Anyone with even a passing interest in country music surely remembers the controversy surrounding The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) that occurred in the early 2000s.
The year was 2003 and The Chicks rode a career high after releasing seven years of hit songs, including "Wide Open Spaces," "Cowboy Take Me Away," "Goodbye Earl" and "Travelin' Soldier." On that fateful night, the trio, comprised of Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer (formerly Emily Robison) and Martie Maguire, was playing a show in London, England on its Top of the World Tour. While onstage, lead singer and Texas native Maines shared her opposition to the invasion of Iraq by exclaiming that she was "ashamed" to be from the same state as then-President George W. Bush.
These statements soon spread across the world, and the backlash from the industry was severe. The group got effectively blacklisted from country radio stations, with its single "Landslide" falling 33 chart spots in one week. Country DJs at one station were suspended for playing the band's music, and another station received 250 calls in one day to complain about Maines' criticism of the President of the United States. The group even received death threats.
The Chicks rebounded from this life-altering event with a carefully-crafted response in the form of "Not Ready to Make Nice"— a 2006 single from Rick Rubin-produced album Taking The Long Way. Through this co-write with Dan Wilson, the group shared its truth about the situation in a way that can still be enjoyed as a standalone song. The moral of the track is simple — the trio will not concede freedom of speech, and its members are not quite ready to forgive what happened to them.
"[Wilson] said, what about 'I'm not ready to make nice?'" said Maines about writing the song. "From the outside, normal people really weren't aware of how bizarre and absurd it got. Dan was really good at clueing in to that, saying something that didn't back down, but still had a vulnerability to it. This album was therapy. To write these songs allowed me to find peace with everything and move on."
The track was a hit for the group, landing at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 (despite stalling at No. 36 on the Hot Country Songs chart) and earning 2x platinum sales. "Not Ready to Make Nice" was also highly-awarded, winning Grammys in 2007 for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Taking The Long Way took home two Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Country Album.
An accompanying documentary was also released in 2006 called Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, which follows the three women through the scrutiny.
Since the storm that embroiled the group in 2003 and the release of "Not Ready to Make Nice," The Chicks has continued its successful career, embarking on the DCX MMXVI World Tour in 2016, and most recently, releasing a new studio album, Gaslighter, in July 2020.
This story previously ran on April 29, 2021.
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"Not Ready to Make Nice" Lyrics
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting
I'm through with doubt
There's nothing left for me to figure out
I've paid a price, and I'll keep paying
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
I know you said
Why can't you just get over it?
It turned my whole world around
And I kinda like it
I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets, and I don't mind saying
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?
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
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, what it is you think I should
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting
