Since I was talking about music earlier today, I may as well touch on this story as well.
To the left is the cover of the Dixie Chicks’ new album, Taking the Long Way, which is their first new album since they shot off their mouths in a spectacularly rude way at a specutacularly bad time that was sure to alienate their country music audience.
GET THAT STORY IF YOU DON’T KNOW IT.
They could have recovered from that, but instead they issued a string of smouldering non-apologies and eventually appeared–bizarrely!–on the cover of Entertainment Weekly stark nekkid with inflammatory words and phrases painted on their bodies.
That ain’t really the country thing to do, and their fans turned their backs on them.
Now, personally, I don’t care if they hold the opinions of President Bush that they expressed in England. I’m not happy with President Bush, myself. But to say what they did (that they’re ashamed that the president is from Texas) when they did (in wartime) where they did (on foreign soil) to whom they did (Euro liberals) was sure to hack off the people who bought their records, and following it up with a bunch of non-apologies and bizarro stunts LIKE THIS (skin warning!) was utterly contemptuous of their core audience.
In other words, they were alienating their base.
So, three years later out comes their first new album and their label starts pitching it to country music stations and with news stories being written with headlines like "Dixie Chicks Return To Country Radio."
So have three years changed things? Is all forgiven? Will their country fans start listening to them again?
A precondition for forgiveness is repentance, and with defiant, in-your-face songs on the album like "Not Ready To Make Nice"–a contemptuous stab at those who were offended by their actions three years ago–it’s clear that the Chicks have some repenting to do if they want to be forgiven by their country fans.
Good.
I used to listen to their songs–I particularly liked "Goodbye Earl"–but the Chicks showed themselves to be a bunch of spoiled girls who have never grown up. I have no interest in listening to their songs because I will have no ability to enjoy them until they can adopt an attitude other than contempt for those who gave them their success by buying their albums and supporting them and their careers.
A basic rule of getting along in life for public figures is "Don’t show contempt for your base."
That’s a principle Mr. Bush ought to learn if he’d like his reputation to fare well in the long term, too.
They’re on the cover of Time magazine this week, which I can guarantee you would not have happened had they supported Bush. And Neil Young is getting a lot of loving attention from the press thanks to “Impeach the President.” But of course I am not suggesting that there really is such a thing as media bias. Oh no.
Let me head off the complaint you know is going to pop into somebody’s head: Nowhere did Jimmy deny their right to express their opinions.
Okay, I’m not a country music fan (though I like some of it… (Alan Jackson, George Jones, Alison Krauss…).
This album cover does not appear to be calculated to win back country fans. It looks slick and urban (though retro). The ladies look gaunt, vacant and unhappy.
I know that the country scene has changed a lot (I saw a video this morning that featured Hip-Hop style, barely dressed, slow motion bumpy-grind dancing), but this album art doesn’t exactly say “Hey, country fans, we’re having fun… come on in!”.
The whole mood is the very opposite of approachable (like say, Faith Hill).
It’s more like, “Sorry, no autographs… but do buy our CD”.
Does that mean that, for those of us who were never part of their base, never cared for country music, never cared for their controversy, can support them? Because it’s not like they turned their back on people who never cared for them to begin with…
And the saddest thing is the Dixie Chicks were one of the few country bands I could listen to without gagging. It’s all ruined for me now.
With my degree in moronology (see previous post), I am qualified to diagnose them with career-threatening enlarged ego, aggravated by recurring foot-in-mouth-itis.
One of the Chicks, McGuire, told Time, “I’d rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don’t want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do.”
So they don’t really want to have country fans at all? After rooming with a rabid Reba fan, I don’t particularly like her music, but what’s wrong with Toby Keith? If they want a small, loyal fanbase, they could model their career on that of the late Chris LaDoux. But then again, he was a humble guy and expressed gratitude for the audience. He didn’t insult his fans and then blame them for being “uncool”.
Heck, if they wanted to talk about music without limitations, they could look at Johnny Cash’s career. He was my favorite since I was little. He certainly had opinions, but he knew the difference between occasionally using the stage as a soapbox and pushing an agenda rather than entertaining. (One might even say he walked the line… mwahahaha!) He wasn’t disrespectful to other musicians or their fans. He was unlimited by genre or age. His version of “Hurt” blows away the original version by Nine Inch Nails (not to mention, he made Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” into a testament of faith!) I doubt the Dixie Chicks will have that longevity or grow to that musical integrity.
