Try That in a Small Town features lyrics threatening violence against protesters and has been removed from Country Music Television, but Aldean says it is a celebration of community
Try That in a Small Town features lyrics threatening violence against protesters and has been removed from Country Music Television, but Aldean says it is a celebration of community
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There are a lot of types of country and a lot of different singers. Radio USA certainly doesn’t represent all of it.
It’s like saying you have to be a punk or a lower-class African American to enjoy rap. Rap is surprisingly varied, done by basically all nations and ethnicities, and more-often-than-you’d-think political or otherwise intelligent. Linkin Park (and the spin-off project Fort Minor) is my favorite band, for example; and most of their rap is about politics, introspection, dealing with mental illness, or putting down bad relationships— and the latter can be angry, melancholy, resolved-and-hopeful, forgiving, and anything in between. But I digress.
A genre is just a genre, and any genre can be smart, skillful, and all-around good.
This is sturgeon’s law. 90% of everything is crap. There’s tons of garbage pop, rock, industrial, etc etc. This is true in books, movies, and other forms of entertainment too
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law
Hell yeah I know about Sturgeon’s Law! And its corollaries!
I believe that taste is subjective, but quality is objective. That’s because I believe that quality is about how effective a work of art is at doing what it set out to do, to its intended audience. And if an aspect of a work of art distracts from that goal or brings the work down, it is of objectively lower quality. However, I want to be clear that I mean that about the audience statistically— individuals of course may be more or less affected or unaffected by individual choices in art.
Let me give an example for that last part. Most people don’t see anything wrong with many of the choices in Ace Attorney; but I find that series to be ugly, tasteless, and insulting (not to mention extremely autism-unfriendly). The extremely ugly faces for many characters, the bug-eye reactions, the intuition-unfriendly dumbness, the pedophilia, the low-brow, the sexism, the constant harsh flashing and shaking… I believe that if Ace Attorney didn’t make those choices, nobody who currently likes the series would like it less (okay, well, maybe some people in Japan would like it less if you took away their staples of sexism and glorious stupidity; but we can compromise)— instead you’d have a larger appreciative audience if those weren’t issues. So basically, you can make aspects of a work of art better without said aspects (or others) being worse or substantially less-liked.
Aside: As an autistic person, I really can’t shut off my observation, comparison, or thorough thinking— it’s always going. And one of the effects of that is that high standards come naturally to me. So because I’m always passionate and scrutinizing, I get more angry or more disappointed when things are bad— but also way more excited than most people when things are good. I feel like a lot of people don’t understand me, thinking that I just hate everything; but those people are focusing on when I’m negative and ignoring how giddy I get at other times.
But I digress. There’s a lot of crap out there; but that makes us who notice all the bad… just that much more appreciative of the things that are genuinely good.
wasnt aware of that, thanks for the link!
yes I suppose that’s true, there are a lot of generalizations used when it comes to art - in all of its many forms and flavors. country music just has these specific connotations associated with it - crooning about broken trucks, sad laments for the girl that got away (because she was your sister), limited acoustical and rhythmic harmony, etc
You’re thinking primarily country pop, and I agree with your assessment - most of it’s crap. That being said, if the only country you know is what you’ve been exposed to on the radio, you’re missing out on some amazing musicianship. Since I dig sharing music that breaks (or makes) a mold, here’s some country pieces that you might dig:
“Lee Highway Blues” - Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Jolene - Dolly Parton
The Highwayman - Wayland Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristoffersen
I liked the highwayman! and that violin solo on the highway blues was really neat.
Glad you liked! You should check out more bluegrass if you like what Cleveland was playing. If you dig the style on the Highwayman, check out more Johnny Cash - he built an amazing legacy of work, and wasn’t afraid of genre jumping - here’s him doing a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt.
I’ll check it out, thanks!
@Arotrios Going to piggyback here and also recommend an artist called Jelly Roll. Started as a rapper, but has branched into a country/rock sound recently. Vocally very strong, and is open about his issues and how he goes about trying to fix his life up for the better.
I like his older sound better, but he is still a respectable artist even with the more mainline sound. It has however gotten him radio play, for better or worse.
@stopthatgirl7 @tallwookie @orphiebaby
My go-to country song, and I’m not a big fan of country, is Juice Newton’s Queen of Hearts.
Yee, the most common versions of things aren’t the only versions of those things.
There’s something called the “animation age ghetto”. It’s a phenomenon where most people assume that animated movies and shows are for kids only; and it has held back the medium a whole lot. Animation is just a method of getting the art out there, and it can have a lot of variation and be very sophisticated. Most of all, it can be about whatever— or for whomever— you want.
Nah there’s definitely more variety to country music than that, but you have to dig for it (try Woody Guthrie for instance). Much like pop music, you have to go past whats popular to find the good stuff
Very based.
yes thank you, I’m so sick of hearing “rap is crap” from people who’ve only heard a few gangsta rap songs on the radio in the 1990s and assumed that was it. That was all rap had to offer
Wow, that was a really well thought out and well-constructed comment just to say you’re inbred.
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Also, good job cherry-picking the most vulnerable thing I said even though it has nothing to do with “whether or not I’m inbred (a.k.a. ‘dumb’)”. Says a lot about what your goals are
WTF, are you poorshaming?? Gross.
Hey, cash and Nelson and Parton and the chicks are country. This is just dumbass country. It’s sorta like how folk could be pa with a banjo or it could be a communist strumming a guitar that says “this machine kills fascists” and singing about how we need to be as brave as the Soviets to free England and France.
Like. The Chicks are awesome. Their “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice” is amazing. So is “Goodbye Earl.” Some country is awesome. Just not this dude.
I’m Not Ready to Make Nice
Goodbye Earl
One of my favourite Fleetwood Mac songs is “That’s Alright” which is undoubtedly a country song, but you’d never catch me listening to anything else you’d call country. Not even close. However, that proves that there are definitely some country songs out there I’d enjoy.
I used to hate hip-hop and R&B until I dug past the mounds of mainstream trash and found underground artists I really love. These genres are very broad terms with hundreds of sub-genres.
I found a little R&B I like. Some of R. Kelly, Musiq, and especially Jagged Edge. But I need to find more R&B I like. I love hip-hop too— in concept. I’m struggling to find good artists beyond just a song here and there that I like. Also, I absolutely hate modern mainstream hip-hop. I especially hate autotune.
I’m pretty white, too. Good music is good music.
Y’all dumb motherfuckers ready for a key change?
theres some good modern country but most of the big names dont do anything for me. sturgill simpson is great modern country though imho.