Alyson Hill'Shut Up & Sing' the Dixie Chicks fiasco
May 4th 2008 23:49
Entertainment Weekly's controversial cover
As of March 2008, the Dixie Chicks were the highest selling female band in any musical genre with 36 million albums sold. Not bad, for a band that has had to struggle with death threats, the refusal by radio stations to play their music and an entire fan base turning against them.
This documentary, 'Shut Up and Sing', shows the fallout of a throw away line made at a London concert, that was badly timed with US President George Bush's decision to invade Iraq to uncover the certain cache of weapons of mass destruction.
The women have become known worldwide for their music, their fashion sense but motly for their outspoken political comments. Smells like a scapegoat hunt to me as we learn that lead singer Natalie Maine's exact words were:
Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas. ”
That's all she said, but for the American people that was all she wrote. This quote bounded across the world within hours of the show, igniting a wave of anger and a financial backlash to the band. 'Shut Up and Sing' is very interesting as we see the women and their entourage go from giggling shock to questioning the honesty of the damage control that is necessary to save them as a business and a band. The omnipresent camera shows us how Natalie Maines' stubborn personality and youth worries the other members of the band, and their manager, even while she shows integrity to stand by what is after all an American ethos - freedom of speech.
After the Fallout 2006
'Shut Up and Sing' is a very interesting magnifying glass on the turn of events surrounding the start of the war in Iraq, the fear, the anger and the search for a punching bag for the frightened American people to vent on. The documentary swings back and forward somewhat dizzyingly and confusingly between the reaction across America and their lives and recording of their latest album in 2006 the autobiographical 'Taking The Long Way' in which they penned a number of songs with Dan Wilson including 'Not Ready To Make Nice' letting their public know just how they felt.
Youtube link "Not ready to make nice"
I found it interesting to note a discussion where the women muse that being good county girls, it was easy to make them be bad guys. Their manager tells them that they will be forgiven by their country music fans because the current number one artist is a wife beater, and they forgave him. Also, disturbing scenes of disc stomping that call to mind descriptions of book-burning...have we really not changed in all this time?
Martie, Natalie and Emily make a decision to change their genre - to walk away from their country music stereotype and write a 'non-commercial' album which has seen their popularity soar, and they acknowledge in the doco that at the end of the day, what Natalie said - right or wrong- changed their lives. Certainly, my interest in them grew after the events that headlined them, and Taking the Long Way is certainly the Dixie Chicks at their best and most interesting. (Check out Silent House on that album, written by Neil Finn)
'Shut Up and Sing' may really be only for fans, although it is an interesting retrospective on America at the inception of their latest war. I'm glad to know that in Australia, it's OK to put your foot in your mouth from time to time. Hell, I do it all the time. How could you get so cranky at women who would do this for a laugh?
Youtube link: Dixie Chicks funny
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