| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 4:33:49 AM | Following on from a current thread "What's wrong with Classical Music?" I'd like to ask why country music is so readily dismissed by so many.
It is a genre that addresses the complexities of human emotion and its passion might be described as having 'white soul'.
Country venues often have three generations of followers, the youngsters, mums & dads and the grandparents. POF threads that lament the passing of family values might take note and appreciate this music's ability to 'hold families together'.
If you state that you don't like country music then is it because your only recollection of it is the slushy, over sentimental type of song that referred to puppies dying or of tragic love lost? (such songs don't exist in modern country music - thank goodness).
Country songs have words that address our human condition and are generally sung by singers that are able to convey these words with feeling (OK, maybe they're not the best singers in the world but personally I'd prefer to hear someone singing with feeling than to hear a slick performer that lacks any emotional connection with the song).
Bearing in mind that country music covers a wide area (bluegrass, ballads, rock, old & modern etc), should it generally be dismissed so readily? | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 4:36:23 AM | Nothing wrong with it at all. I love all the old stuff Jim Reeves, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rodgers, Don Williams and the newer stuff Lonestar, Pat Green and co.
Fab. Can't beat a good bit of country to sing along to. | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 4:37:55 AM |
What's Wrong With Country Music?
Billy ray Cryus.
Dont break my heart,my achy breaky heart.................
Ride it cowgirl yeehah | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 4:47:06 AM | I like most kinds of music and country music is something that i have always liked especially when I can sing it loud..........yes people of Surrey, if there's a noise like a strangled cat, it is probably me with dog and Ipod.....
Recently got into a band that isn't that well known in this country - Rascal Flatts.......not a bad band to try out if you're not sure about country music.... | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 4:53:09 AM | Billy Ray Cyrus was once interviewed by Alan Titchmarsh on daytime TV (Pebble Mill).
It is the first time I've heard a TV interviewer openly criticise his interviewee.
AT to audience: "Have you ever opened a box - only to find nothing in it?"
It certainly summed up BRC.... vacuous, probably why he only had the one hit.
BUT should we dismiss country music (which as I say covers a diverse range) on the strength of one bad singer or one bad song?
I suppose this thread is bound to come up with the 'Yee-Hah' brigade but is this a fair response or does it simply distort, in a juvenile way, country's true image.
EDIT AC (7)
Your comments regarding radio airplay is untrue. Bob Harris presents an excellent programme on Radio 2 that includes a diverse range of music and interviews. Online worldwide radio stations present ALL aspects of country from the 'cheesy' and the simple songs to the most sophisticated and technically-proficient studio produced sounds of modern music | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 4:57:02 AM | | The worst of Country is so predictably cheesy (from the lyrics to the guitar)...and was parodied superbly by Billy Connoley in the song about the people falling over the cliff (which was supposed to have a C&W title that was sooooooooo cheesy Mr C renamed it 'I how can I tell you I love you when you're sitting on my face'). At it's worse it's 'Bob's Country Bunker' from the 'Blues Brothers' movie. At its best its Keith Urban and K D Laing. The trouble is that the few radio stations that play any country serve up the cheesy stuff and not the best. | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 5:04:26 AM | I've never been into country music, all those twanging guitars hurt my ears. My mother used to force us to listen to her Raymond Froggat tapes when we was on long car journeys, it was psychologically damaging  | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 5:05:55 AM | | MSG 8: A 'Closet' fan? They had that hit some years ago "Coming out". It was No 1 in the gay country charts for weeks. | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 5:34:12 AM | Nothing wrong with Country.
I decided long ago to stop generalising music, because I was missing out so much.
My rule of thumb is if I dont like it I don't listen to it.
One of the problems with good ol' C&W is that they put themselves in a box, (the old joke "I like both kinds of music, Country AND western" was believed by so many) and anything else was supposedly painful to their ears, which is unfortunate because their is some good stuff available.
That trend was split by Johnny Cash who was more of a Liberal than a Republican, and introduced Rock n Roll to the format. Even before his death he covered (brilliantly I may add) Nine Inch Nails 'Hurt' (which his kids didn't get to hear until after his death).
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 7:59:31 AM | I used to date a country and western lover, omg the music was so depressing. As already mentioned dead dogs gone to heaven, some bloke in a wheelchair watching his wife get all dressed up to go out on the pull, people getting shot, being sent to prison, wheels falling of carts - pretty dangerous that.
But what really annoys me about country and western, or even just country is the way they try to do that whinny voice as if they all came from the deep south. As for Jonnh Cash his voice was dreadful, he seemed to sing in the constant same tone (my parents were fans) there was no passion in his voice. Same with Elvis, i believe he did some country stuff, again so over rated and all very much the same chords, same tone, no bass - yeah wheres the bass in country? Its certainly not used to its full potential and i must admit the sound of a steel guitar is similar to one scraping their fingernails on a chalk board.
My mum is a lover of country, have to laugh, she says radiohead are depressing yet she sings along with Crystal Gale about some bloke cheatin on her and breaking her heart, and even worse its got no bass.
OP may i add a little about the family values. I took my 13 year old son to see Radiohead last year, im 42 and i met up with my neighbour who is 22 and i walked down to the gig with two older guys both in their 60's who i got chatting to on the train.
