Programmers say Dixie Chicks still not welcome on their airwaves

[nmoore6676]

I may disagree with Barbara Streisand's political stance but I still enjoy her music. On the other hand I never enjoyed the Dixie Chicks so their politics didn't influence me one way or the other. I don't know how Taylor Swift stands on politics but I still don't consider her a great country singer, just a better than average pop performer.

 

[flashback]

if a performer says a few sentences in passing about a political or social issue i don`t mind.if its a time consuming lecture i see the problem.

 

[nocomradio]

I have been a John Denver fan since his first public appearance. He remains the only artist that drew me to every concert he played in my town. But at the last concert he quit singing midway through and began to lecture the audience on saving the whales.

I suspect every single person that night knew full well Denver was a proponent for ecology but I also suspect he lost a bit of respect for his art by going off-topic and subjecting his fans to his own personal beliefs. We were there, after all, to see him sing.

Had he come back to Phoenix sometime later I am not sure I would have attended. I love whales too but that's not what I paid good money to hear.

And that brings up my point about Jane Fonda:

While she was a talented actress, she did during a war go and hang out with the enemy, seemingly enjoying it, and denouncing the country she was a citizen of, all the while said country she was visiting held many of our men prisoner. To me, that was a little hard to stomach and even to this day hard to have any respect for a person who would choose to do such an awkward and inexplicable thing during wartime, that looked treasonous. As such, I personally won't watch a Jane Fonda movie so as not to support what I feel was morally wrong. If I cannot respect a person, I can't appreciate much else about them.

Regardless of her talents, I think her behavior was odd at the small end of things, and bordering on criminal at the top. Imagine had something like this happened during WWII. But, she enjoyed a long and very successful career after this spanning 4 decades without invoking the wrath which the Dixie Chicks received for their political views not actions.

 

[TheBigA]

if a performer says a few sentences in passing about a political or social issue i don`t mind.if its a time consuming lecture i see the problem.

This comment from Natalie about Bush really came out of the blue. She mouthed off about a lot of things, but never said anything about him when he ran for President. Their shows, up til that point, were not real preachy. Their show was about the music. Heck, the very week she made her comment, the Chicks had the #1 song in country radio with "Traveling Soldier," about a soldier killed in Vietnam. Not unlike "Riding With Private Malone," which was a big hit for David Ball the year before.

without invoking the wrath which the Dixie Chicks received for their political views not actions.

The actions Natalie took were equally provocative. Wearing the "FUTK" shirt on the ACM awards was no accident.

 

[nocomradio]

The actions Natalie took were equally provocative. Wearing the "FUTK" shirt on the ACM awards was no accident.

Oh, I agree. She knew fully well what she was doing. Those letters didn't end up on her shirt accidentally. ;D

 

[TheBigA]

My view is they were sick of the fame, sick of the grind, there was still this attachment to country music that seemed to be holding them back from the kind of career they wanted. They thought they had left it behind when they sued Sony and moved from the Nashville office to NY. They wanted a total break from country radio so they could focus on becoming like Sheryl Crow or Sarah McLaughlin, which was where they really wanted to be.

In a way, LeAnn Rimes has done the same thing. Except it wasn't political. But country radio is done with her.

 

[landtuna]

While she was a talented actress, she did during a war go and hang out with the enemy, seemingly enjoying it, and denouncing the country she was a citizen of, all the while said country she was visiting held many of our men prisoner.

To clarify.....Fonda visited Hanoi in 1972 - two years after she and several other actors (including Donald Sutherland) created an anti-war film. She did not "denounce the country" but rather the war itself, and has consistently been doing so in subsequent years.

Perhaps the reason Sutherland didn't receive the same backlash as Fonda had to do with her outspoken comments virtually every time she was interviewed and the fact that, by 1972, there was a tremendous opposition to the war by Americans in general. It is predominately the vets that continue their verbal hatred.

Imagine had something like this happened during WWII.

WWII was not a "voluntary" war with invisible causes and indeterminate goals. Nor did our political leaders openly lie about the war to their own citizens as LBJ did in 1964. But there were plenty of people who, right up until the Pearl Harbor attack, did not want the USA involved in "Europe's war". They are today not considered traitors even though some of them clearly supported the Nazi's.

But, she enjoyed a long and very successful career after this spanning 4 decades without invoking the wrath which the Dixie Chicks received for their political views not actions.

