How do you feel about Country music in general?

[UpsideDownFlag]

i personally feel that it embodies a culture of inbreeding, uber-patriotism, and all around freeperish-ness. yes, i know there are exceptions, but for every dixie chick band, there's 20 "let's shoot those towelheaded bastards" type of bands.

<< very important edit: When i say country, i mean the present tense, contemporary mess that country music has become. think 'CMT'. I absolutely LOVE johnny Cash, for instance. he's one of my favorites. But Dirks Bentley?? Tight-Pants caribean wanna be Kenny Chesney?? gag me. >>

[Randi_Listener]

1. Not for me

But I guess someone likes that fucking puddle shit.

[bullimiami]

15. yup. hate it. n/t

[BlackVelvetElvis]

2. What about classic country?

I love the stuff from the 60's and early 70's.
All about drinking and loving.
I think the older stuff had more heart, which I love.
I don't care for the new stuff.

[blue sky at night]

3. In general I can't stand it

and I agree the politics of the performers and the fans leave me thinking WTF. And how much more boring could a "sport" be than fricking NASCAR..........oh my god what a waste of fuel that is. I was canvassing on a sunday, and the guy couldn't talk....the race was almost over!!! see ya.

[kokomo]

4. Phony Christian piety in their lyrics, sound just like Dubya.

Latch onto anything that makes a buck. Lots of jingoistic lyrics after 9/11....making a few buck off the martyrs.

[ScreamingMeemie]

38. Sorry....BS. That wasn't limited to country music, it hit all forms of

music. This thread makes me ill. Physically ill, that we judge based on musical tastes. Shame on us.

[are_we_united_yet]

5. I kind of

like Country music (alot). I am more surprised than anyone else.

[eridani]

6. When I want another--

--somebody done somebody wrong song, then I go for classic country.

[humanbeing]

7. old fashioned country folk is good...

...it was good old folk music that arose out of an american subculture, like jazzor bluegrass.

Modern country is just a regular old 'ballad' sung with a twang, accompanied with slightly different instruments -- in otherwords, a veneer of superficiality wrapped around a hollow center of empty-headed 'pop' music.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

9. Ding, ding, ding. We have an answer.

What crap. No soul whatsoever.

[Jean Louise Finch]

13. hear hear!

Well put.

And there is SO Much of that good old-style folkie country music that's still being made today: Gillian Welch, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci ("The Blue Trees" EP), Dave Grisman, Billy Bragg.

Between this and the hip hop thread, I tell you. It's just a matter of finding the GOOD music that fits the genre, and all of a sudden you love it. At least for me. It might not be on KISS 108 (or something as such), but it's out there, and it's brilliant.

[tuvor]

8. It's not country, it's pop with a bit of a twang.

Proof: Shania Twain's got a pop version and a country version of her new single. On the former she duets with Mark McGrath, and on the latter, some well-known country singer.

In the meantime, thank God for Lone Justice, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Rank and File, and many many more!

[Kipepeo]

10. Country music has been taken over

by freepers in a big way....but not all of it is such.

Listen to some good Johnny Cash or Dolly. Man, I love Dolly. :)

edited to add: I think it's been corporatized for the most part though...the same with hip hop.

[TaleWgnDg]

11. it's real honest-to-gawd nose-holder puke, period. n/t

[Wapsie B]

12. I like traditional Country Music.

Give me Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, George Jones, to name a few. There may be some Alternative Country that doesn't get airplay that I might like. But other than the Dixie Chicks and a few others, many of 'em are gussied up like a bunch of whores and gigolo's.

Old Country is White Man's Blues.

[Syrinx]

14. lot of good stuff out there

But you won't find it on corporate radio.

[Morning Dew]

16. John Milner woulda said -

"Shit, country music's been going downhill ever since Keith Whitley died."

[Elwood P Dowd]

17. I enjoy REAL country music

The stuff they play now is crap.

Listen to Johnny Cash, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Charlie Pride, Chet Atkins, Emylou Harris, Bill Monroe, and Roy Acuff. Listen to The Nitty Gritty Dirt band and "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". Most of these folks would be considered liberal by today's standards. Listen to Tennessee Ernie Ford's ole' "Sixteen Tons". The ole' stuff had soul and meaning.

[truthpusher]

18. In the same way that the term Christian and Patriot...

...have been hijacked, they (meaning the soulless, artless, heartless, posing thieves of all that can or may be good in this country) have stolen the term country music.

To me country is a combining of folk, gospel and blues. What you are speaking of is a Pabst Blue Ribbon infused irreverent fervor of bad taste and should never be referred to as country music. May the ghost of Hank Williams kill them all where they sleep!!

[WildEyedLiberal]

19. Dad loves country... mostly classic country, though

Like Cash, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakum, Merle Haggard, etc.

I absolutely hate modern country music, though. I can listen to a handful of artists, and that's it. It's all either 1) tractors n' rednecks n' trucks n' bar-b-q n' beers or 2) go go go USA soldiers war flags eagles patriotism kick-your-ass-you-dirty-sand-niggers shit. So, bascially, it appeals to hicks and/or warmongers. Yeah, classic country isn't bad - not my cup of tea, but I have nothing against it. Modern country is by and large inbred freeper music, IMHO. Like I said, there are exceptions, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Starlight]

20. I like Steve Earle, but mostly for his politics.

Country music in general does not appeal to me.

