Posted on 06/17/2006 5:54:37 AM PDT by veronica
Adam Sweeting assesses how the Dixie Chicks have weathered a political storm
Will it be the salmon teriyaki with organic greens, or asparagus tempura and tuna sashimi? As the waiter hovers with pencil poised, the Dixie Chicks debate the menu with the practised air of professional restaurant critics. The Chicks have traditionally been branded a country band, but clearly it's some time since their diet consisted of ribs, tacos and pancakes.
Sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire project a polished Fifth Avenue elegance, and vocalist Natalie Maines is a vision of sculpted cheekbones and smoky eye-shadow.
With their origins as bouffant-haired ingénues playing bluegrass music long forgotten, the Chicks are in Miami to attend a Sony BMG conference, where their new album, Taking the Long Way, is high on the corporate agenda. It's their first release since the group weathered the storm of outrage triggered by Maines's expression of shame that President Bush was from her home state of Texas. Although they've sold 30 million albums, the company was concerned about their commercial future.
When Maines made her comment on March 10 2003, 10 days before Operation Iraqi Freedom unleashed "shock and awe" over Baghdad, the Dixie Chicks were probably the biggest act in country music. Yet within days, their music vanished from the charts and the airwaves, apoplectic rednecks crushed piles of their CDs with tractors, and the FBI was feverishly monitoring death threats against the trio. It was the most heinous pop-star outrage since Ozzy Osbourne urinated on the Alamo.
"The reaction was as if Natalie had said 'Death to the President' or something," says violinist and vocalist Maguire.
"It was the bullying and the scare factor," shudders banjo and guitar player Robison. "It was like the McCarthy days, and it was almost like the country was unrecognisable."
The level of debate can be gauged from the way Maines was compared to "Hanoi Jane" Fonda, who was photographed manning a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun at the height of the Vietnam war.
The Chicks can't hide their disgust at the lack of support they received from other country performers. "A lot of artists cashed in on being against what we said or what we stood for because that was promoting their career, which was a horrible thing to do," says Robison.
"A lot of pandering started going on, and you'd see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism."
"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."
There can be no rational explanation of how Maines's remark came to drive a red-hot poker into America's divided soul, but it's only now that some of the poison has begun to dissipate.
Early concerns about the premature demise of the Chicks' career subsided when the furiously unapologetic single Not Ready to Make Nice became the most downloaded track on iTunes, despite a lack of radio airplay. Then the album went to number one on the Billboard 200 after selling half a million copies in the week after its release in America last month. It looks set to be their first UK top 10 album this Sunday.
The recruitment of Rick Rubin as producer, the man who rejuvenated Johnny Cash, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Diamond and others, is guaranteed to extend the Chicks' appeal, though it would be disappointing if the album's thoughtful range of subject matter (from IVF to Alzheimer's) was overshadowed by the Bush episode.
"I think for longevity's sake, our music had to mature and we had to mature as people," says Maguire. "Not that this particular event had to happen, but it sped up the process for us and helped us make a record that's really meaningful to us, whether or not other people see that."
Well stated!
Just a moment here ... to point out that since these Chicks are all of 30, there is no way that they could know anything about the McCarthy days.
Who or what are these "Dixie Chicks" they refer to? /ignore
Somebody tell Adam "De Nile" is in Egpyt.
Thanks goodness for the internet. People do know what is going on despite the Lefties rewriting of reality.
A parallel article titled :"The Chicks Never Recovered from Their Brush with Bush" is what the ticket sales prove.
I can't take credit for that phrase. It was coined by Matt Gottlieb in Industry Week (1/18/06). I have found it sooooo fitting to the elite of our times.
(How the Chicks survived their scrap with Bush)
Funny thing that Bush himself did nothing to the Chicks. This should have said "How the Chicks survived their scrap with their own fans!"
There is no question in my mind that without their big mouth they would have done so much better than they are doing today. I'm still very glad that that they do open their mouth and tell us what kind of people they are, the kind who think their success and freedom is free, and it has nothing to do with the country where they live.
"They probably hired people just to download their songs a million times on ipod".
This technique is used a million times a second on the stock market.
So instead, let's take a stand and be un-patriotic. You gotta stand for something.... she made her choice.
That is because she is a self-indulgent child who got rich before she had a clear understanding of what wealth is.
Patriotism is the philosophy of giving genuine thanks where thanks are due for having the privilege and good fortune of being an American citizen.
We genuinely do not have to worry about being dragged out of our beds in the middle of the night and disappearing into the maw of some totalitarian hell, never to be seen again.
If we want to write a scathing letter to the editor of some paper somewhere, denouncing our elected officials and/or their policies, we can do so with complete safety and impuinity. The papers can print those same letters with safety and impunity.
You can make it in life here, and that is not an accident. You have the freedom as an American, to do anything you want with your life. If you want to become a nuclear physicist, nobody will deny that to you, but you will be asked to pay for it and earn it. If you want to be a rock star, the only thing holding you back is yourself. If you want to hang out at intersections of roads in cities like Cambridge, MA, Madsion, WI or Berkeley, CA and beg money from people in cars by holding up handwritten cardboard signs, that is your choice and nobody is going to have you shot. (A good description of this type of unique freedom we enjoy can be found in Dinesh Desouza's book What's So Great About America?".
The point is, this immature, self-centered bitch (and the rest of her so called band, as well as Liberals and Democrats everywhere) mistakes Patriotism with Jingoism.
Patriotism is defined as: The action of vigorously supporting one's country and being prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.
If someone can explain to me why that is a bad thing, I am all ears.
Jingoism is defined as: Extreme patriotism, chauvinism, extreme nationalism, xenophobia, flag-waving; hawkishness, militarism, belligerence, bellicosity.
I guarantee you, Liberals, Democrats and the Dixie Chicks all think Jingoism is Patriotism. And they do not have a clue as to how wrong they are.
As I understand it, the record company makes money off the Cd sells and the bands make money off the concerts.
Looks like the Dixie Tricks will be poor in no time and comnplaining about the unfair record companies!
We need to be nicer about Maines because she is obviously an IDIOT and can't help it.
"survived their scrap with Bush"
President Bush wasn't involved in any scrap with them.
What a stupid headline.
White trash with bad attitudes
Who?
More proof that the modern music industry is clueless
The British papers have a compulsion to "explain" what goes on in the US
even though they don't have a clue.
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