Granted, there is a huge difference between voicing one's views and actually demonstrating one's support by acting up. However, when you are a public figure and wish to push your personal agenda you sometimes suffer the consequences of an unpopular position. The Chicks should have thought that lesson through before deciding to become political people. At least they weren't blacklisted, as would have happened in the early 50's.

 

[TheBigA]

The Chicks should have thought that lesson through before deciding to become political people.

As I've said, I believe they thought it through completely, and got the desired results. They had many opportunities to apologize, and made it clear they felt they had nothing to apologize for. They've been asked about regrets, and they say they have none. They wanted to be done with country radio, and country radio was happy to accomodate.

 

[landtuna]

As I've said, I believe they thought it through completely, and got the desired results. They had many opportunities to apologize, and made it clear they felt they had nothing to apologize for. They've been asked about regrets, and they say they have none. They wanted to be done with country radio, and country radio was happy to accomodate.

It would have been much simpler for them to simply walk away and quit making Country records and touring in Country venues. They had a brand that was worth money and could have easily continued capitalizing on it even though they were not interested in doing new material.

My guess is that they thought their stance would be more popular than it was but once over the line there was no going back.

In any case, aside from a very few Country performers both the Chicks and myself are done with the genre. It isn't much of a loss.

 

[TheBigA]

It would have been much simpler for them to simply walk away and quit making Country records and touring in Country venues.

They thought they did that when they sued Sony, fired their Nashville producer Paul Worley, and released Landslide. But they still got country radio airplay. Landslide was a #1 country hit. They still received country award nominations. Country radio didn't want to let them go.

 

[Gatekeeper007]

Since somebody keeps on my Wiki that I play the Dixie Chicks on WLRE which I never put on there myself and have erased more than a few times but it keeps comming back, then I will say a word or two about this subject. One Natalie has a big mouth and always has had one. Her out spokeness and will to never be run over by anyone while being small and cute made her a likeable person to many people. This worked for the Dixie Chicks until they tried to out grow who they really were and what made them who they were, Country Preformers. Tanya Tucker tried to grow beyond country music but with on bad comments or feelings being hurt and had very little sucess althou I am not sure some of the other things she did helped her much either still she is well thought of by her fans today. Has for Natalies dumb comments whether they were planned or not and of course backed up by the entire group they were ill timed at best and were presented in a way that they were right and if you didn't agree with them then you were wrong. This left no room for debate with their country music fans in any way shape or form and while fans were waiting for statement from them maybe saying hay we came on a little to hard or were sorry if we stepped on anybodies feelings it wasn't ment that way it didn't happen. Instead they jumped on Country Music and their fans for not supporting them which no matter how good a preformers they were that left little if no choice but to kick them in the butt, out the door, and shut it behind them on go on with life and or business. Yes I still play them in a lite rotation on the station because they were a very big part of country music and very good preformers. I feel that they have the right to free speech and their own opions even if I don't agree with them but nothing makes up for the fact that they wouldn't give an inch, say Im sorry or I didn't mean for it to come out that way, or something at least for country music fans, sorry ex country music fans. In the mean time life goes on and until they are no longer mad at country music and or their ex fans and say something to that effect then I guess country music in general and their ex fans will stay mad at them.

 

[scott salvatori]

lets point them fingers in all directions here and ask some questions:

natalie was right on, bush is a dunce, and hindsight 20/20 history proves it. but where is natalie when that other empty suit puppet obama, is worse than the other puppet bush in regards to endless middle east war, and American lives lost, and money spent? this despite all the exact opposite obama campaign retoric regarding middle east war.

why was the American public so angry at the dixie chicks? who promoted this anger? why no American public, or media star outcry over many other things like, loss of American manufacturing base. massive national debt and spending. massive loss of American culture due to illegal immigration etc?

sure, perhaps the backlash could have been handled better by the girls. but, what about the music talent of the dixie chicks?

ive followed, and airplayed this band since well before all them radio hits. its a little known fact that the dixie chicks were nothing but a little texas cowgirl band before natalie maines, and producer loyd maines brought them to the top. fact is, the dixie chicks musical talent, and sound is well above most of the female acts, disquised these days as country music. i say let the music talent get heard, screw the politics.

speaking of politics. miss lesbian, anti meat/anti cattle farmer canadian, kd langs "shadowland" album from the late 80's, produced by the legendary owen bradley is a flat out musical masterpiece. i can say that despite my dislike of her politics, and looks.

