Shut Up and "Y'all," y'all

I've never cared about the Dixie Chicks, and after seeing Shut Up and Sing, I still don't. Sure, what their fans and the country music scene (is it a "scene?") did to them sucked. I definitely think they got a raw deal by a demographic full of idiots who wouldn't know patriotism if it burned a cross on their lawns. But I don't know, there was something cloying about the movie, something sort of nauseating in the Chicks' giddy outrage. Ultimately, beyond the typical free-speech flag waving, I never got the sense that the Chicks were anything but crusaders for their own interest. (Ultimate conflict: superstars' lifestyle is put in jeopardy by stupid Middle America! What ever will the poor millionaires do?!)

Everyone needs an angle, so I don't exactly blame the band for getting caught up in the scandal like they did. Likewise, I don't exactly blame directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck for assembling the competent movie that they made. If there had to be a movie on the incident, it had to be Shut Up and Sing (minus the skull-numbingly dull family sequences). I'm just not sure that Natalie Maines' Bush comment and the backlash provided enough material for a compelling 20/20 segment, let alone a feature-length documentary.

The only lasting impression the movie left me comes in the form of "Not Ready To Make Nice," which now loops in my head in 20-minute intervals about five or seven thousand times a day. So, thanks for that, Shut Up and Sing, you bastard of a movie! Anyway, I've assembled a recap of the film after the jump. It's one of those I-watch-it-so-you-don't-have-to deals, y'all.

First: the statement.

Flash forward to a huge fall-out, including a disowning by country radio, its listeners and the Chicks' sponsors.

Then, a bit of back-pedaling: 

Then, a new phrase enters the lexicon:

Then, catharsis via their art:

Then, Rick Rubin's dog:

Then, family shit:

Tough times persist:

A public feud breaks out:

Then, a death threat:

Frustration persists:

Then, a plan is hatched:

The Dixie Chicks finally return to the UK's Shepherd's Bush Empire, the scene of their crime against patriotism that's the cause of this film in the first place.

And they all lived self-righteously ever after.   

Comments

[Labia Majora-Minora]

The Chicks RULE! I love 'em.

quoting "Re-Tardo Rocco" " FIRST" :P
suck balls, Rocco...

[Drea]

Oh good Lord Rich. Marry me now.

[sarah]

you are wonderful, im not sure what i would do if i didn't have your recaps to get me through the day. and it saved me from watching this movie..you are awesome

[JennyPenny]

Thank you for saying what I've been thinking all this time, who cares?! Get over yourselves, y'all.

p.s. I'm from Austin and they eat the "Chicks" up over here. ugh.

[manda]

Personally, I love the Chicks and I loved this film, but your recap was still great. Rick Rubin's dog was possibly one of the best parts of the movie.

Ironically, "y'all" entered my vocabulary after I saw the film in theaters.

[Sarah]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks that the Dixie Chicks' "plight" is crap. As a Nashvillian, I'm sick and tired of everything having to do with them. You're nothing special, your lyrics are derivative, and you're making a lot of money off of something that caused you a minor setback. STFU now. Thanks.

[Jelinas]

Oh, Rich, I thought I loved you before, but yesterday's love pales in comparison to today's.

That pic where Natalie Maines is singing and the speech bubble is coming out of her nose? Genius!!

[hannah]

genius header banner there.

[♥dex]

Ditto on the banner.

And thanks--this just extinguished my once tepid interest in the movie.

I used to see Rick Rubin in Real Food Daily quite often; his dog's resemblance to him is uncanny.

[Beansox]

Thank you for showing them to be the assclowns they really are.

Hillarious!!

[Michael]

I didn't pay much attention to the Dixie Chicks until all the scorn heaped on them for a relatively innocuous statement. I love them now for not only standing their ground, but throwing shit back into their detractor's faces every chance they get. Sure, the personal risk is minimal when you're sitting on a heap o' cash already, but they (Maines, really) were loudly proclaiming what a lot of other people were only thinking. And that Bush soundbite from the tarmac, where he says that free speech is great, but you should be careful where you use it, well, that alone was worth the price of admission. That and the image of Pasdar in his pajamas.

[Tanya]

hey, you look like you could be kevin federline's little brother, the resemblance is uncanny...

[Kim]

The Dixie Chicks suck...always have...always will. They harrassed Toby Keith for no reason, made a statement, apologized, then realized the publicity might be good for business so they ran with it. Give me a break.

And just what makes country music fans idiots?

[Michael]

I think you may have already answered that.

[sparkle_shortz]

I think it's kind of hard to understand what the movie is about if you don't watch a lot of CMT or GAC--i.e., country music is the industry machine taken to its utmost, so if that machine decides to shut you down, you are really out of options, at least in that market. And no matter how well they did at the Grammys, they still don't get anything played on those stations. Also, the Chicks are no more sanctimonious than, say, Bono, who is off rebranding Africa apparently.

BUT no artist has a right to maintain their following, and I didn't think the film entirely made the case that the listeners were being denied something they wanted, so the "free speech" line doesn't wash. And I loved the recap.

ALSO, Toby Keith, despite his appalling politics, is butch bear hotness personified.

[Arthur James]

i haven't laughed much since you dissed 'Dreamgirls' but this shyt was hysterical!

[LaSexorcisto]

>>And just what makes country music fans idiots?

Confederate flags bumper stickers.

[jenny]

wait! there's a movie??

[vagabondblogger]

Loved the recap. Plan to watch the movie when I get back to Cairo. And I was very disappointed that they walked away with the majority of big Grammy Awards. Not that I'm ever satisfied with awards shows, but they were awarded as a political statement, not really for the music. And Natalie's gown? Don't get me started....

Bah, the Dixie Chicks can kiss my camoflauged US Army ass. I'm all for free speech, but at a time when they should have probably been putting on a good face for America when half the world is out to smote the US off the planet, the Dixie Chicks were off running their mouth. The American public (and foreign) is paying big bucks to hear them sing, not their political opinions.

Someone please tell Natalie Maines that mullets are so faux pas!

[Andrew]

where was Adrain Pasdar in all of this? he's the hottest thing that DC's have going for them!

[jelodi97]

OK. I'll say it. That Natalie Maines is some serious fug.

I like some of the Chicks music, but their last album was seriously anemic. Really boring. Maybe the reason people weren't going to see them was due to the crap album they were touring to support. I did find the backlash for the Bush comments to be supremely ridiculous though. And I've found the Grammys to be supremely ridiculous since Jethro Tull won for best metal album instead of Metallica.

[KateVV]

Y'all, this is really serious.
I just don't think I'm ready to make nice... and I'm certainly not ready to back down.
Natalie's mullet/helmet head hair is almost completely unforgivable.
I mean, really, how am I supposed to make nice when she looks like a startled cat?!

[pepper jack]

They put the cunt in country.