If the Dixie Chicks had been rockin' babes ...(Choke on your vomit alert!!)

Houston Chronicle ^ | March 24, 2003 | Tamara Conniff

[Houmatt]

Sheryl Crow wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with "War Is Not the Answer" when she accepted her American Music Award in January. Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst was received with cheers when he said, "This war has got to go away as soon as possible" during the Grammy telecast. But when Natalie Maines of the country music trio the Dixie Chicks said from a London stage that she was "ashamed" that President Bush was from Texas, the result was quite different.

Angry fans flooded radio stations in San Diego, Nashville and Dallas with calls demanding that the Dixie Chicks' music be removed from playlists. Many fans-turned-enemies burned posters, and one group of protesters in Louisiana mounted a 33,000-pound tractor and ran over CDs.

First, Maines tried to explain herself. But anti-Chicks warriors continued to destroy CDs, so she took a deep breath and issued a formal apology to Bush, proclaiming that she was "proud to be an American." But South Carolina legislators were not swayed; they passed a resolution asking that the Dixie Chicks apologize directly to South Carolinians and play a free concert for the troops.

No one is mad at Sheryl Crow. No one is burning Limp Bizkit posters. It appears that San Diego, Nashville and Dallas care not at all about the opinion of America's rock stars. But apparently country music and its idols have a duty to be patriotic.

While rock music has its roots in rebellion, country music comes from a storytelling tradition. Considered to be white Anglo-Celtic ethnic music, country was born in the southern Appalachians during the late 19th century; its role was to depict rural life and its hardships. Patriotism stemmed from the fact that people there lived off the fruit of the land; America was feeding them.

While the northern part of the United States continued to industrialize during the early 20th century, the South remained agricultural and politically conservative. Country music then became a reflection of Southerners' desire to preserve their culture and core values: love your country, love God, love your family.

The easy argument to make is that country music fans are patriotic because they're uneducated, poor, white rednecks and hillbillies who don't know any better. This stereotype is justified for some, but not all. According to market research, they are indeed overwhelmingly white but have an average household income of $50,000, and 77 percent of them own homes.

Being patriotic is also an identity, a badge that country music devotees wear proudly. The more patriotic the better. Take honky-tonk country star Toby Keith's Sept. 11-inspired hit song, Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American. Fans embraced the song's lyrics, especially the verses: "You'll be sorry that you messed with the US of A / Cuz we'll put a boot in your ass / It's the American Way."

Country fans want their music to tell tales about their woes, their heartaches, their anger. Keith wasn't being political; he was just mad.

Country enthusiasts don't like their music mixed with politics, but for some reason they do embrace sad tunes about soldiers dying for the United States.

The Dixie Chicks' song Travelin' Soldier, about a boy who goes to Vietnam and never comes back, follows in the tradition of such classics as Jimmie Rogers' The Soldier's Sweetheart and Loretta Lynn's Dear Uncle Sam.

Aren't these antiwar songs? For Northern liberal Democrats, they are. But for Southern Republicans, dying for your country is patriotic; it's noble.

Of course, now anti-Chicks activists are claiming the trio didn't actually write Travelin' Soldier. How could they -- anti-American heathens that they are?

Sadly, those who shun the Dixie Chicks have become exactly what they say they are not: anti-American. By burning CDs and posters and throwing verbal stones at Maines, they are violating her most important right and the foundation of this country -- her freedom of speech.

[ThomasMore]

For Northern liberal Democrats, they are.

Northern liberal Democrats caused the fiasco in Vietnam. I lost a cousin and a friend. And another walks around with only one leg.

The Chicks as well as other artists who USE their celebrity to push their agenda, deserve everything they get. They were MADE by the public, and can quickly be UNMADE by the public.

BTW, who are the Dixie Chicks? (/sarcasm)

[Alylonee]

Kid Rock said it best when he said that he "supports our troops and our government, but is not entitled to give political opinions." Celebrity status does not give one the right to use that status to push political agendas.

We pay them for entertainment, not their high-scool/college drop-out opinions!

[Tamar1973]

This "reporter" needs to be FReeped! I sent this to the Hollywood reporter email site.

To Tamara Conniff

Your ignorance of what freedom of speech really means is astounding. You claim that Ms. Maines' freedom of speech was violated by radio stations and country music fans who burned her CD's and refused to buy and more. *They* violated Ms.Maines's freedom of speech when they told others not to buy her records or attend her concerts?

The truth of the matter is you are the one insulting the free speech rights of thousands, even millions of Americans stating such leftist, liberal babyfood.

Ms. Maines still has her freedom of speech but the Constitution doesn't guarantee freedom from having to pay the consequences of stupid speech in the market place (or the ballot box, for that matter). Ms. Maines made her bed, now she and her fellow Chicks have to lay in it.

