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May 22, 2006
Dixie Chicks Change Name to Ditzy Chicks
Well, they didn't, really, but they should:
Disappointing airplay for the first two singles from the new album by the Dixie Chicks exposes a deep -- and seemingly growing -- rift between the trio and the country radio market that helped turn the group into superstars.
"Taking the Long Way," due out May 23, is the band's first album since singer Natalie Maines sparked a major controversy in 2003 by declaring that she was ashamed to hail from the same state as fellow Texan President George W. Bush. Radio boycotts ensued, and many fans abandoned the band.
The first single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," peaked at No. 36 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, beginning its descent after just seven weeks. The second single, "Everybody Knows," is now at No. 50, down two places in its fourth week.
"Not Ready to Make Nice" performed only slightly better at adult contemporary radio, peaking at No. 32 on the AC chart and falling off after six weeks.
Using "Not Ready to Make Nice" as the first choice for a single might have been a deliberate message, but consumers are sending one right back.
The Chicks are stinking up the country charts, and not doing much better on the AC charts. Obviously, not all country artists can make the switch to AC and pop. It seems like just desserts to me:
The two singles have had a striking lack of impact at radio, considering the band's history. Between 1997 and 2003, it notched 14 top 10 country singles, including six No. 1 hits. In addition to eight Grammy Awards, the group has won 10 Country Music Assn. Awards and eight Academy of Country Music Awards. The trio has sold 23.4 million albums in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The Dixie Chicks and reps from their label, Columbia Records, declined to participate in this story. But -- at least as far as Maines is concerned -- the drop-off at country radio was part of its plan.
Maines was quoted in late January on EW.com, before the single went to country radio, saying: "For me to be in country music to begin with was not who I was ... I would be cheating myself ... to go back to something that I don't wholeheartedly believe in. So I'm pretty much done. They've shown their true colors. I like lots of country music, but as far as the industry and everything that happened ... I couldn't want to be farther away from that."
So Maines didn't like country music to begin with...but apparently it's made her a boatload of money. It sounds like she's the one who has shown her true colors!
The entertainment business is a crap shoot. Very few entertainers, be they singers, musicians or actors, achieve lasting stardom. It sounds like the Dixie Chicks might have started that long descent into has-been status.
I say good riddance. Biting the hand that feeds you has a way of backfiring. How long will it be before they start whining about how fans should just put the past behind them because those royalties aren't pouring in?
UPDATE: Click below to see the song lyrics. Sounds like the fans could have the same beef.
DIXIE CHICKS LYRICS
"Not Ready To Make Nice"
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting
I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying
I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should
I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it
I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over
I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should
I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting
Posted by Pam at May 22, 2006 10:19 AM
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Comments
Quite a fair load of verbage on the Chicks, but I'm not sure what your point is: Are you saying that their musicianship is lacking because the Broadcast Industry (of which I am a veteran) operates on a basis of a perceived listenership that can be skewed by a handful of crank telephone calls, or is it that you believe the Industry itself is the end-all of objectivity? Or, is it possible that a musical style reminiscent of Stevie Nicks and Bill Monroe is "not quite Country" when compared with the current trends of blending in everything from hip-hop styling to glam-rock guitar riffs? You say that Ms. Maines has bitten the hand that fed her. From my humble estimation she has fed herself with her own skill as a musician. As for a "downward spiral," could it be that the cowardice and bigotry reflected in the knee-jerk attacks on these ladies suggest such a trend, not in the Chicks' career but in the life of our own, yet-young, Nation?
Posted by: Dixpat at May 26, 2006 10:03 AM
Dixpat,
Well spoken...but here's the bottom line for those of us who have turned our backs on the Dixie Chicks: She pissed off a good majority of her own fans with that stupid comment...and we have a right to feel the way we do. Feelings are never right nor wrong...they are just feelings. They are what they are. Nobody doubts their musicianship. However, for Natalie Maines to make such an unpatriotic comment about our president during a time of war (on foreign soil, no less) was the epitomy of cowardice. The Dixie Chicks made their bed and now they are sleeping in it.
Posted by: Macmusic at May 26, 2006 12:18 PM
Um... any chance the songs sucked? Hey, I'm a HUGE fan of "The Who", but when they made "It's Hard" it was a lousy album, with only one really great song on it ("Eminence Front"). Their musicianship wasn't in question, but the songs on the album were bad and I don't listen to it (though "Eminence Front" is on my iPod).
When you're in the music business, I'd think that job one, if you're concerned about success in the business and not just your artistic expression (which would be a valid goal too), would be to make music the audience wants to hear. If the Dixie Chicks didn't do that this time, but instead favored self-expression that few are interested in hearing, the album won't get great airplay and probably won't sell very well past their hard-core fans. Isn't it just that simple?
Posted by: irishlad317 at May 28, 2006 02:30 PM
You are all a bunch of stupid rednecks. The rest of the country LAUGHS are ass off at the south because you are all stupid toothless rednecks. I am so embarrased you are Americans.
Posted by: bob at September 29, 2006 08:27 PM