Why the hate against Country Music?

Post Reply New Topic

I meet very few people who like Country music, but to me its the most amazing genre of music ever produced.

I have read all the history of Country music- I am from Virginia, which is the birthplace of Country. Well I got all the Country records- including a few old 78s by The Carter Family. I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and it was amazing!

I don't really like New Country, but I like the Country music from the early 1990s and before that. Country music is story telling songs, I like that. I also like the Cowboy and Western songs, with the yodeling. There's so much variety in Country- you got the Bluegrass, and then there's Folk, Cowboy songs, Western Swing, Pop Country, Nashville Sound, etc.

But Rap and Rock music sound like primitive noise to me. I dont understand why people like it. Pop music has no meaning.
Country music lyrics are full of meaning and poetry about every day life. And the performers are good live, just like the record.

I grew up in probably the only part of Maryland that was redneck and and hick. Half the people in high school were country, and the other half were rich kids. It was a strange mix to say the least. I hated country music because I heard it all the time, and to me it represented lame farmers who partied in barns and went cow tipping. Hello? 21st century calling! We have electric guitars as well as banjos!

OK, so there were no banjos, but country music does not belong at halftime of a high school football game, especially when the team is usually winning by like 30 points every time. If I had grown up on a farm, maybe I wouldn't have hated country music so much. Too much of this "Mah dawg daaied, bew hoo hew" and not enough "Beer neer neer neer neenuh neenuh millie millie millie milliieee!! *Explosion* YEEAHH!" One of these things is not as lame as the other, certainly to a high schooler with a sister trying to modernize him from the oldies he used to listen to on the radio till the age of 10.

I like the old stuff.

yeah I like the old stuff particularly the REAL old time country music (pre-bluegrass). But it seems like most people hate country music because they are exposed to the new stuff, which is like pop music but with country accents and serves to create a sub-culture based upon a dying people's failures. It forms a mind-set of reminiscence about the good ole days, disregarding progress. It also reinforces stereotypes about rural poverty, alcoholism, domestic relationships, etc. I believe the media is creating new negative subcultures of peoples, by preying upon the poor rural and urban populace of this country. These new subcultures are created for political and economic gain are are largely negative for the individuals and families shaped by them.
A lack of culture creates an opening for corporate interests to implant something into their mindset. And what is with all the pseudo-rap in new country music? LOL And it seems like the woman singers are all loud and angry. I prefer it when they have pretty voices.

I observe that country music has a lot of emotional loading, and much of it revolves around averse or painful situations.
Some people may not like to 'revisit' their pain.

I'm ambivalent about country music. Modern country is pretty much conservative politically correct rap music. Instead of rapping about their Escalade on 24s, they'll sing about their lifted Dodge daulie diesel pickup with the mud tires and a lift and how city boys can't hang with badass country boys like themselves. That and country now is sorta almost auto-tuned to all have a particular sound to it. So modern country is pretty bleh. Fun to listen to for laughs, like modern rap music, but yeah.

Anyway, some classic country I like.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VjuWXQn79k[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMRos2bj_Ro[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmazEpH0aZs[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET2WLsjnres[/youtube]

It's something I'd like to get into more, classic country. I kinda don't know where to start. I might listen more when my HD radio goes in my car and I can listen to the classic country HD2 station (as the regular country station is unlistenable because it sucks.) I used to be one of those people that hated country and was totally against it, but Fallout New Vegas (yep, hipster as hell, I know)'s classic country/classic country style songs changed me to be more open. Then up in West Virginia on vacation last year, there was a great classic country station (with a crapload of commercials as apparently nobody cares about classic country) and I LOVED some of the songs on it, and when I heard them I immediately googled them and tried downloading them. But, after I got home I kinda sputtered out, as I don't know where to really go. I did download two Rosanne Cash albums I listen to quite frequently.

As far as why people don't like country music, well, I'll give you reasons why. Modern country sucks. No way around it. It sucks. Modern rap also sucks, but old rap (and R&B) and underground rap you can find really decent music. Also, music to many people, isn't so much listened to for it's own sake, but it's a social commodity. So, if you find the "Redneck" culture that country tends to represent not a culture you wish to be apart of, you don't listen to country music, regardless of if you actually like the music. You see this across the board, rap is for darker skinned minorities and/or criminals, techno/dance music is for homosexual people/Europeans, classical music is for snobby rich people who buy fine wine and cheese and drive BMWs, etc. Consciously or subconsciously, people associate cultures or subcultures with what they listen to. People don't like getting out of their boxes.

The other reason is, I feel people many times need their music to be stimulating, if that makes any sense. Rock, pop, rap, etc, are very stimulating music, they'll get you riled up. I think it's only as you get older and more mature do you start wanting more relaxing music, at least this is what happened with me. I don't think you're right that country is "the best" to me it's just the same as any other kinda folk or slower music. