“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.” – Natalie Maines, March 10, 2003
The now infamous quote above, made by The Dixie Chicks lead singer on stage at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire theater in London, England in opposition to then President George W. Bush’s lead-up to the Iraq Invasion was a prelude to the band performing “Travelin’ Soldier”. The band’s latest single (and anti-war song) was resting atop the country music charts at the time. The subsequent media firestorm due to the comments essentially brought the burgeoning country music superstar careers of Maines and her bandmates to an abrupt halt. The fallout resulted in a virtual Dixie Chicks blacklisting from country music radio that still stands to this day. “Travelin’ Soldier” disappeared from the country music charts by the end of March. While attempts were made in the immediate aftermath to soothe the fervor in the country music community by way of issuing additional statements trying to clarify what Maines said, they always stuck by their belief that the military action in Iraq was unjust. Looking at the original quote today, it doesn’t match up with the outrage that it caused.
After the tumultuous completion of the 2003 tour, The Dixie Chicks did not return until 2006, when they released a more pop than country album titled Taking The Long Way that included the single “Not Ready To Make Nice”. The song is one of the more direct songs you will ever hear as Maines clearly stands by what she said three years previously and in turn expresses her anger towards the country music audience that turned on her amidst the political controversy. The chorus is quite literal:
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
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should
The song builds to the following the lines:
I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
Taking The Long Way won the Grammy for Album of the Year and Best Country Album. “Not Ready To Make Nice” won Grammys for both Song and Record of the Year. They won no Country Music Awards.
While later noting that the Grammys night in 2007 felt to them like an end to a chapter, or perhaps the book of The Dixie Chicks, the band took a hiatus filled with side projects and solo albums until setting out on their current 2016 tour. During the respite, Maines made sure to let anyone willing to listen how she still felt about the uproar.
Just last week, Maines stepped out again. This time she pointed out the current hypocrisy of those that vilified her in 2003.
This is apparently a reference to Pro-Trump programing or perhaps campaign advertising airing on country music stations this election season. Additionally, this more clearly illuminates a larger hypocrisy. The audience of people that was so outraged by someone using a platform to voice her displeasure in the direction of her country and the sitting President in 2003 would find social media a few years later. When given their opportunity to have a platform for all to hear their political views, were they respectful or responsible? Do the “treasonous” comments that Natalie Maines made even compare to the vitriol aimed at our current President everyday on Facebook or Twitter?
Natalie Maines was right. She was right on that London night in 2003 as history has proven. She was right to defiantly stand for what she believed in when the world was crumbling around her. She was right to point out the hypocrisy of those that tried to tear her down for having the audacity to say that she didn’t want violence and was ashamed of those that wanted it so quickly.
The truest hypocrisy is that the band rose to prominence with songs of female liberation and independence. It was when they demonstrated that independence and made an unpopular stand, that they were banished by their country audience. It’s no coincidence that the number of successful female country acts has dipped considerably since the Chicks were blacklisted in 2003.
For their new tour, the Dixie Chicks have found a new foil. They won’t be apologizing.