I will also express my freedom of speech by refusing to read any publication that runs your pablum. I don't live in a fascist state like Iraq where people have to put up with paying for speech they don't like. I earn my money, I have the right to spend it where I want. I don't need any liberal pansy to "violate" my freedom of speech by telling me that to be a good American, I must buy the records of people I loathe.

Give me a break.

[Leatherneck_MT]

"Aren't these antiwar songs? For Northern liberal Democrats, they are. But for Southern Republicans, dying for your country is patriotic; it's noble.

Of course, now anti-Chicks activists are claiming the trio didn't actually write Travelin' Soldier. How could they -- anti-American heathens that they are?

Sadly, those who shun the Dixie Chicks have become exactly what they say they are not: anti-American. By burning CDs and posters and throwing verbal stones at Maines, they are violating her most important right and the foundation of this country -- her freedom of speech."

That's because most Southerners like nothing better than a good fight. The Ditzy Chicks are as country as that maggot Michael Moore IMHO and should be treated with equal amounts of disgust.

Yep, she has a right to speak her mind, and we have a right to not buy her product. It's amazing how the limp wristed maggots on the left cry freedom of speech right up until you disagree with them, then they want to shut you up.

Freedom of speech has a price tag. Natalie is now paying the price.

Semper Fi

[weegee]

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst was received with cheers when he said, "This war has got to go away as soon as possible"

Actually people laughed when Fred Durstbag said, "I just really hope we're all in agreeance that this war should go away as soon as possible."

Seems someone cut the quote down so he didn't look like a dumbass. They save slips of the tongue for harassing the sitting President.

Of course, there was this rebuttal:

Fred Durst's 'agreeance' OK

But it turns out that Durst has some heavy linguistic hitters on his side. The North American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary told the New York Observer newspaper that "agreeance" is, in fact, a word. "It's in the OED," editor Jesse Sheindler told the paper. "He did use it correctly.

Sheindler said that "agreeance" was an obsolete word, having passed out of circulation by about 1714, but noted that it was still used occasionally -- especially in Australia.

None of the dictionaries sources on Dictionary.com recognized it (in the online capacity). Anything to defend their position. He made a slip of the tongue.

[savedbygrace]

Sadly, those who shun the Dixie Chicks have become exactly what they say they are not: anti-American. By burning CDs and posters and throwing verbal stones at Maines, they are violating her most important right and the foundation of this country -- her freedom of speech.

No, no, no, no, no. The author of this spittle-piece doesn't understand freedom of speech. The same freedom that the Ditsy Cluck expressed is the same freedom that people all over the country expressed in saying, "No, we don't want to buy your music, or listen to it."

If the federal govrenment had told he she couldn't say what she said, that would be a violation of her freedom of speech.

[weegee]

While the northern part of the United States continued to industrialize during the early 20th century, the South remained agricultural and politically conservative. Country music then became a reflection of Southerners' desire to preserve their culture and core values: love your country, love God, love your family.

So is she admitting that liberals are antiAmerican, antiGod, and against the family structure?

Used to be these were American values, not just for conservatives or Southerners.

[weegee]

The easy argument to make is that country music fans are patriotic because they're uneducated, poor, white rednecks and hillbillies who don't know any better. This stereotype is justified for some, but not all.

Taken in concert with her previous statement abour Southerners politics, it is a veiled way of making the Houston Comical's favorite point that Liberals arrive at their positions because they are smart and consider the issues (which coincidently is why they dominate the media and teaching professions) and that Conservatives are dumb as dirt (and racist). The Comical doesn't get any of my money.

I'm of the mind that crappy pop music dominates the charts because the public at large are mindless sheep who don't know better and don't seek out better musical selections from the past century of recorded sound.

The same people that seek out entertainment options based on "Top 10" charts don't formulate their own political positions and are more likely to be swayed by poll numbers and riots in the streets.

[weegee]

Conniff is the music editor at the Hollywood Reporter.

The Houston Comical is still a biased joke though.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Sheryl Crow wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with "War Is Not the Answer" when she accepted her American Music Award in January. Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst was received with cheers when he said, "This war has got to go away as soon as possible" during the Grammy telecast. But when Natalie Maines of the country music trio the Dixie Chicks said from a London stage that she was "ashamed" that President Bush was from Texas, the result was quite different.

The reason for that Tamara, you idiot, is because Natalie's inane comments were a personal attack on a man with more integrity in his stool than she has in her whole body.

[weegee]

The Houston Comical may be for "affirmative action" but they spun that those who opposed Houston's black incumbant mayor were racists for voting for the candidate who would have been Houston's first Hispanic mayor (unfortunately for him, he was a Republican trying for a "nonpartisan"/DemocRat office) (the vote got within a few percent).

Their policy on the rail system (did you see the leaked memo?) should have shown their dishonesty on the issues.

