JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Dixie Chicks and The Shameless Treatment BY Country Music

They just declassified a Report about the Deception GW and Crew used to attack the wrong Country. I remembered How I was branded anti patriotic for opposing that bogus war. The Dixie Chicks were one of the Biggest Acts in the World and for saying they were embarrassed to be from the same state as GW they were essentially blackballed by Country Radio and the entire Industry. It was really amazing and really gave Country Music and Nashville a black eye. I never spoke much about this but what they did to them was criminal and I wish there was a way to SUE Country Radio etc....for what they did. JUST MY OPINION and I don't want to make this Political. BUT do you guys think it was right what was done to them and their career? IF they could bring down this huge act they have too much power in my opinion. Just wanted to get that off my chest. BTW....Colin Powel at the UN was equally as shameless as HE Knew what he was saying was NOT True and I Always wondered WHY he did it.
B

https://news.vice.com/article/the-c...e-iraq-invasion?utm_source=vicetwitterus

Sorry Barry but that is water under the bridge now.
The Dixie Chicks basically insulted the fans that bought their records. The fans bombarded country radio saying they would stop listening if radio continued to play their records. Fans destroyed CD's and even run them over with road paving equipment.

To look back a bit, there was a long war between Iraq and Iran. Saddam Hussein started it. Saddam gassed his own people. He then attacked Kuwait. When intelligence revealed he was trying to build a atomic bomb. Right or wrong with his track record it was time to do something. Bill Clinton did nothing. George Bush did something. The people agreed with George Bush more than they did with the Dixie Chicks. It could have gone the other way. Those are the Fortunes of War.

Barry,

Number one, you are quite misinformed on the chain of events.It was the DIXIE CHICKS that called NASHVILLE a bunch of hicks, rednecks and stupid, EVEN BEFORE COUNTRY RADIO DID ANYTHING. They said they would "Never want anyone to have their CD in the same CD changer as anyone who had a Reba McEntire CD." which is why Reba, who hosted the CMA awards that year, said "The Dixie Chick's couldn't be here tonight because they couldn't get their feet out of their mouths."

Natalie Maines had been dismissive and had a bad attitude for many years before that. Talking bad about people in interviews, mouthing off long before any of that George Bush stuff came up.A friend of mine was asked by her for Madolin lessons which he did as a favor and the entire time she was complaining about everything, even the way he was teaching her. She had been an arrogant person long before they even got their deal.

90% of writers and artists wounds are self inflicted, and the Chicks had a long record of shooting both feet off before that stuff even came up. You can do that when you are selling a lot of records and everyone's wonderkid. It is different when you become insufferable. They were unsufferable for a long time. The whole Toby Keith/George Bush thing was just the final straw. And they had started that battle long before anyone else fired a shot.

This has happened throughout history. It is called 'Biting the hand that feeds you." When you insult your fans, you are biting the hand that feeds you. They did and now they can't get arrested. They were at the end of their ride anyway. That whole episode probably gave them a little longer life,but the result was the same. You made your money, moved to Austin. Enjoy what you got.

MAB

If my memory serves me correctly, a lot of the reason they were ostracized is because they criticized the administration while performing before an audience in a foreign country, the UK if I remember correctly.

Stevie

If I remember it correctly, the real reason everyone was upset was because they criticized the administration while in a foreign country. I think they were somewhere in the UK.

Stevie

If I remember it correctly, the real reason everyone was upset was because they criticized the administration while in a foreign country. I think they were somewhere in the UK.

Stevie

Stevie,

That is true. They did it while in England, and there had always been an unwritten agreement that you don't criticize your country on foriegn soil. But there were many other issues with them that happened years before any of that. There was even a term, "Being Dixie Chicked" which happened in studios when they yelled at musicians, producers, and went on general tirades and rants.

They had problems with limosine colors on tours. They had problems with all kinds of seemingly insignificant things. And were basically divas in many instances. So when that happened it was kind of like the last straw in a long list of "last straws.'

