Bush Was Right

November 22, 2005 8:46 AM

The Right Brothers have a brand new single out, "Bush Was Right". I was doing my morning web surfing when I was confronted with this bad boy via Moistworks. Oh my tender little ears. "Democracy is on the way, hitting like a tidal wave." Can it possibly be real? At least one person loves 'em.
posted by dougny (88 comments total)

Cleansing fires of Islam, look out for the Tidal Wave of Democracy! CRASH! TSSSSS!

It's like cosmic rock paper scissors. Now with ideology.
posted by illovich at 8:49 AM on November 22, 2005

I love that their number one fan says chemical weapons were found in Iraq. These cats are mining a rich vein of "truth."
posted by 1-2punch at 8:54 AM on November 22, 2005

Anybody else reminded of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"?
posted by alumshubby at 8:56 AM on November 22, 2005

In case it's not clear from the above, you can sample here before you run out and buy it.
posted by dougny at 8:58 AM on November 22, 2005

Ted Nugent, come back! All is forgiven.
Charlie Daniels, you too.

Seriously, the right should be able to do better than this.
posted by jonmc at 9:00 AM on November 22, 2005

It's awful. A whiny rip-off of "We Didn't Start The Fire," the theme song of Malcolm In The Middle and "It's The End Of The World," complete with the sort of generic, over-processed intruments and vocals gumming up radio today. Politics won't keep it from being a hit; it won't be a hit because it sucks.* If it's a parody...it's not even a good parody.

* Then again, Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning was a fucking hit, so what do I know?
posted by you just lost the game at 9:00 AM on November 22, 2005

They actually use "neener neener" as a guitar lick. Very innovative.
posted by crumbly at 9:01 AM on November 22, 2005

Air America Radio had this last week.

France!
Wrong!

I like that the guitar tweak after "Bush was Right!" is the

na-na-na-na-na-naaa childish taunt.

I'm just glad it sounds like they had some money behind them. I wonder if the band is a tax deduction for some lobbyist.
posted by Busithoth at 9:03 AM on November 22, 2005

it won't be a hit because it sucks

For an unknown band of unglamourous South Park Republicans though, it looks as though they've had some serious money spent on this debut.

Who knows, if they've got similar amounts to spend on Payola, it may well see the bottom reaches of this week's Hot 500
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:06 AM on November 22, 2005

Also, tidal waves are destructive. Does that mean the songwriters are saying America's "gift" of democracy to Iraq is equivalent to the recent tsunami in southeast Asia in terms of its effect on the country?
posted by you just lost the game at 9:06 AM on November 22, 2005

1-2punch: "I love that their number one fan says chemical weapons were found in Iraq. These cats are mining a rich vein of "truth.""

I was under the impressing that chemical weapons actually were found in Iraq. Just very tiny amounts of them that didn't deserve the adjective "Mass".
posted by Plutor at 9:06 AM on November 22, 2005

Crumbly had a better transliteration. (and beat me to it)

I love that "if you don't play this, then you're bigoted!". MTV is fucking liberal? Oh yeah, they had Clinton on, I forgot.

I don't get it? Why don't they just pay money to a publicist to get them on? $1500 a week would get you on 120 minutes at least once.

MTV doesn't play music videos anymore, anyway. Sniveling about it silly.
posted by Busithoth at 9:07 AM on November 22, 2005

I'm just glad it sounds like they had some money behind them. I wonder if the band is a tax deduction for some lobbyist.

Exactly. I'll take Nugent & Daniels sincere yahoo-ism over slick shilling anytime. Plus they're better musically.
posted by jonmc at 9:07 AM on November 22, 2005

More here. I adore the fact that a right wing advocacy group is "preparing a HUGE grassroots campaign to get hundreds of thousands of people to request "Bush Was Right!" on MTV's "Total Request Live" show." Kickin'!!
posted by selfmedicating at 9:07 AM on November 22, 2005

to think that in 1977, people believed that punk was the one kind of music that could never be coopted by the man ... and no, i don't want to get into an argument over whether this is real punk or not, i'm too busy being sick

bleating disguised as mediocrity
posted by pyramid termite at 9:08 AM on November 22, 2005

to think that in 1977, people believed that punk was the one kind of music that could never be coopted by the man

whatever gave you that idea?

