Thoughts on the Dixie Chicks, or the Intersection of Politics and Music

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I don't feel like explaining myself so I'm just going to jump right in to what I do feel like writing about. As the title indicates, I've been thinking about the political aspect of certain music a lot lately. It started mostly when someone I know who is very into music gave me a link to a YouTube video of the song Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill. Bikini Kill was (the band broke up a while ago) a feminist band: part of this whole riot grrrl movement/subgenre/whatever you want to call it that I'll have to write more about some other time. Anyway, this is pretty much what started it.

I've since decided that Bikini Kill still isn't exactly my kind of band (it's apparently punk, which I've discovered is not the kind of music that I like) but there are a few songs that I like (mostly Rebel Girl.) and I definitely like the idea of a feminist band. However, while there are certainly riot grrrl-related songs that I like, for the most part I find that the subgenre tends to be a little hard to listen to, at least to me. Rebel Girl being a notable exception.

I tend to like bands like Evanescence and Nightwish, but I've discovered that I can be more flexible if there are other considerations that make me inclined to like another band. This is what has happened with the Dixie Chicks. First let me explain how I found out about this connection.

So in English one day (I quite like my English class.) we were discussing the double standard, and one of the things my teacher mentioned was something that happened with the Dixie Chicks. See, back when everyone liked Bush and the Iraq war (a very scary thought. I'm not old enough to have been interested in politics until fairly recently, so I didn't fully appreciate how horrible this was until reconsidering it recently), the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, declared at one of their concerts that she didn't approve of the war in Iraq and was ashamed that the president was from her home state of Texas. Let me find the exact quote... Here we go: "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."

This resulted in basically the shunning and blacklisting of the Dixie Chicks. Because, of course, expressing an objection to the politics of the president is such an unforgivable horror. My teacher suggested that part of this was probably because Natalie Maines is obviously a women, and women really aren't 'allowed' to express strong political opinions. This made sense to me. So of course when I got home I had to do more research on this.

I found out that they have a song called "Not Ready to Make Nice" about the event. Basically, I ended up getting a bunch of Dixie Chicks songs on iTunes. Even though it's a country band, and I'm not a big fan of country (I've never actively disliked it, but it has never really been my kind of music.), the music is not unpleasant to listen to and of course the political consideration made me more willing to consider music outside my typical style.

So this is basically how I came to discover the idea that music can be political. I mean, it's not that I hadn't heard this idea before, but I never really thought about it much. It's definitely an interesting thought.

I feel like writing about some specific Dixie Chicks songs, so that's what I'll do. They have a song called Ready to Run, which is basically about being happier without a boyfriend or a husband. This is particularly appealing to me just because of the stark contrast to cultural messages. See, in our society, women aren't supposed to be happy without some kind of romantic relationship with a man. But Ready to Run suggests that being single doesn't have to be a bad thing. It's a refreshing message to hear.

If I Fall You're Going Down With Me isn't quite as easy to connect to feminism, but I mostly just like the confidence expressed in the song. Then there's Goodbye Earl, which is funny in a rather convoluted way. It's about basically killing an abusive husband. So there are two girls named Mary Anne and Wanda who are friends who graduate from high school. Wanda marries this guy named Earl, and "it wasn't two weeks
after she got married that
Wanda started gettin' abused". So Wanda eventually divorces the abusive husband, but Earl violates the terms of the restraining order and "puts her in intensive care".

So her friend Mary Anne comes and the two of them decide they're going to have to kill Earl. They get away with it and then they're basically happy. It's kind of funny just because they basically get back at the abusive husband and stuff.

They also have a song called Some Days You Just Gotta Dance which is hardly political but which is a nice song. It's basically saying that sometimes when things are stressful you just have to dance and get rid of the tension by having fun. It's a very fun song. There's a song called Hole in My Head which can basically be summed up by the lyric "I need a boy like you like a hole in my head".

Then there's the song I mentioned called Not Ready to Make Nice which is about the whole blacklisting fiasco. Natalie Maines even got a death threat about the whole thing. It's basically saying that they're not going to apologize for speaking up for what they think is right and that if anyone objects, that's just too bad for them. It's empowering, although I hate to use the word because it sounds so cheesy.

Then there's another song I like called Lubbock or Leave It which is basically about small towns in the bible belt and their problems. I really like this song. I like lyrics like "Dust bowl, Bible belt
Got more churches than trees" and like "Throwing stones from the top of your rock/Thinking no one can see/The secrets you hide behind/Your southern hospitality".

So this is basically how I ended up listening to a country band.