Country doesn't air it's dirty laundry like a lot of music industry. Where rock and rap, hip hop, etc. can make a publicity campaign around being drunk and disorderly, Charlie Sheen types drinking "Tiger Blood" and "Winning" or Miley Cyrus Twirking like she did last summer" country doesn't really applaud it's hard to deal with people. There are still things coming out about George Jones and Tammy Wynette's relation ship forty years ago.

Dirt,anger and bitterness are not really resume builders. Neither are high maintence artists. Most just get to a point, and sort of dissspear. Not a lot is said about it. They are just there one minute, and the next they are gone, an answer to a trivia question. They are dropped by their record companies, media no longer interviews them, and they are replaced by the next one in the pipeline.

In the case of the Chicks that year, they continued their tour, did good business, complained about the Nashville community, claimed they were being targeted, whined a lot. Then claimed they were going to Austin Texas, going to record in their own studio and never have anything to do with Nashville again. They won some awards that year, then all went away to have children, and try to do their own thing. The two sisters had another group they were doing a couple years ago at the Country Radio Seminar, but never heard much from them.

Have not heard too much from them since. The rock world did not embrace them, and they lost their constituancy in Nashville. Happens some times.

MAB

Couldn't happen to a more deserving group

I just respectfully disagree with you guys.
I think they were correct what they said and they were blackballed because Country music Fans were on GW's Side here and were intimidated by the Administration.

I think GW and the entire crew should be in Jail for branding anybody against the Iraq War as Not A True American. I went through this during the Vietnam War and it's just a way to scare and intimidate artists and we will just have to agree to disagree. You can tell me about time lines and this and that but when an Administration to scare off Artists to put out songs against their Policy.....That's where they lose me.

Art needs to be free to write songs about the opposite point of view and Country Music was bullied into this. If you asked some of the Stars of that day like Toby I think in Private they would agree with me about freedom of the arts and to have the opportunity to be heard on the Radio....

GW did something alright....Iraq was always keeping Iran at bay by fighting wars against them. NOW Iran is going to own Iraq. ALL those Lives and Mutilated bodies and for what and why. 58,000 in Vietnam and now they are our buddies.....Afghanistan for what NOW...the Taliban LIVE there and they aren't going anywhere. WE never learn......AND don't get me started on Dick Cheney.

When they were at the top of the heap and left politics out of the equation, these ladies were very popular and talented. Then the California Gal replaced one of them and everything changed.
As Marc said... it was all downhill from after the point she bad mouthed Bush. (Sorry Midnite... the Devil made me do this!) I did bite my lip three times before posting, though! LOL!

It was a shame, though... Barry!

Dave

Didn't care much about the Dixie Chicks prior to all of this happening but their cd Taking The Long Way was the best work they'd ever done. Also one of the best country albums of that decade. They might not have gotten love for it in the country music world but thems the breaks. They did win 5 grammys for that album. Imagine if they weren't blackballed. That album wouldn't exist. It would be a shame. They don't regret any of what happened and that's the way it should be.

Barry, you can dissagree all you want to and blame it on that, and that is your right. The truth is much deeper and goes back long before any of that. There wasn't any "blackballing." There were things that they did outside of the Iraq war controversy that had to do more with the way they regarded and looked down on their fans that had happened before any of that.

They fired shots at their fans first. You have the RIGHT to say anything you want. And people have the RIGHT to not support you if you go counter to their views. Everyone gets a chance to excercise their rights.

MAB

You are right Barry. Everyone has the right to create their art but others have the right not to pay for it or listen-look at it.

Stevie

So it sounds like they are just like Noel and Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Doesn't make me like them any less, although if you have to work with them yeah it would get old really fast.