[LibLover]

21. Lite-rock for rednecks.

I listen to "Big & Rich" quite a bit, though.

I stole a copy of the Kentucky Headhunters "Electric Barnyard" from one of my brothers. It's one of the better country albums.

(They cover a Cash song and Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky", doing both very well.)

[ever_green]

22. I love classic country and few select new country songs

But todays country largely sucks and is quite biased towards Republican views. Definitely not progressive.

[Skittles]

23. it depresses me

it just does

[Columbia]

24. This is the reason there are so many red states in middle America

Attitudes that alienate our fellow citizens in threads like this one. Tell me again how the following statement is going to get rural voters to vote Democratic?

"i personally feel that it embodies a culture of inbreeding, uber-patriotism, and all around freeperish-ness. yes, i know there are exceptions, but for every dixie chick band, there's 20 "let's shoot those towelheaded bastards" type of bands."

[July]

35. I think JibJab is just expressing an opinion about music. nt

[UpsideDownFlag]

40. did you read my very important edit?

i dont see how its possible to defend what country music has become. i defy you to justify Dirks Bentley Or Big and Rich's existence. Cash is rolling in his grave right now.

[donheld]

25. I like a little bit of country

very little. Dixie chicks are ok, Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Emmy Lou Harris are ok. The rest is just not my thing.

[Bridget Burke]

26. I love country music.

Don't care much for what's played on commercial country radio nowadays.



Old-timey, bluegrass, Western Swing & honky-tonk are all fine. And "newer" artists have been re-interpreting the older styles for some time now.

Yes, much of what's played on country radio is tripe. Anybody whose idea of "Country music in general" demonstrates their ignorance of 99% of the genre is showing their prejudice.

There's another thread here knocking hip-hop. Guess we've got a lot of John Tesh & Yanni fans here at DU. (The artists in my illustration are country music pioneers; the traditions they used include the ones they learned from black musicians.)

[Bombtrack]

27. It sucks major-triple-ultra-ASS

[Shae]

28. I used to never listen to it ...

Now I adore John Prine.
I also listen to Kris Kristofferson, Mary Gauthier, Johnny Cash, and Dixie Chicks. I like Iris DeMent in small doses.

[burythehatchet]

29. manages to suck, bite, and blow all at the same time

[artr2]

30. Music for knuckle draggers

nt

[St. Jarvitude]

31. If an otherwise good rock/folk band occasionally ventures into country...

It's OK. One example off the top of my head would be The Shins with "Gone for Good". I wouldn't exactly call it "country" but it certainly does have a little bit of that twang to it (in the instrumentation, not in the lyrics). Other bands that go into country/folk occasionally (The Eagles, rarely the Flaming Lips (a definite stretch)) usually do a good job with it.

However, a whole album of straight-up country music - shitty lyrics (either "my dog left me" "my girlfriend left me" or "my pickup truck left me" ... or just "my girlfriend left me with my dog in the bed of my pickup truck") and pure, unadulterated country "tunes" - just makes me want to puke.

[Dees]

32. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water....

Doc Watson, Emmylou Harris, the Dirt Band, Willie Nelson, Chet Atkins and Asleep at the Wheel.

[auburngrad82]

33. Hank Williams was the father of Rock and Roll

He lived hard. He drank and did drugs, partied, was a lady's man. Died in the back seat of a car on the way to his next gig.

He's an example of what country music used to be. Now it's all whiney pop music. I much prefered Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Hank Sr., David Alan Coe, all the old guys. I don't listen to country much anymore.

On the other hand, I've heard cuts from Loretta Lynn's newest. Produced by Jack White of the White Stripes, it rocks. Not bad for a 70 year old grandma.

[jdj]

36. yes, give Lynn props for "The Pill"

That song is a revolution in itself.

I love Emmylou, love Dwight Yoakam, and any of the bluegrass roots artists.

It's amazing how whenever there is an artist whose work I loathe, at some point I see a photo of them standing behind Bush (Reba McEntire, Kid Rock, Jessica Simpson, Shannen Doherty, Toby Keith, etc)

[Dob Bole]

34. The new country music is poseurs...

People from suburban nashville who wear cowboy boots and hats (?)

I like the old stuff too...Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson...

[jdj]

39. Most of them aren't from Nashville, just like no one from LA is from LA

they move there.

And the heart of this tacky-ass embarassing poseur country is in Branson Missouri now, which explains alot.

[ScreamingMeemie]

37. I LOVE country. Old stuff. Some of the new stuff, like Kathy Mattea.

I don't see it as freeper music, just as I hope people don't think I limit myself to protest songs and John Lennon. "Love at the Five and Dime" is one of the best songs written about real life relationships in the last decade. Stereotypes are what I don't like, JibJab. :hi:

[UpsideDownFlag]

41. so it sounds like most people are agreeing with my overall post...

country music was, once upon a time, a wonderful art form. it has become, however, a hideous scab on american music.