More "country" than thou?

[ratdog]

I'm not a big country music fan although I do like Johnny Cash and old-time country (Carter Family, Flatt and Scruggs, etc.). Not that I hate country music but I just didn't grow up with it and rarely listened to any until I met my wife who did grow up with it. Even now, when she has the Top 40 country station or CMT on, I pretty much ignore it as a part of the background. I usually don't really pay close attention to the lyrical content. Recently, though, we drove from Chicago to western Iowa to visit my wife's family and once you get beyond the reach of the Chicago stations, there's pretty much just country stations along with the ubiquitous talk radio, religious programming and the odd classic rock station along I-88/80. And when you're stuck in a car for six hours with little but country, you begin to actually listen to it.

One thing that struck me about the country songs I was hearing was the seeming need among mainstream country singers/groups to fervidly declare how "country" they are or imply how "country" is superior to city/coast. Almost every third song I heard contained more or less explicit riffs on the theme "I'm so country, look at how country I am!". These declarations of alienation are almost invariably followed by a list of commodities that presumably infer impeccable "country" credentials upon the singer/band that consumes them: cowboy boots, honky tonks, stock car racing, ATVs, enthusiasm for all things military, trucks (presumably four wheel drive), machismo, saying "hell yeah", beer or whskey, etc. Equally likely is a laundry list of things the singer explicitly reject: champagne and other obviously imported goods, showbiz celebrities (except for country musicians, of course), higher education, material wealth, any kind of urban or suburban social etiquette, etc.

All this would be just clever marketing via social self-definition except for the vehemance and seeming sincereity of it and the repeated assertions that the singer/group is ostracized by the vast majority of their society because they are "country" and that the protagonist "doesn't give a damn" what the assumedly high-falutin' folks think about him/her/them. This declaration of apathy is, of course, contradicted by the repeated harping on the topic.

Also, there is the usually unstated but yet unmistakable passive-aggressive implication that the self-appointed underdog is really superior (ie., more moral, more independent-minded, more "American", more "real", etc.) to those who are accused of belittling or ostracizing him/her/them.

The only other forms of music I know of that share some of this need for self-conscious self-definition against an "other" and occasional outright reverse snobbery are punk and some forms of hip hop. Punk, though, tends to be less consumerist/materialist and more committed to political, economic and social change while hip hop tends to understandibly overcompensate for the long (and continuing) history of racism in this country. Both are less passive-aggressive and self-pitying than top 40 country seems to be although gangsta rap, in contrast with punk, seems to be as accepting of "that's just how things are" as country.

Now before all the country fans bust out their flamethrowers and scream "Hater!" at me, I will also say that even mainstream country music speaks to the often harsh realities of the American proletariat than any other form of music - including punk. When was the last time you heard a rock or rap song about the grinding daily struggles of the middle-aged working mom, for example? Listen to any top 40 country station and I guarantee you'll hear at least three such songs in any given hour. Mainstream hip hop is too busy trying to maintain its "street cred" via posing and posturing and rock has long ago become the province of whiny self-absorbed shoe-gazers or freaks with too much makeup desperately trying (and failing) to be "shocking" to deign to speak to the mundane realities of everyday life. Both rock and rap used to be topical and relevant and both forms of music are, IMO, the poorer for their long-time disconnect.

I just wonder if the overcompensatory declarations in country are inseparable from the attempt to communicate with adult middle America or not. Not having a life-long familiarity with the genre or its history, I don't know if country music has always had that passive-aggressive streak and I'm just now belatedly clueing in to it or if this really is a relatively new phenomenon. I certainly don't hear it in Cash, the Carters or the other country music with which I am familiar, although my taste in country may be a self-selecting distorting factor. Also, if the country musicians feel like political and economic underdogs (or at least presume to speak for them), why do they not only not question the economic and political institutions that keep them presumably poor and unrepresented but often go out of their way to voice support for those very institutions that keep them down? Why the doublethink of faux populism rather than the real thing?

[nicodemus]

In my opinion, many modern country artists, like many artists from other popular genres spend a lot of time posturing to their fanbase and establish "cred" within and among their listeners.

Historically, there have been a lot of dissenters in country music: From classic examples like Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash to more modern examples like The Dixie Chicks and Hank Williams III.

I don't mean to say that many current practitioners of country music aren't sincere, but you know a lot of them are also selling a product they know their audience wants. Look at what happened to the Dixie Chicks, a lot of people wouldn't have been able to weather the storm as well as they have and I'd bet that there are other artists in the genre that have been afraid to speak their mind to the mainstream CMT country crowd. Thankfully you've got guys like Hank III and others that've given the middle finger to Nashville and mainstream country and probably have more of a "rock following" than you would expect.