Country radio was pushing support for the Iraq war. The DJ's were calling the war as a patriotic duty and playing the "boot in the ass" song by Toby Keith, over and over. Clear Channel, the corporate entity behind many of the large country radio stations was a big supporter of Bush. That is why the the Dixie Chicks were blackballed. Before the Iraq War the US had never attacked a foreign nation without provocation. The pretext of the Iraq War became known as the Bush Doctrine. There was a heavy conservative media push to sell the American people on this shameless adventure and we were lied to by our leaders. The Dixie Chicks were right to be ashamed of George Bush as the American People were later to find out. The Dixie Chicks paid a heavy price for their honesty and the World is paying a heavy price still for the aftermath.

"Travelin' Soldier" was the last song I remember being played on Country radio before all Dixie Chicks songs were removed from the playlists. If that's not being black balled I don't know what is? Toby Keith has backed away from his "boot in the ass"persona, but I guess if I was a Nashville tour guide and had to talk people into putting down hundreds of dollars for demos of songs that have zero chance of ever being cuts. Then I might have a different opinion.

Here's a link to Dixie Chicks songs on U-Tube that begins with "Not Ready to Make Nice"
https://www.google.com/search?q=dixie+chicks+songs+list&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

And now Iran is our worst enemy....things sure did work out well.
Musical Dissent was shut down during that time and that is dangerous. IF that happened in the 60's we'd still be fighting in Vietnam. 58,000 dead and now they are a good friend and trading partner...How'd that work out.

I was not a Chicks Fan but free expression of ART is essential for a Democracy and when an Administration through intimidation can shut it down that stinks. I can't think of any protest song that made it to the air waves during that time.

Freedom of Artists expression is the first thing to go in a Dictatorship along with the Press....very dangerous. SO for me it wasn't a CHICK'S issue it was a Art Issue. The chicks weren't the only ones that were taken off the air or ruined if you dared go against the Iraq Police which turned out to be a bloody BS bogus war that got us nowhere. JUST MY OPINION and I respect others just disagree.

My mother, who votes republican, told me she walked out of a Hank Williams Jr. concert when he started insulting President Obama - proving only what I already knew - that she has more class than Hank Williams Jr.

Marc is correct. Hank had his right - and so did she. Seems to me the smart play would be not to mix politics and your livelihood. But entertainers seem to suffer from the same disease that most everyone does - that others give a rat's ass about their political views.

Scott

Don't forget this one-

The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly Saddam can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.
Condoleezza Rice

To lose your career to have the audacity to say they were embarrassed to live in the same state as BUSH...are you kidding. The Radio Station took them completely off while they still got good audience. If they could do it then they can do it again. My question is HOW did the administration become so successful as shutting down musical dissent....I'd love to ask a few questions and see if a few Radio Station Owners were given a call by the FCC.....ugh I thought we were Expressive and creative artists here on this site. I don't want others to tell me what to create as long as I'm not hurting anybody.....Half the country was against that war and they were denied these potential Crosby, Stills and Nash type protest songs.....Sad time for the Country Music Industry...a bunch of jingoists AND Cowards.

They complained because they were banned from all the Radio and videos.....why wouldn't they complain....give me a break. I don't care who hated them the day after they made that remark they were done. It wasn't a gradual thing because people didn't like them. If People wanted to listen to their songs on the radio they should play them but somebody leaned on them and it probable the FCC and their Licenses....Cheney was ruthless. You may not like what I'm saying but it's the truth. AND as artists we should always err on the side of FREE Expression.

It's about free speech and access to the radio to be transmitted. SOMEBODY High UP shut them down in one day. PRESSUE man and lots of it. Phil Donohue was doing Anti War shows on his successful TV talk show and was taken off the air. WHO pressured the network to take him off. THIS IS DANGEROUS Stuff because they knew that Protest Songs or Articles etc. against the policy could hurt their war. WHY did Bush stay all those years after we killed Sadam? Who were we fighting. Our POOR Troops didn't know who the enemy was and most got killed or injured not even fighting but driving around getting blown up....what's up with that?

