An endless series of interchangeable party anthems and syrupy love songs
May 1, 2016 2:35 PM Subscribe
What Happened to Country Music? Lyrical themes of Billboard #1 Country hits, 1965-2015. [via mefi projects]
Where are all the damned drinking songs?
posted by jonmc at 3:03 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 3:03 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Convoy ain't a novelty song, it's a work of lyrical genius.
It spawned a Sam Peckinpaw movie for God's sake!
posted by madajb at 3:04 PM on May 1, 2016 [18 favorites]
It spawned a Sam Peckinpaw movie for God's sake!
posted by madajb at 3:04 PM on May 1, 2016 [18 favorites]
"Right Way to Live" contains a lot of drinking songs, though not as emotionally nuanced as country drinking songs can be.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 3:15 PM on May 1, 2016
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 3:15 PM on May 1, 2016
What Happened to Country Music?
It forgot Kacey Musgraves exists.
posted by PenDevil at 3:30 PM on May 1, 2016 [11 favorites]
It forgot Kacey Musgraves exists.
posted by PenDevil at 3:30 PM on May 1, 2016 [11 favorites]
If country music doesn't make me more depressed if I listen to it while drinking it's not doing its job.
posted by Ferreous at 3:31 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Ferreous at 3:31 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Thought I knew the right way to live
Momma always said to give and give and give
But this thing we got here, it ain't workin' out
So let me tell you what life's all about
[chorus]
You gotta drink when you're happy
and take your hits on the chin
You gotta love while you're young
if you're playin' to win
You gotta believe life will do just
what it says on the tin
You gotta mansplain the problem
about the shape things are in
posted by sylvanshine at 3:44 PM on May 1, 2016 [21 favorites]
Momma always said to give and give and give
But this thing we got here, it ain't workin' out
So let me tell you what life's all about
[chorus]
You gotta drink when you're happy
and take your hits on the chin
You gotta love while you're young
if you're playin' to win
You gotta believe life will do just
what it says on the tin
You gotta mansplain the problem
about the shape things are in
posted by sylvanshine at 3:44 PM on May 1, 2016 [21 favorites]
In any case, that chart pretty much speaks for itself: modern country fans are more interested in healthy relationships, motivational speeches and having a good time than sadness and misery. And on a certain level, who can blame them?
That's a job for Internet users
posted by thelonius at 3:48 PM on May 1, 2016 [12 favorites]
That's a job for Internet users
posted by thelonius at 3:48 PM on May 1, 2016 [12 favorites]
This was great. I only wanted more of the same—more data, more songs referenced, some analysis of lyrics. If I were a publisher, I would offer this person a book contract, because I would enjoy reading that book.
And listening to its accompanying 4-CD anthology set.
posted by not that girl at 3:56 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
And listening to its accompanying 4-CD anthology set.
posted by not that girl at 3:56 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
These charts ignore the important songs about meeting someone at the auction.
posted by drezdn at 4:00 PM on May 1, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 4:00 PM on May 1, 2016 [11 favorites]
jonmc: Where are all the damned drinking songs?
The drinking songs have moved over to whatever genre Son of a Bitch, Gimme a Drink is.
Random: A guy I know who works in Nashville pointed out to me that all the producers who were doing hair metal in the '80s ended up doing country in Nashville in the 2000s. That probably explains something, but I'm not sure what. Maybe nothing? Hard to tell, without doing the same analysis for rock and pop that he's done with country. I'd be interested in that analysis. Is it just country fans who are getting more into "healthy relationships, motivational speeches and having a good time", or is it everybody?
Part of the trend: Some sacrilegious saccharine country, H.O.L.Y., showed up in my YouTube recommendations the other day. I don't recommend it.
posted by clawsoon at 4:02 PM on May 1, 2016 [9 favorites]
The drinking songs have moved over to whatever genre Son of a Bitch, Gimme a Drink is.
Random: A guy I know who works in Nashville pointed out to me that all the producers who were doing hair metal in the '80s ended up doing country in Nashville in the 2000s. That probably explains something, but I'm not sure what. Maybe nothing? Hard to tell, without doing the same analysis for rock and pop that he's done with country. I'd be interested in that analysis. Is it just country fans who are getting more into "healthy relationships, motivational speeches and having a good time", or is it everybody?
Part of the trend: Some sacrilegious saccharine country, H.O.L.Y., showed up in my YouTube recommendations the other day. I don't recommend it.
posted by clawsoon at 4:02 PM on May 1, 2016 [9 favorites]
Thanks for posting this! It was a fun project.
I only wanted more of the same—more data, more songs referenced, some analysis of lyrics.
I felt the same way writing it. Here's some of the ephemera that I cut out of the post:
- I went back to '45 and '55 but they had too few #1s to be a meaningful sample, and I found too many of them to be "novelty" or just hard to categorize
- I also tried this with 2014/04/94/etc and came up with a similar pattern, which I find a little surprising because it felt like a very subjective exercise while I was doing it. Of course, that still leaves eight built-in out-of-sample replications for anyone else who wants to try it (and I would be happy to share my data if anyone wants it).
Is it just country fans who are getting more into "healthy relationships, motivational speeches and having a good time", or is it everybody?
