Did their response to the Iraq war really end their career or were they pretty much done anyway? I don’t follow country music pop culture but I am under the impression they were pretty big at one point.
What makes you think their career is over? They won five Grammy Awards in 2007, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. They’ve announced a summer tour this year together with The Eagles.
A conversation I had with someone a year ago.
I skimmed through the Wikipedia article before posting but I must have completely missed that.
Well, I think it’s fair to say that their career in mainstream country is over. I was a DJ on a country station when Natalie Mains made her comment, and our program director ordered that all Dixie Chicks songs be removed from rotation. Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio station owner in the country (at the time), also removed them from airplay, effectively killing their chances of being heard in a good portion of the country.
I listen to country and never hear them on any local stations anymore. I think they played a song on a Sirius station the other day though.
Pity,
the line
‘turns out Earl was a missing person that nobody missed at all,’
was awesome!
The Dixie Chicks went on hiatus after all their 2007 Grammy wins because Natalie Maines (the Chick who made the anti-Bush statements) wanted to spend more time with her family. So that’s why you don’t hear them much anymore.
The remaining two Chicks formed a new band, the Court Yard Hounds, and are putting out a CD in a few weeks. Rolling Stone is absolutely giddy (I think I’ve read 2-3 articles on the progress of the album in the last few issues).
I don’t how it’ll be received by mainstream country stations, but I’d bet good money it’ll be an award winner (and likely a big seller).
The Dixie Chicks aren’t “finished” certainly, but the Grammies they won in 2007 don’t prove much, except that the recording industry (like show biz in general) is dominated by liberals who wanted to show political support for the girls. And the people who’ve bought their most recent recordings are NOT the people who used to like them.
They’re DEFINITELY finished as popular mainstream country artists. And even before Natalie made her remarks, their popularity was starting to wane a bit. Not for any particular reason- just because popularity ebbs and flows in show biz.
If they’re to succeed in the future, they’ll have to appeal to a completely different audience. It’ll be interesting to see if the NPR crowd that bought “Taking the Long Way” as a show of political support will continue to buy their records in the future.
What I find really interesting about their story is their hit song, “I’m not ready to make nice!”
It was clearly a response to the to do over their remarks and the backlash it produced. But I don’t think that alone would have made it a hit. It was catchy and tapped into a feeling we’ve all had, that hadn’t been portrayed in song previously. This feeling applies not just to political backlash, obviously. Who hasn’t been in a fight with their mate and felt…“I’m not ready to back down, I’m still mad as hell…”
An interesting twist, I thought.
Yeah, it was actually a great album. I hadn’t been a fan of their’s before and really didn’t have any sort of expectations for that album, as I was never a fan of mainstream country in general. But somebody gave me a copy and I thought it was awesome. Again, I didn’t become a fan because of their political views, which I couldn’t care less about. I just happened to hear the album and really enjoyed it.
I imagine if they had released this same album in an alternate universe where the political fracas never happened, country fans would have lapped it up as well.
I’m happy to learn that the sisters are doing a new album and that the group as a whole will be touring – after a pretty long period of inactivity, I’d figured that they’d decided they’d had enough of all the hoo-hah. Taking the Long Way really is an incredible album.
Whilst in a Bass Pro Shops recently, I was very surprised to hear one of the Dixie Chicks’ earlier songs over the in-store speakers (as a whole, Bass Pro Shops’ clientele definitely leans to the right). It’d be interesting to poll those who so vocally abandoned the Chicks back in 2003 to see what those persons’ views of the group are now.
The only songs I have heard on the country stations by them for years has been travelin soldier and landslide. I mostly listen to country, but I avoid the awards like the plague. I had assumed they had broken up years ago.
Really? Damn! So, should I stop liking their first two albums, or their last one? And could you get back to me quickly on this, because several members of my extended family will also need to know that we can no longer like everything they have put out. :dubious:
I liked their last album so much, I went out and bought the one that preceded it–so I guess I should throw mine out, too because as a liberal, I’m not allowed to like country music.
I never get these memos.
I find it funny as hell that people burned or broke their CDs etc–just like they did to the Beatle’s records when John said they were more popular than Jesus Christ (paraphrased). And then in a few years, they all went and bought those same records again–making the Beatles even more money. I think the same happened (to some extent, obviously DC are not as popular as the Fab Four) to DC.
And who cares if they’re not mainstream country? Mainstream country lost its way a long time ago. As the DC sing, “They sound tired, but they don’t sound Haggard/ They got money, but they don’t have Cash/ They got Junior, but they don’t have Hank…”
I loved the original incarnation. When Laura and Robin left/were kicked off, I pretty much lost interest.
In 1998, over half of all country CDs sold were by the Dixie Chicks (according to Wikipedia, citing an article that year from Elle Magazine). Wide Open Spaces alone sold over 12 million units. I think their sales can take a pretty steep dip before we start referring to them in the past tense.
Well they made the statement on March 10, 2003
Let’s look at the Country Chart
14 Top 10 Songs up till that date
6 of these were #1
3 of these were #2
1 went to #3
After the remarks were made you see only 4 more singles issued. The highest of these “Not Ready To Make Nice” reached only #36 on the Country Charts but went to #4 on the Pop Charts, becoming their biggest hit on the pop charts.
But the decline may have happened anyway. If you look at 2002
Travelin’ Soldier #1 (#25 Pop)
Long Time Gone #2 (Grammy) (#7 Pop)
Landslide #2 (#7 Pop)
White Trash Wedding #56
Torured, Tangled Hearts #58
After the remarks
Godspeed #48
I Hope #54
Not Ready To Make Nice #36 (Pop #4)
Everybody Knows #45
As you see, even before the remarks their singles took a sudden drop. This could be many things. It could be a glut of single or it could’ve marked an overall general decline.
The funny thing is the performance of the Dixie Chicks on the Pop Charts started to take hold. They never had so much success on the Pop Charts till right before then.
So this sudden burst of sucess on the Pop Charts could also have hurt the groups performace on the country charts. This has been known to happen with other acts, the more airplay they get in the Pop area, the less they get on the Country Charts.
So it could’ve been the remarks, or not. It could’ve simply been a backlash against the Dixie Chick’s for going to mainstream Pop and not enough country
I never understood the “I have this political/religious POV so I have to like these artists & not like these other artists” mentality. Granted, I do enjoy seeing people of my POVs produce quality work & I patronize that when I get the chance. I’ve even bought albums & movies of a conservative political or religious bent which weren’t that well done if I thought it was a decent attempt.
BUT if I have to fine-tune my collections to people who have said or promoted things I disagree with- well, there goes my Tori Amos & other Fem-Music collection, my psychedelic rock collection, my David Lynch movies, etc…
When I was a teen, I never took my rock music as seriously as some kids, so I never felt the need to “change my life & turn to God” by getting rid of my albums
(some of my occult books/items were a different matter). I know a few who did, and who a few years later started re-collecting them, sometimes expressing regret that they got rid of some collectors items.
All their hits since the “incident” came off of their only studio album since then, Taking the Long Way (2006). Bruce Springsteen and Madonna have had longer stretches without a major hit and nobody’s calling the undertaker on them yet. I think they’ll get it together again after the Eagles tour and the Courtyard Hounds album play out.