Is country music too white for DU?

[Stop_the_War]

:silly:

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. I think this great country singer may disagree.

[alarimer]

11. They don't play him on the radio anymore

They don't play Merle, Waylon, Dolly anymore either. Mainstream country music has become this slick pop-music crap where it is not evern necessary to know hoe to sing. They have computer programs to make anyone sound good. See Tim McGraw. He cannot sing at all.

[The Great Escape]

2. I Don't Know About Too White...

current mainstream country music is too polished, too cliche and too much in the pocket of conservative politics. That's why I listen to Sirius Roadhouse and listen to real country music.

[Redstone]

3. Amen. As Merle Haggard's wife said in an interview...

"This stuff they call country music these days, it's like listening to the air."

Toby Kieth and those other posers are about as much country as Prince Charles.

Redstone

[jus_the_facts]

4. No.....it just SUCKS....

:D

[tinfoilinfor2005]

5. Aaaaaaaaaa-Mmmmmmmmmmmmen. cue organ.

[Stop_the_War]

6. amen...country music is the dumbest music ever..

[kerrywins]

7. Tim McGraw kicks ass!

I don;t care what any of you no music lovers say....
and he's a hottie!!!
and a good actor...

[Redstone]

15. Not to insult you personally, but

Tim McGraw is an emptyheaded poser who perfomed a song that was a horrible insult to American Indians, of which I am one.

And I don't get insulted easily--for example I couldn't care less if a sports team wants to call itself the Braves or even Redskins...that song was the worst pandering horsecrap regarding Indians since the two dreadful ones that Cher did way back when.

Redstone

[kerrywins]

18. sorry you were insulted...

but the fact remains...he is a great singer...and he has some awesome songs....
the fact that you dislike him won't change that...

[Longgrain]

8. I'm no country music fan, but country music bashing is pretty low.

Except for the obvious conservative connections, some of it can be good, Dixie Chicks for example.

I'm not defending country music, since I'm not a fan, but come on...

What about Johny Cash, Charlie Pride, Emmy Lou Harris, or Patsy Cline...Is DU not cool with these folks?

Not to mention Bluegrass and Folk music...which is not too far off from country.

[LynneSin]

12. Scroll up and read the quote from Merle Haggard's wife

The names you listed can't be compared to today's country music. It's like 2 completely different genres - almost like comparing today's republican party with republicans from 50-100 years ago. Heck Abraham Lincoln was a republican but I hardly think he'd be a republican today based on his ideologies.

[alarimer]

13. That stuff does not get on the radio anymore.

We are trashing it here not because of the conservative politics but because the stuff that is produced in Nashville and makes it onto the radio is CRAP. Not real country music like those listed above. Loretta Lynn won a Grammy fro her Van Lear Rose (which is great by the way) but did you hear any of it on corporate country radio?? No way.

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. You cannot forget Loretta, Tammy, Waylon, Merle, Vern, Marty.

It's my favorite type of music! :hi:

[donsu]

9. no - it's the lyrics are so whiney

even the love songs are whiney

maybe because they are singing about constructs: romance, sentimentality, nostalgia

but there are some great musicians and great lyric less music.

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. Waylon, Merle...neither of them have ever whined. And much of it is

just kick ass music. :hi:

[LynneSin]

10. They make it a point to appeal to "Red State" type folks

Yeah, I know - some of you progessive thinkers live in Red States but being Red State is almost like an attitude, a way of life. And although I was born in a Blue State (Pennsylvania) I was surrounded by 'Red Staters'.

But back to my statement.

The Dixie Chicks use to be the darlings of today's country music. You couldn't put a Country Music Awards show on TV without featuring the Dixie Chicks.

But when the Dixie Chicks recognized the horrors of what our government is doing across the globe and called Bush on it - well, Country music dropped them like dead stinkie 3-day rotting fish.

Fortunately the Dixie Chicks have a sound that can cross easily over into today's music. But if a musician wants to make it in mainstream country music then they have to appeal to the "Red State" mentality which is predominantly white!

[Redstone]

14. Oh, yes, the Chicks...

They play instruments, including real country ones like fiddle, banjo and dobro...sing real songs about real stuff...do concerts where they actually SING AND PLAY INSTRUMENTS instead of posing and flexing (like Toby Keith), swinging on ropes and running back and forth doing smarmy fake waves to people in the audience (like that Pillsbury-Doughboy-looking lounge lizard Garth Brooks)...I could go on and on, but I can't; my stomach won't take any more.

The Chicks...they don't write vapid, half-literate "songs" that are nothing but pandering to whatever a focus group thinks the audience is in a mood for this week, like that trailer-trash girl who was on before the Super Bowl, and that Godawful Hank Williams Jr--Hank, are you over enough? And PLEASE, take that Rock asshole with you when you go.

