It’s what I used to prove to Mr. I Only Listen To Alt-Rock (and Metallica and Queen) that his latest find was someone to whom I’d been listening to in the local country station for about a year. She sang about “having a party”, not about “fucking”; she sang about alcohol, not about the kind of drugs which come in solid form… hell, all she was missing was some lonely dogs
(Shania Twain, for anybody still wondering)
You’ve just defined nostalgia: it’s selective memories. I started listening to Toma Uno in Radio Tres in… 1983, and there were quite a few songs about Nascar and being a redneck.
And thanks to ftg for pinpointing why Toma Uno eventually relabeled itself from “Country” to “Americana”.
Amen. There is real country still, Steve Earle is one of the greatest. His current band is great, too. But just like Townes, you won’t hear him on country stations.
Yeah you won’t hear most real country on the radio. But country radio isn’t totally desolate, I like Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson, and Chris Stapleton.
And, FWIW, Shania’s producer (and husband) during her heyday was Mutt Lange – he had previously been known for producing albums for rock bands, including the Boomtown Rats, AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Foreigner.
I’m no music expert but even I noticed for the longest time (maybe even extends to today) every single country music video would have both an American flag proudly waving front and center and then a truck driving prominently for an extended period.
Don’t get me started on the two different country music videos I saw that both started with children saying the pledge of allegiance.
Of course, always take anything anyone says with a grain of salt, but this video pins the late-stage era of popular country music that we’re in on drum machine/rhythms.
And kickin’ up dust with your pickup truck, and yada yada yada.
There was definitely a moment in the past 15-20 years when, from then on, every other song you’d hear on a country station was about being ‘country’.
There’s no parallel for this in rock n’ roll-based pop. (Thank the Lord.) You won’t find a station where every other song is stuff like “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A” and “The Heart of Rock & Roll.”
I hardly listen to country radio, despite liking some country music like George Strait, and older artists like Merle Haggard.
I remember seeing on TV a video for “Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk,” and thinking it was the country attempt to do something like “I like Big Butts,” and “Back that Azz Up.”
Then I randomly turned on the radio and there was some country song talking about “Feeling Like a Rock Star.” It seemed like a pretty generic song, and maybe that’s “Bro-Country.”
Around the same time I heard a country song where they were talking about drinking beers, riding around in pick-up trucks. It sounded almost like a parody, like what non-country music fans think country must sound like. After looking it up right now, it may have been “Truck Yeah.”
I can still hear that twang that defines country. Or if the female vocalist sounds like she’s middle-aged and drank and smoked too much (despite probably being in her 20s), that’s a dead giveaway.
I think country music is more a sensibility than a sound. Country and rock have always been intertwined, and these days about all that distinguishes a mainstream country song from mainstream rock is that it was recorded in Nashville.
(Of course, there’s really no such thing as “mainstream rock” anymore. Radio stations that used to just be rock stations now play classic rock or alternative – or country.)
I enjoy country and country-ish rock (and folk, bluegrass, Americana, etc.), but the whole flag-waving thing is a huge turn-off. Ms. Akaj and I were in Nashville in early 2017, wandering the downtown bars and catching bands ranging from mediocre to fantastic. One group, in the middle of their set, did an a capella version of “The Star Spangled Banner” for no reason whatsoever. They weren’t great singers and they didn’t harmonize – it was basically just a sing-along, just a cheap sentimental ploy. And most of the crowd ate it up.