-scott

 

[TheBigA]

why was the American public so angry at the dixie chicks? who promoted this anger? why no American public, or media star outcry over many other things like, loss of American manufacturing base. massive national debt and spending. massive loss of American culture due to illegal immigration etc?

Hmmmm....funny you should ask. The anger about the Chicks came from the exact same place as the anger about the debt and illegal immigration: Conservative talk radio. It started with Michael Reagan, of all people. He was the first one to mention it. He saw it in a newspaper report. Then it got picked up by Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. They called on their listeners to call their local country radio stations and demand that they stop playing Chicks music. That's where it began. The people calling for their banning had no idea who they were, or what their music sounded like. All they knew was they spoke out against their President in time of war. Seems quaint today when we're still at war, and many of those same people think nothing about attacking the current President.

 

[nocomradio]

While she was a talented actress, she did during a war go and hang out with the enemy, seemingly enjoying it, and denouncing the country she was a citizen of, all the while said country she was visiting held many of our men prisoner.

To clarify.....Fonda visited Hanoi in 1972 - two years after she and several other actors (including Donald Sutherland) created an anti-war film. She did not "denounce the country" but rather the war itself, and has consistently been doing so in subsequent years.

Perhaps the reason Sutherland didn't receive the same backlash as Fonda had to do with her outspoken comments virtually every time she was interviewed and the fact that, by 1972, there was a tremendous opposition to the war by Americans in general. It is predominately the vets that continue their verbal hatred.

I may have spoken out of turn on that one, as she did not "denounce the country" per se. She did however allow her actions such as cavorting with the enemy and saddling up on an anti-aircraft gun be filmed and shown to the world. That in and of itself should be enough to make most folks be just a bit taken aback. In another time, she'd most likely have been charged with treason for actions such as that from an American citizen displaying such actions.

Sutherland wasn't the media whore Fonda was in many ways. In fact, I'd largely forgotten about his role in this.

As far as the Dixie Chicks? What they did was small potatoes comparatively in my opinion, and my whole point, really.

 

[TheBigA]

What they did was small potatoes comparatively in my opinion, and my whole point, really.

I agree. It was a very small story in a small British newspaper that would have been ignored completely had it not been blown out of proportion by conservative talk radio. No surprise there. But they were a ticking time bomb.

 

[firepoint525]

In a way, LeAnn Rimes has done the same thing. Except it wasn't political. But country radio is done with her.

Rimes sort of involuntarily left country music when her version of "How Do I Live" got clobbered in head-to-head comparisons with Trisha Yearwood's competing version on country radio. It went on to be a HUGE pop hit, languishing on the charts for over a year! But nothing else that she did even cracked the pop top ten.

 

[firepoint525]

It would have been much simpler for them to simply walk away and quit making Country records and touring in Country venues.

They thought they did that when they sued Sony, fired their Nashville producer Paul Worley, and released Landslide. But they still got country radio airplay. Landslide was a #1 country hit. They still received country award nominations. Country radio didn't want to let them go.

"Landslide" was also a #1 AC hit if memory serves. Seems like they should have gone for AC stardom and airplay, but they apparently didn't, and not even AC plays them anymore.

Country has for a long time tried to hang on to stars whose (for whatever reason) career was over. CHR is much more okay with one-hit-wonders, and likewise, has a shorter attention span. Maybe that is what appealing to a teenage audience will do for you.

 

[nocomradio]

Rimes sort of involuntarily left country music when.............

She grew up

She ran out of songs written for her

No one paid attention

The world moved on

 

[firepoint525]

What they did was small potatoes comparatively in my opinion, and my whole point, really.

I agree. It was a very small story in a small British newspaper that would have been ignored completely had it not been blown out of proportion by conservative talk radio. No surprise there. But they were a ticking time bomb.

They were apparently proud of it, because that scene appeared in Shut Up and Sing, didn't it? (I was actually surprised to find out that that statement was captured on tape!) While the audience may have agreed with her statement, I always felt like the applause afterward was augmented. It seemed like a roar! On the other hand, I feel like she still would have gotten applause had she said, "everyone of you here tonight can kiss my ass!" ;D

 

[firepoint525]

Rimes sort of involuntarily left country music when.............

She grew up

No, the opposite problem. She NEVER grew up. She still acts like a five-year-old!

She ran out of songs written for her

Does not matter. She became the "karaoke queen" covering songs that had already been hits for others. She has had CDs filled with nothing but covers!

No one paid attentionThe world moved on

No one paid attention, except for the tabloids, which is the ONLY attention she gets anymore. Good riddance!