The appeal of New Country music?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Johnny Action, Sep 9, 2019.

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  1. Culpa

    Culpa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    The article from the OP, and the link to the "study" were inherently political. Any thread about "heterosexuals" "glorifying whiteness" and "objectifying women" is going to be "political".
     
  2. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    I don't bother with that stuff, but Garth Brooks, George Strait, etc, etc are also from the "past few decades," and they are pretty "traditional."

    Not to mention my personal favorite, Dwight Yoakam.
     
  3. Vinyl is final

    Vinyl is final Not Insane - I have a sense of humor

    Location:
    South central, KY
    My wife very much likes me to objectify her - sometimes.

    There is a reason women wear low cut tops, "Big hair" and tight blue jeans. It ain't to make you think they are physicists. Just sayin'.

    At least country music applauds men being men and women being women and celebrates the differences. It may be one of its draws, frankly.
     
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  4. jwoverho

    jwoverho Licensed Drug Dealer

    Location:
    Mobile, AL USA
    I’ve dated a couple of redheads....is that so wrong?;)
     
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  5. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Great singers can do that. I don't understand why the gender disparity in country is what it is...the female artists are the only one who can really sing. I'm not crazy about the actual music, but most of the female singers have some impressive pipes....whereas I could walk down Broadway in Nashville and find 80 dudes who are better vocalists (and probably better looking bros) than Jason Aldean.
     
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  6. jwoverho

    jwoverho Licensed Drug Dealer

    Location:
    Mobile, AL USA
    Country music is going to write to its audience. I don’t expect hip hop artists to touch on pickup trucks or the 4th of July to try and reach a different audience.

    This study seems to state the obvious.
     
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  7. Vinyl is final

    Vinyl is final Not Insane - I have a sense of humor

    Location:
    South central, KY
    My wife's a redhead. It's about as right as it can be!
     
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  8. Vinyl is final

    Vinyl is final Not Insane - I have a sense of humor

    Location:
    South central, KY
    You and I are in complete agreement on this.
     
  9. ghostnotes

    ghostnotes Wish you were here.

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    They're also probably actual songwriters. Aldean doesn't write a thing as far as I know. I'm not sure how prevalent that is in the bro-country scene, but I'd imagine it's very much the case if that machine works the same for the dudes who perform these amazing works of art as the Pop machine does for ladies.
     
  10. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    This, this, a thousand times this!

    Any thread about current country music is quickly filled with virtually identical posts that all boil down to: "This is so weird and wrong that many people like a type of music that I don't."
     
  11. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    This is an observation I made quite a few years ago, with the onset of the "hat" acts in the 1990s. It was bad enough then, but this trend has been absurdly ramped up in the years since.

    I'm a huge fan of classic country music. My Golden Era is actually earlier than most — I favor the years roughly between 1948 and 1956. I've played and sung hundreds of songs from those years over the decades. I never had the impression that any of those singers were intentionally upping the twang quotient in their voices; it always sounded genuine to me.

    I know it's dangerous to make broad generalizations, but as far as the "country" music today that's played on the radio at least, I think it's an absolute abomination.
     
  12. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Hardly any of them write a damn thing. Or if they do, there's usually so many co-writers that the "artist" may or may not have done anything besides be in the room (or just have a deal that lets them slide their name in there to get a piece of that publishing pie). I get suspicious anytime there's more than 3 people listed in any song...occasionally there's a good reason for it, but usually it just means someone set an appointment to write a song at 11AM in an office somewhere, and that was the result. Not really how inspiring art gets created, but certainly how product is made.
     
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  13. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I'm only talking about newer stuff, really. I don't know much about the era you're talking about...occasionally I stumble on older country in passing and hear a great guitar player, and wish they'd just let him play instead of constantly interrupting with singing. :laugh: I mean, if Bret Mason was as famous as Blake Shelton, I'd probably enjoy the genre instead of cringing at white guys country-rapping.
     