I wouldn't call this punk, "real," or otherwise, it's musically competent (if extremely derivative) arena rock.

And as right-wing/populist anthems go, Charlie Daniels "A Few More Rednecks," Nugent's "Bound & Gagged," and Merle Haggard's "Fightin' Side Of Me," are all better peices of work since they were simply songs tossed off out of honest sentiment.

I said it about left wing music and it goes double for the right, being a political "house band," is a recipe for suckage.
posted by jonmc at 9:15 AM on November 22, 2005

everyone should check out "tolerate this" in selfmedicating's link. I dont think they're kidding.
posted by Kifer85 at 9:19 AM on November 22, 2005

suckage indeed.

and don't call that punk.

huge grassroots campaign? hey, if we can keep the GOP organizers focused on a crappy band's popularity instead of re-electing some twit's sycophants, more power to them.

in fact, I'll buy their album!
posted by Busithoth at 9:19 AM on November 22, 2005

I find it suspect. Their biggest fans name is an anagram for "EVIL LIAR REUNITED"
posted by Mr_Zero at 9:19 AM on November 22, 2005

posted by bhayes82 at 9:22 AM on November 22, 2005

These guys are laughing all the way to the underside of the mattress.
posted by hellbient at 9:26 AM on November 22, 2005

France – wrong!

Being french, this was of course my favourite piece of lyrics from the song. Oh man, my abs are hurting from laughing too much.
posted by Sijeka at 9:26 AM on November 22, 2005

wait, they have a freaking video?
posted by Busithoth at 9:27 AM on November 22, 2005

Kifer85 says:
everyone should check out "tolerate this" in selfmedicating's link. I dont think they're kidding.

For the lazy, that's here [MOV]. It still looks like a parody to me, but I know in my heart of hearts...
posted by dougny at 9:27 AM on November 22, 2005

everyone should check out "tolerate this" in selfmedicating's link. I dont think they're kidding.

now i get it ... country band masquerading as an mtv pop/punk (kind of) band

dear right brothers ... the question isn't why mtv doesn't play your stuff ... the question is why ctm doesn't play it

gonna accuse them of being liberals, too?

hmmm "Your search for "right brothers" in artists yielded no results."

it's a conpsiracy, i tell ya ...
posted by pyramid termite at 9:28 AM on November 22, 2005

"I'm sick of hearing Eminem and Green Day trash our great leader and our military, and so is everyone else up here in Methuen."

The revolution will begin in Methuen, MA.

"Let's all bring America back to the Americans be they black, white, or any other nationality!!"

*sigh*
posted by tpl1212 at 9:29 AM on November 22, 2005

This reminds me of we didn't start the fire, but it also reminds me of the "Slaves" song that was on wondershowzen. If I was a little more talanted I would be all about making right wing rock music that was really partisan and hacky like these guys, it's an easier way to make some money and get your name out than writing good songs.

I'm serious, I don't begrudge them for sucking, if I sucked just a little less at rock music I would do the same thing.

The eye's of an eagle
the barrel of a gun
the promise of freedom
only cowards cut and run
posted by I Foody at 9:31 AM on November 22, 2005

It's okay, I guess, but it's no French People Suck:

Hating Yankees too much
Those beret-headed nuts
They can stick the Eiffel tower
Straight up their butts!

Yes, I realize this song is older than some of Metafilter's and all of Fark's readers.
posted by Opposite George at 9:33 AM on November 22, 2005

HAHA ha ha...

But for a 'W', it's NOMEANSNO!

get it? the Wright brothers? it's funny cuz...oh nevermind.
posted by freebird at 9:33 AM on November 22, 2005

Merle Haggard's "Fightin' Side Of Me,"

merle redeemed himself with "rainbow stew" later ... i'd fix his flat tire any day ...
posted by pyramid termite at 9:33 AM on November 22, 2005

Wow, between this and the Al Jazeera news, I've got a raging hard-on right now! (yes it curves to the right)
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 9:35 AM on November 22, 2005

It *has* to be a parody. Their favicon is an upside down flag fercryinoutloud.
posted by Fezboy! at 9:39 AM on November 22, 2005

The revolution will begin in Methuen, MA.

tpl1212, don't you mean Quincy?

freebird, I feel you.
posted by Busithoth at 9:39 AM on November 22, 2005

merle redeemed himself with "rainbow stew" later ... i'd fix his flat tire any day ...

*awards pyramid obscurity gold star, don't get those typin' fingers all covered in erl ;>*

my point was political sentiments aside, the songs I mentioned, were done by actual talented musicians who didn't exist to propogandize, so the songs sound good because they were sincere.

These mooks are hired hands and it shows.
posted by jonmc at 9:39 AM on November 22, 2005

Is that a Promise Keeper's ring that I see on the finger of the lead guitarist?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:40 AM on November 22, 2005

Dear Mr. Reagan also has this sweet line:
Oh, Mr. Reagan you had a way with words/
And it would do my heart some good if only your voice could be heard
It's a rad ballad.
posted by I Foody at 9:40 AM on November 22, 2005

merle redeemed himself with "rainbow stew" later

Yeah, Merle decided to become a country musician after watching Johnny Cash as a prisoner in Folsom or San Quentin.

I'm guessing that, as he got older, he realized that those conservatives who he was celebrating would be happy to see people like him rot there.

From his website:

Interviewer: What would you say is the most important lesson you've learned in the music business?

Merle: Keep your opinions to yourself.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 9:48 AM on November 22, 2005

C'mon guys, you have to admit they're right. I mean, they named themselves 'The Right Brothers' after all...
posted by NationalKato at 9:49 AM on November 22, 2005

Wouldn't a better name be "The Talking Points"?
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 9:59 AM on November 22, 2005

"Don't be shtupid, be a schmartie, come undt join zee Nazi Party!"
posted by stenseng at 10:04 AM on November 22, 2005

The column by Naurite Devillier of the Baton Rouge Advocate as linked in the front page story, seems to be using wholesale quotations from this website by the right wing activist organization that seems to be behind The Self-Righteous Brothers.

Is this bone idle plagarism or a right-wing media conspiracy? I think we should be told!
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:06 AM on November 22, 2005

Oops. The unattributed quotes actually came from this page.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:09 AM on November 22, 2005

I was trying to think of some right-of-center pop/rock songs. There's "Ballad Of the Green Berets," by Barry Sadler, who was later murdered under strange circumstances I remember reading. Barry Mann wrote an amusing hippie parody called "Young Psychedic Band."

There were a lot of country songs about the boys in Vietnam (Johnny Wright Hall's "Hello Vietnam," "Ruby Don't Take your Love To Town,") but they sounded more resigned than gung-ho. Other tunes like Dave Dudley's "Ho Chi Minh Blues," ripped on protestors.

Bob Seger wrote a draft-dodger parody called "Ballad Of The Yellow Beret," (which may be the first song to use "gay," to connote homosexual, in the line "tell his sergeant that he's gay,") but a year later he wrote "2=2=?" the first explicitly anti-Vietnam (as opposed to generic anti-war) rock song. Sign of the times. (It's a great song musically, too, BTW. Hunt it down)
posted by jonmc at 10:12 AM on November 22, 2005

I like the big "TRB" in the background.

Wait, TRB? Tom Robinson Band? Hmm...
posted by milquetoast at 10:16 AM on November 22, 2005

I seem to recall hearing that "Suicide Is Painless" was written as kind of a conservative polemic, but I don't know if this is legit or just an urban legend of pop musicology.
posted by aaronetc at 10:42 AM on November 22, 2005

Really? It seems borderline nihilistic to me.

