Destroying The Dixie Chicks – Ten Years After

[Cannikin]

All I've been seeing from conservatives today is how liberals only believe in the freedom of speech when we agree with what is being said, and this Duck Dynasty fellow should be protected from reprisal. I've taken great joy in reminding them of the black listing they gave the Dixie Chicks for speaking out against Dubya. This article was posted in March, but I thought it deserved to be dug up.

"Despite numerous clarifications and apologies from Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks, a full on boycott of their music was called for by pro-Bush, pro-war, and pro-American groups. Their single “Landslide” went from #10 on the Billboard charts, to #44 in 1 week, and the next week fell off the charts completely. Radio stations who played any Dixie Chicks songs were immediately bombarded with phone calls and emails blasting the station and threats of boycotts if they continued. Even radio DJ’s and programmers who sympathized with the Dixie Chicks were forced to stop playing them from the simple logistics nightmare the boycott created. Some DJ’s who played the Dixie Chicks were fired.

Dixie Chicks CD’s were rounded up, and in one famous incident were run over by a bulldozer. Concerts were canceled in the US as the Dixie Chicks couldn’t sell tickets, and rival concerts were set up that would take Dixie Chicks tickets in exchange. The Dixie Chicks lost their sponsor Lipton, and The Red Cross denied a million dollar endorsement from the band, fearing it would draw the ire of the boycott. The Dixie Chicks also received hundreds of death threats from the incident."

http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/destroying-the-dixie-chicks-ten-years-after

[Blanket Statements]

1. The Dixie Chicks actually offended their fan base

If they hadn't done so, the boycott would have failed

[Niceguy1]

3. yes definitely not the best business decision

[CreekDog]

15. I think saying Goodbye Earl was a good business decision

and a fulfilling personal one.

good for them.

and they're all filthy rich anyway, and bigger stars in the aftermath.

[Niceguy1]

20. ,The Dixie Chicks made their money

but there's no denying what they did destroyed their business.it was a loss for them just like it is for this guy.

[CreekDog]

25. They had their second number one album on the Billboard Album chart

and a wildly successful tour.

they had critically acclaimed music.

and they did it all while not having to be quiet about opposing the Iraq War.

sounds like you don't know success when you see it.

[Blanket Statements]

27. Natalie Maynes thinks it hurt the band

In the long run

[Cannikin]

4. I'm part of their fan base. I wasn't offended.

n/t

[Blanket Statements]

5. The majority were.

[spanone]

7. you have a link for that information?

[Blanket Statements]

8. Their decline is record sales, inability to sell tickets

to concerts would be the evidence.
Their first album, after the controversy, didn't sell very well after the first month

[spanone]

17. blacklisted.

[CreekDog]

19. most bands make most of their money while touring

you're just trolling them, that's all.

[Blanket Statements]

22. I have no dog in the fight. I wasn't a fan of theirs

Or country music.
Boycotts work when your base abandons you.

[Blanket Statements]

28. Natalie believed it did.

[CreekDog]

29. You keep saying they failed, their next album charted at #1 and earned them 5 Grammys.

nevermind that they actually produced a different sound on that album, in fact, each album sounded a bit different, which is why by 2003, they were attracting a different audience anyway.

but why on earth am i arguing with someone who posts anti-union hit pieces and posts NRA talking points?

as if i was expecting such a person to express anything nice and honest about the Dixie Chicks...why?

but i don't have any regrets. unlike you, i'm not posting on a site where i'm opposed to what most of the users advocate for.

[Blanket Statements]

32. Ive never posted anything anti-union or espoused

Anything from the NRA.
I don't care about the Dixie Chicks or Duck Dynasty...Dixie chicks lost much of their fan base, even NM thought so.

[Blanket Statements]

35. Whatever

[CreekDog]

36. it's okay, we know you don't care about this or most topics here --here's what you care about:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024117835#post23

that's what you get excited about.

it's why you're here.

to disagree with us in a quiet way on most topics, subtly.

and on one topic, loudly.

the stated ambivalence on most topics isn't hiding that, it's demonstrating that.

so go on and poo poo the Dixie Chicks while saying, "hey, i don't care..."

