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Country music fans -- important questions

Posted on 8/12/12 at 8:57 pm
Posted by bobbyray21
Member since Sep 2009
9490 posts
Posted on 8/12/12 at 8:57 pm
When did Country music start sucking so bad?

Where did it all go wrong?

Why did this happen?

Who is responsible?

What can be done to reverse the trend?

Posted by OldTigahFot
Drinkin' with the rocket scientists
Member since Jan 2012
10507 posts
Posted on 8/12/12 at 9:12 pm to
The advent of the video era changed music in general. Both rock and country fell victim to the pretty pictures that accompanied the below average songs. Writers are no longer moved by events and emotions. Instead they search for the next cliche to exploit and try to dazzle their audience with cheap special effects.
Posted by TH03
Mogadishu
Member since Dec 2008
172004 posts
Posted on 8/12/12 at 9:19 pm to
Rain makes corn

You make my speakers go boom boom


I don't know if Luke Bryan started it or not, but he's continuing the shittyness of country music.
Posted by TommyCheeseballs
Milwaukee WI
Member since Jan 2007
8565 posts
Posted on 8/12/12 at 9:33 pm to
There's plenty of good "real" country music to be had if you look for it in other places besides country radio.There's been shitty country pop out there for a long time. It's nothing new. Alabama, Dolly Parton, Eddie Rabbitt, Kenny Rogers, John Denver...Obviously it sounded different than Aldean, Church, Gilbert, whatever but there's been mass appeal country forever.
Posted by bobbyray21
Member since Sep 2009
9490 posts
Posted on 8/12/12 at 11:16 pm to
quote:

There's plenty of good "real" country music to be had if you look for it in other places besides country radio.There's been shitty country pop out there for a long time. It's nothing new. Alabama, Dolly Parton, Eddie Rabbitt, Kenny Rogers, John Denver...Obviously it sounded different than Aldean, Church, Gilbert, whatever but there's been mass appeal country forever.


So you're saying country music on the radio has always been bad?

And, fwiw, I actually sort of like Eric Church. He is my lone exception to the rule.
Posted by TheDoc
doc is no more
Member since Dec 2005
99297 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 5:17 am to
bobby, have you listened to american aquarium?
Posted by Gorilla Fingers
Member since Jul 2011
1553 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 7:40 am to
It has always been my position that the Bellamy Brothers began the downfall of country music with the song " if I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me". That song inspired lots of that same type of "clever" lyrical twist that began to cheese up the whole thing. While there were still real artists out there, that started a 10 year slide. Then Garth Brooks came along and finally polished it off with over the top, fake awe shucks, stadium size shows and turned country music basically into bad pop sung by dudes in cowboy hats. You eventually end up with a cheesy Tim Mcgraw instead of a real Johnny Cash.

I still really like the singer/songwriter stuff. Have always been a fan of Guy Clark, Lyle lovett, REK, Steve Earl, Steven Fromholts, Joe Eley, etc but now the college crowd has discovered them and it even makes them a pain to go see at times depending on the venue. Don't even waste your time with a Jerry Jeff walker show anymore.

It's a shame because there is some damn good music in its history and present but most of that doesn't get play anywhere these days
Posted by Flair Chops
to the west, my soul is bound
Member since Nov 2010
35651 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 8:06 am to
quote:

When did Country music start sucking so bad?

Where did it all go wrong?
with the success of garth brooks, imo.

and i like garth.
Posted by Chitter Chatter
In and Out of Consciousness
Member since Sep 2009
4667 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 8:52 am to
quote:

Rain makes corn

You make my speakers go boom boom


I don't know if Luke Bryan started it or not, but he's continuing the shittyness of country music.


:bow: :bow:

Bryan is the king of country crap.
Posted by TheDoc
doc is no more
Member since Dec 2005
99297 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 8:56 am to
Country went wrong when it became country pop instead of country & western
Posted by TTownTiger
Austin
Member since Oct 2007
5359 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 9:33 am to
quote:

with the success of garth brooks, imo. and i like garth.


I can agree with this and I like Garth as well. He was known for rocking out his concerts, thus becoming very popular for combining rock n roll and country. IMO, the success of the rock n roll atmosphere of his live performances led to more rock guitars being used in the studio on country albums, which gradually started shifting the mainstream sound that way (more loud guitars & drums, less slide guitars & fiddles). A rock sound will appeal to a wider range of audience than a traditional country sound, unfortunately.

Then you throw in the pop success of the 90s females like Shania, Leann Rimes, Faith Hill, etc (and even a couple of the late 90s guys like Bryan White and, to an extent, Colin Raye) who all had major pop/country crossover hits - I think they really opened the door for mainstream lables to focus on the pop country bands like Rascall Flatts.

