Friday, September 04, 2015
Preach it, Merle!
Merle Haggard on today's country music: It's crap: "I can't tell what they're doing," says The Hag. "They're talking about screwing on a pickup tailgate and things of that nature. I don't find no substance. I don't find anything you can whistle and nobody even attempts to write a melody. It's more of that kids stuff. It's hot right now, but I'll tell you what, it's cooling off."
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9 comments:
Tell it like it is, Merle!
He's right, of course. Did you see this YouTube video about how all "bro country" sounds alike?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WySgNm8qH-I
Another video by a disgruntled fan mashes up six songs that are completely indistinguishable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY8SwIvxj8o
The critic who put the first video together, Grady Smith, isn't just a complainer; he champions the real country artists out there (often characterized these days as part of the "Americana" genre) - including Merle's fave Sturgill Simpson.
http://www.ew.com/article/2013/12/18/best-country-albums-of-2013
And stay off his tailgate!
"I turned 21 in prison doing life without parole,
No one could set me right but Mama tried. Mama tried. "
They sure don't write 'em like that any more.
Jeff
Thanks for those links, PM. Here's what struck me as the basic truth of what he says: "I don't find anything you can whistle and nobody even attempts to write a melody." Maybe that's not what the public wants these days, though.
Country music today seems to be aimed squarely at white upper-middle-class twenty-somethings from the south and west. It's indistinguishable "bro" songs about girls in shorts with tans who exist solely to ride in the singer's pick-up truck. Blech!
Also unrelated but grammarians take note:
http://m.newser.com/story/212406/lack-of-a-comma-has-big-legal-implications-in-tenn.html
/one day I'll figure put how to send you links without just pasting them in unrelated comments.
Thanks, Deb.
Country and rap sound more like rock because they are being ground out for the audiences that used to listen to boring rock.
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