[Blanket Statements]

41. Nice try

[SammyWinstonJack]

43. Blanket Statements..........says it all. Perfect choice for your screen name.

I am their fan base and they didn't lose me.

[FarPoint]

79. Good catch.

We are informed.

[FarPoint]

78. Im a fan of the Dixie Chicks.

I was and still remain proud of their declaration against the Bush Administration and War in Iraq. They were brave, bold and accurate. They made a difference.

[CreekDog]

39. they sold 4 million on their next album

the album charted at #1.

keep trying to get people to believe the narrative that people do badly when they call out George W. Bush.

keep trying.

we'll keep correcting.

[Blanket Statements]

44. Their overall sales went down

[Lex]

56. Link?

[CreekDog]

63. so did U2's after Joshua Tree

they obviously were a failure after that, right?

just keep digging.

[Blanket Statements]

66. If you say so

[CreekDog]

68. Yes, U2 sold 10 million of Joshua Tree, then 5 million of Rattle and Hum

I think it's pretty stupid to say that one successful album followed by a successful but not as successful follow up album is a sign of depressed fan base or whatever.

But you made that argument. It's stupid, but you said it and I'm not gonna let you run away from it.

If you wanna make arguments, you should own them, back them up or correct yourself and move on.

Obviously you want to make bogus arguments, not back them up, continue to say they're true but then sort of back away quietly and yet maintain credibility.

Good luck. People here don't play that.

[Blanket Statements]

73. You're really going to try and compare the Dixie Chicks to U2?

[CreekDog]

84. If you try to say that a band fails when they have fewer record sales I will...

And I've seen both in concert. Different concerts obviously.

Ironically, saw them both at the same place.

[JaneyVee]

30. Of course not, his name says it all. Blanket Statements.

[CreekDog]

11. they didn't offend me and the concert i went to afterwards was sold out

[Blanket Statements]

13. Anecdotal

[CreekDog]

18. no, the sold out concert is a matter of fact, verifiably true

statistically based.

The tour grossed $60.5 million, making it the highest grossing country music tour up until that time (since superseded by several artists). It was also the 8th highest-grossing tour of any genre in 2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_World_Tour

take your anecdotal and stuff it.

[Cannikin]

21. Was this majority...

Also composed of the same ones now claiming to cherish the freedom of speech and that liberals and the "Hollywood elite" are at fault for costing this man his job on A&E? The ones spreading the "free speech isn't just for liberals" memes?

[Blanket Statements]

23. Don't know, don't care. Don't like country music

Don't watch Duck Dynasty.

[CreekDog]

37. yet you're an expert on this

you know all about the Dixie Chicks, but are not a fan, don't follow them, while claiming to quote Natalie Maines.

you don't care.

doesn't really matter to you, don't like this music. this is all a waste of time on a subject you don't care about.

but you keep posting away on it because it's that important to you.

please, cut the act. if i hadn't seen it a 1000 times under 100 screen names i might be fooled.

10 years here, it got old 5 years ago.

[Blanket Statements]

38. If you say so

[CreekDog]

40. i do

and i will again.

i don't like being played with by people who won't be up front about what they believe.

[Blanket Statements]

42. Meh

[CreekDog]

64. if I say the word "gun" you might show some spark

[Blanket Statements]

65. Doubtful

That's why you had to pull posts from 2 weeks ago

[CreekDog]

72. You're saying I was required to "pull posts"...does that mean I was required to delete posts?

I was never required to delete any posts. Sometimes I do if I think I've said the wrong thing or said it too many times. I'm not perfect.

[Demit]

76. Stupid reply.

Probably not alert-worthy, but I've been reading through this thread, not having anything to comment on, until I got to this comment of yours. Face it: you lost the Dixie Chicks debate on facts. Being stupid in a new way doesn't make you look any better.

[easychoice]

59. oh yeah,ruined their careers,yup! Well except...

[CreekDog]

12. There's your trouble --you think people like us weren't their fan base

There's your trouble. You don't get it.