[Footix]

In my opinion, many modern country artists, like many artists from other popular genres spend a lot of time posturing to their fanbase and establish "cred" within and among their listeners.


Exactly. And truth be told, most of what passes as "country" these days is total pop. I took my wife to a Keith Urban show a few days ago, and he's about as country as .38 Special was.

Sugarland? The hillbilly Roxette.

Nice essay, Ratdog.

[nicodemus]

And truth be told, most of what passes as "country" these days is total pop.
Yep. I refer to most mainstream "country" these days as "pop with twang."

[GringoTex]

Also, if the country musicians feel like political and economic underdogs (or at least presume to speak for them), why do they not only not question the economic and political institutions that keep them presumably poor and unrepresented but often go out of their way to voice support for those very institutions that keep them down? Why the doublethink of faux populism rather than the real thing?


"White Rose"

Yea, the whole town came out to watch
The day the paved the parking lot
Somebody hung a ribbon up,
And then they cut it down

And that big white rose upon that sign
Put innocence in all our lives
We could see its neon light
from half a mile out

Gas was .50 cents a gallon
They'd put it in for you
they'd bump your tires and check your oil,
And wash your windows too

And We'd shine those cars bright as bright
We'd go park underneath that light
Stare out at the prairie sky
There was nothing else to do

And now there's plywood for glass
Where the windows all got smashed
And there's just a chunk a'concrete
Where those old pumps used to stand

There's a couple a'cars half outta the ground
And that old sign still spins 'round 'n 'round
I guess the White Rose fillin' station's just a memory now

And the girls would spend a couple of bucks
Just to meet the boys workin' at the pumps
And we'd pull up and fall in love
And they've all moved away

Strangers used to stop and ask
How far they've driven off the map
And then they built that overpass
And now they stay out on the highway

'Cause there's plywood for glass
Where the windows all got smashed
And there's just a chunk a'concrete
Where those old pumps used to stand

There's a couple a'cars half outta the ground
And that old sign still spins 'round 'n 'round
I guess the White Rose fillin' station's just a memory now

And that neon sign was the heart and soul
of this ol' one horse town
And it's like it lost its will to live
The day they shut it down

And now there's plywood for glass
Where the windows all got smashed
And there's just a chunk a'concrete
Where those old pumps used to stand

There's a couple a'cars half outta the ground
And that old sign still spins 'round 'n 'round
I guess the White Rose fillin' station's just a memory now

Yea that ol' White Rose fillin' station's just a memory now


"Pump Jack"

I see you standin' in the sun
Like an iron dinosaur
Got your tired head restin'
On a West Texas floor
We were really something son
Back in our time
Yeah we broke a lot of hearts
And we made a lot of dimes

Pump Jack pump Jack
Pump a little more
'Cause Daddy's cut it thin
At the general store
Gentleman's dime don't float that long
Hey pump Jack pump before my good name's gone

You know I lost my baby to a wildcat dream
I was fueled by the crude and the gasoline
It's hard to settle down with a roustabout
That oil burns hot 'till the oil burns out

Pump Jack pump Jack
Pump a little more
'Cause Daddy's cut it thin
At the general store
A gentleman's dime don't float that long
Hey pump Jack pump before my good name's gone

Standin' in the panhandle
Cussin' this well
Wishing like the devil
Praying like hell
At the end of this string is a pot of black gold
Sittin' in the bottom of another giant hole

Pump Jack pump Jack
Pump a little more
'Cause Daddy's cut it thin
At the general store
A gentleman's dime don't float that long
Hey pump Jack pump before my good name's gone

Yeah pump Jack pump before my good name's gone

Pump Jack pump Jack
Pump a little more
Pump Jack pump Jack
Pump a little more
Yeah pump Jack pump Jack
Pump a little more
Pump Jack pump Jack
Pump a little more




"Get Drunk And Be Somebody"

Yeah the big boss man, he likes to crack that whip
I ain't nothing but a number on his timecard slip,
I give him 40 hours and a piece of my soul,
Puts me somewhere at the bottom of his totem pole,
Hell I don't even think he knows my name...

[Chorus]
Well all week long I'm a real nobody,
But I just punched out and its paycheck Friday,
Weekends here, good God almighty,
I'm going to get drunk and be somebody
Yeah, yeah, yeah...