Ah, the Chicks. Real musicians. A small ray of light in a dismal, dark, reeking swamp of decay that was once the country music world.

Redstone

[giant_robot]

19. I couldn't say it any better than that, so I won't.

I love the old stuff, the folksy stuff, and bluegrass, but I also want to add that the "alternative country" genre is a very vibrant and exciting scene right now. Some of my favorites are BR-549, who are sort of old-style country with an edgy sense of humor. Also Neko Case, who left alt-rock to do "cowboy torch songs". She rocks.

[Redstone]

21. Hey, thanks,

I'll have to check out that Neko Case.

I forgot to add to the list of people who are popular, still for real, but don't get played on coutry radio: Marty Stuart, one of the world's best guitar players, and, in my opinion, The Man Who Has The Most Fun Of Anyone Who Does Country Music.

Was he just perfect doing "Ring of Fire" in one of the Johnny Cash memorial concerts, or what?

Redstone

[giant_robot]

22. Here are some links w/audio clips and photos

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/folkcountry/reviews/nekocase_blacklisted.shtml

http://images.google.com/images?q=Neko+Case&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest">Photos

[Redstone]

24. Hot DAMN, she sound like the best thing since Rosanne Cash

I'll get one of her CDs today. Thanks again.

Redstone

[giant_robot]

26. You're very welcome.

It's always a pleasure to turn someone on to good music. :)

[ismnotwasm]

17. One of my favorite songs

Is "Get behind the Mule" by Tom Waits. Not exactly a country singer, but damn that's great song. I don't listen to mainstream country. I listen to a little mainstream Rap, my kids tell me what's good, 'cause a couple of them are huge hip hop fans, so I got an "In". Me, I'm an old metalhead, so my taste in music has always been questionable.........

[RazzleCat]

23. Its simple, most mainstream is crap

Thats true across genres. But mainstream country is probably the worst of it.

[Redstone]

25. Tom Waits has actually written quite a few songs

that are either countryish by nature or can be easily adapted to a country style. He's an astonishing songwriter.

Ever hear his rendition of the old "talkie song" called "Big Joe and Phantom 309?" If you haven't you must.

Redstone

[eyepaddle]

27. My two cents;

This is gonna rankle a few DUers, and I really don't mean to give offense I'm just stating my opinion; what I don't have any time for is "sparse-country/rock-inflected-folk where the only point to the instrumentation is to provide a small sonic backdrop so the singer can impress us with their eloquence in complaining about how life is just SO full of pain and hardship and work.

Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda, John Hiatt--I'm looking in your direction. I suppose part of my annoyance with this is I live in the Twin Cities, where we have a huge local music scene--and it is uniformaly mediocre. Every band wants to be either the Replacements, Soul Asylum or possibly Wilco (damn straight; I am TOTALLY talking about the Jayhawks)

However, all of these "Music Related Flame War Threads" (MRFWTs) really oughta be dumped into the "threads that don't go anywhere" file. Has any post in ANY of these ever actually changed a mind on an issue?

You just need to be comfortable in what you like and not worry about the other stuff. I (in my younger days) took music I disliked as a personal insult, I've grown up a lot, and am a lot more sanguine about the whole topic these days. I am at peace with liking music that is almost unniversally disliked by everyone except it's own niche fan base: Guitar Wanker music. If ANYBODY can find a drummer who doesn't become violent at the mention of Joe Satriani--please get in touch with me!

Look into some of Wat Tyler's threads blowing up prgoressive rock--no matter how obscure a genre, there are some people who absolutely HATE it.

Country (or Rap) both have a lot more visibility, and thus will have more visible bashers.

on edit: if you see this, Hi Wat! :hi:

[Bridget Burke]

28. Yet another flame-bait thread!

At least it's here in the non-serious area--unlike the Vegan/Vegetarian thread that was started, abandoned by the OP & eventually dumped to a less-accessible area.

If you don't like Country music, cool. However, anyone who's studied the history of the genre knows its roots are British Isles songs & fiddle tunes--as infuenced by African-American music. Country pioneers--such as The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe, Bob Wills & Hank Williams--ALL learned from African-American musicians.

Of course, most commericial country music is crap nowadays. And the Nashville Country Music Industry has always downplayed the black influence. A new group, the Birthplace of Country Music Association, based in Bristol, Tennessee, is trying to tell more of the story.

www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/index.cgi?CONTEXT=cat&cat=10043

http://web2.bisonline.com/OZX/Blobs/blob27220.pjpeg