Both of these two sounds took off around the same time in the mid - late 90s. So mainstream country got overly flooded with with one of these two types of country music in the 00s and continues to do so.

Posted by treble hook
Member since Nov 2011
2310 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 11:04 am to
We get at least one of these threads every week so it it goes...

quote:

When did Country music start sucking so bad?

Millions of albums of current country artists are still being sold so somebody likes it. "Sucking" is subjective term. Church puts out some good music. Brantley Gilbert puts out good stuff. Luke Bryan gets hammered on here, but if people would listen to some of the songs on his records he has some decent stuff like "Tackle Box" and "You Don't Know Jack."

quote:

Where did it all go wrong?

Garth started the trend of modern mainstream country if that's what you are talking about. Country turned heavily "pop" in the late 80s and early 90s with bands like Alabama. Having said that, artists like Strait, Jackson, and Chesnutt were still playing more of a traditional country.

quote:

Why did this happen?

Because that's what the majority of people want to hear. If the music form the 60s and 70s would still sell millions of records that's the music that would still be being made. The music industry is a business.

quote:

Who is responsible?

Read answer #2.

quote:

What can be done to reverse the trend?

When people in general start to like different types of country music it will change a gain. Country music has changed a ton over the years. Some good some bad. The fact is it will keep changing.
Posted by biglego
San Francisco
Member since Nov 2007
84705 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 11:21 am to
Country definitely changed in the 80s with the urban cowboys and then changed again in the 90s with Garth et al. But it still sounded good. It was still songs about love, drinking, and mama.

This current crop of shite has been going on for a decade now and it's unlistenable. It's far more poppy than the 90s stuff, and seems even more geared to the soccer moms. And it's very churchy too. Seems all a new song does is find new cheesy ways to sing about how fun going to church is.

That smooth melancholy of Mark Chestnutt is nowhere to be found, just one example.
Posted by Motorboat
At the camp
Member since Oct 2007
24167 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 11:24 am to
quote:

What can be done to reverse the trend?


Get Sirius Radio, turn channel to 60 (Outlaw Country). Tell your friends to tell theirs. Maybe this will stem the tide.
Posted by TFTC
Chicago, Il
Member since May 2010
23560 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 11:26 am to
I agree that there has been and still is good country music out there. The crap that usually is played on the giant country stations is pop music with a steel guitar or fiddle. These people are in the business of making money and that's what sells.. it's really no different than modern pop/rock...
Posted by treble hook
Member since Nov 2011
2310 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 11:43 am to
quote:

These people are in the business of making money and that's what sells..


That's what I try to tell people. The "crap" they play on the radio today is what sells albums.

I'm not really crazy about anything in the country top 40 right now but there are some decent songs.

IMO there is a defference between the not so great country on the radio and songs like "Truck Yeah" (Tim McGraw) and "I Like Girls That Drink Beer" (Toby Keith). Songs like those are beyond crap. It should be against the law to play on the radio.
Posted by L Boogie
Texas
Member since Jul 2009
5213 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 11:57 am to
You're listening to the wrong country music. There are plenty of great Texas country artists.
Posted by Tchefuncte Tiger
Bat'n Rudge
Member since Oct 2004
63408 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 11:58 am to
quote:

When did Country music start sucking so bad?


The 1980's

quote:

Where did it all go wrong?


Got away from lying, drinking, cheating, and hurting music and went to redneck pop with the fake twang and drawl and smarmy crap about how much the singer loves his daddy. Country music is no longer the "white man's blues."

quote:

Why did this happen?


Decline of rural society.

quote:

Who is responsible?


Bands like Alabama and the Urban Cowboy phenomenon resulting in more commercialization and acceptance of the genre outside of the white working class.

quote:

What can be done to reverse the trend?


Nothing that doesn't involve a homicide.
Posted by Rocket
Member since Mar 2004
61117 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 12:41 pm to
quote:

Garth started the trend of modern mainstream country if that's what you are talking about. Country turned heavily "pop" in the late 80s and early 90s with bands like Alabama. Having said that, artists like Strait, Jackson, and Chesnutt were still playing more of a traditional country.


What was being put out in the late 80's to the mid 90's is my favorite flavor of country music.

Stuff like this:

Brooks - Cold Shoulder

Posted by treble hook
Member since Nov 2011
2310 posts
Posted on 8/13/12 at 12:50 pm to
quote:

What was being put out in the late 80's to the mid 90's is my favorite flavor of country music.


Mine too. But this is when you saw alot of country turn more "mainstream" or "pop"

I am personally not a huge fan of the outlaw country
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