Chicks Triumphant

1:06 am EST June 1st, 2006 | Politics | 11 Comments

Alrighty then

The Dixie Chicks appear to be more popular than the president these days. President Bush’s approval rating has plummeted, but the Chicks are on top of the pop and country charts with their first album since publicly criticizing Bush three years ago.

They did it without the support of country radio, which largely ignored the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines told a London audience in 2003 that the group was ashamed Bush was from their home state of Texas.

The new album, “Taking the Long Way,” took the No. 1 spot Wednesday on the country albums chart and the Billboard 200 overall chart _ which are based on sales rather than radio airplay _ with 526,000 units sold in its first week.

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11 Responses to “Chicks Triumphant”

  1. elrod says:
    June 1, 2006 at 1:06 am

    It’s not a bad album. The dirty little secret here is that most country artists are actually quite liberal. Within Tennessee, the country singer-songwriter community has the same reputation that Hollywood does in California. There are some exceptions, of course, like Toby Keith and Ricky Skaggs. But take a look at the politics of the classic country singers – Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofersson – solidly left wing. Even guys like Merle Haggard, known in the late 1960s as being “pro-war” are actually deeply critical of the current Republican Party and conservatism in general. Generally apolitical types like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have publicly criticized Bush (and not from the Right). The Dixie Chicks are not that out of line because of their politics. Ironically, Texas country singers are probably the most left-wing of any.

  2. Sundown says:
    June 1, 2006 at 2:06 am

    Steve Earle is another good example. I’m not a country fan, but I’ve been listening to his weekend radio show and been quite impressed by his taste in music. (On his show he usually brings in a musical guest, and they discuss music and sometimes politics).

  3. Repack Rider says:
    June 1, 2006 at 6:06 am

    The Chicks rule! The court of public opinion has convicted Clear Channel, “country music” et al of stupidity for trying to silence them because of their views.

    Living well is the best revenge. In three years, the Chicks will be a LOT happier than George will be.

  4. Jay C says:
    June 1, 2006 at 7:06 am

    Well well well. The free market prevails. Makes the school-girl whining and blubbering about violations of “free speech” on the part of the left when Natalie Maines opened her big yap and the market responded negatively. Clear Channel didn’t try to ‘silence’ them. Clear Channel responded to their listeners. A few years later, the free market worked again and plenty of people have decided to purchase the Chicks below average music.

  5. SaveFarris says:
    June 1, 2006 at 8:06 am

    They did it without the support of country radio

    Poor Chicks. Noone was getting out the message about their new album, except for Time, Larry King, GMA, amazon.com, The Early Show, Letterman, VH1, Newsweek, EW, and Rolling Stone.

    If only the media would stop supressing them!!!

  6. Jay C says:
    June 1, 2006 at 9:06 am

    Hahahahahahaaaa….

    Good one CtheV.

    Remember, Dennis Miller was NEVER funny.

  7. Cyrus the Virus says:
    June 1, 2006 at 9:06 am

    I wish Pauly Shore would call Bush an asshole and a fascist and a dumb, coke-snorting creep.

    It would be fun to watch liberals then sit there and say “You know, he’s always been a really good and unappreciated actor”.

  8. Oliver Willis says:
    June 1, 2006 at 10:06 am

    Dennis Miller was funny – I even went to a taping of his show – but then he became yet another right wing shill, became unfunny and had a bad CNBC show.

  9. Sundown says:
    June 1, 2006 at 12:06 pm

    Cyrus,

    You’re wrong. I don’t brag about Madonna’s musical “talent” for the same way.

    At the same time, you guys are stuck with luminaries of song and stage such as Stephen Baldwin(who was in a Pauly Shore movie, incidentaly), Wayne Newton, Jessica Simpson, and Pat Boone.

  10. Cyrus the Virus says:
    June 1, 2006 at 12:06 pm

    I’m not “stuck” with anyone. Just to give one example, and since you invoked the Baldwin family, I think Alec Baldwin is a punk and an insufferable prick, but i still think he’s hilarious on almost every SNL he’s ever been on.

    But if you wanna play that game, if you switch to the world of football, we have Lynn Swann (Super Bowl MVP, Hall of Famer), Steve Largent (Hall of Famer), you guys have……Heath Shuler (stiff, wasted draft pick).

  11. william says:
    June 1, 2006 at 1:06 pm

    526,000 units sold translates to “more popular than the president”?