Dixie Chicks - first Grammy Fraud?

Question

Are the dixie chicks the first music group to win grammy's simply because of how popular their political views were instead of their music? Lets be honest only one song from their current album even made the radio and it wasnt that great either.

Answer 1

OK first let me say that "the American people have spoken" is the craziest thing I've read today. The American people do not choose grammy's. that's the people's choice award. How many of those did they win?
Also- They aren't country anymore So they shouldn't be winning anything having to do with that Genre! Their whole song rips country. I think its funny they even accepted the award. They aren't ready to make nice but they are ready to get an award honoring them for the genre the dissed.
HYPOCRITES- like we didn't already know that they do what they want and say what they want. Now we know that they will take whatever accolades they can get- even if its bunk.
Lets all laugh at Natalie HEH HEH.

Answer 2

As far as i know Not Ready To Make Nice has been the only single released so far from the new album. I can only assume that no others have been released yet because of the popularity of this single. Either that or there is just a huge time lag between Australia and the U.S.
As for them winning in the Country genre, It's quite obvious Natalie Maines has a country voice, and do they not use instuments such as the eukalale and banjo on their tracks. The lyrics, an example being on the song The Long Way Around, still fit very much with what has passed for country in the past. Is it not possible for a country group to attain the kind of popularity that pop music is defined by? Given most of the trash that get flogged on country radio these days who could blame them for not wanting to be associated with country music.
The Dixie Chicks did not win Grammys based on one song. They one them for the album, which if you put your obvious personal bias aside for a few short minutes and listened to it, you would perhaps have a greater understanding of how good a record it actually is. I am eagerly awaiting the release of their next single.

Answer 3

First of all, be careful how you use words. As someone else pointed out, "Milli Vanilli" is the standard by which all fraud is measured. And someone else was correct in pointing out that they were politically blacklisted by many country stations for various reasons. Considering this, their sales were phenomenal. Is it at all possible that they actually deserved their awards? As in another question I answered, most of the responses are emotional rants. So consider this:

It's interesting that NO ONE who has claimed that the awards were politically motivated has made a case that someone else in any of the categories was more deserving of one of the awards based on a musical basis. These knee jerk responses are the definition of prejudice without arguments to back their opinions. And if the awards are politically motivated, you should be able to name others who also got their awards last night for political reasons and cite others who were more deserving. (Simply naming other people you disagree with politically doesn't count as a serious answer. You must name the more deserving candidates) I don't see any sensible opinions, let alone facts.

I don't care that much about The Dixie Chicks, so I had to look up some information to find out if they had ever won a Grammy award before. (I had no idea.) It turns out that they have won seven previous Grammys (is that the plural of Grammy?) in various categories. They have won Best Country Album three times before this, and they have won the award for Best Country Duo or Group three times. So their awards in these two categories shouldn't be a total surprise, regardless of the genre discussion. Then they won Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year (and I've NEVER understood the difference between the last two). Will someone at least make a persuasive argument that someone else should have won in these categories and therefore you are suspicious?

What is NOT in doubt is that this group has been blacklisted from certain radio stations for their political views. Even if they weren't necessarily the best and therefore deserving of all their awards (and again, I haven't seen a persuasive case that they weren't), it seems like they were probably pretty good, based on their history as a group. What happened at the radio stations was that people ignored their musical judgments in favor of politics. I haven't read any complaints about that even thought that's exactly what some are so angry at the Grammy Awards about.

Once again, instead of emotional thumbs up or down, could someone respond with facts and musical judgments?

Answer 4

The Grammy's aren't only about radio play, they're also about artistic merit. More Grammy voters thought that the Dixie Chicks had the best album, song, record, country record and country group performance then the other nominee's. Simple as that. Just because the majority of country fans confuse someones political leanings with their artistry doesn't mean the rest of the world does.

Answer 5

Yeah, it is kind of a let down. They have had great albums in the past with much better music and the quality was tons better, but this album won 5 awards?

Nothing against the chicks, but I couldn't have taken the awards if I even had a doubt it wasn't about the music. But to be fair, the Grammy's are a joke to most people, even Homer Simpson won one in an episode and he couldn't give it away.

I just hope the Dixie Chicks can finally get over this long,.drawn out ordeal and actually make another album like in their beginnings....one that the songs don't have anything to do with what they have been through.

Answer 6

The Dixie Chicks proved that there are various individuals accessible who do no longer care approximately freedom of speech. triumphing 5 grammy's became a slap interior the face to each and each of the detest crammed people.

Answer 7

I copied this from the Grammy website:

"The recording industry's most prestigious award, the GRAMMY, is presented annually by The Recording Academy. A GRAMMY is awarded by The Recording Academy's voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences. It is truly a peer honor, awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions."

They were honored by the Academy for their artistic achievement. Sales and chart positions have nothing to do with the Grammys, and the fans don't pick them either. So your point that only one of their songs got airplay is irrelevant, because airplay is altogether irrelevant when speaking of the Grammys. The Academy was impressed with the album and they honored the Dixie Chicks for it. Nuff said.

Answer 8

I doubt the 10 industry insiders who vote are even required to listen to the music. It was completely a political statement, just checking the box if they saw Dixie Chicks.

It was a complete waste of time for millions who wanted to see a MUSIC awards show. But what goes around comes around.... Shows that get out of touch with the country will fade away like the beauty pageants.

Answer 9

I would strongly disagree. The music business unfortuanatley has become more of a political arena then anything. Their political views are what have blocked radio play. Seems the US has curtailed 1st ammendment rights when needing to save face. I would liken this to when Guns 'N' Roses broke the mold, "giving the finger" to the industry, taking the grammy for Appetite For Destruction with almost no radio air time. Or, if you'd like, the time when Bono of U2 made his political views, telling the US to steer clear of Ireland when opening shows in the US.

Answer 10

No one banned anything. I live in Nashville where country music is news and the main reason stations don't play them is because they basically said "We don't wanna be considered country." which to country fans is blasphemy so country radio stations were saying "Okay if you don't wanna be "country" then we as a "country" station won't play you.

You could win thousands of Grammys but if your concert and album sales aren't good enough your label will drop you like Pee Wee Herman carrying a ton of bricks.

Grammys have nothing to do with sales. They are selected by music elitists. Billboard's awards show is based on sales.