the state of "country" music...
Okay, so I'm sitting at home on my day off, flipping through TV channels, looking for something worthwhile...or at least mind-numbing, when I come across CMT (for those lucky enough not to live in the sphere of country-western regions that don't carry such channels- that's Country Music Television). Well, now I see that it isn't just rock music that is taking a nosedive into Crapsville.
Country music has been on the decline for sometime now, and I just recently got a reminder as to why. Because the "country" music they're playing...ISN'T COUNTRY MUSIC. It's the general pop-crap that gets major play on the radio nowadays, why we even have to have a different section for country music in record stores is beyond me...unless its a classic country station.
Okay, the song that just caused me to have this realization? Gary Allan- Best I Ever Had. I mean apart from the poor grammar in the song title- this song is just like a Top 40 Pop Hit. It's a song about love lost, its got mediocre vocals, mediocre musicianship, and mediocre lyrics....here's a sample:
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't want me back
You're just the best I ever had.
So you stole my world, now I'm just a phony
Remembering the girl leaves me down and lonely
Well send it in a letter
Make yourself feel better.
And it might take some time to patch me up inside
but I can't take it so I, I run away and hide
And I might find in time that you were always right
You're always right.
Ooooooo...such striking rhyme schemes as phony and lonely! OH! Letter...better..inside..HIDE! HOW CLEVER! Christ, Q-Tip was more original when he rhymed "later" and "later".
Everything about this song is mediocre..even its mediocrity.
Basically nowadays to be a pop star, you have to have a tolerable singing voice, be able to MAYBE play one instrument, whore yourself out to the media and sing contrite and unoriginal songs. Apparently, to be a country music star nowadays, follow the above steps, but do it with a southern accent.
The music is in the message!! Thats what Conway Twitty understood, and Merle Haggard, and Loretta Lynn, and George Jones, and Tammy Wynette, and yes of course, Johnny Cash.(though he did so famously blur the lines between rock n' roll and country..i mean come on - his first big Sun Records tour was with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and Carl Perkins)
Nowadays, everyone writes the same song and just tweaks their voice a bit, and boom- a new genre. BLAH I say...Which is why I won't listen to modern country radio stations....because they're basically modern pop radio stations. God Bless my Mother and Father for getting me XM Satellite Radio for Christmas. There are two classic country stations that are already programmed into my quicklist.
I'm just so sick of modern music, not because I'm a music snob, which I am, and I openly admit that- but because it all sounds the damn same. I know there are some who would say "You go out of your way to find obscure bands that nobody knows so you can feel superior" or something..I say- no. I go out of my way to find obscure bands because they're the only ones who are working anymore. Very seldom do the big recording companies actually put out fresh acts, it the same recycled crap that everyone knows will sell. Because face it- Faith Hill sells, and if you have the chance to put out a Polka Rock album that would be amazing vs. a Faith Hill clone, which would you pick out of sheer capitalistic greed? Faith Hill clone- because you KNOW it would sell...why? Because people are afraid of change and are afraid to try anything new...Until this mentality is broken, the masses will undoubtably be force-fed the same meaningless drivel from musicians who are afraid to dream. And we will most definitely one day choke on the drek that they throw at us, that which they call music, but I just call sick.
on a lighter note- wow...what a rant..didn't know I had it in me. :) Oh, and my musical selection for today is pretty damned "obscure" wouldn't you say?
Country music has been on the decline for sometime now, and I just recently got a reminder as to why. Because the "country" music they're playing...ISN'T COUNTRY MUSIC. It's the general pop-crap that gets major play on the radio nowadays, why we even have to have a different section for country music in record stores is beyond me...unless its a classic country station.
Okay, the song that just caused me to have this realization? Gary Allan- Best I Ever Had. I mean apart from the poor grammar in the song title- this song is just like a Top 40 Pop Hit. It's a song about love lost, its got mediocre vocals, mediocre musicianship, and mediocre lyrics....here's a sample:
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't want me back
You're just the best I ever had.
So you stole my world, now I'm just a phony
Remembering the girl leaves me down and lonely
Well send it in a letter
Make yourself feel better.
And it might take some time to patch me up inside
but I can't take it so I, I run away and hide
And I might find in time that you were always right
You're always right.
Ooooooo...such striking rhyme schemes as phony and lonely! OH! Letter...better..inside..HIDE! HOW CLEVER! Christ, Q-Tip was more original when he rhymed "later" and "later".
Everything about this song is mediocre..even its mediocrity.
Basically nowadays to be a pop star, you have to have a tolerable singing voice, be able to MAYBE play one instrument, whore yourself out to the media and sing contrite and unoriginal songs. Apparently, to be a country music star nowadays, follow the above steps, but do it with a southern accent.
The music is in the message!! Thats what Conway Twitty understood, and Merle Haggard, and Loretta Lynn, and George Jones, and Tammy Wynette, and yes of course, Johnny Cash.(though he did so famously blur the lines between rock n' roll and country..i mean come on - his first big Sun Records tour was with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and Carl Perkins)
Nowadays, everyone writes the same song and just tweaks their voice a bit, and boom- a new genre. BLAH I say...Which is why I won't listen to modern country radio stations....because they're basically modern pop radio stations. God Bless my Mother and Father for getting me XM Satellite Radio for Christmas. There are two classic country stations that are already programmed into my quicklist.
I'm just so sick of modern music, not because I'm a music snob, which I am, and I openly admit that- but because it all sounds the damn same. I know there are some who would say "You go out of your way to find obscure bands that nobody knows so you can feel superior" or something..I say- no. I go out of my way to find obscure bands because they're the only ones who are working anymore. Very seldom do the big recording companies actually put out fresh acts, it the same recycled crap that everyone knows will sell. Because face it- Faith Hill sells, and if you have the chance to put out a Polka Rock album that would be amazing vs. a Faith Hill clone, which would you pick out of sheer capitalistic greed? Faith Hill clone- because you KNOW it would sell...why? Because people are afraid of change and are afraid to try anything new...Until this mentality is broken, the masses will undoubtably be force-fed the same meaningless drivel from musicians who are afraid to dream. And we will most definitely one day choke on the drek that they throw at us, that which they call music, but I just call sick.
on a lighter note- wow...what a rant..didn't know I had it in me. :) Oh, and my musical selection for today is pretty damned "obscure" wouldn't you say?