- Don't know, but I've seen a few studies suggesting that pop songs are actually getting more sad over time, both in terms of more minor-key songs and more downbeat lyrics -- here's a recent podcast that discusses some of the lyrics research -- so that could suggest that country music is even more of an outlier. I do feel subjectively though that country's not the only genre that's gotten happier, I mention R&B in the post as another potential example..
posted by neat graffitist at 4:17 PM on May 1, 2016 [27 favorites]
I only wanted more of the same—more data, more songs referenced, some analysis of lyrics.
I felt the same way writing it. Here's some of the ephemera that I cut out of the post:
- I went back to '45 and '55 but they had too few #1s to be a meaningful sample, and I found too many of them to be "novelty" or just hard to categorize
- I also tried this with 2014/04/94/etc and came up with a similar pattern, which I find a little surprising because it felt like a very subjective exercise while I was doing it. Of course, that still leaves eight built-in out-of-sample replications for anyone else who wants to try it (and I would be happy to share my data if anyone wants it).
Is it just country fans who are getting more into "healthy relationships, motivational speeches and having a good time", or is it everybody?
- Don't know, but I've seen a few studies suggesting that pop songs are actually getting more sad over time, both in terms of more minor-key songs and more downbeat lyrics -- here's a recent podcast that discusses some of the lyrics research -- so that could suggest that country music is even more of an outlier. I do feel subjectively though that country's not the only genre that's gotten happier, I mention R&B in the post as another potential example..
posted by neat graffitist at 4:17 PM on May 1, 2016 [27 favorites]
Where are all the damned drinking songs?
I spent most of January working with someone who listened to country music all day--specifically, to a station that played the same twenty songs, over and over again, all day every day. It was my first major exposure to modern country music. One of the things that struck me (aside from how abjectly terrible and derivative the songs were), was that roughly half of them included some reference to drinking. Sometimes just a line about getting a beer with the boys, but drinking to forget also seemed to be a reoccurring theme.
Unrelatedly, there's an actual song called She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy and I honestly cannot tell if it's supposed to be an ironic send-up of country music themes or like a proud embrace of stereotypes or what. I'm guessing proud embrace, but it kinda breaks my irony meter.
posted by dephlogisticated at 4:17 PM on May 1, 2016 [14 favorites]
I spent most of January working with someone who listened to country music all day--specifically, to a station that played the same twenty songs, over and over again, all day every day. It was my first major exposure to modern country music. One of the things that struck me (aside from how abjectly terrible and derivative the songs were), was that roughly half of them included some reference to drinking. Sometimes just a line about getting a beer with the boys, but drinking to forget also seemed to be a reoccurring theme.
Unrelatedly, there's an actual song called She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy and I honestly cannot tell if it's supposed to be an ironic send-up of country music themes or like a proud embrace of stereotypes or what. I'm guessing proud embrace, but it kinda breaks my irony meter.
posted by dephlogisticated at 4:17 PM on May 1, 2016 [14 favorites]
Country Music, like many other forms of popular music, has been commodified and turned into a demographically-based superstimulus. The only thing that's surprising is that it didn't happen sooner.
posted by SansPoint at 4:22 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 4:22 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
A guy I know who works in Nashville pointed out to me that all the producers who were doing hair metal in the '80s ended up doing country in Nashville in the 2000s. That probably explains something, but I'm not sure what
Evil is eternal?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:25 PM on May 1, 2016 [8 favorites]
Evil is eternal?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:25 PM on May 1, 2016 [8 favorites]
Your four categories with Corb Lund:
1. It's All Over
2. It's Not Working Out
3. Love and Devotion (Sort of? Corb Lund doesn't really do these songs, it seems...)
4. The Right Way To Live
It's interesting though how, with just this one artist, I felt like the majority of his songs didn't really fit into any of these four categories. Where would you put Truck Got Stuck or Talkin' Veterinarian Blues.
Anyhow, I frigging love country music.
posted by 256 at 4:27 PM on May 1, 2016 [10 favorites]
1. It's All Over
2. It's Not Working Out
3. Love and Devotion (Sort of? Corb Lund doesn't really do these songs, it seems...)
4. The Right Way To Live
It's interesting though how, with just this one artist, I felt like the majority of his songs didn't really fit into any of these four categories. Where would you put Truck Got Stuck or Talkin' Veterinarian Blues.
Anyhow, I frigging love country music.
posted by 256 at 4:27 PM on May 1, 2016 [10 favorites]
Corb Lund! Yay! Hard on Equipment, Bible on the Dashboard.
You're welcome.
posted by clawsoon at 4:33 PM on May 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
You're welcome.
posted by clawsoon at 4:33 PM on May 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
it's useful to stop calling it 'country'. call it 'new-country'. as in: "i love country, but the new-country stuff is just warmed over rehashed rockabilly bullshit."
posted by j_curiouser at 4:35 PM on May 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by j_curiouser at 4:35 PM on May 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
it's useful to stop calling it 'country'. call it 'new-country'.
