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.
These little bird-brains learned an a few important lessons: If you are going to exercise your first amendment rights, do it while in America. And, when music fans exercise their first amendment rights, learn to deal with it.
Actually, I think that was a body triple.
"I've got 4 country stations programmed in my car stereo in the Kansas City area. None of them play the Dixie Chicks anymore. In fact, the only place I've seen them in the last year is CMT, which used to be a pretty good station, until Viacom F-ed it up, and tried to forcefeed their musicians to us. My Chicks CDs remain in a box in the cellar for whenever I get around to having a yard sale."
I've got a stack of CDs I need to get rid of. John Cougar, Pearl Jam, REM, and Dave Matthews so far. The songs are good but it just isn't the same.
Radio stations do focus group testing on all records. The big stations hire polling firms to test records in their own town. Smaller stations buy focus group results from firms that do national testing for many stations. If the song does not test well with focus groups it never gets played.
None of this is lost on the record companies. They focus group nearly all recordings before they will spend the money to release an album. If the focus groups don't like the recordings they don't release an album. They understand that no radio station will play a record that focus groups don't like.
I would bet the Dixie Chicks have been in the studio a lot in the last two years. They likely have recorded many songs. Their record company has no doubt done focus group studies on the songs. When the results show people don't like the chicks the record company refuses to release the albun. Most recording contracts today say that if the songs don't focus group well the record company does not have to release the album.
Then the Chicks go back into the studio and try again.
Betcha they have been doing this for two years.
Their manager is reduced to saying they are in the studio but he does not know when a new album will be released.
Gretchen Wilson is a far better singer and artist than Natalie. I know it's the country sound, but I really don't like the nasal, twangy style of singing that Natalie has.
A rather pathetic comparison with a purely politcal motive.
I like the false comments about "free speech". For the Left, "free speech" means "consequence free speech". And there is no such thing.
Actually, it could be quite amusing. It would probably quickly take on a yellow coloring, that would return, regardless of how many times it was cleaned. :^)
natalie is the one that said they did not need country music fans that they wanted to go over to rock....... so be it
Hey, whoa, what'd we ever do to you??
we don't want 'em, either.
George Strait and Martina McBride are awesome. The Vichy Chix are not.
Just saw on Billboard.com that the Chix are in Los Angeles recording their next album with Rick Rubin. Maybe they are going rock.
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000903386
I still won't buy the Vichy Chix product, though.
I love Gretchen Wilson. Natalie doesn't have half of Gretchen's voice.
I always listen to "I'm Here for the Party" and "Redneck Woman" when I am getting ready to go out.
They must have an album coming out soon. Why else have this "update".
Boycott is still in effect.
hhhmmmmm... i wonder what their new record release schedule looks like in their contract???
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