Oh, for those not fans (yet) of the late great Man in Black, you can hear a continuous selection of his work here: http://www.johnnycash.com
For what it’s worth, the “base” that they are supposed to forgive and do penance for did send them death threats, which seems like a bit of an over-reaction to an expression of shame on foreign soil.
And they seem to be doing quite well on MTV, so maybe they really don’t need their base anymore…
What I don’t understand is why this is an issue at all.
They have the right to speak their minds. People have the choice to buy their CDs or not.
Good music will always sell… there are COUNTLESS examples from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, etc. in which musicians were controversial, criminals, drug addicts, morons, idiots, etc… but did that stop the sale of their albums?
why are the Dixie Chicks any different? If you like the CD, buy it. If not? then don’t. If you don’t want to watch their video, turn the channel.
And remember, in 2003 NOBODY could dissent in any way without being branded a non-patriot.
I think that this is just all media hype. Way too many of us need to get a life.
“I’d rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life . . .”
Might fall in the category of “be careful what you wish for.”
Wonder how they define “really cool”?
Personally, I think the issue important, if for no other reason than to say: you can affect and change the culture that is shoved in your face on a daily basis.
It’s not only about music, or movies, or cartoons–as in the case of the recent pornographic cartoon in a University of Oregon funded student newspaper featuring Jesus
aroused and kissing another man. It’s about the pollution of a culture. And it’s about saying, this is junk.
I know I don’t have to listen or watch if I don’t want to, but I also don’t have to sit still in silence and complacence. Aren’t we called to be like salt?
****as an aside, I thought it was cool when toby keith ended his feud with the dixie chicks by saying:
“It got to be a big carnival and then one of my best friends had a two-year-old girl who had a rare children’s cancer, and I came home one day and got a phone call that she wasn’t going to live.
“I just walked into my office with a big pit in my stomach, and I looked down at a country magazine, and there on the cover it said `Toby and Natalie, fight to the death,’ or something like that. And it just about made me sick.
“I made a vow right then. I said, `I’m done with that. I may be stupid and let myself get into other fights, but I’m not gonna be in this one no more.'”
Joe,
I hear what you are saying. But to criticize George W. Bush… is that polluting the culture?
The cartoons in “The Insurgent” and “The Da Vinci Code” are outrageously blasphemous against the living God… our precious Lord Jesus Christ.
How can these things, Natalie’s criticism about being ashamed of George W. and blasphemy against God, be compared?
I think eliminating everything that doesn’t agree with “me” is nothing except very scary. History is full of cultures that were “purified”. “Kristalnacht” comes to mind.
C’mon, Tim.
Tons of Hollywood celebs have criticized Bush with impunity. That is not the issue.
It was the idea of airing our dirty laundry in public… dissing the President (not just disagreeing, but rudely disrespecting him and the office) overseas in front of a huge live audience during wartime.
Just some random thoughts that may or may not be relevant to this.
I believe it was Aristotle who wrote that he didn’t care who wrote the nation’s laws, adding “let me write its songs.”
Art, in all of its forms, is important. As Catholics we know (or should know) how influential art (painting, sculpture, music, architexture) can be. And it is the depraved art of these past few decades (and yes, longer than that) that aids in dragging our society down.
When artists become separated from the Source of their talent, they begin leading their fans down the wrong path and it is at that point that those in the fanbase must decide whether to continue to expose themselves to this or cut loose. Perhaps something analogous happens when an artist forgets his audience. Perhaps not.
I’m probably just rambling so, don’t pay me any mind.
“Kristalnacht” comes to mind.
Godwin’s Law in action.
Y’know, it always seemed to me that “Godwin’s Law” was simply a way for pro-aborts to silence pro-lifers. I think it’s a cheap way to claim victory in all respects.
I say this even though I disagree with Tim M’s assertions and acknowledge that none of this has anything to do with the Nazis.
Godwin’s Law was not originated as a cheap way to win arguments, and is never validly used so.
Godwin’s Law came from bitter experience of flamewars on Usenet newsgroups and the old BBSes. Again and again, arguments dissolved into hissyfits when one or another side accused the other of being Nazis or Nazi-like. It soon became clear that the Appeal to the Reich was almost always being used as extreme hyperbole. Thus, the Law was formulated. Its self-evident truth in that time and place was undeniable.
I’m pretty sure that there’s a corollary to Godwin’s Law to the effect that you’re allowed to bring up Nazis if actual deathcamps, secret police, and brownshirted thugs are involved with the situation. Which would mean that pro-life groups would indeed be able to talk about Nazis without invoking Godwin’s Law.
