The Dixie Chicks Are Not Making Nice With Their Fans
By Aaron Goldstein (05/24/06)
When Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines made her infamous statement about President Bush in London back in 2003 shortly before the U.S. entered Iraq I did not give it much thought. After all, I don't think President Bush lies awake at night in a sweat tortured muttering to himself, "Oh my G-d, the Dixie Chicks hate me." He has far more important things to worry about than a pretentious singer who thinks the world of herself.
First, Maines was ashamed President Bush was from Texas. Then she said that she was sorry and that she wasn’t ashamed. But now that she and her band mates are on the cover of Time she is ashamed of the President again. Maybe John Kerry should have picked Natalie Maines to be his running mate instead of John Edwards.
Her indecisiveness is evident in their new song, “Not Ready To Make Nice”. In one verse Maines sings:
I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying
And in another verse she sings:
I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole life around
And I kind of like it
One the one hand, Maines has paid a price but on the other hand she likes it. She does fit in well with the Democratic Party.
Natalie Maines is no Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Unlike Hirsi Ali, Maines was never forced to wear a hijab or marry against her will, has not been under the care of bodyguards 24/7 nor has she been asked to leave the country she calls home.
Don’t get me wrong. I am sure Maines has paid a price. Nothing she said or did warrants her receiving death threats. But Maines is mistaken if she believes that her statements are above criticism.
I saw the Dixie Chicks perform “Not Ready To Make Nice” on The Late Show With David Letterman last night. The song features strong instrumental arrangements and powerful vocal harmonies. But some of the lyrics make me want to say, “Get over yourself.”
Let’s consider this couplet:
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a stranger
So is Maines suggesting that mothers all over middle America are teaching their daughters to hate Iraqis? Is she suggesting that a mother teaches her daughter to hate a stranger because of something President Bush said or did? Whatever the case, she misses the point. The war was fought not because we hate Iraqis but because we wanted to free them from a merciless tyrant. If we hated Iraqis we would not have cared what happened to them. Yes, Iraqi civilians have died but it is not the mission of our soldiers to maliciously kill them. It is apparent that Maines does not see the difference between deliberately killing someone and unintentionally doing so. Frankly, I would be more concerned with what Natalie Maines teaches her children than the mothers she writes about.
When he introduced the Dixie Chicks, David Letterman stated they were the biggest selling female musical group in history. Time makes the same claim. I find that a bit hard to believe. I can’t imagine the Dixie Chicks outselling The Supremes or the Spice Girls. But be that as it may they have certainly sold more than their share of albums and concert tickets.
But I was struck by what Dixie Chick Martie Maguire (the other blonde for the uninitiated) told Time. Maguire said, “I’d rather have a small 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 kind of fans. They limit what you can do.”
Well, Ms. Maguire. I guess the Dixie Chicks are not making nice with their fans. Fair enough. Just bee careful of what you wish because it might very well come true.
The Dixie Chicks might want to ask The Tremeloes about what a good career move insulting your fans is. The 1960s pop group which scored hits in the U.S. such as “Silence Is Golden” and “Here Comes My Baby” was beloved in Britain. However that would change. On the liner notes of their CD, The Best of the Tremeloes, Toby Mannis writes:
But in the early ‘70s they made a minor miscalculation. Proud of their musicianship and songwriting abilities, they decided to make “serious” rock music instead of the pop/rock hits they were famous for. That was not the miscalculation…No, the mistake they made was announcing to the press that they were making this change in musical direction and that they considered their earlier hit recordings “rubbish” and the people who bought them “morons.” Naturally, all the “morons” who had bought all that “rubbish” took offense, as did all the radio programmers who had played it, thus effectively ending The Tremeloes’ career as major hitmakers.
I believe Martie Maguire just made a minor miscalculation. She just had her Tremeloes moment and has effectively called many of her fans “morons”. I am certain there were many Dixie Chicks fans who might not have agreed with Maines’ outburst in London but still kept their CDs and enjoyed listening to “Goodbye Earl”. But should those fans become aware of Maguire’s admonishment they might very well take her advice to heart and to their wallets.
What would possess anyone to insult people who parted with their money to buy your CD or gave up an evening to hear you play in concert?
What Maguire has not considered are the two other CDs in the changer along with Toby Keith and Reba McEntire. Sure the other two CDs could be Gretchen Wilson and Clint Black. But they could also be Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. Or Rascal Flatts and Ray Charles. Or the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Chicago. Is it impossible to enjoy Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue” while at the same time enjoying “Color My World” by Chicago.
I need not agree with the politics of a recording artist to enjoy their work. Consider Chicago’s eponymous second album (better known as Chicago II). Released in January 1970, the band members wrote in the liner notes:
With this album, we dedicate ourselves, our futures and our energies to the people of the revolution…And the revolution in all of its forms.
They might as well have had Fidel Castro write the liner notes for that album. But listen to the music and any political misgivings are quickly forgotten. One minute you are blown away by the late Terry Kath’s guitar solo on “25 or 6 to 4”. The next you are moved by Kath’s tender vocals on “Memories of Love”. Chicago might have worn its politics on its left sleeve but their members never ever called their fans “morons” or otherwise stated they were too good for their fans. Nearly four decades later, Chicago remains a viable act and concert attraction.
In the end, it might be the words of Martie Maguire, not Natalie Maines, that proves to be the undoing of the Dixie Chicks. I am sure that if in five to ten years from now the Dixie Chicks are relegated to playing small clubs and struggling to sell records they might want to reconcile with the people who had the temerity to listen to Toby Keith and Reba McEntire. But people have long memories. They might not be ready to make nice.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Aaron Goldstein