[yeoman6987]

14. Duck Dynasty

I don't think it will go down that way for Duck Dynasty regardless of the unfairness to Dixie Chicks. Phil will be written out of the show but the show never really focused on him much anyway. His sons and Uncle Sal will do the show and that is that. The people who watch Duck Dynasty are those who approve of what he said (Ok not all, but quite a few). Things will still be purchased. I don't know how the liberals can make this a Dixie Chick type scenario. I think we could do it but it would take a lot of efforts.

[lolly]

46. That's not the message of the OP

I suspect most of us don't watch Duck Dynasty and don't care all that much whether it survives or not.

The point would be to contrast the screeching about "Freeeee Speeeeech" from the right when a reality show star's contract is dropped, and their lack of such concern in the face of the massive, coordinated, corporate-driven movement to shut down the Dixie Chicks.

[Are_grits_groceries]

16. The boycott was pushed by Clear Channel stations that

were owned by the right. They kept up the drumbeat against them and magnified it a thousand times. A lot of country stations were owned by Clear Channel.

Some of their fans would have been offended, but not nearly as many if this had not been flamed by those stations. They helped organize some of those demonstrations.

Clear Channel would have boycotted them even if they had 100% support. That would have closed out their music to many people.

The Dixie Chicks got roasted for some rather mild comments about Bush when you compare them to the comments about Obama. It's ok to be vile as long as you are talking about RW enemies. It's not ok to make comments about their own no matter what the criticism is.

So, take that Dixie Chicks offended their fan base and stick it. They insulted Bush who was friends with Clear Channel executives who were hell bent on destroying them no matter what any fans thought.

[DemocraticWing]

53. People forget about this.

I know that some Clear Channel stations did polls to find out if their listeners felt they should keep playing the Dixie Chicks...the DJs confided that most people wanted them to, but the company was telling them not to.

There's also a big difference between criticizing the President and saying something homophobic.

[Ghola_Duncan]

81. That's the difference...

... between them and the Dynasty crowd.

[CreekDog]

88. the boycott did fail

their very next song and album went to #1. their concert tour ended that year as the biggest ever in country music and they won more grammies than ever before, more than Toby Keith and outsold his albums both times.

[LisaLynne]

2. If hypocracy bothered them, they wouldn't be conservatives. nt

[spanone]

6. they were blackballed by country radio.

[Tigress DEM]

9. It actually made me want to buy their music and I'm not into country much.

Actually, I like a lot of specific songs and certain groups, just not the crap that comes out of the DJ's mouths inbetween.

[Kurovski]

60. I bought their "Home" album...in support, it turned out to be a beautiful album

if you like the music in the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou", you might like "Home".

[Logical]

10. I miss them. I wish they would tour again! n-t

[Are_grits_groceries]

24. They tour in Canada every year.

I don't think they will ever tour in the US again.
I think the death threats against their kids was the last straw.

[inanna]

47. They received death threats?

I never knew that.

Wow.

[Are_grits_groceries]

48. Oh yeah.

It was beyond nasty.
They quit touring for a while to be sure their families were safe.

[inanna]

49. I would've done the same thing.

Sorry, I just realised the death threats were mentioned at the bottom of the post up top.

[Dawson Leery]

52. They should NOT tour the US again.

The American country music fanbase is insane. They are the tea party, which means those threats were real.

[Logical]

55. Maybe I need to make a trip up there! n-t

[davidpdx]

75. They are on tour

I have a friend in Sweden who LOVES them and he bought tickets for the show in March. He also very much agrees that Bush was an embarrassment.

[Owl]

33. Still love them. Have all of their cd's.

[rug]

45. They have integrity.

[CanSocDem]

80. Thanks for posting.

The Dixie Chicks are the greatest all-american band since the Beachboys!

.

[Beearewhyain]

50. A showcase of conservative hypocrisy

I often wonder if it might be better to just passingly acknowledge their batshittiness and keep pushing with our plans to move forward. I mean seriously, they are so far off the rails I question whether any reasonable person would think the crazy even needs to be addressed. Let's treat them as such.

[AzDar]

51. Let's not forget Lil' Boots at the time saying smugly in an interview... something

along the lines of 'opinions have consequences', when asked about Natalie's statement. Such an asshole.

[miyazaki]

54. The Indigo Girls were blacklisted since day one.

More folk than country, but nevertheless. Ever hear their song 'Nashville'?

