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Topic: Dixie Chicks Have Broken "Contract" |
Tom Sullinger
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 25 May 2006 11:50 am |
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Surprise: Times Critic Says Dixie Chicks Have Broken "Contract" with Fans
Times music writer Kelefa Sanneh tosses ice on the liberal media’s celebration of the Dixie Chicks in Thursday’s “It’s Dixie Chicks vs. Country Fans, but Who’s Dissing Whom?”
The female country music trio are best known lately for dissing President Bush at a London concert in 2003, and since then have picked fights with the overtly patriotic country singer Toby Keith. But kudos from liberal media outlets like the Times and Time magazine have proven easier conquests than radio stations, where there first two singles have struggled to get radio airplay and have tumbled down the charts.
Sanneh, one of the few Times critics able to write non-condescendingly about country music, argues: “But this isn't really a fight about President Bush or freedom of speech. This is a fight about the identity of country music. There's a contract that binds country singers to their fans, and the Dixie Chicks have broken it.
“The Dixie Chicks were once considered too country for country radio. They didn't take off until Ms. Maguire and Ms. Robison, who are sisters, replaced their twangy old singer with Ms. Maines, who has always seemed like a pop star. Two brilliant albums -- ‘Wide Open Spaces,’ from 1998, and ‘Fly,’ from 1999 -- made them the era's top-selling country act. When their brash (and sometimes mischievous) songs crossed over to pop radio, many country fans felt proud to see a group of their own doing so well.
“Country fans are loyal, but they're not low-maintenance. By the time Ms. Maines made her statement in 2003, many were already questioning the trio's commitment: would they leave their old supporters behind?
Sanneh sniffs out some cultural clues as to why country fans may be tuning out the Chicks:
“For mistrustful listeners in search of an answer, Ms. Maines's comments provided one. Forget about President Bush: she had used the words ‘ashamed’ and ‘Texas’ in the same sentence, and she had done it on foreign soil. She meant to insult the president, but some former fans thought they heard her insulting Texans, and therefore Southerners, and therefore nonmetropolitan listeners everywhere.
“This interpretation may seem specious. And yet Ms. Maines and her band mates seem to be going out of their way to prove their detractors right. Instead of fighting for their old fans, the Dixie Chicks seem to be dismissing them.
“On ‘60 Minutes’ Ms. Maguire told Steve Kroft that their concerts weren't typical country concerts. ‘When I looked out in the audience, I didn't see rednecks,’ she said. (Did her lip curl slightly as she pronounced the r-word?) ‘I saw a more progressive crowd.’"
Sanneh makes a salient point about the media’s strange embrace of the Chicks and their new album: “And while the Dixie Chicks would love to position themselves as underdogs, the truth is that they have probably never been more beloved by the mainstream media. It's hard to complain about your musical career when you're plastered on the front of Time.” |
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Stephan Franck
From:
La Crescenta, California, USA
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Posted 25 May 2006 12:32 pm
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| Please B0b, close this topic before I answer it. |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 25 May 2006 12:43 pm
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It's ten minutes to 2 PM. I predict this thread will be closed by 2:30, if not sooner.
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My web site
[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 25 May 2006 at 01:43 PM.] |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 25 May 2006 12:59 pm
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What does it have to do with steel players?
(other than Natalie's dad being one of the best on the planet?)
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
My CD's: 'I've Got Friends in COLD Places' - 'Pedal Steel Guitar'
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 25 May 2006 at 02:00 PM.] |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 25 May 2006 1:04 pm
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well I'm responding..but not in a bashing sense..
One would think that if you are Producing your own CD's now, fronting all the Cash..No Lable behind you..that...
IF this is the case, One would also think that you would want every person on the planet to hear and perhaps BUY your MUSIC..and you would not alienate yourself from any $$$ spending segment of Music buyers..
I see that the Chicks want to be in business
for themsleves, controlling there own destiny..which is a great thing..
but at some point they MUST realize that the Dixie Chicks on Stage and in front of the Camera's is not quite the same as the Owners/Partners of a Business off stage...
If they continue to act like a Touring Group ...well then, that is there destiny....
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Frank Parish
From:
Nashville,Tn. USA
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Posted 25 May 2006 1:10 pm
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| McCartney had it right when they asked him for a response to her remark. He told them he was an entertainer and thought better of making a comment one way or the other. I'd say that's good advice coming from a living legend. If only he'd had a prenuptial agreement before he put his foot in his mouth, he'd be about billion bucks richer than he is now! That mouth can sure make you pay a hell of a price sometimes. [This message was edited by Frank Parish on 25 May 2006 at 02:13 PM.] |
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Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 25 May 2006 1:50 pm
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I like some of the Chicks music very well, and some of it pretty much stinks to put it bluntly... However even though I am decidely right wing, they can say whatever they please wherever they please... HOWEVER, it DOES annoy me that they are doing what SO many "performing artists" are doing these days.. allowing their political viewpoints to be debated... geez, keep it to yourself, and do what the fans are paying for you to do..
In the words of my favorite [and one of the prettiest] right wing kooks, Ann Coulter,
SHUT UP AND SING!!!!! bob |
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Marlin Smoot
From:
Kansas
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Posted 25 May 2006 2:04 pm
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FYI...
The restructured Sony BMG, folded Epic/Nashville under the Columbia/Nashville imprint.
Wide Open is the Chicks imprint that is on and marketed by Columbia that is owned by Sony where RCA, BMG and RGL got rolled into.
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 25 May 2006 2:05 pm
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| Reba got it right. You are not going to sell Cd's with your foot in your mouth and insulting people. [This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 25 May 2006 at 03:05 PM.] |
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Dave Ristrim
From:
Whites Creek, TN
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Posted 25 May 2006 2:08 pm
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| Viva la differance! |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 25 May 2006 2:12 pm
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| It's very simple,If you like the Chicks by all means buy their music,[I think they have a LOT of talent]But being a hardheaded hardcore rightwing conservative I can't support them,and yes I know they won't miss my twenty bucks,but I would. |
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A. J. Schobert
From:
Cincinnati, Ohio,
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Posted 25 May 2006 2:25 pm
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| I could only imagine how hard it is to get a break and have a major recording contract, and how it must feel to go on stage and try to perform and have thousands of boo's oh well if the shoe fits! Taylor Hicks is your new American Idol! I personally like catharine mcphee..Honestly this is a real good topic and it is good to talk it over |
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Steve Hinson
From:
Hendersonville Tn USA
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Posted 25 May 2006 2:47 pm
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Marlin...I know the DCs have their own imprint...my point was that Tony's post stated that they were"without a label"...go to Columbia Records'website and you will find them...that imprint was part of their settlement with Sony after the lawsuit...
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http://home.comcast.net/~steves_garage
[This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 25 May 2006 at 03:49 PM.] [This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 25 May 2006 at 03:57 PM.] |
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