Posted on 09/14/2006 4:41:58 AM PDT by kristinn
Edited on 09/14/2006 3:04:35 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
After facing a barrage of insults, death threats and all kinds of broken records in the face of an offhand remark about the U.S. president, the Dixie Chicks are no longer chicks.
"It turned us into women," says Natalie Maines, speaking about the past three years in near media exile, facing one of the largest pop culture controversies in recent history.
On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Maines made an offhand comment about being against violence, and being embarrassed that the U.S. president, George W. Bush was from Texas, her home state. Despite their being a top-selling act, they soon faced fans who had turned into haters. Record sales plummeted. Some radio stations excluded them from their playlists. People said their career at the top of country was over.
The conflict was so rich in scope and meaning, it attracted the attention of two-time Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple and her colleague, Cecilia Peck (Gregory's daughter).
The result is Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing! - one of the hottest documentary titles of this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
Beginning the voyage with the actual comment of the title recorded in a London amphitheatre, Kopple and Peck take a full immersion tour through the post-Bush-slag landscape, and follow the Chicks - Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison - as they attempt to understand what happened, and how to move forward without their sturdy net of a solid fan base.
"In watching this movie, it felt like I was watching myself mature," Maines says.
Robison echoes the sentiment. "I think, for the most part, when your career is going great, you don't really have the opportunity to soul search ... but we did. And we do think it happened for a reason."
At a Shut Up and Sing! press conference, the Chicks say they have absolutely no regrets about speaking their mind. If anything, the experience made them realize just how vulnerable to censorship we are in the world of consolidated media ownership and nationally uniform radio playlists.
"Consolidation means one guy at the top decides everything ... and I don't think the media has been successful in pointing out why it's so dangerous," Robison says.
"People don't understand why this is so important," Maines says. "But if you live in Lubbock, Texas, where I'm from - you just have one paper and one radio station and unless you're savvy on the Internet, that's it for you. If Bush said get a gun and kill an Arab, they would do that."
Maguire says if it had been just one - or even several - DJs who felt it was just too much of a hassle to spin Dixie Chicks singles, they would have been fine with the boycott. The problem was how the whole anti-Chicks campaign was orchestrated by a select few through a right-wing Internet site called the Free Republic.
According to the research done by Kopple and the Chicks themselves, the Free Republic sent out form letters to their 30,000-thick subscription list with market-specific information, saying if the station did not stop playing their music, people would cease listening to the station.
The campaign worked, and the Chicks' current tour for their new album is being booked at venues half the size of their previous tour. "What was wrong was that (the decision to not play Dixie Chicks records) was coming from the top ... and that (DJs) were not allowed to play the records, even if they wanted to. ... I think that kind of censorship is dangerous," says Maguire.
Kopple says what happened to the Dixie Chicks really struck a chord because it spoke to the changing times.
"In the ... '60s, there was a sense of a cultural movement that happened, and you really felt a sense of belonging to a community. They (Dixie Chicks) were on their own, and our hope is that people who see this film ... will become part of their community so the Chicks no longer have to stand alone," Kopple says.
Maines, who says she always felt the support of her bandmates and family, says she's still a little surprised by the whole journey. Though she's learned to really think hard about what she says to the press these days, she says she may well have said the very same thing - even with a little reflection. "Even if I had thought about what I wanted to say, I don't think I ever could have imagined what happened. What I said was just so lame."
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing! is slated for a fall /winter theatrical release.
Never got my "form letter" and FR is far larger than 30K members.
And now we destroyed the careers of the Dixie Chicks.
Natalie, just something to consider -- you will not be liked by the people you insult and your vocation requires you to be liked so you can sell your product. I mean, it's not like you are selling something people need.
If you were a rap star you might be able to get away with bashing Bush and the U.S.A. etc. A country musician can't.
A manual, non-electronic ZOT?
LOL! I was also left off the list! That's it I'm calling the ACLU!!!
"offhand remark about the U.S. president,"
If she thinks what she said back then was offhand, I wonder what she considers the stuff she says in the documentary coming out. She calls Bush a "Dumb f---". Yeah, she matured all right. Why can't they just let it go already.
Just shooting in the dark here, but would Barbara Kopple be any relation to that "tower of journalistic integrity" Ted Kopple?
These people are so wrapped up in themselves they dont realise there are others in the world.
Which ones would those be genius? Seems to me you're the only one doing what you accuse a couple of dozen FReepers of doing. What a whiner.
I guess something had to turn her into a woman , Her Iranian husband couldnt get the job done. LMAO.
Incorrect. I turned them from the level of self-absorbed teenagers to whining toddlers.
The article lashes out at the fans, calling them haters when they were simply exercising their right to demonstrate their disappointment with the Dicks using economic communication.
Squealin' like stuck pigs, they are.
I hope Katherine Monk was wearing her tin foil when she wrote this (I'm sure Kopple and the chicks were).
That's right, keep insulting at least 51% of the nation. And then wonder why you have to cancel your tour dates in the US.
What these girls fail to realize is that the power of internet now exceeds ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN.
Their 15 minutes of fame is over.
Get the hook.........
Where's their documentary on the "rich in scope and meaning" blackballing of Dr. Laura........by none other than first amendment lover (for libs anyway) Susan Sarandon? Isn't an attempt to shut someone up by a free speech advocate rich in scope and meaning??
Ohhhh, my. New info, thanks.
I disagree. I believe these folks undermine our troops. I don't think it's NOTHING.
I also thinks it's fine for them to state their opinions, but I believe they have to take their medicine if others don't like it. These girls are just flat out stupid. They should know their fan base.
LOL! Nice to see that they are still clueless.
Our free speech is saying "no" to the Clux.
So Free Republic is the sole reason for the Chicks troubles!!
Whoo- Hoo - who shall we go after next?? /s
What idiots!! They weren't censored - they annoyed their fan base & paid the price. What the dummyrats in Congress tried to do to ABC - now that censorship
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