*Wikipedia lookup*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_Law
Hm. It appears that Godwin’s actual Law is simply that Nazis are almost certain to show up in any thread that lasts long enough. Huh. So the Nazis-end-thread thing is just a tangential relationship. Never knew that.
No, no, no. Godwin’s Law is not simply a way for pro-aborts to silence pro-lifers.
It’s, in general, a way for people to propose a principle and, instead of answering the obvious counter-example, act as if it were an offense to raise it. That way they don’t have to think.
You could, for instance, point out that Kristalnacht was in fact not aimed at culture, or that one can apply rules of dosage — Joe was talking about avoiding culture and it is dishonest to pretend that means that sort of attack.
But it’s easier to invoke Godwin’s Law
man with black hat: If they’re only paid to sing and dance…
“Now some country music stations won’t play their music… [a]nd that’s a shame… because they are female artists who actually play their instruments, and play them very well… Women are still treated as ‘eye candy’ by the business, and I daresay the women themselves generally play right into it.”
Tim, sorry I didn’t get back to your comment earlier. You see, I have a life and it keeps interfering in my ‘Net reading. 🙂
I wasn’t even thinking about their Bush comments, really. I was considering that the interview in Time showed their tendency to show how much smarter and hipper they are than… the audience. The controversial musicians of the ’60s and ’70s (sorry, ’50s was before my time) were selling the controversial image as much as anything. But they were playing the audience and had talent to back it up (like the Doors and Alice Cooper). I can’t think of a country artist who made their dirty laundry so public, other than Willie Nelson on occasion.
The Dixie Chicks, IMO, seem to be using the controversy to exit country music for another genre. Their new album’s producer worked with Johnny Cash, so I imagine that’s why it sounds more pop. But I don’t think they sound good enough to up there with K.D. Lang or other country artists who ventured further afield.
“Euro-liberals”? That’s a rather broad brush you’ve got there.
Why would the audience at a Dixie Chicks conert be liberal, particularly?
Sheesh, why do you guys have to be such Godwin Nazis? (running, ducking, hiding)
😀
Does anyone remember Tom Lehrer’s “Folk Song Army”?
We are the Folk Song Army.
Everyone of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
Unlike the rest of you squares.
There are innocuous folk songs.
Yeah, but we regard ’em with scorn.
The folks who sing ’em have no social conscience.
Why they don’t even care if Jimmy Crack Corn.
If you feel dissatisfaction,
Strum your frustrations away.
Some people may prefer action,
But give me a folk song any old day.
The tune don’t have to be clever,
And it don’t matter if you put a coupla extra syllables into a line.
It sounds more ethnic if it ain’t good English,
And it don’t even gotta rhyme–excuse me–rhyne.
Remember the war against Franco?
That’s the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs.
So join in the Folk Song Army,
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice.
Ready! Aim! Sing!
What’s wrong with Toby Keith?
Well, let’s see.
The videos for Who’s Your Daddy, You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like That and My Little Whiskey Girl are basically soft core porn.
The theme of Who’s Your Daddy is a rich guy and his girl toy.
Stays in Mexico and Victoria’s Secret are about cheating on your spouse and not regretting it.
Nope, nothing wrong here.
I’m not saying that other country singers are perfect, (George Strait can’t seem to string two hits together without one praising infedelity. What I am saying is that Toby Keith has hit a new low with his videos that I would more expect to see on MTV. He may be a flag wavin’ patriot but I don’t like the general image he portrays.
Thanks, Ian. I didn’t know anything about his videos and my local station doesn’t really play much of him.
I would like to see someone write a long article on the strange combination of traditional values like patriotism, family and a faith that plays right alongside praising infidelity, praising being drunk and Tim McGraw’s ambivalent song about abortion. There seems to be a strange disconnect among Country singers and their fans who can sing along with Restless Heart’s “Why does it have to be wrong or right?” one minute and then switch to “Believe” by Brooks and Dunn the next.
It’s like reading Cosmo and Inside the Vatican and not seeing any conflict.
Weird.
Ian, I totally agree and am often perplexed at the combination.
To clarify my above reference to Toby, it wasn’t a wholesale endorsement of everything he writes and produces. However, when someone does something right, I think it’s o.k. to acknowledge it.
BTW: I think carrie underwood’s performance last night on American idol was a good thing for country music. Her song “Jesus take the wheel” was
noted and her performance last night had a very edifying message. The song ends with the girl praying beside her bed. I’m sure Carrie’s sins quite a bit too. But hey, it’s encouraging to see wholesome stuff and good decisions once and awhile–regardless of whether the person is a saint or a sinner, I think it’s ok to praise them.
Joe, I agree completely.