I've had this thought, but in the end, I've become comfortable with just calling it all country. Saying "I love country music" doesn't mean I need to defend Garth Brooks, just like saying "I love hip hop" doesn't mean I have to defend Pitbull.
posted by 256 at 4:44 PM on May 1, 2016 [9 favorites]
I've had this thought, but in the end, I've become comfortable with just calling it all country. Saying "I love country music" doesn't mean I need to defend Garth Brooks, just like saying "I love hip hop" doesn't mean I have to defend Pitbull.
posted by 256 at 4:44 PM on May 1, 2016 [9 favorites]
I actually like that SiriusXM has a wide variety of country channels themed differently, including one so far away from new country that they let Mojo Nixon DJ there.
posted by delfin at 4:47 PM on May 1, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by delfin at 4:47 PM on May 1, 2016 [6 favorites]
there's an actual song called She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy and I honestly cannot tell if it's supposed to be an ironic send-up of country music themes or like a proud embrace of stereotypes or what. I'm guessing proud embrace, but it kinda breaks my irony meter.
Irony in country music is another interesting subject; the genre has always had some built-in ironic distance, so when someone tries to write a country song parody/pastiche, they usually wind up writing a pretty good country song in spite of themselves, e.g. Blind Love by Tom Waits, or Hung Up on You by Fountains of Wayne, or most famously You Never Even Called Me By My Name by Steve Goodman.
In this sense, it's only from the inside that you can really write a "bad" country song, by removing the irony and trying to make it too proud or sincere. As your example and many others are now proving : ).
posted by neat graffitist at 4:49 PM on May 1, 2016 [18 favorites]
Irony in country music is another interesting subject; the genre has always had some built-in ironic distance, so when someone tries to write a country song parody/pastiche, they usually wind up writing a pretty good country song in spite of themselves, e.g. Blind Love by Tom Waits, or Hung Up on You by Fountains of Wayne, or most famously You Never Even Called Me By My Name by Steve Goodman.
In this sense, it's only from the inside that you can really write a "bad" country song, by removing the irony and trying to make it too proud or sincere. As your example and many others are now proving : ).
posted by neat graffitist at 4:49 PM on May 1, 2016 [18 favorites]
Old Country:New Country::What pick-up trucks are actually for:Why most people who own one buy them
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:50 PM on May 1, 2016 [32 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:50 PM on May 1, 2016 [32 favorites]
I wonder whether this could be connected to the polarisation in American politics/culture/society between the blue-state/coastal/secular/liberal folks and the red-state/conservative/religious folks, with each consuming their own media and regarding the other as an alien enemy. As such, if country-listening folks are a fortified camp at war against the other side, country music (the musical genre that defines them) could be pressed into service to rally the troops and reinforce shared values that differentiate Us from Them; something that songs about The Right Way To Live are much more suited for than melancholy ballads about having lost everything.
posted by acb at 5:23 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by acb at 5:23 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
A sudden thought -
What the hell category is "Wichita Lineman"?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:28 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
What the hell category is "Wichita Lineman"?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:28 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
True country has at least one of:
1) an alcoholic. And not a fun social drinker, but alcoholic as in "this is the bottle that fucked me up this badly"
2) a woman lamenting #1
3) a banjo, fiddle, and/or mandolin
4) an appeal to a higher power or attempted corruption by a lower one, as depicted in The Devil Went Down To Georgia and Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts Of Life
5) a story to tell, by someone who knows how to tell one.
posted by delfin at 5:30 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
1) an alcoholic. And not a fun social drinker, but alcoholic as in "this is the bottle that fucked me up this badly"
2) a woman lamenting #1
3) a banjo, fiddle, and/or mandolin
4) an appeal to a higher power or attempted corruption by a lower one, as depicted in The Devil Went Down To Georgia and Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts Of Life
5) a story to tell, by someone who knows how to tell one.
posted by delfin at 5:30 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
One of my co-workers is big into nu-country, and it surprised me. Like, if you put a reggae beat behind the songs, you'd basically have Sublime songs. I didn't think country bros were a thing until then.
posted by gc at 5:41 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by gc at 5:41 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
as in: "i love country, but the new-country stuff is just warmed over rehashed rockabilly bullshit."
One of the things that happened to Country Music is that it became not-Country Music.
posted by rhizome at 5:43 PM on May 1, 2016
One of the things that happened to Country Music is that it became not-Country Music.
posted by rhizome at 5:43 PM on May 1, 2016
Question. You know the classic radio-country arc of
1. boy meets girl
2. boy marries girl
bridge: girl has a baby
3. the baby goes to prom/gets married/gets his own tractor, everyone is wistful
What is that? Devotion or the right way to live?
posted by gerstle at 5:53 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
1. boy meets girl
2. boy marries girl
bridge: girl has a baby
3. the baby goes to prom/gets married/gets his own tractor, everyone is wistful
What is that? Devotion or the right way to live?
posted by gerstle at 5:53 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Gerstle, i LOVE that subset of country songs. Just waterworks from get go. i think its the 'right way to live,' as the songs mostly go from regretting their lost youth and having a baby to appreciating the small things and a simple life well loved.
posted by kittensofthenight at 6:01 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by kittensofthenight at 6:01 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Irony in country music is another interesting subject; the genre has always had some built-in ironic distance, so when someone tries to write a country song parody/pastiche, they usually wind up writing a pretty good country song in spite of themselves, e.g. Blind Love by Tom Waits, or Hung Up on You by Fountains of Wayne, or most famously You Never Even Called Me By My Name by Steve Goodman.
Yes, neat graffitist! I almost sidetracked into one of my favorite country tropes, not exactly the same as the irony, but related, maybe, which is plays on words:
"We're two of kind, working on a full house."
"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"
"Is it still over? Are we still through? Since my phone still ain't ringin, I assume it still ain't you."
"Don't our love look natural, lyin' there? You could almost expect it to sit right up and care. It faded in its prime, it died before its time. Don't our love look natural lyin' there?"
"Learnin' to live again is killin' me."
One of my favorite subgenres is "fed-up women." This includes songs where women just up and walk away from their families: "Good-bye to Daddy," by Emmylou Harris; "Listen to the Radio" and "Ford Econoline" by Nancy Griffith; ""He Thinks He'll Keep Her" by Mary Chapin Carpenter. So many more but I'm limiting myself to things I can come up with on the fly off the top of my head. You've also got great songs where the wife doesn't leave but she's just as fed up: "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino To Decorate Our Home," by David Frizzell, which also has the irony and the playfulness, both.
Also: young women who are out of control. Here you're got "Suds in the Bucket" by Sara Evans, which is one of my most favorite country songs of all time; Garth Brooks' "Ain't Goin' Down Til the Sun Comes Up," "Jose Cuervo" by...that one person...Shelly West. I like this as a counterpoint to the "I Love My Mama!" subgenre, these wild young women to hop in those pickup trucks with inappropriate young men and go off looking for sexual adventure.
People dismiss country music so easily but there's so much musicianship, intelligence, even political awareness if you're looking for it. Loretta Lynn's "One's On The Way," for instance, is a song about being a midwestern housewife at the dawn of the women's movement:
I love it unironically. I love any song with steel guitar, I love great fiddle-playing, I love songs about outlaws and songs about trucks. I love songs about trains and songs with harmonicas. II even, from time to time, love an over-the-top patriotic anthem or a song about Jesus.
posted by not that girl at 6:18 PM on May 1, 2016 [30 favorites]
Yes, neat graffitist! I almost sidetracked into one of my favorite country tropes, not exactly the same as the irony, but related, maybe, which is plays on words:
"We're two of kind, working on a full house."
"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"
"Is it still over? Are we still through? Since my phone still ain't ringin, I assume it still ain't you."
"Don't our love look natural, lyin' there? You could almost expect it to sit right up and care. It faded in its prime, it died before its time. Don't our love look natural lyin' there?"
"Learnin' to live again is killin' me."
One of my favorite subgenres is "fed-up women." This includes songs where women just up and walk away from their families: "Good-bye to Daddy," by Emmylou Harris; "Listen to the Radio" and "Ford Econoline" by Nancy Griffith; ""He Thinks He'll Keep Her" by Mary Chapin Carpenter. So many more but I'm limiting myself to things I can come up with on the fly off the top of my head. You've also got great songs where the wife doesn't leave but she's just as fed up: "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino To Decorate Our Home," by David Frizzell, which also has the irony and the playfulness, both.
Also: young women who are out of control. Here you're got "Suds in the Bucket" by Sara Evans, which is one of my most favorite country songs of all time; Garth Brooks' "Ain't Goin' Down Til the Sun Comes Up," "Jose Cuervo" by...that one person...Shelly West. I like this as a counterpoint to the "I Love My Mama!" subgenre, these wild young women to hop in those pickup trucks with inappropriate young men and go off looking for sexual adventure.
People dismiss country music so easily but there's so much musicianship, intelligence, even political awareness if you're looking for it. Loretta Lynn's "One's On The Way," for instance, is a song about being a midwestern housewife at the dawn of the women's movement:
The girls in New York City they all march for women's libI LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC *****HEART-EYE EMOJI** ** **HEART-EYE EMOJI**
And Better Homes and Gardens shows the modern way to live
And the pill may change the world tomorrow but meanwhile today
Here in Topeka the flies are a buzzin'
The dog is a barkin' and the floor needs a scrubbin'
One needs a spankin' and one needs a huggin, Lord. One's on the way
I love it unironically. I love any song with steel guitar, I love great fiddle-playing, I love songs about outlaws and songs about trucks. I love songs about trains and songs with harmonicas. II even, from time to time, love an over-the-top patriotic anthem or a song about Jesus.
posted by not that girl at 6:18 PM on May 1, 2016 [30 favorites]
"Are those astronaut pants? Because your ass is out of this world"
posted by thelonius at 6:28 PM on May 1, 2016
posted by thelonius at 6:28 PM on May 1, 2016
I have been thinking for awhile about whether it would be interesting to do a FPP about a guy named Mikel Knight, who is a country boy who grew up listening to hip-hop and does country hip-hop fusion that is surprisingly faithful to country tropes, themes, and sounds. His song "Last Night in Texas" is a classic outlaw-on-the-run song, for instance, that I think is kind of brilliant. His music is full of awareness and appreciation of the long country tradition, but he also name-checks Snoop Dogg.
Appropriately, I discovered Mikel Knight because a really nice guy in a cowboy hat and boots, with a southern accent, sold me two CDs for ten bucks at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. I was really surprised by the music—I was sure it would be horrible. Not only wasn't it, but some of it surprised me. There's one song about waking up with a woman in the morning, for instance, that sounds like it's going to be about sex but turns out to be about lying around talking and getting to know each other. There's some painful moments of sexism (fewer than I expected), and one song with woo-hoo confederate flag in it, which sucks. But he also likes the old country plays on words, with songs like, "We Don't Give a Truck" and "Drinking About You."
I find it an interesting phenomenon and don't expect everybody to like it. But I did, more than I expected to when I let myself be charmed out of ten bucks at a gas pump because something there's somethingI find irresistible about a cowboy calling me "ma'am."
Anyway, yay country music.
posted by not that girl at 6:32 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
Appropriately, I discovered Mikel Knight because a really nice guy in a cowboy hat and boots, with a southern accent, sold me two CDs for ten bucks at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. I was really surprised by the music—I was sure it would be horrible. Not only wasn't it, but some of it surprised me. There's one song about waking up with a woman in the morning, for instance, that sounds like it's going to be about sex but turns out to be about lying around talking and getting to know each other. There's some painful moments of sexism (fewer than I expected), and one song with woo-hoo confederate flag in it, which sucks. But he also likes the old country plays on words, with songs like, "We Don't Give a Truck" and "Drinking About You."
I find it an interesting phenomenon and don't expect everybody to like it. But I did, more than I expected to when I let myself be charmed out of ten bucks at a gas pump because something there's somethingI find irresistible about a cowboy calling me "ma'am."
Anyway, yay country music.
posted by not that girl at 6:32 PM on May 1, 2016 [4 favorites]
As such, if country-listening folks are a fortified camp at war against the other side, country music (the musical genre that defines them) could be pressed into service to rally the troops and reinforce shared values that differentiate Us from Them; something that songs about The Right Way To Live are much more suited for than melancholy ballads about having lost everything.
Being country isn't enough for this anymore. Remember what happened to the Dixie Chicks when they apologized for our President Bush? Those country listening folks rose up and tried to destroy the Dixie Chicks' career.
posted by deadaluspark at 6:34 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Being country isn't enough for this anymore. Remember what happened to the Dixie Chicks when they apologized for our President Bush? Those country listening folks rose up and tried to destroy the Dixie Chicks' career.
posted by deadaluspark at 6:34 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
The only nu-country song I've heard in the last ten years was some bullshit about a hard-working farmer, his no-good nephew growing weed in the pigpen, and everyone getting high off the inevitable Christmas ham.
I have no idea what category that fits into.
posted by infinitewindow at 6:40 PM on May 1, 2016
I have no idea what category that fits into.
posted by infinitewindow at 6:40 PM on May 1, 2016
256, Corb Lund's love and devotion song is obviously this one, unless we're limiting ourselves to love and devotion toward humans.
posted by drlith at 6:59 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by drlith at 6:59 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
So I play a lot of Grateful Dead. A lot. My kids learned to like it or at least accept it. Fast forward to last fall. My 19 yo son is at college. His first year, his roommate for him into country. All he listens to. Actually new type country. So he calls me one night all excited. "Hey dad, this old time country guy, Johnny Cash I think is his name, he is doing a cover of the Grateful Dead song, Big River!" Ummm, no son. Imagine if that got him, his astonishment when he found out Mama Tried and I Know You Rider and El Paso and... many others the Dead cover were just classic country songs.
We're all country music fans whether we know it or not.
posted by AugustWest at 7:01 PM on May 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
We're all country music fans whether we know it or not.
posted by AugustWest at 7:01 PM on May 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
New country themes feel like an affectation, like driving a 50 thousand dollar pickup truck as a symbol of rural "americanness" Older trek a bit more like a actual product of rural desperation and decay.
posted by Ferreous at 7:23 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Ferreous at 7:23 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
so when someone tries to write a country song parody/pastiche, they usually wind up writing a pretty good country song in spite of themselves
This is what a friend and I discovered when we tried to write the most cliche country song we could about losing the family farm, "Little Tractor", and it ended up just being a fun song that we kinda meant.
posted by nom de poop at 7:34 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is what a friend and I discovered when we tried to write the most cliche country song we could about losing the family farm, "Little Tractor", and it ended up just being a fun song that we kinda meant.
posted by nom de poop at 7:34 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
there's an actual song called She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
it's just another example of a reoccuring theme in socialist construcivist art.
posted by ennui.bz at 7:46 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
it's just another example of a reoccuring theme in socialist construcivist art.
posted by ennui.bz at 7:46 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Both Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton had beautiful country albums in the Top 10 on the Billboard albums chart this past week (amongst the Prince), I can't recommend them enough.
And rumor is, Dixie Chicks are already covering Beyoncé's "Daddy Lessons" from Lemonade.
posted by sallybrown at 7:55 PM on May 1, 2016
And rumor is, Dixie Chicks are already covering Beyoncé's "Daddy Lessons" from Lemonade.
posted by sallybrown at 7:55 PM on May 1, 2016
Thank god for Sturgill Simpson.
posted by not_the_water at 7:58 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by not_the_water at 7:58 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Kinda surprised at the decrease in "Right Way To Live" songs between 2005 and 2015.
If I've got my categories right, then I'm not particularly surprised. There was a significant increase in country music of a very specific conservative morality right after 9/11. Kicking the Dixie Chicks out was a part of it, and so was singing songs about patriotism and the best way to be an American and the wonder of country living, etc. That died down after a while.
Love and devotion crept back up because they've always been at the core of country music. This 'right way to live' bullshit is new (now provable!) and I particularly dislike it. I would like more sad songs in the vein of 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' and 'Long Black Veil' and 'What's Your Mama's Name' and 'The Dance' and 'Whiskey Lullaby' and yes, 'Travelin' Soldier'.
Looks like I missed that Kacey Musgraves put out her second album last year. Off to go look that up--and hope country music takes a clue from her popularity.
posted by librarylis at 8:01 PM on May 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
If I've got my categories right, then I'm not particularly surprised. There was a significant increase in country music of a very specific conservative morality right after 9/11. Kicking the Dixie Chicks out was a part of it, and so was singing songs about patriotism and the best way to be an American and the wonder of country living, etc. That died down after a while.
Love and devotion crept back up because they've always been at the core of country music. This 'right way to live' bullshit is new (now provable!) and I particularly dislike it. I would like more sad songs in the vein of 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' and 'Long Black Veil' and 'What's Your Mama's Name' and 'The Dance' and 'Whiskey Lullaby' and yes, 'Travelin' Soldier'.
Looks like I missed that Kacey Musgraves put out her second album last year. Off to go look that up--and hope country music takes a clue from her popularity.
posted by librarylis at 8:01 PM on May 1, 2016 [7 favorites]
I thought 10% of all country songs in the past decade were about pontooning.
posted by stargell at 8:15 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by stargell at 8:15 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Like the crime rate, that graph could be explained by legalized abortion or leaded gasoline.
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 8:26 PM on May 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 8:26 PM on May 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
Still my personal all-time favorite Country Song (even though it only made it to #8 on the charts in 1975):
"You Never Even Called Me By My Name", mostly for its last verse, in which David Allen Coe added a spoken explanation (per Wikipedia) "a friend of mine named Steve Goodman" wrote the song and considered it "the perfect country and western song". Coe, upon receiving the song, explained to Goodman that he was wrong; there was no way a song could be "the perfect country and western song" without mentioning a laundry list of clichés: “mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting drunk.” Goodman then proceeded to add the final verse, incorporating all five of Coe's facetious "requirements," whereupon Coe agreed that now it was "the perfect country-and-western song" and felt obliged to include it to the end of the record:
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:39 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
"You Never Even Called Me By My Name", mostly for its last verse, in which David Allen Coe added a spoken explanation (per Wikipedia) "a friend of mine named Steve Goodman" wrote the song and considered it "the perfect country and western song". Coe, upon receiving the song, explained to Goodman that he was wrong; there was no way a song could be "the perfect country and western song" without mentioning a laundry list of clichés: “mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting drunk.” Goodman then proceeded to add the final verse, incorporating all five of Coe's facetious "requirements," whereupon Coe agreed that now it was "the perfect country-and-western song" and felt obliged to include it to the end of the record:
I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison(just the relevant part here)
And I went to pick 'er up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got run over by a damned ol' train
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:39 PM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, I spent most of 1978 in my most deeply regretted job, operating (but NOT programming) an automated Country radio station just outside Fresno. It was years before "automated" radio became truly a "turnkey" operation, which was one thing I regretted. For the other, most of my affection for Country Music was built on the VERY traditional Country album "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", and when I went to work for "Radio JUG", what was considered "Modern Country" had fully taken over radio in general, and specifically the radio programming service I had to work with. While I left that job running and screaming, ironically, its prehistoric automation system gave me my first exposure to and interest in working with computers, which contributed to what little success I had in non-radio jobs in the years following.
But I should've seen the omen that the #1 song when I went to work for Radio JUG was "Take This Job And Shove It".
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:54 PM on May 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
But I should've seen the omen that the #1 song when I went to work for Radio JUG was "Take This Job And Shove It".
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:54 PM on May 1, 2016 [5 favorites]
Regarding the happiness and booze quotient of contemporary country, I remember hearing an anecdote recently about an up-and-comer who had self-released a new song and it was actually starting to get play on the radio, and a few weeks after it started getting picked up, the artist had to call round to the stations and ask them to stop playing that version of the song...because he'd signed a contract with a certain brand and he was going to be changing a line that referenced Shiner Bock to some other kind of beer. I know in-song product placement is a thing in hip hop, but I wonder if that's partly behind the push toward happiness in the country songs. I'm sure Solo cups are delighted to be the subject of a party anthem, can't imagine they'd be any too pleased if they came up in the context of suicide, heartbreak and begging Jesus for redemption.
posted by Diablevert at 10:14 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Diablevert at 10:14 PM on May 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
"“I’m over you (but clearly I’m not),” as practiced by George Jones, Connie Smith, Tammy Wynette"
And perfected in 1990.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:33 PM on May 1, 2016
And perfected in 1990.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:33 PM on May 1, 2016
Nucountry is pop music with a twang and a mullet. It has been ever since Achy Breaky Heart. Partly the transition was feuled by kids who's parents were opposed to pop or rock. In the nineties, there was a strong push to turn "Christian" (i.e. Evangelical southern whites) into a marketable to demographic. The result were crappy knockoffs of various media elements that might be seen as too "worldly". So you got terrible Christian T and movies, Christian contemporary music, Christian dumb joke tshirts, etc. A lot of this audience felt country music (being what they grew up with) was safer than rock or pop. So the guys who made dumb party music hair metal made dumb party music "country". The kids liked it and the parent's worries were generally assuaged.
