Dixie Chicks comments on George W. Bush
In March 2003, the American country band the Dixie Chicks publicly criticized President George W. Bush, triggering a backlash. At a concert in London during their Top of the World Tour, the lead singer, Natalie Maines, said the Dixie Chicks were ashamed Bush was from the same state as them, and that they did not support the imminent invasion of Iraq.
The Dixie Chicks were one of the most popular American country acts at the time. After the statement was reported by the British newspaper The Guardian, it triggered a backlash from American country listeners, who were mostly right-wing and supported the war. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by many country radio stations, received death threats and were criticized by other country musicians. Sales of their music and concert tickets declined and they lost corporate sponsorship. A few days later, Maines issued an apology, saying her remark had been disrespectful. She rescinded the apology in 2006, saying she felt Bush deserved no respect.
Entertainment Weekly likened the incident to the backlash after John Lennon quipped in 1966 that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. The controversy was covered in the 2006 documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing. In 2006, the Dixie Chicks released the single "Not Ready to Make Nice", which addressed the criticism. The Dixie Chicks and their position on Bush was cited as an influence by later country artists including Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves.
Background[edit]
The Dixie Chicks formed in 1989 in Dallas, Texas. By the turn of the millennium, they had become one of the most popular American country acts[1] and the bestselling female band of all time.[2] According to the Guardian journalist Betty Clarke, the Dixie Chicks were controversial in the American country establishment, which disapproved of their "feisty songs, their provocative style or the fact they were selling huge numbers of progressive bluegrass records to pop kids".[3]
Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, American country music featured more patriotic sentiment than normal, in hit songs such as Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)", Darryl Worley's "Have You Forgotten?", and Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)”.[4] Many country fans and radio stations supported President George W. Bush and the impending invasion of Iraq.[5] Market research found that the average country listener was white, suburban and right-wing.[6]
Legacy[edit]
The events were documented in the 2006 documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing.[2] The television network NBC refused to air a commercial for the documentary, citing a policy against ads dealing with "public controversy". The commercials were also declined by CW.[31] The film's distributor, Harvey Weinstein, said: "It's a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America."[31]
The country musician Merle Haggard, who had released a song criticizing American media coverage of the Iraq War, said the backlash had been "like a verbal witch hunt and lynching". Haggard said it was insulting to those who had died in wars "when almost the majority of America jumped down their throats for simply voicing an opinion".[32][33] The music journalist Kelefa Sanneh wrote that the controversy "made it easier for smug partisans on both sides to feel validated". Some country fans felt it confirmed that the Dixie Chicks felt they were "too good" for country music, whereas some Dixie Chicks fans felt it confirmed that that the country industry was too corporate and partisan.[34]
As of 2006, many stations still refused to play the Dixie Chicks.[6] Focus tests by KFKF-FM in Kansas City found that listeners still disliked them; the program director said: "It's not the music, because we're playing them the hits they used to love. It's something visceral. I've never seen anything like it."[6] Maguire said she would rather have a smaller group of dedicated fans than "people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith".[35] The Guardian connected the blacklisting to a fall in female artists in the annual top 100 country songs, from 38% in 1999 to 18% in 2015.[4]
In 2006, the Dixie Chicks released the single "Not Ready to Make Nice", addressing the criticism.[36] In June, they returned to Shepherd's Bush Empire and sold T-shirts with the legend "The Only Bush we Trust is Shepherd's Bush". Maines reiterated that they were ashamed that Bush came from Texas.[11] Sales of their next album, Taking the Long Way (2006), and tour fell short of expectations, but the album won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. After their performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards, the Dixie Chicks went on hiatus until 2013.[37]
Entertainment Weekly speculated that if Betty Clarke had not quoted the remark in her Guardian review it would not have been picked up by American media.[23] Clarke wrote in 2007 that she stood by her decision to include the quote and that the "modern-day witch trial" had been surreal and unnerving.[3] In 2016, Maines told the New York Times: "I look at how much more polarized and intolerant people have become now. With social media, opinions all start becoming noise, but at that point, people weren't really supposed to have an opinion."[2] Strayer said that the controversy "feels like another lifetime to me, it doesn't even feel real — our country's changed, we've changed, the fans definitely have".[2]
The Dixie Chicks and their position on Bush was cited as an influence by later country artists including Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves.[37] Pitchfork described this as "a legacy tied both to their music and their message of integrity".[37] In 2019, Swift said that country artists had come under pressure from record companies to avoid talking about politics and to "not be like the Dixie Chicks", which she felt was unjust.[38]