People were paying to see them and were buying their albums....what happened was they were black balled form the Radio in ONE day. That is what happened and the pressure came from DC....I followed this carefully and they took away free expression and scared even the stars NOT to write any protest songs because they wouldn't be played.

Marc....you have a lot of knowledge about the industry and I love reading your stuff....but I talking here NOT about the Chicks but the Bigger Picture of Freedom of Expression. The Radio just stopped playing their songs and were bad mouthed by all the war monger jingoists in Yahoo Ville Country Music who would have followed GW and gang over a cliff if asked. My point is Censorship....and by subtle ways presser came down and the effect was Goodbye Chicks......Protest songs are a stable of our Democracy and should have been encouraged not censored....and that's what happened. Marc.....respectfully I don't think you are considering the bigger picture of censorship. If a new Administration comes in and don't like some songs a new artist is recording THEY could do the same thing. SHUT DOWN FREE SPEECH and Free ARTISTS expression. When a dictator comes in the first thing they shut down is free press, free speech and freedom of expression and then in short order they can take over.

Thank you so much Pete as I was getting pretty lonely out here on the ledge. YOU nailed this issue.
Some people can't or won't see the forest for the trees.

It is NOT about the chicks it is way bigger than them.

Thanks for the support as I was beginning to think I was losing my mind. AND Marc surprised me by not being able to see the freedom of expression part. They could counter that nobody was stopping them from making the art but it was worse than that because FM Radio has a monopoly and need the FCC to get a license. I believe pressure was put on them and they just screwed a Band that was Huge and very talented. Without Radio and Video back then you were Toast.

PeteG,
Where the H you been! After we were attacked on 911 everybody supported Retaliation. Oh sure a lot of ignormaus's who hated George Bush but effectually had their mouths taped shut because nobody HAD THE GUTS to badmouth Bush! Now they are all coming out of the woodwork! So Pete, how do you like your boy in the White House now? Too many F*****P's to mention.

Barry, it was the people that rejected the Dixie Chicks. If any president had the power to shut down commercial radio we would have no commercial radio.

The last person that tried that was Lyndon Johnson who was getting ripped apart by a small radio station down it Texas. Rumor has it that he got the FCC to put undue pressure on the Station until finally the radio station was "Aquired" by Lady Byrd Johnson.

I have no clue what the real story is.

I doubt the radio stations give a damn if an artist is a diva such as what Mark aluded to. Radio stations play all kinds of difficult personality and and hard to work with people so their reputation is irrelevant in this case.

On the other hand there were boycott campaigns galore so maybe that had somewhat to do with it.

And it wouldn't suprise me if Barry is right and there was political pressure put on them to get boycotted.

Just my thoughts.

FCC Licenses.....that's the intimidation they used.
Lots of Country Fans back then were a bunch or Yahoos that keep voting against there own self interest. I NOTICE that NOBODY will answer me about the Larger Picture of Censorship and Stifling Musical Dissent. It was SHUT DOWN during that time WHY and HOW did they do it. You guys keep going back to the Chicks and my point is Subtle Censorship.....what about that danger even going forward. Protest Songs has always been a part of American Music....NOT ANYMORE and I think we are sorrier for it.

Aaron the Country was told to NOT make any waves about this war if you are a Music Artist. Doing what they did to the chicks was a shot across the bow....Made an Example so OTHERS wouldn't even try or you'll wind up like them. Censorship can be subtle. If you were against that bogus war you were branded as Not Patriotic and that is UN American....

I remember what it was like going across the border into the US not long after the Iraq war started. A lot of Canadian vehicles were vandalized and it was touch a d go for a while because we didn't join the coalition. We did help some on the down low at the very start but it wasn't much. I wasn't impressed how I was treated when I went over and I have not been back across the border that much since. Once or twice.