Old country is the core of Ameripolitan music, a genre that exists pretty much entirely to save country music from nucountry. It has elements of rockabilly, zydeco, and bluegrass too. It is a sort of blanket for traditional American music. Dale Watson's "I Lie When I Drink" is a pretty good specimen.
posted by pattern juggler at 11:06 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Old country is the core of Ameripolitan music, a genre that exists pretty much entirely to save country music from nucountry. It has elements of rockabilly, zydeco, and bluegrass too. It is a sort of blanket for traditional American music. Dale Watson's "I Lie When I Drink" is a pretty good specimen.
posted by pattern juggler at 11:06 PM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
What the hell category is "Wichita Lineman"?
Imagine pitching this song idea in 1968: There’s this guy who works on telephone poles in the middle of Kansas. He’s really devoted to his job. Rain or shine, he’s committed to preventing system overloads. It’s really lonely work, and he misses his girlfriend. Does this sound like a hit to you?
posted by thelonius at 3:20 AM on May 2, 2016 [4 favorites]
Imagine pitching this song idea in 1968: There’s this guy who works on telephone poles in the middle of Kansas. He’s really devoted to his job. Rain or shine, he’s committed to preventing system overloads. It’s really lonely work, and he misses his girlfriend. Does this sound like a hit to you?
posted by thelonius at 3:20 AM on May 2, 2016 [4 favorites]
Nucountry is pop music with a twang and a mullet. It has been ever since Achy Breaky Heart.
People were already saying this years before "Achy Breaky Heart" came out. I remember listening to my dad* complain that Barbara Mandrell wasn't a real country singer, and for all I know he grew up listening to his father complain about Glenn Campbell or something. Country fans have been complaining about lost authenticity pretty much since the second country singer first picked up a guitar.
For me the big sea change in modern pop-country (which I find fascinating even if it's not music I enjoy anymore) isn't that it turned into pop, which has been there since the probably 50s, but that it turned into hip-hop. Florida Georgia Line can collaborate with Nelly and there's barely a lost step in how they sound. Luke Bryan can sing about his "country ride hip-hop mixtape/Little Conway, a little T-Pain" and it works and makes total sense. The lyrical themes are similar, too, to the kind of hip-hop that gets most of the radio play: lots of partying, drinking, and sex, mixed with some pride in where you came from. It's just that for rural (and wanna-be rural) white people. The music that comes out of this fusion isn't usually very good, but the mix is fascinating on a culture level (to me at least).
*Eventually he jumped ship entirely and pretty much just listens to bluegrass now.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:20 AM on May 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
People were already saying this years before "Achy Breaky Heart" came out. I remember listening to my dad* complain that Barbara Mandrell wasn't a real country singer, and for all I know he grew up listening to his father complain about Glenn Campbell or something. Country fans have been complaining about lost authenticity pretty much since the second country singer first picked up a guitar.
For me the big sea change in modern pop-country (which I find fascinating even if it's not music I enjoy anymore) isn't that it turned into pop, which has been there since the probably 50s, but that it turned into hip-hop. Florida Georgia Line can collaborate with Nelly and there's barely a lost step in how they sound. Luke Bryan can sing about his "country ride hip-hop mixtape/Little Conway, a little T-Pain" and it works and makes total sense. The lyrical themes are similar, too, to the kind of hip-hop that gets most of the radio play: lots of partying, drinking, and sex, mixed with some pride in where you came from. It's just that for rural (and wanna-be rural) white people. The music that comes out of this fusion isn't usually very good, but the mix is fascinating on a culture level (to me at least).
*Eventually he jumped ship entirely and pretty much just listens to bluegrass now.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:20 AM on May 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
the artist had to call round to the stations and ask them to stop playing that version of the song...because he'd signed a contract with a certain brand and he was going to be changing a line that referenced Shiner Bock to some other kind of beer.
Jason Aldean, "Take a Little Ride", changed from Shiner Bock to Rocky Top (for Coors).
posted by Etrigan at 6:42 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Jason Aldean, "Take a Little Ride", changed from Shiner Bock to Rocky Top (for Coors).
posted by Etrigan at 6:42 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
For me the big sea change in modern pop-country (which I find fascinating even if it's not music I enjoy anymore) isn't that it turned into pop, which has been there since the probably 50s, but that it turned into hip-hop.
This was one of the other things that struck me during my month of involuntary nu-country listening. It seems heavily influenced by hip-hop, in particular the late-2000s overpolished auto-tune variety. One of the songs that was on regular rotation, Break Up in a Small Town, is just straight up R&B, the only concession to country being the small-town theme and the white guy singing.
posted by dephlogisticated at 7:39 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
This was one of the other things that struck me during my month of involuntary nu-country listening. It seems heavily influenced by hip-hop, in particular the late-2000s overpolished auto-tune variety. One of the songs that was on regular rotation, Break Up in a Small Town, is just straight up R&B, the only concession to country being the small-town theme and the white guy singing.
posted by dephlogisticated at 7:39 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Country Music, like many other forms of popular music, has been commodified and turned into a demographically-based superstimulus. The only thing that's surprising is that it didn't happen sooner.
