Country music has sure changed from 1985 to now - Billboard country album charts from Nov. 1985, now

I like your quote better than Willie's, but they both fit.

 

Country music has definitely changed since 1985. Today's country recalls mid 90s alternative rock and rap.

 

It is true that if one is wondering how times change, just look at any music chart, any genre, and you will witness it.

 

Also, today's country constantly name checks, Hank Sr., Hank, Jr., Waylon, Johnny, Willie, etc. in the lyrics while admitting that it is more a rock influenced track.

 

Today's so called country music should really be renamed as a different genre as it has no relation to what country music really was.

 

One might as well call Amy Grant's Unguarded album, from 1985, modern country in style style, the same with Michael W. Smith's "Project" album from 1983, as that is basically what modern country sounds like.

 

Today's "Country Music" sound like it was conceived by the same corporate entertainment industry types in New York or LA who are also responsible for pumping out the mind-numbingly boring, third rate songs that pass for pop music. It becomes "Country Music" by throwing in a gratuitous reference to Johnny Cash, a pickup truck or workin' for a livin'. Add to that clone-like production with identical drum tracks and the same annoying, wall-to-wall air-raid-siren-like backing vocals. It's as if there's one assembly line churning out crap that consumers are guaranteed to buy, with some of it randomly getting a "Country" label slapped on it as it rolls out the door.

 

That is because the Nashville industry works with the New York and LA parts of the industry all the time, SixtiesGuy in hopes that "country" becomes the most popular kind of music out there.

 

Today's country is the new pop, really.

 

Accurate post for sure.
Singing to the choir is the word trying to make consumer feel like they can relate to their "pain" while laughing all the way to the bank.
Lot of preachers fall under the same moniker.

 

Garth Brooks supposedly was a Kiss fan. I believe him to be the genre breaker in country music. You could also include the likes of Travis Tritt, Brooks and Dunn, The Dixie Chicks and Tim McGraw to that group. Toby Keith would ride big in the late 90's. Just my opinion of course.........

 

You could call it that in style ''i wouldn't'' , but not in content, both Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith made intelligent music.

The Dixie Chicks don't deserve to be lumped in with that group in my opinion.

 

I believe them to be a huge ground breaker in country music in the 90's. They seemed to have a bunch of cross-over fans. If you wanted to call The Judds a group. They could be there. I don't know of any that were bigger in country. That is why I included them. I certainly understand the likes of Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, Allison Krauss Martina, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Faith Hill etc. But, I am speaking group and they were big sellers.

 

"...what they call country today, which is basically a bad rock band with a fiddle."
-Tom Petty

 

This topic is really a sore spot with me, as I began listening to Country radio in the mid-'60s because of my interest in Johnny Cash. I was nine years old at the time. Picked up on Buck Owens through the radio (he was played on the local pop stations too, as was Cash) and saw Hank Snow in person. From there it developed into a full-blown love affair with the music. A love affair that began to slack off in the late '80s and die out altogether after the advent of Garth, et al. To put it bluntly, I find the current form of the music non-existent and I can't stand to listen to more than a few minutes of what a so-called current country station plays. I hear no variety in the arrangements, and worst of all, every singer seems to sound the same! In the old days, there was no mistaking Ernest Tubb for Buck Owens!

I do have a great respect for Brad and what he contributes to the Forum. And I rather envy that he can find something to appreciate in what he hears on country radio these days. For me, it's just warmed-over Eagles music.

 

I've never understood why Taylor Swift gets lumped in with the country crowd. Her music is just your garden variety radio pop. While she may throw in the occasional country tune on her albums from time to time, it still doesn't make her a country artist.

 

Big Machine Records is a label that targets the current country market and they signed her as a "country" artist.

 

If there was any doubt Shania Twain killed country music.

 

Yeah, that's right. I remember he sang the title track to "Every Which Way but Loose" in the late 70s, which to me sounded like what country generally sounded like in the 70s and into the 80s. Then when "Suspicions" came out, I thought it was Hall & Oates or The Little River Band at first. But it was a great song.

 

I agree. Eddie was a great talent who is still missed.

 

My opinion is that The Dixie Chicks, The Judds, Alison Krauss and May Chapin- Carpenter managed to be hugely popular while still keeping the country in country, i have a different opinion of the others.

 

George has a new album coming out in just over a week and it's a pretty safe bet he'll be back near or at the top of the country charts with that.

 

That's what I find funny. People used to trash Shania and Kenny and others for making pop-friendly music... but at least there was still SOME country there... Taylor in 2013 is no more country than Rihanna is.

 

What to think of 80's country...

For the majority of the decade there was a ton of sugar coated country. In fact, that country-pop is more country than today's country-pop... With that said, it was nice to have the neotraditionalist movement by the end of the 80's. I much prefer Dwight Yoakam, Alan Jackson, George Strait, and Clint Black to ... Alabama.