Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Country Rocks!”

« The Perfect Swarm | Main | Still Strong Iraqi Spirits »

April 19, 2006

Country Rocks!

Hatched by Sachi

Ever since the 1980s, hip-hop and rap have dominated the charts. I never liked them much, but some of the early artists were fun, like Run-DMC and MC Hammer: although there was generally no main melody, at least the rhythm and the lyrics were interesting, full of syncopation and wordplay.

But when the trend veered towards faux gangsta-rap, it lost me completely. I could never get into that kind of hateful and raunchy mentality, even as if came to dominate the pop charts and music-video channels. So I haven't paid any attention to pop music for a long time.

In Early 2002, I had an opportunity to spend three weeks in the South. The undisclosed location was far away from everything, and there were only four music stations and on the radio: three were country, the fourth was boomer-rock. The TV music video station only showed country.

Until then, I had not been a country-music fan at all, and at first, I was really annoyed by the lack of choice. This was shortly after 9/11, and the whole nation was stilll mourning the tragic loss. Country music's warm, personal, "real-folks" sound and patriotic lyrics touched me deeply. It was about ordinary people, not the weirdoes who inhabit most contemporary rock'n'roll songs. By the time I left, three weeks later, I had become a big country music fan.

Apparently, I am not alone. Fox News Roger Friedman reports:

I heard a weird rumor a few weeks ago: Clear Channel was telling its stations that by the end of this year, hip-hop and rap would be "over." They were making significant changes at their radio stations that would emphasize pop music and songs again.

Look at this week's top 20: There are only three hip-hop CDs — LL Cool J, NeYo and T.I. Six of the top 20 albums are by country artists, including Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood. Kelly Clarkson, Shakira and Pink represent female pop.

James Blunt and Daniel Powter are on the male side. Four CDs are actually for children. That leaves Nickelback as the lone rock entry and a collection of pop singles, "Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 21," rounds it out.

Is it a trend? Have the yodeling, sampling, scatting, indecipherable packaged hoods finally been sent packing after a generation of pulling the wool over the public's eyes? One can only hope this is the case. Maybe it's a sign that today's kids actually want more out of their music.

You could say that rock is also vanishing, but that probably isn't the case. Rascal Flatts' CD is as much rock as it is country, with a decidedly more mainstream sound than most of the music that comes out of Nashville.

But what's really interesting is the proliferation of pop — just as it was described for me — already swamping radio.

Six country CDs out of the top twenty makes country music the plurality: country rocks!

Despite Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, country music has always been associated with the conservative heartland of America. But as it becomes more mainstream, more liberals may start to like and even play it. That could mean good news for the always irritating Dixie Chicks, who have been shunned by country music fans (low sales and shut out of the awards) since 2003, when Natalie Mains used a foreign stage to denounce America.

But the rise of country might also spread conservative values to a wider (and younger) audience than ever before... and that would be good news for the rest of us!

Hatched by Sachi on this day, April 19, 2006, at the time of 5:51 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this hissing: http://biglizards.net/mt3.36/earendiltrack.cgi/675

Comments

The following hissed in response by: Don

I've been listening to Johnny Cash's live prison albums (recorded at Folsom and San Quentin prisons in 1967/68). Probably the best albums Cash ever recorded until the 90's.

Cash is generally thought of as country and married into country music 'royalty', but his work is quite rough-edged. He was one of the 'Class of 55' artists at Sun Records in Memphis along with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

He does a lot of stuff on the edges and is hard to categorize. Some of it sounds a bit like rock, some country, but his most memorable work are often traditional folk songs about pain and redemption on acoustical guitar.

The above hissed in response by: Don at April 19, 2006 6:26 PM

The following hissed in response by: Don

Kristofferson is an interesting character. He didn't do that much of note but has written some of the best songs I've ever heard, almost works of art.

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train, feeling about as faded as my jeans......

I like Willy also. It's not about politics, but rather about honest emotion.

The above hissed in response by: Don at April 19, 2006 6:29 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dan Kauffman

Ever since the 1980s, hip-hop and rap have dominated the charts. I never liked them much
*************************************************
when pulled up to a traffic light with hip-hop booming from the car beside you?

I have discovered from personal experience that cranking up a tape of bagpipes such as the
Scots Dragoon Guards just swallows hip-hop up!

Get some strange looks though ;-)

The above hissed in response by: Dan Kauffman at April 19, 2006 7:24 PM

The following hissed in response by: Don

Lol! That is a great idea! Bagpipes are as dominant as it gets, and quite rousing.

