In the words of Grand Funk: They’re an American band.
Those of us who are prone to think and argue about rock ‘n’ roll superlatives often debate which act counts as the greatest American band of the 20th century: Is it the Beach Boys? Nirvana? The Grateful Dead? Nirvana? Sly & the Family Stone? The Doors? R.E.M.? Plenty to choose from, on the path to not arriving at any true consensus choice. When it comes to which group is the 21st century’s greatest American band, the choices are a lot narrower. The White Stripes are a couple of pick to start the discussion with, but from there, any given suggestion is likely to meet with more naysayers than yay-sayers.
So here’s a radical suggestion: It might be the Chicks. Watching the trio and their accompanists do their first full U.S. gig in close to three years in Southern California over the weekend — a summer preview of the full tour they recently announced for this fall, to mark the 20th anniversary of their Grammy-hoarding “Taking the Long Way” album — I found myself forming thoughts going well beyond the gig at hand to what they have meant to American culture… as one does. If you’re thinking of topical import, there’s almost no competition, in considering what they or other acts might’ve stood for and symbolized. Particularly at their newsworthiest in the mid-2000s, there were big portions of the populace thinking: We are all Dixie Chicks now. Or, none of us are, if you were one of the reddest people in one of the reddest states. But what other musical act in the last 25 years, apart from maybe Taylor Swift, has seemingly constitutionally required every single citizen to take a position?
