Face it. No matter how much of a big deal the media wants to make of the Dixie Chicks and their “comeback” album, they dug their own grave. Nashville didn’t destroy them. Lite Rock stations didn’t kill them. They did it to themselves.
Their music was played mostly on Country stations. Your average listener did not want to hear the music, no matter how good it was, of these twits. Hence, airplay went to almost zero. Same on lite rock, soft rock, adult format, etc radio stations in the same areas. The listeners were determining the stations output, not the station.
Here in Raleigh, NC, during the original brewhaha, it was rare that you would hear them on any station. And, why not? Stations do not want people switching off.
This has not changed around here, or any of the other areas of NC that I travel frequently in. It is rare that you hear a Chicks song. Too bad, because there are some good ones. But, the majority does not want to hear them. They prefer not to be demeaned by these anti-American “artists.”
To put a finer point on that point, the Chicks’ first single from the new album was “Not Ready to Make Nice,” basically the Time interview with country-pop accompaniment. Sample lyrics: “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.”
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The song stalled at No. 36 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, the music-industry magazine reported Monday. The followup, “Everybody Knows,” topped out at No. 50.
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To be sure, the Chicks haven’t looked to make nice with the country-music; on 60 Minutes, they talked about going for the adult contemporary crowd.
So, they cannot make it in their genre, Country, anymore, so they will change their music to sell albums and pander. Good luck with that.
And that is just album and single sales. They still aren’t getting radio airplay, and no one really cares.
The song topped out at #36 because radio stations all over the country refused to play it. The fact is that it is the #1 downloaded song on iTunes, and that is across all genres.
Country music radio turned on them in one day after one comment from Maines. They received death threats!!! It was an overreaction. There are tons of actors, singers, etc. that come out with some political comment, but none were buried faster than the Dixie Chicks. It wasn’t even that bad of a comment, ashamed of the President being from Texas. Many of us are ashamed he’s from the United States.
And there was a price to pay among Country music fans, who did not want to hear the Chicks on the radio. And still don’t.
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You know, I personally don’t take issue with anything Maines said. Free speech is a right and she used it. I do however wish she were articulate. If your going to insult someone, do it with intellect, do it with grace. Not that “y’all, were embarrased the president is from Texas” bs. If she’s placing herself on a political soapbox she needs to be prepared to deal with the repercussions. Her silly statement of “we’re musicians, not politicians” is self hypocritical. She opened that door herself and needs to properly deal with it.
Quite true, Stacey. Natalie was more then welcome to speak her mind. But so many on the Left had issues with Country music listeners speaking their minds, and telling stations not to play the Chicks. They always want “free speech for me, but not thee.”