mouth.
Good for them. They should shut the heck up and be musicians, because they are lousy politicians/Americans.
I'm going to watch the movie "Spinal Tap" again tonight, in honor of the direction these girls have driven their careers.
There are many, many good musicians in the world that no one has ever heard except their families. May it become the same with the Chicks.
They should have just SHUT UP AND SANG.
GREAT musicians are ten a penny in Nashville, the Dixie Chicks notwithstanding. The issue isn't talent.