How The Chicks survived being dropped from the airwaves, death-threats and more.
A story about early cancel-culture and how the coolest band in Country music rode it all out.
On March 10, 2003 the Dixie Chicks, a hugely succesful country band from Texas, performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theater in London. That night would have been somewhat uneventful, yet it ended up changing the band’s trajectory. All it took was for one music critic to pick up on something the lead singer said, for the band to be blacklisted by countless radio stations, subsequently becoming the target of death threats.
Up until that fateful night, The Chicks - at the time known as The Dixie Chicks, more on that later - were considered America’s sweethearts. They had a faithful fanbase that supported them since the early nineties, but it was only after a change in their line-up, and their single I Can Love You Better (1997), that they reached the Top 10 on American country music charts. Since 1995, the band had consisted of lead singer Natalie Maines, and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer.
Their Wide Open Spaces (1998) album reached the top five on both country and pop charts with initial sales of 12 million copies, setting a record for the best-selling duo or group album in country music history. It was also certified platinum in Canada and Australia, and gold in the UK. Their subsequent albums followed a similar234Ω` success.
So what did Natalie say?
At the Shepherd's Bush Empire theater in London, during a break between songs, lead singer Natalie Maines told the audience the band did not support the US’ imminent invasion of Iraq, adding how the band were "ashamed" that President George W. Bush was from Texas.
This is the really interesting bit of this story. I doubt that Maines expected, nor wanted, to anger Bush supporters. She probably thought nobody would care about what she had to say, since she was talking to a London audience, feeling comfortable enough to share her frustrations with a supportive audience, far from home. Yet, the only reason her words made headlines back in the U.S. was because she was quoted in a review of the concert by The Guardian.
"We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.” - The Chicks
When country websites and radio stations picked up the review, it kick-started a campaign against the band. Their music was removed from hundreds of playlists, with stations originally issuing a temporary ban on the group, then banning them completely. A radio station in Kansas City organised a “chicken toss” party, so people could destroy tapes, CDs and tickets. The band became the target of hostile talk shows and scathing newspaper headlines.
Eventually, Maines attempted an apology, admitting her comments had been disrespectful to the President - although she later recanted this apology, in 2006. She also explained how the band 100% supported the troops.
A month later, the band members responded in an in-depth interview with Entertainment Weekly. They also, in a rather cool move, posed nude for its cover. When the creative team for the magazine began talks with the band, the initial idea was to wrap Maines, Maguire and Strayer in an American flag, but the editors worried readers would think they were denigrating the flag. Fiona McDonagh Farrell, the photo editor, recalls Natalie Maines suggesting she and her bandmates should appear naked and branded with the words the public and the media had used to describe them, including “Dixie Sluts” “Proud Americans” “Traitors” and “Sadam’s Angels”.
Yet all of the band’s attempts to appease those angry at them were futile. Maines ended up with 24-hour security outside her home. The other two chicks had trash dumped outside their homes and received similar threats. Their single at the time dropped from the charts, and the backlash damaged sales of their next album and tour. Two weeks after Maines’ words, the band had been expelled out of the top 40.
The comeback
On March 16, 2006, the Dixie Chicks released the single Not Ready to Make Nice, written by all three band members and Dan Wilson. Its lyrics addressed the backlash and its effects. For The Chicks, writing the song had become a form of therapy.
Not Ready to Make Nice is still the band’s biggest hit in Canada— certified twice Platinum and reaching the top five on the Hot 100, despite being ignored by U.S. country radio. It won three Grammy Awards. In 2009, Rolling Stone named it the 77th best song of the decade. It is one of my favourite songs ever.
“And how in the world can the words that I said send somebody so over the edge, that they'd write me a letter, saying that I better shut up and sing or my life will be over.” - Not Ready To Make Nice, The Chicks.
In 2006, the band released Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, a documentary that follows the three years after the 2003 London concert remarks. The band then went on a hiatus.
The second coming of The Chicks.
Moved by the George Floyd protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, on June 25, 2020, the band changed their name to the Chicks, dropping the word "Dixie" due to its connotations of American slavery. The band confessed to had been wanting to change its name for years, and decided to do so after seeing the Confederate flag described as "the Dixie Swastika" on social media . A band in New Zealand already went by the name Chicks, but they agreed to share the name with their Texan namesakes.
With their new name, The Chicks released the protest song March March, as a tribute to social justice movements.
On August 2019, in the midst of their divorce, Natalie Maines' ex-husband, asked the court to grant him access to all of her unreleased music, stating how it might violate a confidentiality clause in their prenuptial agreement, whilst claiming that Maines should owe him more financial support than what he initially had asked for. Maines' legal team filed a response to this new motion. Their divorce was settled out of court.
On July 17, 2020, The Chicks released Gaslighter, produced by Jack Antonoff and The Chicks. It takes just one listen of this cathartic, powerful song, to realise who lead singer Natalie Maines is talking about.
Gaslighter was the band’s first album in fourteen years. In the US it debuted at number 3, becoming the best-selling album in its debut week, and The Chick’s fifth top 5 album. In the UK and Australia it topped the charts and did incredibly well in several other countries. It also received widespread critical acclaim. It’s a bit of a banger.
“Gaslighter, big timer, repeating all of the mistakes of your father” - Gaslighter, The Chicks.
In July 2023, The Chicks played Glastonbury’s legendary Pyramid Stage.
The Chicks were never going to be people-pleasers. Their songs speak of feminism, of social resistance, a refusal to back down, and have done so since the beginning of their career. While I believe the hatred they received for speaking up was completely undeserved - and, frankly, quite disgusting - I am glad they held on to their beliefs to come back, over and over, tell their side of the story and share their views of the world in the shape of fantastic songs.
So many of you loved the 80s playlist I shared a while back, that I made another one. This one includes some forgotten hidden gems of that decade. Let me know if I’m missing any songs that deserve to be included :)
Until next time x