I think it did happen sooner--like in the mid 50s when the slickly produced "Nashville sound" pushed honky-tonk music off the top of the country charts. Then the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and others brought vitality and individualism back into country music.
Except that got pushed aside by the rise of "Countrypolitan" country in the last 60s, which we had to endure until Outlaw Country came along and knocked it off its perch.
As mentioned above, the success of Sturgill Simpson suggests you might want to hold off on declaring the death of country music as source for genuinely creative expression.
posted by layceepee at 8:02 AM on May 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think it did happen sooner--like in the mid 50s when the slickly produced "Nashville sound" pushed honky-tonk music off the top of the country charts. Then the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and others brought vitality and individualism back into country music.
Except that got pushed aside by the rise of "Countrypolitan" country in the last 60s, which we had to endure until Outlaw Country came along and knocked it off its perch.
As mentioned above, the success of Sturgill Simpson suggests you might want to hold off on declaring the death of country music as source for genuinely creative expression.
posted by layceepee at 8:02 AM on May 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
What the hell category is "Wichita Lineman"?
It's the category of pure sublimity.
Nucountry is pop music with a twang and a mullet. It has been ever since Achy Breaky Heart.
"Nu-country" does not wear a mullet. Have you watched any CMT lately? Or even the Hollywood version of "Nashville" (in huge air quotes) on ABC? Anyone who thinks new country wears a mullet hasn't been to Nashville in 25 years. The look of Nashville is the look of new country (or new country tourism, anyhow). Come on down to Broadway or the Gulch any day of the week and you'll see the look, or at least tourists faking what they think is the look. There's not a mullet to be found among them. In any event, any stereotype about Nashville and "the Nashville sound" is bound to be pretty outdated, because Nashville -- which used to be pretty damn conservative politically, musically, and otherwise -- has changed a hell of a lot, especially just in the past three or four years.
And "Achy Breaky Heart"? Isn't that something they play at the old folks' home in between bingo matches and shuffleboard?
posted by blucevalo at 8:12 AM on May 2, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's the category of pure sublimity.
Nucountry is pop music with a twang and a mullet. It has been ever since Achy Breaky Heart.
"Nu-country" does not wear a mullet. Have you watched any CMT lately? Or even the Hollywood version of "Nashville" (in huge air quotes) on ABC? Anyone who thinks new country wears a mullet hasn't been to Nashville in 25 years. The look of Nashville is the look of new country (or new country tourism, anyhow). Come on down to Broadway or the Gulch any day of the week and you'll see the look, or at least tourists faking what they think is the look. There's not a mullet to be found among them. In any event, any stereotype about Nashville and "the Nashville sound" is bound to be pretty outdated, because Nashville -- which used to be pretty damn conservative politically, musically, and otherwise -- has changed a hell of a lot, especially just in the past three or four years.
And "Achy Breaky Heart"? Isn't that something they play at the old folks' home in between bingo matches and shuffleboard?
posted by blucevalo at 8:12 AM on May 2, 2016 [4 favorites]
I'd also say "Wichita Lineman" is evidence that heavily produced pop-country can still be fantastic, touching, and human. The problem with stuff you hear on country radio today is that the songs are bad, not that they're pop.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:26 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:26 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure if I'd call the Glen Campbell recording of "Wichita Lineman" heavily produced......it's got strings slathered all over, I'll grant you that
posted by thelonius at 9:08 AM on May 2, 2016
posted by thelonius at 9:08 AM on May 2, 2016
Like everything else it goes in cycles. The 50's, the 80's… It's about time for a new Merle Haggard or Dwight Yoakum to bust out.
posted by bongo_x at 10:25 AM on May 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by bongo_x at 10:25 AM on May 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
Dustin Lynch "She Cranks My Tractor" in case someone's keeping a list (SLYT)
posted by jkosmicki at 11:59 AM on May 2, 2016
posted by jkosmicki at 11:59 AM on May 2, 2016
I had an FPP in preparation, damn it.
In defense of Bro Country
Scattered Thoughts on bro country
Defending Bro Country
Melting pot
Why does everyone care so much about saving country music
posted by josher71 at 10:18 AM on May 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
In defense of Bro Country
Scattered Thoughts on bro country
Defending Bro Country
Melting pot
Why does everyone care so much about saving country music
posted by josher71 at 10:18 AM on May 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm sure Solo cups are delighted to be the subject of a party anthem, can't imagine they'd be any too pleased if they came up in the context of suicide, heartbreak and begging Jesus for redemption.
Gary Stewart's "My Cup Is Solo (And I Am Too)" never got out of the completionists' anthologies for just this reason.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:37 AM on May 3, 2016
Gary Stewart's "My Cup Is Solo (And I Am Too)" never got out of the completionists' anthologies for just this reason.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:37 AM on May 3, 2016
Just post it as an FPP josher71!!
posted by latkes at 11:31 AM on May 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by latkes at 11:31 AM on May 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 2:56 PM on May 1, 2016