Ann 2
Alain
JennYCountry Music: Do You think His Tractor's Sexy?
October 23rd 2006 15:50
We can't have a serious discussion about music, and not include country. We all know that there have been major artists in country music. Johnny Cash cannot be disputed. What I am asking you to consider is whether country music, in terms of overall impact and relativity to Joe Q. Public, could be labeled as possibly THE most important genre of music today?
Many think so. I am not sure that I would say it is the most important genre, but there is no disputing that the entire genre is geared towards a collective experience, regarding milestones of life and our reactions to experiencing them or not experiencing them.
The question is, do we care? Like all genres, country music has some pretty bad shit in it, Billy Ray Cyrus and his achy breaky heart can take a flying leap into a pile of shit and come out better than his music. Kenny Chesney, no, I don't think your tractor is sexy but you I could eat for breakfast.
The problem most people have with country music is that for the most part, with few exceptions, it has become a very commercialized industry. The lyrics are fluffy and feel good, the performers all look like models, etc. The appeal of country music is supposed to be the consumer's ability to relate to the performer, to access them, through their own experience. Like everything else today, sex sells and more and more country music performers are using it. Trace Adkins is singing about HonkyTonk Badonkadonks. The genre is changing quickly.
There are a few that I would absolutely consider artists. The aforementioned Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Kenny Rogers, Conway Twitty, Martina McBride, Reba Mcintyre, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Allen Jackson, and others have definately made significant contributions to this genre. There is something about these artists that stays with me. The simplicity of a lyric can become a beautiful image from these select few. As for the genre as a whole, I think it is losing its identity from the commercialization factor...damn it to hell.
How do you feel about country music? hate it? love it? like it? leave it? Tell me what you think. Let's try to be open minded, people. I know this is a hot topic for most music snobs that I have talked to. If you do hate it, explain why...and if you love it, likewise.
Many think so. I am not sure that I would say it is the most important genre, but there is no disputing that the entire genre is geared towards a collective experience, regarding milestones of life and our reactions to experiencing them or not experiencing them.
The question is, do we care? Like all genres, country music has some pretty bad shit in it, Billy Ray Cyrus and his achy breaky heart can take a flying leap into a pile of shit and come out better than his music. Kenny Chesney, no, I don't think your tractor is sexy but you I could eat for breakfast.
The problem most people have with country music is that for the most part, with few exceptions, it has become a very commercialized industry. The lyrics are fluffy and feel good, the performers all look like models, etc. The appeal of country music is supposed to be the consumer's ability to relate to the performer, to access them, through their own experience. Like everything else today, sex sells and more and more country music performers are using it. Trace Adkins is singing about HonkyTonk Badonkadonks. The genre is changing quickly.
There are a few that I would absolutely consider artists. The aforementioned Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Kenny Rogers, Conway Twitty, Martina McBride, Reba Mcintyre, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Allen Jackson, and others have definately made significant contributions to this genre. There is something about these artists that stays with me. The simplicity of a lyric can become a beautiful image from these select few. As for the genre as a whole, I think it is losing its identity from the commercialization factor...damn it to hell.
How do you feel about country music? hate it? love it? like it? leave it? Tell me what you think. Let's try to be open minded, people. I know this is a hot topic for most music snobs that I have talked to. If you do hate it, explain why...and if you love it, likewise.
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Comment by tinkster
drinking it off. Country is not as tragic or romantic as Rock and Roll. I haven't given country music
a chance though. I like Johnny Cash, and some of the others mentioned, but most of them are old
country. That's all I have, I just don't care about it enough to even go off on it.
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
But are you truly discriminating as a music buff if you haven't delved into this genre? I don't know, I'm asking. I can honestly say, I have listened to about everything out there at one point or another. Country is not my favorite. But there was a time in my life when it fit my life more than any other type of music.
You say that there is no pain, they just drink it off...as opposed to shooting up? In all fairness...
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by tinkster
You are right about alcohol vs heroin. I like the "wreckers" and that is because Michelle Branch
is the other half of the duo. Sorry for being hypocritical music buff
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
LOL I'd like to meet someone who wasn't. I can't stand 'Rap music. At all. HATE IT. Refuse to see the value. Can't talk me into it. But you could have put up a bit more of a fight!
I will say this...there is not a woman alive who would not physically react to the lyrics of Conway Twitty...the way he sang to women was an art.
"I can almost hear the echo of the thoughts, that I know you must be thinking...I can feel your body tremble as you wonder what this moment holds in store...And as I put my arms around you, I can tell...you've never been this far before...I don't know what I am saying as my fingers touch forbidden places..."
I remember being a virginal 15, seeing him in concert and turning to my mother and saying, "If I could get back stage right now, I'd already have gone that far..."
