Dixie Chicks Hit No. 1:
Although some country stations refuse to play their music, the Dixie Chicks seem are doing okay. Their new album hit number one in sales on the Billboard charts this week, and also topped the country album charts. Either their fans don't care about the trio's politics -- or they do care, and the Chicks are more popular than President Bush.
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- Dixie Chicks Hit No. 1:
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I've never purchased a song of theirs, or even heard one, but Natalie Maines is awfully cute.
I don't disagree with you about Natalie Maines, but the other two are even better looking. And BTW, I would bet you've at least heard one of their songs, even despite efforts not to.
Gotta part company with you on the one with the dark brown hair. Natalie is definitely better looking than her. I'm not quite sure what the third one looks like so I'll reserve judgment there.
- Alaska Jack
I'm not going to comment on whether they've insulted their original country music fans, but their latest release sounds a whole lot less country to me than previous releases. There's no banjo (at one point, one member of the band was a competent, if unexceptional, banjo picker; I don't know whether there's been a change in personnel), no steel guitar, and no fiddle on "I'm Not Ready to Make Nice". There is a 1960s/1970s rock-style organ sound on it. You don't have to be a purist of the "please, no George Strait" type to think that the latest release isn't country.
What about Band Aid, Live Aid, and the Lilith Fair? Inasmuch as it's a luxury good and highly substitutable, I'd say demand for pop music is probably very elastic. Hence it's likely consumer behaviour at the margins is influenced by such inessentia as the "statement" one makes by buying or not buying it. If we were talking about gasoline or lumber I think you'd have a better case.
Anecdotes, mind you, are not data...
Emily Robison (married to Charlie Robison, so her Brother and sister-in-law are Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis, which probably means nothing to most of you) is the banjo player, and she is much more than "competent, if unexceptional". They just can't cut a break, can they. First they are criticized because they won't drop the banjo and now there isn't enough banjo. Jonathon sneers at them for dissing their fans and then notes without comment that their album is number one--although I am kind of surprised that he posted the inconvenient fact after his last post.
I meant no insult by referring to her as "competent, if unexceptional". I meant simply that she couldn't be compared to, say, J.D. Crowe or Terry Baucom. Nor am I saying that there isn't enough banjo. I'm simply saying that the absence of the banjo is one indication that their newer sound isn't really country.
Best,
Jim
Yes, these are the only two possibilities. No chance that someone would care about (and even disagree with) their politics, but nevertheless consider that irrelevant to whether or not they like their music, is there?
It is, for most people, quite possible to appreciate art despite disagreeing with the politics of the artist. I realize that's becoming less true these days, where criticism of the president is regarded by some as lèse majesté, but there's still plenty of people for whom that holds.
Most of this just speaks for itself.
But I will note that there's quite a bit of ground between saying one is embarrassed to be from the same state as President Bush and "push[ing] [a] leftwing Islamofascistic political agenda." I'm not sure what a "leftwing Islamofascistic political agenda" would be beyond an oxymoron.
But hey, enjoy your tranny vids while listening to "Walk Like an Egyptian," dude.
Natalie Maines isn't fat.
Speaking of 80's girl bands, I always had a thing for Belinda Carlisle.
For real country music dial in KILT in houston (available on the internet) especially on Sunday nights when they play only Texas artists.
The Chicks are infinitely more talented than the Bangles and are the best selling "Girl Group" (for lack of a better term) of all time.
If it were a concerted political/musical effort to escape the world of country, it might not be a bad one.
Oh grow up. It's the twenty-first century. Maybe those of us in the middle-of-America aren't so shocked about sex talk anymore.
[POST EDITED BY MODERATOR]
Here in the self-asserted capital of country music (where there was considerable discomfort with a nude statue on Music Row), I doubt the fans of country music are would be that pleased with:
* apparently drug-induced casual sex with multiple partners;
* public conversations regarding the time "[Marty] asked Natalie to check her dress and she had a stain because she got kind of moist from the interviewer who was there";
* public conversations regarding "which of the girls give the best head";
* "stories [which] start off 'So, I was giving this guy a blow job...'";
* a public review of which girls "swallow it"; and
* a public review of pubic shaving preferences.
There is a big difference between "sex talk," as you put it, and very detailed discussions of often liberal sexual practices (including sex outside of marriage) in a public interview by a group that already, in the minds of many, have a big, big strike against them.
This interview supports Mr. Imhoff's suggestion that the Chicks have decided to look to the pop market, where talk like this may well help sales, rather than the country market, where at best this sort of talk will have no negative effect.
However, "[t]here is a big difference between 'sex talk' and very detailed discussions of often liberal sexual practices (including sex outside of marriage) in a public interview by a group that already, in the minds of many, have a big, big strike against them."
