Country's Top 5 Biggest Happenings Of The Decade: #4 Dixie Chicks

Dixie Chicks Crash, Burn, and Rise

The Dixie Chicks started out the decade winning both the 2000 ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year Award, making them only the sixth female(s) and first female group to do so. The group has sold 30.5 million albums in the United States through August 2009, making them the best-selling female group in the country.

The Bomb: During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the Dixie Chicks performed in concert in London on March 10, 2003, at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theatre in England. During the introduction to their song "Travelin' Soldier", Natalie Maines, a Texas native, said:

"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."

Shortly after, the U.S. media picked up the story and controversy erupted.

Fans were burning their cd's and country radio was refusing to play their music. DJ's were actually getting suspended in Texas if they played one of their songs.

"I don't think any of us ever trusted Nashville. When you're in that town you know everybody is talking about everybody else. Everybody is wishing for the other guy to fail." -Martie Maguire

Maines publicly apologized to an unwanting ear. Bruce Springsteen and Madonna both felt compelled to come out in support of the right of the band to express their opinions freely.

April, 2003, the Dixie Chicks launched a publicity campaign to explain their position. During a prime-time interview with Diane Sawyer, Maines said she remained proud of her original statement. The band also appeared naked (with private parts strategically covered) on the May 2 cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine, with slogans such as "Traitors," "Saddam's Angels," "Dixie Sluts", "Proud Americans," "Hero," "Free Speech", and "Brave" printed on their bodies. The slogans represented the labels (both positive and negative) that had been placed on them in the aftermath of Maines' statement.

On March 16, 2006, the Dixie Chicks released the single "Not Ready to Make Nice" in advance of their upcoming album. Written by the Chicks and songwriter Dan Wilson, it directly addressed the political controversy that had surrounded the group for the previous three years:

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

and, in reaction to the death threat Maines had received, as well as a response to a protesting woman telling her small child to say "screw 'em":

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
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better
Shut up and sing or my life will be over

Taking the Long Way debuted at number one on both the U.S. pop albums chart and the U.S. country albums chart, selling 526,000 copies in the first week (the year's second-best such total for any country act) and making it a gold record within its first week, despite having little or no airplay in areas that had once embraced them. The Chicks became the first female group in chart history to have three albums debut at #1. Take that Nashville!

The Icing on the Cake: The Chicks went on to win t the 49th Grammy Awards Show on February 11, 2007, the group won all five categories for which they were nominated, including the top awards of Song of the Year and

Record of the Year

, both for "Not Ready to Make Nice", and

Album of the Year

, for Taking the Long Way. Maines interpreted the wins as being a show of public support for their advocacy of free speech. It had been 14 years since an artist had swept those three awards.