  14. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Good for you. But the opinions of those who loathe it are equally as valid as yours, and those who hold them are free to express them without the subtle implication that we're jumping on some bandwagon, or the not-so-subtle one that we're "snobby."
     
  15. jwoverho

    jwoverho Licensed Drug Dealer

    Location:
    Mobile, AL USA
    It’s very Brill Building nowadays it seems. There’s a formula that works so it’s no surprise the same themes come up again and again.

    That being said, Kasey Musgraves latest album was one of the best of the year of any genre.
     
    ghostnotes likes this.
  16. Don't disagree, but it does annoy me that modern country and pre-1990's country seem to have almost nothing in common, save for their appeal to somewhat similar demographics.

    And I'm not what anyone would call a great fan of country (of any sort) -- though I am certainly recording and will watch Ken Burn's Country Music documentary (starting this Sunday, BTW) -- and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing it, and expanding my musical horizons a bit. I suspect 70% of the pre-90's country may be of some genuine (though cursory) interest to me -- but as far as the more recent stuff, I pretty much can't stand the stuff.

    I also can't stand AC/DC either, FYI and FWIW.
     
    Bluesman Mark and Tim S like this.
  17. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    Let's








    Talk about our feelings for each other...
     
  18. ALAN SICHERMAN

    ALAN SICHERMAN Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY

    Location:
    Cleveland, OH
    This one breaks the mold!



    [​IMG]
     
  19. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    I thought Eric Church's last album was excellent and I certainly don't consider myself a fan of "bro country."
     
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  20. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    You do realize what the biggest song of this year has been, don't you?
     
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  21. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Seems like most new pop country music has gotten as bad or worse actually than the late 1980's early 1990's metal music of the time. Basically a parody of itself. Time for rock music to make a comeback or for the masses to move onto a new or old style of music to be popular again.
     
    melstapler likes this.
  22. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Thanks for the reminder about the upcoming Burns program. Current trends annoy me too, but that's true of almost every genre, which I totally accept - I'm old and I'm not anyones desired demographic.

    I don't mind so much that I have to mine the past to get my country fix, at least there is a long and rich history there, nearly all of which is available to me with a few mouse clicks - that's awesome!

    I like vintage AC/DC but I totally get that plenty of people don't. The first time someone played me "Let there be rock" way back in high school, I flat out told them it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. Before that point I didn't think rock music could be dumbed down any further.
     
  23. Culpa

    Culpa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    The study addresses what it calls "rural masculinity", and its whiteness. I wonder what they think about "urban masculinity", which I'd guess, outside of tradespeople, would be predominantly non-white. Today's "white" "urban masculinity" seems much more akin to what we used to refer to as "femininity". :p
     
  24. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Key words highlighted. In fact, most don't know the half of it.

    I have a close friend of longstanding who is an inveterate songwriter, and who over the decades has written in many different genres. It's always mostly been just a hobby with him, but a few years ago he decided to see if he could crack the modern country scene. He went to Nashville and had four of his songs recorded by top-flight pro musicians and singers, he's joined songwriting interest groups, and has had his songs critiqued by veterans of the business.

    It's been eye-opening on many levels, but what struck me the most is one of these industry types telling him there is an absolute and precise formula for country song success today, to wit: "This has to happen in the first 20 seconds of the song, then the chorus must come here and must have these precise features, your topics are pretty much limited to these," etc. etc. I'm not remembering all of the specifics, but it was made clear to my friend that these absolute rules could be violated only at one's considerable peril — basically meaning "your song has to do this, or there's no hope for it."

    It seems to me to be such an entirely soulless enterprise that, unless your definition of "success" is 100 percent tied up with financial gain, I don't see how there could possibly be any reward to it.
     
  25. melstapler

    melstapler Reissue Activist

    Quite frankly, if you have a soul and a conscience, there is no appeal. I personally believe that most modern country music is divisive, sexist, hateful , rowdy ignoramus music which promotes violence and intolerance.
     
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