Although I did read that Richard Hooker (the author of the book M*A*S*H) despite his irreverence for pieties and ceremony leaned to the right as well.
posted by jonmc at 10:49 AM on November 22, 2005

Kinda amusing that this is getting so much attention nowadays that Bush is coming under so much scrutiny. I can't decide if it is parody or not. If not I tend to agree with those that think this is probably a deliberate set up/propaganda attempt by some neo-con group with money.
And, yes it is quite bad musically. Least they could have done was hire someone with decent chops.
posted by edgeways at 11:05 AM on November 22, 2005

This is so over the top, it has to be a parody. No way could anyone take this seriously.

I am embarrased that the biggest fan is from Baton Rouge.
posted by ColdChef at 11:13 AM on November 22, 2005

Good Old Shoe.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:14 AM on November 22, 2005

Pat Robertson says: "It's got a good beat, and I can dance to it!"
posted by tpl1212 at 11:16 AM on November 22, 2005

Reich Brothers
posted by kirkaracha at 11:17 AM on November 22, 2005

Pat's a Dio fan? RAWK ON!
posted by jonmc at 11:18 AM on November 22, 2005

Depending on how you look at it, a lot of Johnny Horton could sort of be thought of as right-of-center. "Sink the Bismark!" and "Battle of New Orleans" both celebrate US/Allied victories, and the modern Right would love Bismark's invokation of Churchill. But, then, the right-left context would've been drastically different when Horton was working, and I don't know if you can really look back and apply labels this far after the fact.
posted by COBRA! at 11:24 AM on November 22, 2005

G-d bless them (since Bush is right).
posted by ParisParamus at 11:38 AM on November 22, 2005

pro-life punk?
. . .
dragged on a table in factory
illegitimate place to be
in a packet in a lavatory
die little baby screaming fucking bloody mess
it's not an animal it's an abortion
body i'm not animal
mummy i'm not an abortion
throbbing squirm, gurgling bloody mess
i'm not an discharge, i'm not a loss in
protein, i'm not a throbbing squirm
fuck this and fuck that fuck it all and
fuck the fucking brat
she don't wanna baby that looks like that
i don't wanna baby that looks like that . . .

um, Sex Pistols "Bodies" -- just so no one thinks I'm trying my hand at extemporaneous punk lyrics.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 11:39 AM on November 22, 2005

Reich Brothers

Reich U.S. Brothers
posted by malaprohibita at 11:50 AM on November 22, 2005

enh, the song is about how bloody abortion is, but i'm pretty sure the sex pistols were far from advocating that the state choose whether and how women have babies (pro-life).
posted by eustatic at 11:52 AM on November 22, 2005

also, I've known people who were passionately, even stridently leftist, except on abortion. It's a weird issue.
posted by jonmc at 11:54 AM on November 22, 2005

Oh, Say Can You Rock?

There trouble in a far off nation,
Time to get in love formation,
Your love is more deadly than Saddam,
That's why I gotta drop da bomb!

Yvan Eht Nioj,
Yvan Eht Nioj,
Yvan Eht Nioj,
Yvan Eht Nioj!

posted by edverb at 11:54 AM on November 22, 2005

..and Merle Haggard's "Fightin' Side Of Me," are all better peices of work since they were simply songs tossed off out of honest sentiment.

Fightin' Side Of Me was written, I suspect, to cash in on the unexpected success of Okie From Muskogee, which a quite possibly stoned Haggard sang the opening line to his band while their tour bus was passing the Muskogee city limits sign--or the the common account goes. Merle sang We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee and they riffed on the rest and it was all soon history.

Most people did not realize (and some still don't) that "Okie From Muskogee" was a social commentary that did not necessarily reflect Haggard's personal worldview. "Ya know, I'm like an actor, and whatever role you see an actor in shouldn't have anything to do with his own personality, but it does, of course," he says. "That song typecasted me for a long time.

"'Okie From Muskogee' was written about my father, and it was my intention to try to see things from his viewpoint. Had he been alive at that time, I think he woulda said, 'We're happy with the way things are here in the middle of Oklahoma, and we're really not wantin' to get out in the street and bitch like the people in Frisco.' The song was a contrast to what was going on, and there was nobody speaking up for [people like my dad], and I thought I'd jump out there and write a song for him."

Haggard continues, "It ['Okie From Muskogee'] nearly stopped my career. They were beginning to play me on rock stations, and it stopped all that. A lot of people who analyzed my career said that song was probably a mistake. But Willie Nelson said, 'Hey, if you don't want the son of a bitch, I'll trade you "Crazy" for it!'" Hag laughs a hearty laugh and goes on to say that he doesn't really have regrets about the song.

"If I was to do it over again, it would take a lot more thought. I thought it was funny. The song was humorous. It was like the epitome of the ignorance on certain subjects...

Both songs brought him an audience he didn't want and nearly were, in the long run, career killers.

Yeah, Merle decided to become a country musician after watching Johnny Cash as a prisoner in Folsom or San Quentin.

No way. Merle Haggard was a musician long before he went to prison. One of his heros was Lefty Frizzell. He didn't care for see Johnny Cash before he saw him in San Quentin in 1959 but elsewhere he says he became a professional musician because of other prison experiences. As the link to his name put it: After his 1962 release, thoughts of solitary confinement and the prison yard death of a friend made him realize what a mess he'd become and Haggard, who'd been singing and playing guitar for years, finally turned to a career in music. This is his story. He was impressed by what he saw but I don't remember reading anything where he himself has said that experience was why he finally went pro. There are many apocryphal stories about his seeing Cash in prison. The truth is always more complex. He certainly is one of the great jazz singers of our time. Man, that guy can sing.

On my one and only road trip across country in 1970, the clean cut medical student who was giving me a lift at the time insisted we stop in a pancake house outside Muskogee on out way to San Francisco. The Vietnam War was on, Okie was long since a big hit and I had hair past my shoulders and I protested mightily. He cluelessly said, "Oh come on, it'll be OK."

After we sat down to the counter, man, you could have heard a pin drop. And it was silent the whole time we were there.

The waitress came up and finally took his order and then jerked her head towards me. "And what does he want ?" Then this guy pumped about five dollars worth of quarters in the jukebox. All we heard while we were there was Fightin' Side Of Me. I was envisioning a variation on the end scene of Easy Rider. But no one said a peep. Even so, I was so happy when we got back on the road.

42 years ago, I had Campbell's chicken noodle soup when I came home from high school for lunch--we lived a half block away--on this day.
posted by y2karl at 11:57 AM on November 22, 2005

I never know how to take "Bodies", frankly. I don't know much about the politics of abortion in Britain circa 1976-77 -- I'm not convinced it's just about how bloody abortion is . . . it does appear to cast the people who have abortions as selfish. Anyway, I have always thought it would make an interesting tune for pro-lifers to adopt.
And, yeah, jonmc, it is a weird issue, but it tends to hang right.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 12:09 PM on November 22, 2005

Very humorous, thanks.
posted by jenovus at 12:14 PM on November 22, 2005

"God save the Queen" Bush!
posted by IronLizard at 12:16 PM on November 22, 2005

y2karl, I realize that "Okie," was half a parody, you can hear him chuckling in a few spots even, but the quote, "there was nobody speaking up for [people like my dad], and I thought I'd jump out there and write a song for him," says a lot about where songs like that and the others I mentioned come from.

(and obviously, I'm not arguing in favor of a rightwing point of view, just thinking out loud)
posted by jonmc at 12:19 PM on November 22, 2005

as long as we're talking about "okie from muskogee" ... here's the grateful dead and the beach boys' version (live, 71, mp3 link, kind of ragged)
posted by pyramid termite at 12:28 PM on November 22, 2005

kingfisher, his musclebound cat writes "I never know how to take 'Bodies', frankly"

John Lyndon: "My Mum had a miscarriage. And this isn't against my mum, but - this could have been a brother or sister for me to play with and I had to flush it down the toilet. I mean, that strikes you. And that's like an abortion. I'm not anti- or pro-abortion. Every woman should have the choice when they face it. [...] My mum was heartbroken. And if you construe that as anti-abortion then you're a silly cu...sasuasge."

