...brought to you by a couple of tidbits from the fine folks at Country California...
First off today, I know a lot of folks get really teed off when you call it "kiddie country," or "country music for people who don't like country music." I suppose I could understand that, but what do you say when even the fans of that music agree?
"I mean, I'm not really a fan of country but [then] I heard Taylor Swift," Adally, 16, from Lynbrook, New York, told MTV News before Swift's sold out show at Madison Square Garden. "[It's] kind of pop, so it's a good kind of country that kids can get into."
...
"I was never into country but this is like pop so it's good."
I think that pretty much says it all right there. And I suppose there's a place for that sort of thing under the country tent, and for all I know those kids might find out later that they actually like folks like George Strait, Patty Loveless, Merle Haggard and Tammy Wynette, but I still think that's a pretty thin argument considering Taylor Swift and her contemporaries are so different from that. I've said it before but I'll say it again: I find it much easier to buy the argument that, for example, the folks who got into Metallica, Queensryche and the like via their mainstream breakthrough albums would find it easy to get into their earlier music because, for all the caterwauling of the old fans who cried "sellout!" there were still elements of that earlier not-so-mainstream sound in those albums. And you can't say that about a lot of new country; a lot of it that they market to the next generation seems to be completely disconnected from everything that came before. Call me stuck in the past if you like, but I will never see this as a good thing.
Next up in the crosshairs, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles on the duet with the B-52s:
Irreverence can be really powerful. It’s like subversive rebellion. You’re not screaming, “I’m going to change the world” Performing with the B52’s, we weren’t waving a flag and saying “Look at us—we’re bringing this iconic gay band into CMT.” We just did it, and people had to accept it. They loved it without even thinking about it.
Wow, and all this time I thought it was just one more example of country music's continuing slide into mediocrity. I said over at CC that I don't really give a damn about any agenda, but I'll tell you now that I do find it appalling in the extreme that Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush would contribute to the continuing bastardization of country music to promote said agenda. As for being daring, yeah, well, not so much, I think...it seems to me that the daring thing to do now would be to pull out some old song that they only play on the classic country shows anymore. I'd guess folks like Reba McEntire would say they weren't "keeping up with the times," though...
Finally this morning, we have more great album covers from Farce the Music. As you might guess, the first one was my favorite. ;-)
|