Unfortunately, Toby Keith is one of the most popular Country stars now and seems (I haven’t run stats on this) to focus mostly on the baser side of life with occasional patriotic stuff tossed in.
Have you seen Josh Turner’s video for the “Long Black Train”? It appears to have a pro-life message.
“why are the Dixie Chicks any different? If you like the CD, buy it. If not? then don’t. If you don’t want to watch their video, turn the channel.”
I agree, only it’s a shame. I really like the Dixie Chicks’ music. ‘cept now I can’t listen to em without thinking about their dumb (IMnshO) opinions. I turn the dial.
Barbara Streisand, same deal.
I started a discussion on this strange combination if anyone wants to jump in. Why Does it Have to be Wrong or Right?
I love that Josh Turner song for similar reasons
I liked Johnny cash’s song, Hurt. Although, I suppose the former spoke of avoiding the black train, while the latter spoke of the consequences of not doing so. It’s wonderful to take strength in those songs which seem to capture some major Christian themes.
I used to like the Dixie Chicks – I thought they had a pretty authentic actual country sound, as opposed to the pop-country you hear most of the time now. As a big fan of old-time country, I love to hear a banjo or a fiddle with the music. My fave DC song was “Long Time Gone” which captured my nostalgia for the greats (“Well, they sound tired but they don’t sound Haggard; they got money but they don’t got Cash; they go Junior but they don’t got Hank…”)
But I was very upset that they would go to a foreign country and air out our dirty laundry, and then grab for attention the way they did on EW (which reminded me of the black girl who got raped in NYC and had racial slurs written on her body, except she faked it).
Now Natalie Maines says that she NEVER LIKED country music to begin with, and she just as soon perform a different genre. This is becoming more common, where singers get their start in country and then “go mainstream” and I think it is a rotten thing to do. So, you’ll make your first million off us, but then you’re going to abandon us to go sing a duet with Elton John?
I guess I’ll stick with the over 50 singers and/or dead crowd, and Alison Krauss.
OH! I meant to say, I know exactly what you mean about Toby Keith. I really got turned off him with “Who’s Your Daddy?” and I never even saw the video. I just can’t stand the message of the song. And I HATE that phrase. It’s sick and wrong.
Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” was mind-blowing. I never heard the NIN version (cause NIN is creepy) but I saw Cash’s video, and I actually cried. What a powerful video. I miss him.
I could be wrong, Mary, but if you saw the video, I think you saw the NIN version–very sad and true song, I watched it a number of times.
**I also heard that the largest part of Johnny’s
private library was comprised of works of the early Fathers. Has anyone else heard this? I know he was no angel, but Cash always as a kind soul. The song Hurt seemed to magnify this for me.
I am very sorry that I made a comment that invoked “Godwin’s Law”.
I did not intend to offend or disrespect anyone.
I love history and was only using a past event to make a point. I am, again, sorry. I had not heard of Godwin’s Law until reading it here.
My point was that it was mentioned that the culture should be purified from its pollution. YES, we are to be salt and light.
History has shown MANY times over MANY centuries that when SOME apply bleach to culture for THEIR purposes that the result is always overkill.
Only Christ knows the motives of one’s heart. And the culture can only be purified one heart at a time, beginning with my heart.
again, please forgive me for stepping over the line.
t.i.m.
That’s okay. No biggie. You didn’t make a big production out of comparing others to Nazis. It was an innocent mistake, so don’t worry about it.
Cash is a born again christian. His song “the man comes around” starts and ends by quoting Revelations from the bible. The song came to Johnny Cash in a dream he had where queen elisabeth told Johnny that he was a “thorn tree in a whirlwind” which is also in the song and supposedly from the book of Job. My personal favorite Johnny Cash song is “I hung my head” written by sting.
Looks like the Dixie Chicks aren’t singers anymore, now they’re “artists.” Not surprising that their music would go down in quality. I also used to respect the Chicks for their use of old-timey instruments, though I didn’t particularly care for their thematic material.
Just another good reason to listen to music that isn’t popular: Merle, Buck Owens, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, Ian Tyson, and great fiddle players like John Hartford, Buddy MacMaster, or Tommy Jarrells.
But to say what they did (that they’re ashamed that the president is from Texas) when they did (in wartime) where they did (on foreign soil) to whom they did (Euro liberals) was sure to hack off the people who bought their records
Tons of Hollywood celebs have criticized Bush with impunity. That is not the issue. It was the idea of airing our dirty laundry in public… dissing the President… overseas in front of a huge live audience during wartime.
