Rules Of The Game #26: Because Of You I Am Afraid

[koganbot]

I'M BACK! Well, I was always here, but my column is back, dealing with an issue that has stirred the hearts and shaken the minds of many a poptimist: what is the nature of legacy and continuity in country music; or, if my mother blows her house to pieces, does that mean I have to blow my house to pieces too when I grow up?

The Rules Of The Game #

Comments

[cis]

I absolutely love this one, Frank.

[koganbot]

Thank you.

What is the role of country music in Japan? (I assume there must be, since Japan has appropriated pretty much all of U.S. pop music at some time or other.) And - this being a very different question - is there anything like the American Southeast in Japan, with a rural or exrural populace, lots of inferiority complexes, and music that's trying simultaneously to and portray itself as hewing to the essence of the rural, traditional past?

[koganbot]

trying simultaneously to and portray itself as hewing to the essence of the rural, traditional past

That is, trying simultaneously to MODERNIZE and portray itself as hewing to the essence of the rural, traditional past.

[koganbot]

Weird thing is that if you see the video of the Reba and Kelly version you can't really make sense of what's happening if you don't know the backstory provided by the original Kelly version; so you have to figure out that in the Reba version Kelly is playing Reba's mother, whom the grown-up Reba is going into the past to observe in her travails.

[edgeofwhatever]

I was sitting on the bus on Tuesday morning and thought, "I wonder if Frank is still doing Rules of the Game. I should check LJ when I get into work." And then I got into work and remembered it was Tuesday, and was profoundly sad on so many levels. So basically I have been waiting all week for this, and you did not disappoint. Nothing intelligent to say about it yet, as a result, but:

Rodney Atkins plays intergenerational continuity for laughs in “Cleaning This Gun”: he recalls the time in high school he came to a girl’s house to pick her up while the girl’s dad casually mentions he’s going to be up all night “cleaning this gun.”

This actually happened to my parents! Maybe that's why I like country, despite the fact that it basically doesn't exist here.

[koganbot]

The LV Weekly ran out of money in its freelance budget in late November, so basically I was given December off, and being my neurotic self I managed to take an extra couple of weeks off when I couldn't get myself to write anything...

Anyway, I'm glad people are noticing/caring.

[koganbot]

Here's the song; first thing up on Rodney Atkins' MySpace.

[skyecaptain]

This column reminded me a little of a brief comment backnforth I had about Flyleaf and Christian rock with Dan Radosh, who's currently writing a (likely excellent) book on Christian popular culture called Rapture Ready!. What I love most about his analysis of Christian subcultures is his absolute refusal to engage simply as a condescending outsider -- he really seems to understand how these communities work (see also his latest Huffington Post blog gig here

[skyecaptain]

Woops, here's the original Radosh post, and here's a recent column.

[skyecaptain]

Ummm that "Northumberland High" bit was supposed to be about the codes and conventions of teenpop that I tend to find interesting when done right. Though I'm not sure what teenpop's (or country's for that matter) demographic really consists of, only what sort of codes its songs put forward.

[koganbot]

On the other hand, "I wanted you then" has more of a sexual implication than "I liked you back then."

(For those of you who are lurking, here's Samantha Moore's original version of "East Northumberland High," written by Samantha with Antonina Armato & Tim James and never released as far as I know except as an online stream, and here's Miley Cyrus's. And here's Samantha Moore's own MySpace page, which has stuff she does better than "East Northumberland High." (I think Miley's version crushes Samantha's version of "East Northumberland High.")

My building manager comments

[koganbot]

From: "Elizabeth"
To: "Frank Kogan"
Subject: Rules Of The Game #26: Because Of You I Am Afraid
Date: Friday, January 11, 2008 4:39 PM

Blow up your 'house' and you better do your self the favor of blowing up with it.

Have you heard any of the new Merle Haggard release. He gets political.

e:-)