My baby cuts hair at a beauty boutique,
Just blowin' and goin' till she dead on her feet,
They walk right in and sit right down,
She gives them what they want and then she spins them around,
Hey I don't think they even know her name...

[Chorus]
All week long she's a real nobody,
but I just picked her up and its paycheck Friday,
Weekends here, good God almighty,
Baby lets get drunk and be somebody
Yeah, yeah, yeah...

Well just average people, in an everyday bar,
driving from work in our ordinary cars,
and I like to come here with the regular Joes,
drink all you want, be the star of the star
of the show

[Chorus]
All week long bunch of real nobodies,
but we just punched out and its paycheck Friday,
Weekends here, good God almighty,
People lets get drunk (lets get drunk!)
All week long we're some real nobodies,
but we just punched out and its paycheck Friday,
Weekends here, good God almighty,
People lets get drunk and be somebody
Yeah, yeah, yeah...


Gawdam, that Toby Keith's a reglar Dylan.

[oman]

At least rock and rollers are never sellouts.

[ratdog]

At least rock and rollers are never sellouts.

Whenever I see accusations of "sellout" I'm instantly reminded of long, boring letters to maximumrocknroll whining about how someone's former favorite punk band is a "sellout" because they've sold more than 20 CDs.

[ratdog]

Gawdam, that Toby Keith's a reglar Dylan.

A faux populist Dylan maybe.

--------------------

1989 the number another summer (get down)
Sound of the funky drummer
Music hittin' your heart cause I know you got soul'd
(brothers and sisters, hey)
Listen if you're missin y'all
Swingin' while I'm singin'
Givin whatcha gettin'
Knowin' what I know
While the black bands sweatin'
And the rhythm rhymes rollin'
Got to give us what we want
Gotta give us what we need
Our freedom of speech is freedom or death
We got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say
Fight the power

Chorus

As the rhythm designed to bounce
What counts is that the rhymes
Designed to fill your mind
Now that you've realized the prides arrived
We got to pump the stuff to make us tough
From the heart
It's a start, a work of art
To revolutionize make a change nothin's strange
People, people we are the same
No we're not the same
'Cause we don't know the game
What we need is awareness, we can't get careless
You say what is this?
My beloved let's get down to business
Mental self defensive fitness
(Yo) bum rush the show
You gotta go for what you know
Make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say...
Fight the power

Chorus

Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant shit to me you see
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
Mother ******** him and John Wayne
Cause I'm black and I'm proud
I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps
Sample a look back you look and find
Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check
Don't worry be happy
Was a number one jam
Damn if I say it you can slap me right here
(get it) lets get this party started right
Right on, cmon
What we got to say
Power to the people no delay
To make everybody see
In order to fight the powers that be

(fight the power)

[ratdog]

I don't mean to say that many current practitioners of country music aren't sincere, but you know a lot of them are also selling a product they know their audience wants. Look at what happened to the Dixie Chicks, a lot of people wouldn't have been able to weather the storm as well as they have and I'd bet that there are other artists in the genre that have been afraid to speak their mind to the mainstream CMT country crowd. Thankfully you've got guys like Hank III and others that've given the middle finger to Nashville and mainstream country and probably have more of a "rock following" than you would expect.

I think the story of the Dixie Chicks just makes me further question the faux populism of today'sd Top 40 country. I suspect that it's a self-reinforcing cycle. The musicians give the audience faux popullism which the audience swallows and internalizes and then demands. At which point, the musicians primarily offer more faux populism because "that's what the audience wants". Maybe.

[ratdog]

Exactly. And truth be told, most of what passes as "country" these days is total pop. I took my wife to a Keith Urban show a few days ago, and he's about as country as .38 Special was.

Sugarland? The hillbilly Roxette.

Good point. It's not like anybody in rock is exactly stirring up the proles to evolutionary self-awareness. And nobody since Public Enemy has tried it with rap either.

Nice essay, Ratdog.

Thank you.

[GringoTex]

A faux populist Dylan maybe.


Dylan's primary audience has been the educated white collar bureaucratic bourgeoisie. The guys who love to listen to songs about the revolution while they wack off to their paycheck signed by the system. Thus, they can embrace their moral superiority while simultaenously blaming others for the failure of the revolution.

Keith's audience is the proletariat and he gives them what they want.

There's only one faux populist in this duo, and it ain't the Oklahoma boy.

[ratdog]

Dylan's primary audience has been the educated white collar bureaucratic bourgeoisie.