[philly_bob]

57. OP's article has interesting discussion of Dixie Chick v. Toby Keith music.

I think the key point of the OP is that the Dixie Chicks represented a traditional acoustic country music while patriotic Toby Keith did rock-concert glitzy country music. The fans' knee-jerk support of the uber-patriot idiot hurt the development of the genre.

Incidentally, the threaded discussion above was very frustrating. Somebody needs to shut up.

[CreekDog]

70. that may be me...

but I wanted to mention that even though Toby Keith was never boycotted...

compare his fame and success with the Dixie Chicks? not even close. they were better musically and more successful before and after than he was at any time.

they were so successful that even reducing that success left them more successful than someone like Keith, who never was boycotted. the experience was traumatic for them and put them at a crossroads, but it certainly wasn't their undoing.

ultimately, the boycott didn't stop their music or success, it may have breathed life into it and given them a purpose for their second act, which they may not have had, had it not happened.

[philly_bob]

86. No Creek I wasn't referring to you.

I welcomed discussion of the music.

My complaint was too vague.

[CreekDog]

89. The original article kinda got lost in the debate about the Dixie Chicks' success/failure

But it was a good discussion.

What I think the author overlooked is that the Garth Brooks'/Toby Keith rock/showbiz style of country music was dominant before and after the Dixie Chicks' controversy.

The interesting thing is that the Chicks became famous, not by blending into that genre, but by doing so while keeping their fiddles and banjos just as country stations were bragging about how "we don't play Willie Nelson anymore..."...and the irony? Their albums always outsold Keith's albums, each time.

But the author is correct to note that their music was changing and country did change a little bit more away from them. The Home album that they were touring in 2003 was a bit of a different sound for them, more earthy and they actually were touring in Europe and Canada, which is evidence that their sound was going beyond mainstream country, and getting heard beyond it too. Incidentally, two of my Chicks' albums were given to me by an aunt who didn't even like Country but loved them before the incident made them famous.

What I find fascinating about country music is that there's a Nashville Sound and there's always an "outlaw" who wants to do something different, even if "different" is a version of what was "Nashville" 2-3 decades before. Nashville gets stale and when someone does something new, fans often eat it up --then it becomes "Nashville". So Garth, he was interesting, I liked him, he wrote some good songs, he livened things up...then everyone was doing it --boring. Full circle. The rockin out thing that Toby Keith did was novel when Waylon Jennings was doing it --it was original then. Keith was copying dozens of rockers and country rockers when he did it. Boring.

The Chicks did their own thing and made money without airplay even.

[aggiesal]

58. All the Dixie Chicks said was . . .

on the eve of the war starting, that they were ashamed to be from the same state as the president.
They didn`t say they were ashamed of the president, just that they came from the same state.

How could that offend anyone?

[Kurovski]

61. Ari warned us all to "watch what we say"

[Skip Intro]

67. Yes he did. I don't get the feeling much has changed since then either. n/t

[Kurovski]

71. Now THEY watch what we say.

It's the Yakov Smirnov affect.

[Martin Eden]

62. Ten Years After

Alvin Lee Rocks!
[link:

|

[Pretzel_Warrior]

69. but that's DIFFERNT! THose were REAL murricans protesting Natalie Maines and company

this is just a bunch of bleeding heart commie liberals and sodomites trying to shut down a REAL AMERICAN'S LIBERTY!!111



please note...

[LisaLynne]

77. Sarcastic, but exactly what they would say. nt

[mainer]

82. Chicks expressed a political view. Robertson attacked a whole segment of human beings.

There's a big difference between saying "I disagree with our President," and "Gay people are disgusting."

[7wo7rees]

83. The Chicks learned to stop feeding trolls. The Ducks call them their base.

[napkinz]

85. --->

https://www.facebook.com/beingliberal.org

[CreekDog]

87. thanks

[alphafemale]

90. Natalie Maines merely said "I'm embarrassed George Bush is from Texas."

Conservative media went ape shit. They were accused of treason and banned from radio.

It was a "War Time President.: You see?

Ted Nugent said:

"Obama, he's a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary [Clinton], you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch."