# Why is country music so widely disliked? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632 "2013-06-22T14:43:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/21 "2013-06-22T22:17:03Z")
> [@simply\_cats](#): > > I drive all over Indiana, and I can always find at least three country FM stations at any given time. Back when I was living in Ohio, and doing a lot of driving there and in the neighbouring states, I listened to a lot of C&W because away from the large cities that was mostly it on the radio, apart from the preachers. I didn’t mind it – even those about how the dog had died and the woman had left for another man – but it’s not what I’d have chosen to listen to, ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/22 "2013-06-22T23:10:04Z")
Because I’ve seen bumper stickers with more depth of thought. [“Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj2700em-JQ). Hyuck, hyuck, hyuck. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/23 "2013-06-22T23:12:49Z")
A lot of country music is mawkish. I have a somewhat limited tolerance for that, and most of said tolerance is spent listening to country’s grandpappy: bluegrass. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/24 "2013-06-22T23:24:41Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > You have to distinguish between classic and modern country. Modern county is pop music with an accent – that right there is pretty bad already – but then I really hate it because is it [hyper-sentimental](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbit2XOInCw), [nationalistic](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruNrdmjcNTc), [calculatingly written to appeal to white trash](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0O0nzkESTI), and extols simplicity to the point of anti-intellectualism (pick your own link). You nailed it. Modern country/pop panders so blatantly to its target audience that it’s ridiculous. I find almost all of the pop/country on the country radio stations to be some of the most awful stuff I’ve ever had the misfortune of hearing. Unfortunately, my wife grew up listening to it and still likes it. (I’ve seen Kenny Chesney with her three times.) I enjoy a lot of alt-country though. (Drive-By Truckers, Son Volt, James McMurtry, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/25 "2013-06-22T23:49:05Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I suppose there’s an amount of urban music about going to clubs and buying expensive crap and hanging out with expensive women but you don’t have the moral superiority oozing from that genre of music. Are you kidding? Have you _listened_ to rap music? In all seriousness, I do listen to some rap and some country, but the stuff at the top of the charts of both genres can be pretty painfully bad. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/26 "2013-06-22T23:50:43Z")
One thing I don’t like about country music is the habit of taking some tired, old, cliche and just repeating it over and over and calling it a song. A perfect example of this is “Why Not Me” by The Judds (I think they did that song). Boring. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/27 "2013-06-23T00:52:38Z")
I dislike that it seems necessary to sing in a ‘country’ accent. Why is the accent required? Would it not be a country song if you sang it without the accent? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/28 "2013-06-23T00:53:55Z")
I actually like modern Country music and even I have to admit there’s a lot of treacle crap out there. Unfortunately for every "Merry Go 'Round there’s twenty ["Beer with Jesus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dphMriny1Js), [“Flyover States”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1GZzucDMlQ), and [“Redneck Crazy”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYXHS3OWdKo). ---
**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 23, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/29 "2013-06-23T00:55:06Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > My ears are used to focusing in on the rhythm and soulful _sanging_ of R&B… I’ve found with modern Country and R&B I can’t tell the difference until I either hear the pedal steel or see the video. They are both painfully banal Pop and it’s been that way since both genres decided they needed to appeal to middle-class Whites. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/30 "2013-06-23T01:08:32Z")
Must country singers WHINE ALL THE GODDAM TIME? Johnny Cash l can listen to, but most modern country sounds like cats on a fence! ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/31 "2013-06-23T02:15:07Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Back when I was living in Ohio, and doing a lot of driving there and in the neighbouring states, I listened to a lot of C&W because away from the large cities that was mostly it on the radio, apart from the preachers. I didn’t mind it – even those about how the dog had died and the woman had left for another man – but it’s not what I’d have chosen to listen to, The dog up and died, your woman left you for another man, your car got reposessed? That doesn’t make me think of C&W. Hell, that’s the Blues. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/32 "2013-06-23T02:19:49Z")
Sometime in the 60’s there was a great political divide between Country and Rock music. Could of had to do with perceptions about Civil Rights, could have been Viet Nam, and a lot of it probably had to do with how long a guy’s hair was. I know that the great bluegrass group Flatt & Scruggs broke up over Vietnam. It boiled down to Lester not appreciating Earl’s concerns about his (Earl’s) draft age sons. ---
**Author:** ![thicksantorum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@thicksantorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thicksantorum)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/33 "2013-06-23T04:07:54Z")
There are _some_ good modern country songs… here’s one! [- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h3kwpTwjs) (nsfw lyrics) ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/34 "2013-06-23T04:51:41Z")
> [@thicksantorum](#): > > There are _some_ good modern country songs… here’s one! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h3kwpTwjs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h3kwpTwjs) (nsfw lyrics) See also: Unknown Hinson 😉 https://www.youtube.com/embed/DhRgWuHOvko?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**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 23, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/35 "2013-06-23T05:15:28Z")
[QUOTE=thicksantorum] There are some good modern country songs… here’s one! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h3kwpTwjs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9h3kwpTwjs) (nsfw lyrics) [/QUOTE] > [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > See also: > Unknown Hinson 😉 > [http://youtube.com/watch?v=DhRgWuHOvko](http://youtube.com/watch?v=DhRgWuHOvko) I’ll see both of those and raise you [Ween (nsfw lyrics).](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7M3EEHYkJ0) ---
**Author:** ![Among\_Liberals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Among\_Liberals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Among_Liberals)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/36 "2013-06-23T05:16:56Z")
I like pretty much most genres of music I come across, of varying niches and specificity, _except_ for country. I couldn’t tell you why. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/37 "2013-06-23T05:25:48Z")
I don’t think that a lot of country songs of the past twenty years can be slotted into a single genre called “country.” I’d suggest that “country” itself has split into a number of subgenres. The Empowered Country Woman, epitomized by such artists as: – Shania Twain, “That Don’t Impress Me Much.” – Martina McBride, “Independence Day.” – The Dixie Chicks, “Goodbye Earl.” The Foolery Song, as we see from such artists as: – Mark Wills, “Nineteen Something.” – Paul Brandt’s cover of “Convoy.” – Joe Nichols, “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.” Serious Life Stuff, from the following and others: – Michelle Wright, “He Would Be Sixteen.” – Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dyin’.” – Phil Vassar, “In a Real Love.” There are others; those are the first to come to mind with examples. Regardless though, Judy Collins doing “Someday Soon,” and Mark Chestnutt’s “Bubba Shot the Jukebox,” both of which are considered “country,” are as different as night and day. I would suggest that “country” is an umbrella designation, much like “rock” (can we slot Styx in the same genre as Led Zeppelin?); and as such, we cannot dismiss the whole genre. We have to weigh and accept or dismiss each of the parts. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/38 "2013-06-23T06:00:49Z")
I would personally recommend the best country artist ever, James Otto! He’s such a sweetheart \<3 God Bless!!! Sorry, I couldn’t help it. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/39 "2013-06-23T06:06:29Z")
**Spoons** -Who wrote that song 1st: Tim McGraw or Kris Allen? I have Kris’s version on my iPod. Contributing to the topic at hand: I agree with \*\* Jophiel\*\*. IMO. country is seen as “Red State” music, and derided accordingly. ---
**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 23, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632/40 "2013-06-23T06:42:44Z")
> [@Among\_Liberals](#): > > I like pretty much most genres of music I come across, of varying niches and specificity, _except_ for country. I couldn’t tell you why. What about [Alt-Country](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_Country)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-country-music-so-widely-disliked/661632.md?page=3)