Oh, it's even worse than that. His audience was primarily college kids and people who were already liberals. No self-respecting red stater would've been caught dead listening to Dylan.

Keith's audience is the proletariat and he gives them what they want.

See, this is where you fall into the same marketing trap as the people you want to believe thought Dylan (or U2 or Rage Against The Machine or <your favorite rock/rap act name here>) was some kind of "Peoples Poet". The dirty little secret of Top 40 country (including your hero) is that it - like today's "metal"- is pitched squarely at middle class suburbanites who've never milked a cow, would be horrified if they got any mud on the tires of their Lexus SUVs, pray that their daughter never brings home a real redneck and wouldn't even know where to find a honky tonk in their area (assuming there is one where they are) if their lives depended on it. In short, he's aiming straight at all the wannabes who live in Naperville and wear cowboy hats and go dancing at the Cadillac Ranch. The same is true of Gretchen Wilson, the ************** in Montgomery Gentry and the whole thing is neatly summed up in Faith Hill's pathetic song about how a "Mississippi girl don't change her ways" (note the faux bad grammar) that tries to bamboozle us into believing that aw shucks, she's just a simple lil country gal and all those millions in the bank and celevrity parties in Hollywood don't mean nuthin.

There's only one faux populist in this duo, and it ain't the Oklahoma boy.

Toby Keith is as genuinely populist as Steve Forbes.

[oman]

See, this is where you fall into the same marketing trap as the people you want to believe thought Dylan (or U2 or Rage Against The Machine or <your favorite rock/rap act name here>) was some kind of "Peoples Poet". The dirty little secret of Top 40 country (including your hero) is that it - like today's "metal"- is pitched squarely at middle class suburbanites who've never milked a cow, would be horrified if they got any mud on the tires of their Lexus SUVs, pray that their daughter never brings home a real redneck and wouldn't even know where to find a honky tonk in their area (assuming there is one where they are) if their lives depended on it.

So how is that different from just about every other popular form of entertainment?

It's a dirty little secret if you're a numbskull.

A flaccid thread about the obvious. As if pretty much everyone didn't already feel that mainstream country was pointless anyway.

[ratdog]

So how is that different from just about every other popular form of entertainment?

In this one aspect, not much I'm afraid.

It's a dirty little secret if you're a numbskull.

Wow, you just called GT a numbskull. Him and a few hundreds of millions of other Americans.

A flaccid tangent about the obvious within this thread.

Fixed. GT went off on a tangent that was originally only a small part -and not the most important part- of the first post here.

As if pretty much everyone didn't already feel that mainstream country was pointless anyway.

As much as I may not be a fan of the genre or agree with much of what it pretends to stand for, even I have to admit that lyrically it has more of a point to more Americans than 99.5% of what passes for rock and rap these days. Unless you're under age 15 or some kind of emo shoegazer, that is. I'm just a bit disappointed that country has apparently gone all passive-aggressive, not to mention choosing the whiny route that has made rock so goddam boring the past 15 years.

Anyway, I assume you've chosen the "country music has always had that passive-aggressive streak and I'm just now belatedly clueing in to it" option from my first post here. OK.

[oman]

Wow, you just called GT a numbskull. Him and a few hundreds of millions of other Americans.

.

GT is a numbskull no doubt. But liking music has little to do with what it's underlying message is, and also little to do with whether you are in on the gag in the first place.

You're misunderstanding who I am calling numbskulls. People who like what passes for much of modern country music may have poor taste, but they may not be numbskulls.

[GringoTex]

See, this is where you fall into the same marketing trap as the people you want to believe thought Dylan (or U2 or Rage Against The Machine or <your favorite rock/rap act name here>) was some kind of "Peoples Poet".

Except that the difference between me and you is that I really am proletariat. Your morality was shocked by a simple drive out into the country. It turned your radio world upside down in your padded cell. You heard references to NASCAR and it made your heart race. You wanted to apply continental psychological theory to a bunch of rednecks. And you're serious about it.

We like Toby Keith because he sings a good story to a good beat.

[bojendyk]

FWIW, country has always marketed a certain image. A friend of mine from Nashville used to tell me about how the used record bins are clogged with records by yesterday's flashes-in-the-pan and superstars, all of whom had carefully designed personas and looks, right down to the down-home names (e.g., Johnny Paycheck). There is no golden age of authenticity.

