So today I had Thanksgiving with the in-laws, and between my wifes ipod, the radio, and CMT I was hit with a barrage of music I spend most of my time trying to avoid. Here is a run down of some of the things I heard:
- "God is great, beer is good, people are crazy", that was one of the songs, and what a trite song. It's like the script from a movie a 12 year old would pitch to Adam Sandler. Hey.....so you go to a bar right, drink with this old man all night and talk vaguely of everthing....then okay....get this.....the guy is millionaire and is gonna die and leave everything to you instead of his kids.....which by the way he never talked about cause he was too busy talking about all the women he effed after he divorced their mom(s).
- Some Toby Keith song with, get this this....smoove sax. Yes, it was about somebody dying and of course waiting in heaven for him, but the kicker was the Kenny G like smoove sax grooves all over this thing. Is Toby trying to get back in that "safe" zone that pop country seems to cater too? Allright, mention God and heaven, we should have this locked. Geez that makes me lose what tiny respect I had for the man's character . And by tiny respect, I mean that literally....a very small amount of respect, and only because he did stand his ground and hold on to his opinions in a genre where "safe" is the word. And my beef with Toby is not because he sang pandering patriotic songs, or his feud with The Dixie Chicks, or his general douchiness. No my beef with Toby stems from an interview I read in which he stated that if it wasn't for him Willie Nelson would have been a has-been. Really Toby....way I see it if it wasn't for Willie you'd still have that shitty looking curly mullet on your head.
- Some guy doing a cover of Hall and Oates. Wow, with this song and the smooove sax of Toby I think pop-country might be going Yacht Rock.
- Tim McGraw must be going for the world record in shitty name dropping songs.
- Miranda Lambert video for White Lies. You know I've always kinda just dismissed Miranda, but damned if this song wasn't enjoyable, also it had Jamey Johnson in the video as a preacher, and though the end of the song was a little forced and "safe" (there's that word again), it was better than anything else I was exposed to today (which could be the only reason I deemed it enjoyable). I also heard another Miranda track I dug off a compilation that Rockstar Aimz puts together recently and it was a cover of John Prine's "happy enchilada" song. I dug that too. Makes me wonder if her album is worth checking out. Hmm maybe I'll just talk my wife into getting it.
- Now there was a silver lining in the days overexposure to shitty music. At one point I gained control of the remote and found a Bruce Springsteen concert on TV. A few minutes later everyone else left the room.....winner: Me!
So today I had Thanksgiving with the in-laws, and between my wifes ipod, the radio, and CMT I was hit with a barrage of music I spend most of my time trying to avoid. Here is a run down of some of the things I heard:
Posts
I couldn't have laughed harder. Thanks. Needed that!
ReplyDeleteI can relate.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I'm grateful I spent Thanksgiving away from the extended family!
ReplyDeleteToby ain't going "safe"...the song is a tribute to Wayman Tisdale... personal friend of Toby's who was an All-Star basketball player for OU and the Pacers, Kings & Phoenix Suns as well as a Grammy winning jazz bass player. Wayman passed in May of this year due to complications of his cancer treatments. The sax you hear is Dave Koz...another friend of Wayman's. Maybe not your cup of tea...btu isn't not a sell out...it's a beautiful tribute. And hearing Toby perform it live, there wasn't a dry eye in the house...
ReplyDeleteThe subject matter of a song does not make a song good, it is the execution that makes a song. For example a song about princess isn't automatically go...nvm.
ReplyDeleteToby Keith has always been soft. He is no outlaw thats for damn sure! His runway pop country bubble gum songs are a plague along with all the other trash comin outta Nashville. Don't even sound like country music!
ReplyDeleteI'm confused. When, exactly, was it that Toby Keith DIDN'T play it safe? His music is as reactionary as his politics. That, of course, is his right, but it doesn't exactly take courage to do and say exactly what's expected of him. In the end he's just another playground bully, and that saxophone doesn't change a thing.
ReplyDeleteThis bullshit is SOOOOOOO far removed from real Country Music.
ReplyDeleteIt is what keeps me going back to Merle Haggard's quote about the current crap on CMT and GAC and all of "Cuntry" radio (no they don't deserve the "o"): Merle sez: "It isn't Country. It isn't even good Rock n' Roll".
My girlfriend and I, when we're feelin' masocistic, will watch CMT and yell at the screen 'til we can't take it any more. We do have a soft spot, that we can't, shake for Trace Atkins though. I know, I know...you've got your Hank Jr. and I've got my Trace.
Who names their kid Trace? Is is really Tracey? I'm not gonna ask him!
Miranda Lambert is the real deal in mainstream country. She is a small town Texas girl true to her roots. Got to see her open for Charlie Robison at Gruene Hall right after she got booted from Nashville Star (WTF?). She tore it up. Sure Nashville saws off the edges a bit too much, but she is authentic.
ReplyDeleteFrom Austin