Welcome to this month’s edition of the Lost Media Files where I cover lost pieces of media throughout the years like movies, video games, books, art, whatever and on this edition of the Lost Media Files is a music group that was against a war brought upon misinformation but in those comments as true that stoke the flame of backlash aiming at the group as one of those was a letter threatening to do them harm. This is the story of the Dixie Chicks death threat letter.
Now how did this drama and controversy got started and what did the Dixie Chicks do to get a death letter sent? Well let’s turn the clock back after September 11th 2001 I have covered this topic twice: once for a Lost Media file about the pieces of media was affected during the events of that day like movies scenes being altered video games having scenes changed which was two years ago (boy I was so inexperienced then) to artwork that was lost, damaged or saved like the bent propeller art piece, the trade center plaza sculpture and the tapestry paintings are notable examples, before I get into this further this topic is going to be a tough subject and as a left winged moderate so I’ll stay respectful on the matter. It’s understandable to be upset on what happened, loved ones were lost in the middle of the chaos on this day and the country was distraught not sure what to do. After 9/11 musicians performed their heartfelt tributes to the victims and some where somber and respectful like Alan Jackson’s “Where were You” and some missed the point with some tracks having anti-Islam stances in the middle with pro-war lines and almost disrespectful. Now also at this time the Dixie Chicks one of the veterans of country music artists were recording their upcoming album track called “Home” that was released in August in 2002 to critical acclaim, now where do I stand in country music? I am very picky, I do have some guilty pleasure songs that I leave in the background mostly for editing videos or playing games some of them are Shania Twain, the “goodbye Earl” song done by the Dixie Chicks and to today with The Reklaws go listen to “Long live the Night” and “Roots” they are pretty good tracks. But the common complaints I hear about country these days some that are there audiences which is going to play a factor into this story.
In 2003 of March 20th George W. Bush 43rd President of the U.S. declared war over Iraq because of the fear of Saddam Hussain and weapons of mass destruction to which they could use overseas even though there were no evidence to support this and there were a lot of people against the war including some famous celebrities most notably Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli who quietly protested the Iraq War and didn’t accepted his Oscar Award for “Spirited Away” and this is a war that kind of still has conflicts to this day as of this writing. It’s a war that will probably never end. Of course, one of the surprising opponents of the Iraq War was the Dixie Chicks and during a London concert ten days prior on March 10th before the invasion Natalie Maines their lead singer took the moment to say they were against the war as the crowd cheered their protest however and unfortunately backlash from their comments arose, mostly likely Conservative news groups mostly from Fox News who denounced the Dixie Chicks and of course their fanbase followed suit in with protests of their with threats of boycotts and public sneering. One of those people against the Dixie Chicks was Toby Keith who infamously during his “Shock N’ Yall” tour revealed a backdrop with Saddam Hussain and Natalie Maines photoshopped together.
To add fuel for that fire there were also the initials on t-shirts like “FYDC” or I’ll try and keep this PG as possible “F**k You, Dixie Chicks” Natalie Maines then decide to up the ante and release t-shirts during her tour in May that had the initials “FYTK” they originally stated the initials to say “Friends United, Truth in Kindness” but in actually it was a direct snub on Toby Keith saying “F**k you, Toby Keith” in August of that same year Toby Keith stopped feuding with Maines because he found it pointless. Said the guy who started it with that Saddam backdrop but nowadays they are cool with each other but the threat letter was one of those reasons they went into a hiatus in 2008 after a tour for their record “Taking the Long Way” was released in 2006. That being said there was also something else thrown into the mix a death letter, now celebrities getting threats like this is no different even politicians but this one was aimed for Natalie Maines and had a date and location to set it out, this was for Dallas, Texas. So the Dixie Chicks enlisted higher security for their concert while facing public backlashing to prevent this guy from accomplishing his motive and the individual is anonymous so we may never know who penned the letter, but it’s also to say the Dixie Chicks weren’t alone with there fight country legends like Willie Nelson (my father’s favorite signer), Merle Haggard were some of the notable examples defending the Dixie Chicks while also sponsors such as Lipton turned down their sponsoring and famously the American Red Cross turned them down.
So now where is the alleged letter now and who has it? Some say it’s on the Police, but it is currently in Natalie Maines possession, no copies were ever made nor released online and it shouldn’t be. It just goes to show that free speech does have a double edge sword while one has to speak out the others will really get aggressive to knuckle down and make it dirty, I.E. the people who opposed the Dixie Chicks and while that has a damage to its brand, country music will still be around no matter how up and down the slopes it has been through throughout the years. Also in one of their tracks does have the alleged death threat and worded into the lyrics of the Dixie Chicks’ album, try and guess which one.
And that will do for this entry of the Lost Media Files tune in again in a month for the 3rd annual edition of the scare you’re pants of month of course due to it being Halloween theme entries and for this to start our ghoulish fun rather focus on lost media in general I will devote this entry on the top 20 Lost episode Creepypastas. Oh, this will be fun.
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