However, as much as I personally dislike modern country, and as easily as I can see the marketing departments and hit factories behind the marquee names, it's clearly music made for an audience that doesn't include me. The audience may include some well-to-do urbanites with $250 Stetson hats and Lexus SUVs, but clearly, the largest segment of the audience really has been excluded from the wealth and prosperity and influence that a few people enjoy. When I worked dead-end jobs in college, the biggest country fans also happened to be the people who didn't attend college and who didn't really have a prosperous future ahead of them. In other words, they weren't poseurs.

My guess is that the honestly poor or struggling fans of country latch on to the boasts of authenticity because they *do* see the Lexus SUVs and other accoutrements of the urban cowboy. They probably react in the same way I reacted to the influx of frat boys to punk and grunge shows in the mid-90s, after Nirvana broke--that their scene has been invaded by poseurs and trend followers.

[Sachsen]

Excellent and interesting thread.

I'm somewhat similar to ratdog in that I was never a country music fan growing up; it was not until I got married that I had it essentially forced on me. My wife grew up in the country, she rode horses, and her dad was a sometime rodeo cowboy who worked as a foreman in a potato warehouse. The music at her house growing up consisted of Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, George Strait, and Johnny Cash. Boy did I get myself edumacated fast.

I eventually grew to like country because they sang about things that no one else was singing about -- family, God, low income jobs, actually loving your wife and kids instead of living a bohemian life of one night stands, love for your country. This was real stuff, stuff that appealed to me and my life and what was important to me. No, I'm not a cowboy. Yes, I have a white collar desk job. But I'm not rich - I drive a 1995 Ford with 140,000 miles on it. I do love getting out of the city and going camping for the weekend. I grew up in a small town and my grandparents were farmers. Something about country music appeals to my roots.

Granted, it's not all country music -- stuff like Faith Hill is unbearable to me. But Cash, Strait, Alan Jackson, early Dixie Chicks before they went all wacko political, and (believe it or not) Kenny Chesney -- the stories they tell speak to me in some way that no other music does.

[oman]

I thought the last great time for "country music" was when Dwight Yoakum and Steve Earle became big. Mid 80s.

But then again, I was in Austin at the time so I thought every bit of music that was happening at that time was good.

[zman31]

The populist sentiment of much of pop-country is what makes it appealing to the masses. The stories are their stories. The sentimentality of a song like God Take the Wheel might make me cringe but it gets right to the heart of a lot of peoples' experience. It doesn't hurt that the Nashville hit factories employ the best musicians in the world and the touring bands for these singers and groups are outstanding. There is a lot more pop than country in the top 40 of the country charts but there are some genuinely well crafted songs, excellent players and singers to be found in there. A lot more than can be found on the regular pop charts in my opinion.

The "alt country" phenomenon sparked originally by outsiders like Cash and Nelson and continued by Yokum, Earle, Unkle Tupelo, Robbie Fulks, Old 97s, Neko Case, and others brings the musicianship, excellent song writiing but drops the pop sheen and hokkum that's complained about in the pop version of the same. Check out Fox Confessor Brings The Flood from Case or Georgia Hard from Fulks.

I couldn't help but think of Fulks when I saw the title of this thread as he has a song called Countrier Than Thou:

countrier than thou
countrier than thou
you whatdnt raised in a shack
so you better not act so countrier than thou
some people just don't understand it
if you come from where the kudzoo grows
they think the south is like a planet
of peckerwoods and bozos
when i was young i picked some tubers
even took a swig of moonshine
but i never saw so many goobers
until the day i crossed that line

countrier than thou
countrier than thou
you wasn't born in a cave
so you better not behave
so countrier than thou

down at the bar a spinnin haggard
he wore a johnny red tattoo
overalls, he spat and swaggered
lord, he was boston jew
he loved bluegrass, oh, brother
when I said shania he sneered
that's a word I wouldn't utter
we like to keep it downhome up here

countrier than thou
you ain't never read your bible
tell me was your bi-ball ?
countrier than thou

rock!

yeah, home is nice
and dixie is nice
and everyone likes a thang that's nice
but everybody likes you better by far
when you are what you are

not a hillbilly dilettante
fairweather hick
gimmee cloth foam faux fox
well read neck
robert e come lately
hayseed wanabee
undercover yankee
mississipPihD
alabama you're
50% less tarheel
armchair arkansan

He's got a ranch. He wears to stetson
he's a hip shooting ex-oil king
even talks like buddy epsen
but he's sitting in the west wing
frankenstein, i'm well aware of
but won't somebody please explain
how you get a county sherrif
walking with a frat boy's brain

countrier than thou
countrier than thou
well you went to andover
what's the banjo for
countrier than thou

lost white trash!