There are a few errors and omissions in your post. The USA supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. It was hoped he would over turn the Ayatolla. The USA supplied the mustard gas to Iraq. That war claimed over 500,000 military deaths and lasted 8 years. Saddam attacked Kuwait because he claimed they owed Iraq for their loses. Other countries had made payments. At least that was his pretext. You left out we had already attacked Iraq under Geo. H.W.Bush, decimated his military and could have taken him out if we wanted. But left him in power as a check against Iran and to keep a balance of power in the region. Iraq was a no fly zone and we had weapons inspectors in Iraq. Saddam who was a sunni muslim threw the weapons inspectors out near the end of the Clinton Presidency but the no-fly-zone remained in effect in place. Then after the younger Bush was elected President came the 9/11 attack. Planned by Osama bin Laden and al qaeda, homed in Afghanistan, and supported by donors in Saudi Arabia - all Shia muslin groups. Our leaders knew Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 and they lied to us to about the nukes to get the war they wanted. WHY? Maybe the oil, maybe the pipeline they wanted thru Iraq, maybe to deflect the blame that they had allowed the 9/11 attacks on their watch and Iraq was a easy target. The head of our weapons inspection team said they found no evidence of a nuke program. Saddam even agreed to let the inspectors back in before we attacked.

People burned Beatles albums too, you know. It was part of a big propaganda push to get the war Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted so badly that they were willing to have the end justify the means.

Ray, I've been playing the blues. I played at the Waterfront Blues Festival on a bill with Tim(Too Slim)Langford, Ellen Whyte, and Joe Louis Walker. It's billed as the largest Blues Festival West of the Mississippi. Other wise just playing around town and at the yacht harbor on the Columbia.

What do you mean nobody had the guts to badmouth Bush? He didn't even win the popular vote and lost the election except for the Supreme Court intervention. Obama didn't vote for the War - that's why he got elected instead of Hillary. Oh. well she'll be our next President. Except for that idiot Tony Blair none of our main allies went along. One of my good friends who was a Quaker protested the war for 5 years until he got too old to stand on the street corner. Bush was a phony from the start, I knew that. I can't think of anything that he did that he didn't fail at, other than father some daughters.

Obama f-ups? Really? You need to quit watching the phony news on Fox.

The Dixie Chicks were x'ed by the former executives of Clear Channel (conveniently located in Texas) not by any ground swell from fans. For me that was the end of writing for that market. I even wrote a prophetic song about it called "You won't play this" on your radio. One of the lines was " Your so-called social security is going down the deficit drain" (you might remember we had budget surpluses under Clinton for a couple of years, until Bush gave big tax breaks to his rich friends) I'll post the song on the mp3 forum so you can argue with it. or play it here
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=13080483&q=hi&newref=1

Well Pete,
Glad to hear you are playing good music. Heck, I like good music.

But Pete, watch those conspiracy theories. Most of em are bum dope.Um sorry Pete, my ancestors were Quakers too. Real life is hell, isn't it?

This is EXACTLY why I don't get into these political threads. Barry, and everyone, I SEE the freedom of Speech implications. just like I see it now EVERY SINGLE day with anyone that speaks out against ANYTHING with the current administration. You get very upset that a some high matenience Divas a decade ago got dropped by some radio stations, have ,less than half of the information from that time (which I was right in the middle of, since many friends of mine were involved with that label, with those girls, and dealing with bad attitudes, the Gallager references are pretty dead on.) but you seem to conveinently overlook the situation today when people are called rascist, terrorists, have the IRS, FBI, NSA called on them, reputations ruined, family members threatened.

The sense of proportion is what is shocking. No one threw the Chicks in Jail.No one came after their TWELVE MILLION DOLLAR settlement with Sony. No one shut down their Monument record label. They hated Nashville the whole time they were here and were never shy about letting EVERYONE know how much they hated Nashville and everyone in the business they were in. They went on, and are still around today.

They insulted their fans on many other things OTHER THAN one thing they said about George Bush. It's kind of the Leslie Neilson/Officer Barbrady example. Got a gum wrapper on the ground and start screaming about the world ending because of littering, and the entire world behind them is exploding in giant mushroom cloud.

I'm dumping out of this thread because there is nothing else to add here. You can blame everyone and complain they were treated shabily. If you had dealt with them for many years BEFORE that incident, you might have a different opinion of all of it.

MAB

You can leave and that's fine BUT you keep going back to the Chicks and I think you're stuck there.
BTW...I say a Pox on ALL their Houses.
I'm strongly opposed to censorship and the devious ways it can be carried out. By not allowing a STAR to be heard on FM Radio 10 years ago was the kiss of death and that is HOW they censored them for a vendetta....it's was not right and downright scary to me....I think one song that almost single handedly changed a lot of thinking about Nixon, LBJ and the Bogus war was OHIO by Neil Young. I heard that song was written, recorded and ON THE AIR a few days after Kent State. TODAY the small independent Radio Stations are few and far between and the Others are controlled by BIG Wall Street and don't want any songs or anything much to make any waves and God Forbid be bad for Business. Hey what about Good For America.
I found this a Great and Information Conversation and I see nothing wrong with these discussions. SOMETIME we can all learn something new.

Uh, Well,
For another Opinion you can Google LIFE GETS TEE-JUS, DON'T IT by Carson Robison and perhaps others. Just when you forget the Dixie Chicks they are now comparing Hillary to Nixon! Gawd can't we move on to something new! Gheez on my CD player Ferlin Husky is singing, (From Now On) ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GONNA BE STRANGERS. So what else is new?

Chicks blew it! But this normally happens when an artist or group has run its course anyway. Thinking of Lennon and The Beatles being more popular than Jesus.

Not sure what the fuss is all about.

First off, the USA has been going after folks for a long long time now for speaking against war etc. The Espionage Act of 1917 (dealt with a number of what were called unpatriotic activities) was used to throw a lot of peace activists and pacifists in jail during WWI, only to be pardoned after the war, Charlie Chaplin was hounded by the FBI for his left wing views, Mohammed Ali was jailed during the Vietnam war for not reporting for the draft...just to name a few...all to set an example....don't *)(*) around and toe the line...message is "if "they" go after such a high profile person, they will certainly go after me and you".

That same act was used against Elsberg (The Pentagon papers) too, unsuccessfully, and is what they are used against Manning and Snowdon.

Don't think though that dissing Bush

(and I really do believe that history will look on him a bit differently...it was really Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz who are the culprits---Cheney had so much power as a Bush family friend GW had known as "an uncle" as his life)

was the defining moment that got the Chicks in trouble. It was not like there was a pattern of anti government speech or that the Chicks were activists or had gone afoul of The Act

So I am inclined to believe it was the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak and that Marc has hit on the underlying reason for that back breaking straw.

John,
Just so you know, things are getting better! They sent Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the Gas Chamber for giving away Atomic Secrets to the Soviets. SO, in the big picture the Dixie Chicks don't even amount to Chicken Feed! As you already know, Time Wounds all Heels!

AGAIN....just because it HAS happened before in our history doesn't make it right.

ALSO...I think some are still missing the larger picture...I posted this about the Censorship issue and it's NOT about the Chicks....I used what I believe happened to them but the larger issue is still real and can happen again. I complained about it back them and wondered where all the Protest Songs were like in the 60' and couldn't find an answer. The intimidation from GW and the boys was persuasive and after the chicks were made an example of The rest was easy....Nobody put or played any protest songs....just mind numbing songs like AMERIAN SOLDIER.

SO AGAIN.....forget the chicks....what about the larger issue against freedom of expression and access by artists?

I still think The Dixie Chicks are cool :-)

All of the political tic toc does nothing for me. Politics are fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, nothings gonna change, change, change, change, change, change, so I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.. shake it off, shake it off, uh huh huh huh

Um, Barry,
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg thought censorship was a bad thing too. The American People thought differently. Just think of them getting Dixie Chick'ed in a different time! Julius and Ethel had their opinion, the American people had their opinion. Sometimes one opinion is better than the other.