Correction: The statement was not made “in wartime.” The statement was made before the invasion of Iraq.
On March 10, 2003, Natalie Maines said between songs during a concert at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire theatre in London: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.”
The 2003 invasion of Iraq began on March 20.
I can’t figure out why so many people make this mistake. Are you just copying someone else’s error?
They have the right to speak their minds. People have the choice to buy their CDs or not.
I agree.
And people have a right to blog about them, right?
Come on, pha, ten days? You don’t think we already had teams on the ground? The war was on, and everyone knew it.
That’s weak. It was wartime.
Come on, pha, ten days?
Yes, ten days. Even Maines’ public apology also preceded the invasion (March 14, 2003). “As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect…. While war may remain a viable option, as a mother, I just want to see every possible alternative exhausted before children and American soldiers’ lives are lost. I love my country. I am a proud American.”
So why is everyone perpetuating this “wartime” error?
“Yes, ten days. Even Maines’ public apology also preceded the invasion (March 14, 2003). “As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect…. While war may remain a viable option, as a mother, I just want to see every possible alternative exhausted before children and American soldiers’ lives are lost. I love my country. I am a proud American.”
So why is everyone perpetuating this “wartime” error?”
Because for all intents and purposes, it was wartime. It has been wartime since September 11.
Besides, her apology as about as hollow as an old tree. What with the trash talking that folowed….
So yeah, they reveal their idiocy, people stop taking them seriously and stop buying their albums. Free market in action.
“Artists”…heh, real artists should have them slapped for the insult.
Because for all intents and purposes, it was wartime. It has been wartime since September 11.
So now we’re in a perpetual state of war against the world and no one can ever criticize the president again at any time for any reason? This is a ridiculous attempt to rationalize the perpetuation of a factual error.
The war in Iraq had not begun. It was not wartime.
people stop taking them seriously and stop buying their albums
I don’t object to that. People will buy what they want and not buy what they don’t.
I appreciate your headline, a reference to The Simpsons episode featuring Lurleen Lumpkin, where the newspaper headline was “Hix in Stix Dig Chix Lix”. Hopefully as I get going on my blog I can be as creative…
“So now we’re in a perpetual state of war against the world and no one can ever criticize the president again at any time for any reason?”
Ouch! Quit beating that poor straw man!
Honestly… who has said that, or anything remotely like it?
Once again…
Maines & Co., did not “criticize”, they INSULTED the President in PUBLIC while OVERSEAS (France, of all places… big risk she took, there) during WARTIME.
They certainly offered no criticism, only insult.
Boatloads of people HAVE criticized the President and had no problems at all. Indeed, it seems to be a requirement for your standard Hollywood resume.
Presidential insults are required only if you really, badly want to be “A” listed.
“Hix nix Dix Chix”… “fans turned their back”… “the album is going nowhere”…
Dixie Chicks New Album, Taking The Long Way, Debuts At #1 On Billboard Top 200
New album debuts at number 1, group is first female group to have three albums debut at number one (breaking their own record), one of the top 5 first weeks for any album this year (so far). I don’t think lack of popularity is a problem they have. I think wishing they had a lack of popularity is a problem their critics have.
Tickets go on sale for their tour go on sale for most venues this Saturday (June 3). It will be interesting to see how the ticket sales go. After their outburst at Pres. Bush four years ago there was much hullabaloo about how they’d lost all their popularity after a couple of radio stations mounted some anti-Dixie Chicks publicity stunts. The news covered the stunts but nobody much bothered to cover the fact that their tour continued to sell out across the U.S., even in the deep south.
“It was not wartime.” Slept through 911, did you?
Boo fuggin hoo – the Dixie Chicks spoke their minds and now we don’t like ’em. Wake up, America! You don’t have to like a person to appreciate their art, and therefore their freedom of expression. If it wasn’t for people like the Dixie Chicks pushing the envelope of those freedoms, we would most likely lose them altogether. What they did took balls, or lets say initiative – both of which are in short supply in the American Couch Potato Culture. Most of us are content to sit at home and drool over a bag of popcorn watching the latest on FOX, while they are out there using their celebrity to spread a message in which they obviously strongly believe. Quit yer damn whinin’ or go out and write your own country songs and get famous so you can say what YOU want the world to hear!
“If it wasn’t for people like the Dixie Chicks pushing the envelope of those freedoms, we would most likely lose them altogether.”
Yeah, right!
Our freedoms are won and kept for us by the efforts of American Fighting Men who are willing to pay the ultimate price for us.
I’m amazed by the people who don’t consider the attacks on 9/11 as an act of war.