Post by erik on Apr 6, 2024 21:15:03 GMT -5
The Pop Music Album Spotlight focuses on a 2006 album that had its roots in a firestorm that the group featured here unwittingly started three years earlier.
TAKING THE LONG WAY—The Dixie Chicks (Sony; 2006)
The gestation for what may end up being one of the most controversial American pop music albums of the 21st century was contained in a remark made on the stage of Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on March 10, 2003. Natalie Maines, the (to say the least) outspoken lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, told the audience: “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence”, in reference to America’s impending invasion of Iraq, which happened nine days later. And as an afterthought, Natalie added “And we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas”. What happened next, indeed within mere hours, was a political/cultural firestorm, the likes of which had not been seen in pop music since John Lennon’s infamous (and also taken out of context) quote that the Beatles had become more popular than Jesus. Thanks to the uber-conserviative patriotism of the country music community at a time when the president that Natalie had dissed, George W. Bush, needed the support of America, the Dixie Chicks had become the first victims of what became known as Cancel Culture.
But three years later, under the aegis of maverick producer Rick Rubin, working out of Los Angeles, Natalie and the sister duo of Emily Robison and Martie Maguire came up with a landmark album in the form of Taking The Long Way{/I]. The overt country and bluegrass influences that had made the Chicks such stars in the country music world beforehand, though still in evidence on this album, were mixed in with a more straightforward folk-rock and country-rock approach akin to what had pervaded in L.A. three decades before. When it was released in May 2006, it was not surprisingly steeped in a lot of controversy, as many country radio stations were still smarting over what Natalie had said three years earlier. It nevertheless quickly vaulted to #1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and the Billboard Country Album Chart, buoyed by fan support from left-of-center country, Americana, and rock fans. The most prominent song on the album to deal with the aftermath of what became known as The Incident, which included at least one death threat lodged against Natalie in July 2003, “Not Ready To Make Nice” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 24, 2007, the same week that the Chicks won five Grammy awards for the album.
Although their activity would tail off for fourteen years, until the release of their album Gaslighter in the pandemic-scarred year of 2020, the Chicks (removing the “Dixie” from their name in the wake of the election of Donald Trump) would continue to tour occasionally. Hopes for a return to the country music field, however, were largely kyboshed when the so-called “bro-country” movement all but eliminated female artists like themselves from country radio airplay, controversy or no controversy.
TAKING THE LONG WAY—The Dixie Chicks (Sony; 2006)
The gestation for what may end up being one of the most controversial American pop music albums of the 21st century was contained in a remark made on the stage of Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on March 10, 2003. Natalie Maines, the (to say the least) outspoken lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, told the audience: “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence”, in reference to America’s impending invasion of Iraq, which happened nine days later. And as an afterthought, Natalie added “And we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas”. What happened next, indeed within mere hours, was a political/cultural firestorm, the likes of which had not been seen in pop music since John Lennon’s infamous (and also taken out of context) quote that the Beatles had become more popular than Jesus. Thanks to the uber-conserviative patriotism of the country music community at a time when the president that Natalie had dissed, George W. Bush, needed the support of America, the Dixie Chicks had become the first victims of what became known as Cancel Culture.
But three years later, under the aegis of maverick producer Rick Rubin, working out of Los Angeles, Natalie and the sister duo of Emily Robison and Martie Maguire came up with a landmark album in the form of Taking The Long Way{/I]. The overt country and bluegrass influences that had made the Chicks such stars in the country music world beforehand, though still in evidence on this album, were mixed in with a more straightforward folk-rock and country-rock approach akin to what had pervaded in L.A. three decades before. When it was released in May 2006, it was not surprisingly steeped in a lot of controversy, as many country radio stations were still smarting over what Natalie had said three years earlier. It nevertheless quickly vaulted to #1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and the Billboard Country Album Chart, buoyed by fan support from left-of-center country, Americana, and rock fans. The most prominent song on the album to deal with the aftermath of what became known as The Incident, which included at least one death threat lodged against Natalie in July 2003, “Not Ready To Make Nice” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 24, 2007, the same week that the Chicks won five Grammy awards for the album.
Although their activity would tail off for fourteen years, until the release of their album Gaslighter in the pandemic-scarred year of 2020, the Chicks (removing the “Dixie” from their name in the wake of the election of Donald Trump) would continue to tour occasionally. Hopes for a return to the country music field, however, were largely kyboshed when the so-called “bro-country” movement all but eliminated female artists like themselves from country radio airplay, controversy or no controversy.