# Is country music getting more glurgey? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455 "2003-06-26T04:18:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/21 "2003-06-26T20:08:41Z")
Yes, modern “country” music is almost entirely wretched. Living in Texas, it’s hard to escape it. However, there is a new station here in Houston called “Country Legends 97.1 FM” playing country songs from the 1960s-1980s. Plenty of Pasty Cline, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson there. I just wish they had a stronger signal. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/22 "2003-06-26T20:37:18Z")
Country music has had a “glurgey” side to it long before the internet or the word “glurge” existed. Most glurges seem to be direct descendants the maudlin songs of [Red Sovine](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305282254&sql=Bw1ud6j2h71u0). And flag-waving, “love it or leave it” anthems are certainly not new–e.g., Merle Haggard’s [“Okie from Muskogee”](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305282254&sql=X5159923) from 1969. (Although Haggard did write that song with a little bit of irony that’s absent from the “my country right or wrong” songs today.) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/23 "2003-06-26T20:38:22Z")
Country music has had a “glurgey” side to it long before the internet or the word “glurge” existed. Most glurges seem to be direct descendants of the maudlin songs of [Red Sovine](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305282254&sql=Bw1ud6j2h71u0). And flag-waving, “love it or leave it” anthems are certainly not new–e.g., Merle Haggard’s [“Okie from Muskogee”](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS80305282254&sql=X5159923) from 1969. (Although Haggard did write that song with a little bit of irony that’s absent from the “my country right or wrong” songs today.) ---
**Author:** ![SeGate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SeGate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeGate)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/24 "2003-06-26T21:06:55Z")
I mostly enjoy modern country music. (Please don’t throw things!) What I cannot tolerate is blatant manipulation. I hate songs that are meant to make you cry. The important thing is not the message of the song, it’s that you feel sad. Has anyone heard “The Streets of Heaven” by Sheree Austin? About a mom praying in the hospital that her little girl won’t die? She asks God to hold her hand when she crosses the street in Heaven. It’s over the top and I loathe it! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/25 "2003-06-26T23:32:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BogieBlanca \* > \*\*Country music today is essentially what The Eagles were playing back in the mid '70’s. \*\* Not really. The Eagles sang about getting drunk, and cheating on people, and doing drugs, and the environment. (Since Don Henley is a big tree-hugger) I hate country, usually, although I do like Patsy Cline. And Willie Nelson. Although Johnny Cash is cool-he’s like Country Punk/Goth. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/26 "2003-06-27T00:27:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homebrew \* > \*\*You mean consumers, **Gov’nor**? \*\* No, I mean producers, Hom’brew. ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/27 "2003-06-27T00:37:14Z")
There is some damn good country music out there, but so much of what gets radio play is glurge to the tenth power. I can’t even bear listening to the country music channels anymore because the stuff sounds like pop – and I have nothing against pop, I like some pop, but country isn’t pop and shouldn’t try to be. The maudlin, sentimental crap like the song **jacquilynne** mentions about the girl who finds Jesus after her atheist parents die makes me want to ram a pencil through my eardrums. Blah. .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/28 "2003-06-27T01:02:49Z")
[Teddy Bear](http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Union/1669/TeddyBear.html) by Dale Royal, Tommy Hill, Red Sovine, J. William Denny has got to be the glurgiest song ever. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Israfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/87869e/32.png) [@Israfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Israfel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/29 "2003-06-27T06:36:57Z")
Parts of country music have always been somewhat “glurgey.” Early country acts like The Carter Family and Roy Acuff dealt almost exclusively in “wholesome” themes: family values, religion and whatnot. If anything modern “glurgey” country music is just keeping that heritage alive. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/30 "2003-06-27T12:39:35Z")
True, Israfel, country music has a history of glurge. There’s always been a saccarine subset to the genre. The trouble is, today, it’s a pretty complete subset. Rather than being 10 or 20% of the genre, it’s 70 or 80 and it’s boring. ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/31 "2003-06-27T12:53:25Z")
“Beer for My Horses” could have been done by Waylon and Willie and everyone would have thought it was done in the 70’s. Country music has always had the occasional glurgy song, take “That’s My Job” by Conway Twitty for example. I like a good tear jerker between my beer songs. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/32 "2003-06-27T12:59:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > **[Teddy Bear](http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Union/1669/TeddyBear.html) by Dale Royal, Tommy Hill, Red Sovine, J. William Denny has got to be the glurgiest song ever.** Okay, I was thinking “Phantom 309,” but you are right. It was doomed to be one Red Sovine song or another. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455/33 "2003-06-27T14:45:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Labdad \* > \*\*Steve Earle (one of the original “alt-country rockers”) once said, “If Hank Williams were alive today, he couldn’t get a record deal in Nashville.” Too true and so sad. \*\* He is alive in the version of Hank III who looks and sounds exactly like his grandfather. And he can’t get a decent contract. I saw Hank III at the Orange Peel in Asheville and it was the best show I have ever seen. I think the first 3 songs I just stood there and stared with my mouth open. This kicker? After the first set (country/rockabilly) he came out and played bass for a metal :eek: set. And fuck Curb records, while we’re talking about it. > **[Hank 3](https://hank3.com/)** > > The official website for news, tour dates, images, links, and merchandise regarding Hank 3. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-country-music-getting-more-glurgey/184455.md?page=1)