When I cancelled my subscription, I got the occassional whiney call asking me to re-up. I even had the paper boy come by. Every time I told them I would not ever buy their publications again because of BIAS. Finally they got the message not to contact me. Too bad they didn't address the issue of bias instead.

[weegee]

I haven't been reading the Comical but I can show them proof if they need it (on the lefists Indy media) that the SF (and other) protestors ARE protesting against America and to provide aid and comfort to our enemies.

I also doubt that the Comical ever called the solider who attacked his own men with grenades "antiAmerican" or "unAmerican". The left truly hates this country and the conservatives that try to defend what it once stood for. They save the pejorative "unAmerican" for those who would speak out against the antiAmerican Left.

[weegee]

The left does not consider buring CDs to be free speech.

Burning the American flag is a patriotic (not unAmerican) act of free speech to the left.

Blocking roadways so that emergency vehicles cannot pass is also "Free Speech" (they don't even say that it is the right of assembly).

But burning CDs is verbotten in the left's worldview.

[gridlock]

Natalie Maines did not just come out against the war. She said that she was ashamed that the President was from Texas.

Now, many of you may not know this, but I am not from Texas. However, if I were from Texas, you would all know this the very first time I posted. For some reason or another, people from Texas find the fact that they are from Texas very important. For a Texan to say you are ashamed that the President is from Texas is like saying that you are ashamed that he is the same species. It is the worst thing a Texan can possibly say.

Given that, I think the ensuing uproar is completely predictable and appropriate.

You will always hear Liberals re-state Maines' comment as "She said she was ashamed that he was from the same state as she was", leaving out the fact that the state involved (a Republic, actually) is Texas. That fact changes things completely.

[weegee]

Another detail overlooked is that, like Robert Altman and Jessica Lange, she was on foreign soil when she spoke out against America and the President.

These fools also held their tongues during Bill Clinton's wars. It is about the man and the party that he ran under.

[TLBSHOW]

SALES OF THE DIXIE CHIXKS IS WAY DOWN...

The dixie chicks have one course left that is to switch to rock. They are finished as a country band.


In the half-week of charting after Maines' sermonette, the Chicks dropped on Nielsen Soundscan sales charts: their current album Home dipped 22,000 copies in sales, although it's still No. 1 on the Billboard country album chart. The video sales of the Chicks' live An Evening With the Dixie Chicks dropped by 3,000 copies and the single release of "Landslide" dropped by about 1,200 in sales.
They also lost at least 15 percent of radio spins for "Travelin' Soldier" and it dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 this week on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart.

And another lingering question is: how much of a steadfast country audience base have the Chicks actually built? A look at the Chicks' career suggests that much of their audience pull has been teenage girls, whose musical attention span traditionally has not been long and which certainly does not translate into the long-term loyalty that country artists have enjoyed.

Further, in looking over CMT.com reader polls over the last few months, I see a decided lack of support for the Chicks. In the most recent poll, on March 15, in response to the question, "How do you feel about the Dixie Chicks following Natalie Maines' comment regarding President Bush?," 68 percent of respondents said, "I don't like them at all." Even back on Feb. 21, when CMT.com asked readers if they would attend any of the Chicks' shows on their upcoming tour, 69 percent answered that they would rather stay home. On Feb. 8, a CMT.com poll question said that the Chicks' Home was selling well and asked readers if they had bought it. The response? "No way, I don't care for them," said 53 percent of respondents.

http://www.cmt.com/news/display/1470672.jhtml

Chicks' manager Simon Renshaw suggested, in an e-mail that the Chicks' label Sony Music sent to country radio stations,

that the protest against the Chicks was orchestrated by the Free Republic, a right-wing Web site. The Free Republic certainly had -- and still has -- its share of anti-Chicks postings.


But I also have read literally hundreds of Chicks postings the last few days on a number of Web sites across the political spectrum, and they show a genuine consensus from country fans saying that Maines in effect filed for divorce from country audiences.

[Houmatt]

You seem to have missed the point completely.

What is going on here has nothing to do with the war. She insulted her President and the state of Texas (her home state) on foreign soil.

As has been said here before, by doing that, she crossed the line.

Natalie Maines does not have the gonads to say something like that on home soil, she has to say it abroad, thinking she can get away with it.

She thought wrong.

That is what the people are pissed about.

[weegee]

FR has organized a lot of other protests without the assistance that came forth on this one. It is great that FR is getting noticed but actually FR is getting too much attention/credit here.

FR is only being mentioned because they seek to defuse the protests ("you protestors are only shills for the VRWC at FR!").

The same media that keeps pointing out FR's connection to the protest of the Vichy Chicks ignores any ties of the anarchist-socialists and communists to the "anti-war" movement.

[NYCVirago]

They DIDN'T write Travelin Soldier

I know. And I heard that at least one radio station is playing the original version of the song, instead of the Chicks' one.

[pnz1]

Too bad the reporter didn't check her facts before she wrote her article..