It's insane to mix together what the Chicks did and the Rosenberg's....What's up with that?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH - Well I see my song got removed from the mp3 forum. Oh, well it's still available here -
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=13080483&q=hi&newref=1

I see a lot of innuendo about the Obama Administration but I rarely see anything specific. I guess you leave it to Fox News to make that stuff up.

Were the Chicks difficult? Probably, many artists were and are. They wanted the artistic freedom to express themselves. They are feminists and free thinkers and Nashville wanted to fit them in a cookie cutter mold. One of my daughters loved the Dixie Chicks as did many young girls (she also liked Alan Jackson). The Chicks didn't insult all their fans - they have tons of fans around the world. It's too bad they started out as country artists. Probably because of Natalie Mains father who was involved with country music in Texas. If they started out today they could be more like Taylor Swift, more independent of a system that makes demands that many artists don't wish to comply with. You don't see Taylor Swift making endless rounds of Radio Station visits and fan appreciation days. She still manages to have fans and sell records.

You say you were in the middle of this. I have to resist getting snarky here because I know you Mark. Being in the middle implies being between one and the other. You were always on the side of the Nashville system and still are. That's fine for you, but it wasn't for the Dixie Chicks and it isn't for me.

There is a huge country music festival even here in liberal Portland, but someone has to clean up the huge mess of all the beer cups that are littered on the ground after it's over. I'm glad some people care enough not to litter and don't throw their cigarettes and gum wrappers on the ground. But the American people were threatened by our leaders with the vision of a mushroom cloud if they didn't back a war that made no sense, now we have to help the lost and mangled lives of those who fought that war and the deal with consequences in the Mideast of what we have done. That job feel to Barack Obama who voted against that war and who is reviled by those who instigated it. Maybe we should have listened to what the Dixie Chicks were saying.

Save the mea culpa's for when you actually need them Brother Dave. This thread was already about politics, so hey, have at it!:-)

Midnite

I think Julius and Ethel were brought into the mix because they were charged under The Act I mentioned.

And free speech has legal limits which have been enshrined by your Supreme Court...just as we in Canada have limits on free speech.

And Barry, you can think it unjust etc, but if Marc is right, (and I tend to think he is) then insiders who were fed up with the Chicks simply led a boycott and it struck a public nerve.

One thing I have learned about the US and its people. You are all unified in your patriotism, and if you can tap into that sentiment, watch out. I think that is simply what happened. Among yourselves, Bush was fair game, but take that dissatisfaction to an outside audience and reap the whirlwind of patriotic duty to defend American values.

I've learned myself, here on this board, that if me as a Canadian points at US "deficiencies" I'm told by Republicans and Democrats alike to take a hike. Never took it personally and I think its important to "close ranks" ...but don't be surprised when it results in things like the Chicks being shunned

Pete,
I tried to listen to your song but the Vocals need to be brought up a bit. A bit difficult to understand.

Hey Voorpostel.....The Radio Stations in ONE Day removed them from the air....it wasn't sparked by Chicks Fans that sill wanted to hear them over the air waves. It was MORE than that and I just think we'll have to agree to disagree.B

I think that their first cd is one of the best albums ever

One of the refrains I read and heard many times after the George Bush comment was "Shut up and sing!" I tend to feel that way about any entertainer, whether singer or actor. I feel their job is to entertain me and nothing else. I don't care one bit about their political views. In fact, I don't think many of them are smart enough to speak intelligently about political matters.

Just my 2 cents on the subject.

Greg

I disagree as some of the best songs of the 60's were Protest/Anti War Songs. The reason I LIKE singer songwriters is I want to hear their point of view of life. Great Songs Move people to think, dance, feel and cry....I don't want some boring, vanilla Songs all the time. A Great Song can change a Country or Start a Movement. SO what they say or write about is not for everybody but I for one MISS IT and wish there was more of it. Different Strokes for different folks and all that jazz.