3-12-2003

[953 nut 59,814]

                                 3-12-2003

    The Dixie Chicks backlash begins

In response to the critical comments made about him by Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, President George W. Bush offered this response: “The Dixie Chicks are free to speak their mind. They can say what they want to say.” Of the backlash the Dixie Chicks were then facing within the world of country music, President Bush added: “They shouldn’t have their feelings hurt just because some people don’t want to buy their records when they speak out.” This music-related sideshow to the biggest international news story of the year began on March 12, 2003, when the British newspaper The Guardian published its review of a Dixie Chicks concert at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London two nights earlier.

In that review, The Guardian‘s Betty Clarke included the following line: “‘Just so you know,’ says singer Natalie Maines, ‘we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.'” (Clarke left out the middle of the full quotation, which was, “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 the President of the United States is from Texas.”) That line quickly became fodder for a grassroots anti-Dixie Chicks backlash. It began with thousands of phone calls flooding country-music radio stations from Denver to Nashville—calls demanding that the Dixie Chicks be removed from the stations’ playlists. Soon some of those same stations were calling for a boycott of the recent Dixie Chicks’ album and of their upcoming U.S. tour. Fellow country star Toby Keith famously joined the fray by performing in front of a backdrop that featured a gigantic image of Natalie Maines beside Saddam Hussein

[KC9KAS 4,744]

3/12/2003 must have really been a slow day in the US of A!

[953 nut 59,814]

3 hours ago, KC9KAS said:

must have really been a slow day

You got that right; 1993,Janet Reno sworn in as first female Attorney General, 1933 FDR gives first Fireside Chat. Figured we could at least have a bit of eye candy! Also, I doubt that @AMC RULES would want to post a video of the other two.