In the lead up to this album, the Dixie Chicks have said -
1. They don't consider themselves "Country" anymore.
2. They don't want fans like Toby and Reba have...
3. They think Country fans are nothing but stereotypical...
That sounds like enough reasons for me. But, NOOOOO, we can't discus these things, it MUST ONLY BE about what was said about the president. Face it, they can't stop alienating country fans, and then, it must be the fans fault, as they are "just expressing their opinions".
If I was in a sales type situation, I wouldn't be telling my customers that they are stereotypical, I don't want to make their kind of product, and don't really want people like them to buy the product, and expect them to want it.
I believe that they have made the business decision that they aren't going to get the country fans back, and are striving for fans that look down on country to pick up the slack. Sounds like they may have made the right decision, but people should stop just looking at the "President" thing, and listen to what they've been saying, recently.
Thanks.
JHA
So don't underestimate the popularity of their views.
And while all genres are somewhat artificial, I've listened to a couple of songs from the DC's latest album and, well, they're country. I don't know enough about all of their work to know whether they are *less* country than they used to be - but they are definitely country.
(Even if his popularity dropped to 29% of 117,000,000 voters it's a lot more than bought the album.)
Is this some kind of reverse Goodwin's Law that comes into effect here? Does comparing W to Jesus automatically end the discussion? One hopes so.
On the other hand, a chunk of that is because he seems to want illegal immigration. I'd imagine that someone who dislikes Bush on those grounds is unlikely to support a band that dislikes Bush from a left-wing perspective.
Actually, it's "it's" not "its." Might want to be careful about such things when attacking people for their typos.
Maines seems to see herself as courageous by making her view concerning Bush known while performing on stage. I see her as clueless. It takes no courage to denounce Bush in Great Britain. She was preaching to the choir.
See, that's what we've been trying to tell you regarding military strategy ...
By the way, no I would NOT hit it. Not attractive in the least, considering how they have a full-time makeup and hair person slathering those hags up to make them look presentable and what they look like now is the best he can do.
I couldn't agree more. But I think the responses in the comments here are due to Jonathan's earlier (a few days ago) post implying that they would not win back their fans because they were insufficiently contrite about the statement about Bush some years back. Since we don't seem to know who, exactly, is buying the record (though lots of people clearly are), I suppose that question is left unanswered.
Well let's see, I grew up in Chicago suburbs, and after college spent most of my adult life in Atlanta, Alexandria, Virginia (where I lived 3/4 mile from the south), Kansas City, and now New Orleans. That middle-America enough for you?
I showed this to my girlfriend, who used to run an independent record store. She says that ain't so; nowadays, most sales are tracked as they occur in the stores or online. Although sales at the band's shows aren't tracked, the charts today are more accurate than they've ever been.
The Dixie Chicks are certainly on the commercial edge of the alt country scene. As I noted above, Emily Robison is married to Charlie Robison, brother of Bruce Robison, who in turn is married to Kelly Willis, three of the biggest names on the alt-country scene (and the Robison brothers also are successful songwriters for more mainstream Country artists in their own right). And Emily and Martie Maguire's father is a well-known session musician in Texas.
I think you meant 'impression'. This album sold ~550k albums its first week of release. Yes that was more than Tobey Keith's latest offering (~300k), but is still 200k less than their album in 2000 (I think was their last album before this one). I expect this album will reach platinum status shortly and might go as high as triple or quad platinum.
This got me thinking...
What is the longest unbroken chain of posts criticizing grammar or word choice that also contain grammatical or diction errors? I frequently see up to two or three, but it's a big Internet, there must be much longer chains. If anyone has any humorous posts with links, I'd be interested in seeing them.
I think that all that this case proves is that in the long run all but the most diehard (read - nutjob) of far right/left wingers would ever care about, let alone seriously influence their musical decision making on that artist's political views.
Also, i've seen them perform twice, and never heard any comments about politics one way or the other. I'm not sure about this but am included to believe that is in no way a regular part of their stage act. If everyone is to be crucified for publicly uttering disbelief at the policies of this administration, we've got a lot of people to demonize. Better start soon...
I gave their album a listen and it's good...don't know if it's as good as their past work, but it's good music.
I've been reading these comments with interest. I work in country radio and have heard all sides of this so-called argument and have come to the conclusion that, in the end and politics aside, the music will always prevail (526,000 sold with little or no country radio airplay).
And before "middle America" gets its bloomers in a knot over the racy Stern Show interview the Chicks gave, they should know that that's the norm for a Howard Stern guest and as Stern interviews go, it was fairly tame.
Now THAT is funny. Any sentence that begins, "Hilary Duff's got more talent than
Now THAT is funny. Any sentence that begins, "Hilary Duff's got more talent than ... insert person or group of people is funny. Incredibly wrong, but funny nevertheless. And I can't post.
see, in the world of music, there's this funny deal the labels have with the retailers of the world. they pre-sell the albums to the retailers based on how many numbers the retailers can push, then the labels base their gold, platinum, etc sales records based sales to retailers. the labels then use these numbers as pr to show how popular an album is.