The above hissed in response by: Don at April 19, 2006 7:41 PM

The following hissed in response by: cdquarles

Dafydd,

Don't you mean 1990's for the dominance of hip-hop and rap? Country has always done well in my little corner of the Earth :). IIRC, WZZK in Birmingham was the top rated radio station there for many years beginning in the mid 1980's (and is still in the top 5).

The above hissed in response by: cdquarles at April 20, 2006 12:34 AM

The following hissed in response by: JGUNS

You know, no matter how much I try I can't get into country. I realize it is the only mainstream music that gets patriotic (with the exception of the Dixie Chicks), and I have tried, believe me I have tried.

For me, it has always been old school hard rock and Heavy metal. The kind that had real grooves and the people can play their instruments, not just three chords and screaming.

Sadly today's metal for the most part doesn't feature that, but it is making a comeback due to bands like the venerable Judas Priest making a resurgence.

But you know what? I have never looked at the top hits in the country, because I have never listened to music that would be featured there. I think the last time a band I liked was on the top ten was Metallica's One back in the very Early 90s and they got screwed in the Grammy's for best Hard Rock/metal band by Jethro Tull! Then Metallica went downhill and the Grammy's well, yet another example of a meaningless award ceremony.

The above hissed in response by: JGUNS at April 20, 2006 4:49 AM

The following hissed in response by: BigLeeH

Sachi,

Your story parallels my own epiphany a quarter of a century earlier. I was in college in 1977. I was working at the FSU Computing Center and taking graduate courses in Computer Science part time. Money was tight and friend and I shared a run-down trailer just outside the Tallahassee city limits. I had bought a cheap clock-radio and it only got one station: WTAL which, at that time was a somewhat-pop-ish country station. I had never particularly liked country music but I decided that WTAL was marginally less annoying than setting the alarm on "buzzer".

I had set the alarm for 7:00 am and the disk jockey at WPTF would always play the same song at that time: Mel Tillis' Oh, I've got the Hoss (and She's got a Saddle). The first day he played it I hit the off button in my usual 538 milliseconds but the next day I was a little bit slower. Each day I would listen to a few more words as, gradually, Mel wore me down.

One day I just left the radio on and had to admit that I was hooked. 1977 was an easy year to make the transition from pop to country. A number of country perormers had adopted pop elements -- upbeat, up-tempo songs with a minimum of twang. Crystal Gayle's Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue came out that year, as did Linda Ronstadt's Blue Bayou. The Statler Brother's were all over the radio. Dolly Parton had a number of hits. In 1977 country would meet you half way. It still does.

The above hissed in response by: BigLeeH at April 20, 2006 8:28 AM

The following hissed in response by: radarbinder

Rap and Hip-hop have always annoyed me, being the kind of "music" that will have no staying power. Less so, perhaps, than even bubble gum music?

Yes, hard rock and blues and good pop are my favorites but I have to admit country is so much more than Red Foley stuff.

Wish there were more Marshall Tucker bands and less Dixie Chicks out there!

The above hissed in response by: radarbinder at April 20, 2006 9:42 PM

The following hissed in response by: Don

I just bought Cash's 'American Recordings', which is an album of folk songs he recorded after breaking loose from Columbia in 1994. Very plain, just Cash and his guitar. No boom-chicka-boom at all.

Extremely powerful but not top 40 at all. Or even top 500. I'd heard about this album but never heard it before. I'm very happy I bought it. One song 'The Beast in Me' is particularly poignant.

The above hissed in response by: Don at April 21, 2006 3:32 PM

The following hissed in response by: Infidel

The Country Thunder four day outdoor concert (think C&W version of Woodstock) here (just outside Phoenix) in early April had 120000 attendance.

One arrest in the entire four days.

http://www.countrythunder.com

Consdiering the youth market (money to burn) aims towards crap music, C&W's take is amazing and growing by leaps and bounds.

The above hissed in response by: Infidel at April 23, 2006 8:57 AM

The following hissed in response by: Infidel

Courtesy Of The Red, White & Blue (This is the one that drove the Ditzi Chics off the end of the pier).

American Girls and American Guys
We’ll always stand up and salute
We’ll always recognize
When we see Old Glory Flying
There’s a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Until the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flyin’ in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of July

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin’ her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, it’s gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringin’ her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And you’ll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
`Cause we`ll put a boot in your ass
It`s the American way

The above hissed in response by: Infidel at April 23, 2006 9:01 AM

The following hissed in response by: Sachi

Infidel

I love Tobby Keith too. He is a true American. Even though he has some reservation for the Iraq war, he has been to Iraq many times to entertain the troops. He has been to other military bases too.

I think he is a yellow dog democrat. But, I am hoping he will come around.

The above hissed in response by: Sachi at April 23, 2006 10:07 PM