Music is for all generations whatever the genre. | |
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sjxx
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Joined: 4/9/2009
Msg: 13 | |
| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 9:25:14 AM | I love a bit of Dolly Parton. Jolene is on my ipod and my phone. In fact I have fantasies about living in Alabama, wearing a stetson, cowboy boots and Daisy Dukes and having a hot man that looked like Bo or Luke Duke who could play the guitar for me while I cooked grits. Whatever grits are. Its not cool but I like a bit of country and western. Yee ha good buddy  | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 9:30:21 AM | I love a bit of Dolly Parton
There's a couple of bits I'm quite keen on myself........
Whatever grits are
Don't go there Gal! They are disgusting! | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 9:58:54 AM | | I suppose Country music is an acquired taste........but I just think a lot of the songs sound so naff and seem to epitomise women as being homely, maternal, blueberry pie making, gingham wearing, Church going, man pleasers. Perhaps I've just got a lively imagination....I don't know but the lyrics always sound so self-absorbed and wholesome I just wish they'd try singing with an apple pie stuffed in their mouth as it might sound more edgey! | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 10:12:50 AM | Even Country artists can be dismissive of country music. Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon) released an album a few years ago called 'Put the 'o' back in Country'.
I think it's the marmite of the music world. People are rarely indifferent to it. | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 10:29:23 AM | It would be a bit much to expect that people who live on a tiny little over populated island could appreciate music originating from as vast a country as North America even if that music had it's beginnings in tiny little countries before that.
I like C&W, rockabilly, tex mex and more contemporary country music. But I've been there in that huge land and rode a horse up a hill and back down again when we were checking to see if the cattle were ok, I also slept under a mosquito net and thought the noise of them was going to drive me insane. I also kissed a cowboy, a real one. | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 10:33:44 AM | I don't listen to too much of it, but it's pretty inoffensive.
I heard that if one plays a rock track backwards, one can hear the messages from the Devil.
So, I played a country track backwards once when I was feeling particularly down, and it was great.......my dog came back to life, that funny rash healed, and my ex-partner realised that my best-friend wasn't the man she thought he was when she ran off with him, and she came back to me...... | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 10:43:38 AM | | give me bit of Shiana Twain.......ye ha ......me and the boys are camping out tonight on beans and sauages....might put a bit of country on lol | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 10:44:21 AM |
At it's worse it's 'Bob's Country Bunker' from the 'Blues Brothers' movie.
Hey dont knock the Good Old Boys - Thank god for chicken wire is all i say
"I like both kinds of music, Country AND western"
Yet another Blues Brother ref - fantastic film
There's nothing wrong with Country Music, I'm a closet fan of it myself (but don't tell anyone!)
your secret is safe with us
I think country music is declining because the standards that was based upon are changing. It is also finding a big decline in the states from where it originated.
For myself I like some and dislike others. Kenny Rogers has some fantastic songs
cant get to grips with that line dancing though. Whats that all about? | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 3:24:35 PM | The only thing I can find wrong with it is there isn't enough of it.
I pay my licence fee like 'most' others do... but where is the country station?
It seems to me that people just dis it without really giving it a chance.
I would recommend that you listen to Josh Turner, Hal Ketchum, Jason Allan, Toby Keith, Collin Ray, Alan Jackson, Mark Chesnutt, Rascal Flatts, Danni Leigh, Billy Yates, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Zac Brown Band, Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel... just to be going on with.... then come back and give an opinion!
... still not sure? I will be happy to keep on listing til the cows come home !!!! | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/9/2009 3:29:58 PM |
give me bit of Shiana Twain.......ye ha ......
Give me a bit of her too- but I still don't like Country | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/10/2009 3:37:21 AM | My original question asked why country music is so readily dismissed by so many....
I'd thought that many people were put off country music by the stereotypical image of songs portraying dying pets, lost love and slushy sentimentality etc (such songs figured quite large up until around the 1980s ) and having read the responses here it would seem I could be right.
7R (12) "depressing" and "whinny voices" going on to say that Johnny Cash had an awful voice as did Elvis (may the Lord preserve you!). Elvis, the best entertainer to ever have lived.... definitely a case of what is one man's meat is another man's poison.
BE (15) has only heard, or can only recollect the naff songs as described earlier. Whether she has heard the vast array of modern country that is bright, cheerful, current, humorous etc (see SS (21) for an extensive list of artistes) or maybe she's heard music she liked but didn't attibute it to country singers.... have you heard Alison Krauss with Robert Plant on the album "Raising Sand"? it's country BUT contemporary.
OTL (16) I used to sing country years ago and I'd tell the audience that before I came along it used to be called 'ry' music!
S (17) not too sure about having to live in a vast country to appreciate the music!
It would seem that the awful slushy songs of the past still remains in the psyche of many and this has distorted feelings towards modern country music. The music now is as technically proficient as any modern rock band but the subjects covered, whilst contemporary, are able to tug at the heart-strings (maybe this is what some people hate?)
Maybe some have been too dismissive not realising that the music has changed so much? Thanks to everybody that responded. | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/10/2009 4:02:54 AM | | Country music is toe tapping rooting tooting fun! I suppose that it's not so popular in this country as 1. It’s synonymous with embarrassing family/village barn dances and 2. We cannot really relate to it. However some of the greatest ballads/duets of all time are country ones! | |
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| What's Wrong With Country Music?
Posted: 8/10/2009 4:04:40 AM | | Country music is ace!Cant beat the likes of Dolly Parton,Reeba Macintyre,Ronnie Prophet,The Mavericks etc. | |
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