Q Magazine, December 2005
posted by meech at 12:34 PM on November 22, 2005

and of course, my beloved Dictators did songs with seemingly rightwing titles like "Master Race Rock," and Back To Africa," and the Ramones did songs like "Commando," but both groups only did it to annoy aging hippies, so they doint really count, I guess.
posted by jonmc at 12:35 PM on November 22, 2005

I'd like to think this could be parody, but I'm going to go with shill. You Ain't Outraged and Tolerate This are just straight lists of talking points. Read the lyrics to Trickle Down. I can't imagine any musician sitting down and thinking "I need to write a song about how we shouldn't tax rich people. That's a message I really believe in". Someone has to be paying them to try and spread certain views.
posted by team lowkey at 12:49 PM on November 22, 2005

Shades of Bob Roberts!
posted by cows of industry at 12:56 PM on November 22, 2005

Wow Meech! Someone else who actually listened to the Dictators? Wish I could find a digital copy of "(I Live For) Cars & Girls"!
posted by Yer-Ol-Pal at 1:00 PM on November 22, 2005

....er jonmc I mean....
posted by Yer-Ol-Pal at 1:01 PM on November 22, 2005

I only have it on vinyl. I have a bunch of other stuff as .mp3 though. Shouldn't be hard to find on p2p, though.
posted by jonmc at 1:04 PM on November 22, 2005

just remember quantity IS quality ... the dictators ruled
posted by pyramid termite at 1:12 PM on November 22, 2005

ruled? They still rule, as this gem from the reunion album shows:

I fall to my knees
and look to the sky
Who will save rock and roll?

Murray The K is not here today
so who will save rock and roll?

Every protest singer
every guitar slinger
every punk rock sinner sells his soul

My generation is not the salvation
so who will save rock and roll

I saw The Stooges, covered with bruises
who will save rock and roll?

every mercenary
three chord revolutionaries
choose your side and choose it well

June 1st, 67 something died and went to heaven
I wish Sgt Pepper
never taught the band to play

my generation
is not the salvation
so who will save,
who will save
tell me who will save
rock and...... roll
posted by jonmc at 1:15 PM on November 22, 2005

G-d bless them (since Bush is right). - Paris Paramus

... but he still should be indicted, right?

If WMDs are not found in Iraq, and in large quantity (or at least objective evidence that they were destroyed), then, in terms of American politics, the war was a sham, and the President should be indicted.

posted by ParisParamus at 8:57 AM PST on April 29
posted by bshort at 1:19 PM on November 22, 2005

Graham Paker's "You Can't Be Too Strong" has been desribed as both pro-choice and anti-abortion.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:22 PM on November 22, 2005

and I thought I'd jump out there and write a song for him," says a lot about where songs like that and the others I mentioned come from.

That's not what he says a sentence or two later: ..I thought it was funny. The song was humorous. I t was like the epitome of the ignorance on certain subjects... He doesn't regret writing Okie but his tongue ws in his cheek when he did.

That's not a page from Heartfelt Songwriting For Dummies. He didn't expect Okie to be taken seriously and when it was, cashed in on it with the follow up Fightin' Side Of Me. That is not as much heartfelt sentiment as it is commercial calculation--and it was not his first choice for a follow up.

As I have read elsewhere, the Wikipedia entry for him notes:

It should be noted, however, that after "Okie" was released, Haggard wanted to release a self-penned song entitled "Irma Jackson" about an interracial couple; the single was quashed by his record company.

Haggard is a quite complex character--he is not a black and white kind of guy. Well, apart from Irma Jackson, that is.
posted by y2karl at 1:28 PM on November 22, 2005

Haggard is a quite complex character--he is not a black and white kind of guy.