'Touch the Hand of the Man', "Touch the hand of the man who made you a woman and tell me you don't love me anymore."
I am listening to him right now...and my name plate on the outside of my port now says my last name is Twitty.
Very sexy man...give him a chance. If men today spoke to women as he did, it would be a better world. I would highly recommend his greatest all time hits CD. It's worth it.
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by tinkster
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
Yesssssss....lol.
I kid you not, he turns me on more than any other artist...even Prince (haha).
No joke. I bawled when I found out he passed away. Sexy man.
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by tinkster
Comment by tinkster
claim that I didn't know what I was saying or doing also
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
All I know...is that if I could go back in time right now..my last name would be Twitty. The thought of a man being so driven wild with passion at touching me that he couldn't speak...(is it HOT in here??? dear god...) is very sexy.
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by lethalpiano
People like Freddie Fender, Boxcar Willie, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Tom T. Hall (who was told to insert an initial into his name when starting out as there were too many artists with a similar name-told you I'm full of useless info!) Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine (live) is just superb, within the limited chord progression of Country music.
I have a comment to add there. I (and certainly a few more people) get thier emotional rocks off to the good Rock because of the progression. All great rock songs are a soundscape of imagination, like a record player is a time machine whereby one can travel to any amount of endless beaches, horisons or forests. And, rock, no matter how much you play it, still evokes the same passion as when you heard it for the first time, a thousand summers ago.
But it's more than that. There are some Country tunes out there that have a rich sense of progression/production. That sort of feel isn't really commercial in the Country music industry because it's too difficult to listen to for pure country buffs. If you could take some of the most heartfelt, tear-your-balls-off lyrics and ensconce them in a Rock progression, where the instruments belie the true emotion, you might just have hit on something there.
You can see it in the guitartists and drummers and keyboardists more than you can see it in the vocalist (with maybe the exeption of Janis, Steve, Robbie, Michael Bolton (yes, I said Michael Bolton!!!) The instumentalist's passion, emotion, truth, rawness and most times thier entire soul is magnified and diverted to a path that channels directly to thier fingertips, where the culmination of such is likened to a pulsating supernova, eclipsing both the mortal and the spiritual in a climax that is nothing short of cataclysmic.
This, ladeez and germs, is what country misses out on. The three chord progression and the subject matter isn't very deep. Before you all run to your collective collections (grin) to inundate me with your suggestions, there are a few that have not been dictated to by the Country feel. Ricky Scaggs, for one, is one of, if not the most technical of players, not to mention multi-instrumentalists out there. His work does, in actual fact, bear a lot of merit and if you're a true muzikal snob, it sticks out like dog's bollocks.
You can learn to be an entertainer; you can't learn to be a performer.
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
I love that you said, "All great rock songs are a soundscape of imagination, like a record player is a time machine whereby one can travel to any amount of endless beaches, horisons or forests." You also have written some lyrics, haven't you? Don't even bother to say you haven't.
As for whether country music lacks emotion or depth, today's music definately does, for the most part. I will go head to head with anyone on Martina McBride being an exception to that rule, as well. But as for emotion, have you listened to Loretta Lynn? The woman did not have a technical voice at all, not by today's standards. But it was unique and strong and deeply emotional. Her ability to convey the truth of her lyrics through a song was a spiritual experience. Limited chord progression was all that was needed. They didn't need anything more than their emotion and their voice back in the day. Today, like I said, its not the same genre it once was.
I love music. I love musicians and I am jealous of that talent...but I am most envious of the person who can make me feel. As someone who was dead inside for a lot of years, I love an artist who can come around and beat the shit out of my feelings. If they can make me cry, I am theirs, passionately, for life. This has happened for me listening to Alicia Keyes and Billy Joel play the piano...it has happened when I noticed that despite his horrible addiction, Layne sat on that damn stage at MTV and sang...he did his thing with teeth half eaten away from the corrosive effects of heroin because he was passionate. Music is very similar for me to writing...all the emotions expressed through the hands...
LethalPiano, I think I might just be yours, too...now just point the way to those bootlegs...*wink*
Come back,
Voices~
Comment by lethalpiano
I do have to admit, I second guessed you on Loretta Lynn. Didn't mention her coz I wasn't sure if you knew her.
But, no bootlegs for you, young lady!!! We don't get paid for bootlegs. Just wait till I get Stateside then you can be in my...audience.
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
The passion supernova was good, but I still liked the other one better, I'm afraid...
That has never stopped you before. :c) Please don't worry about whether I know the work of an artist. I will learn if I don't.
As for stateside, and just when will that be Mr. Piano?
Anxiously awaiting your arrival...
Come back,
Voices~