Most intersting people (esp. singers, musicians and the like) aren't. And thank God.

That's not a page from Heartfelt Songwriting For Dummies. He didn't expect Okie to be taken seriously and when it was, cashed in on it with the follow up Fightin' Side Of Me. That is not as much heartfelt sentiment as it is commercial calculation--and it was not his first choice for a follow up.

OK, let's remove Haggard from the equation. I think you'll stipulate that Nugent's, Daniels' and others forays into topical song are less offensive than the linked number (despite the lunkheadedness of their politics) because a)they're actually talented musicians and b)the songs they wrote weren't as obviously cynically pandering as The Right Brothers. That's the only point I'm trying to make.
posted by jonmc at 1:35 PM on November 22, 2005

I have to hand it to Charlie Daniels.... In America (c. 1981) was a nice piece of work, as far as this genre goes.
posted by rolypolyman at 1:48 PM on November 22, 2005

Seriously - does nobody else here listen to NoMeansNo? And know about those Wright Brothers? 'Cause this is extra funny stuff if you do.
posted by freebird at 1:50 PM on November 22, 2005

Now the important question: why did MTV give up?

Did their accounts tell them that they were dying?

Did the record labels refuse to let them use music videos for free anymore?

Did they get some ambitious executive who convinced them they would make a ton of money if they would just get rid of that annoying and unpleasant music stuff?
posted by kablam at 2:26 PM on November 22, 2005

That's the only point I'm trying to make.

Well, former "girl" member jenleigh once accused me as being insufferably pedantic. And, truth be told, Merle Haggard does see himself as the voice of the common man in his songwriting. And, he was no doubt writing sincerely from the viewpoint he adopted for the song.

Linking to that Paris Paramus comment is getting very tiresome. Nattering nabob of ninny-inity contradicted previous self blown methane in distant internet past--do we really need the same old details on this stale story at 5, 6, 6:30 and 11 ?

You know bugs me ? People actually responding to him, deriding him, mentioning him by name or initials or variations thereof or in any way noticing his existence, How can people waste one keystroke on rewarding him with attention ? What is it about pencil sharpeners ? Did you ever notice they don't work ? The pencil always gets dull right after you sharpen it. I don't understand it. Don't you just hate Paris Hilton's annoying web page ? Doesn't 'she' deserve a slow, painful death for simply linking to it on 'her' user page ? I can't understand young people--why do they stick things in their lips ? Who wants to wear jewelry that cows wear ?
/Andy Rooney
posted by y2karl at 2:57 PM on November 22, 2005

And, truth be told, Merle Haggard does see himself as the voice of the common man in his songwriting.

Which is why even the hippies he goofed on loved him.
posted by jonmc at 3:30 PM on November 22, 2005

The "France...



wrooooooong!" part made me laugh out loud.
posted by interrobang at 3:57 PM on November 22, 2005

Now the important question: why did MTV give up?

Best explanation I've heard is that having a new music video every 3 minutes gives people 20 times an hour to decide to switch channels.

I seem to recall hearing that "Suicide Is Painless" was written as kind of a conservative polemic, but I don't know if this is legit or just an urban legend of pop musicology.

It was written for the movie M*A*S*H, which features a dentist nicknamed "Painless" who wants to commit suicide. Backstory. The lyrics were the creation of Robert Altman's then-14-year-old son.
posted by dhartung at 5:13 PM on November 22, 2005

The Monkees, the Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, New Kids on the Block and now this. Another band that doesn't write their own music and is only popular because of their hip ways, cool designer threads and disarming good looks.
posted by hoborg at 7:19 PM on November 22, 2005

Well, I know we’re a nation of immigrants
If you think I’m against them that’s not what I meant
I just wish they’d come here legally
And maybe try and learn the language a bit

...
posted by weirdoactor at 7:33 PM on November 22, 2005

They're no Buddy Holocaust.

(I wish that Realcountrymusic were here for the Merle-in'.)
posted by klangklangston at 8:06 PM on November 22, 2005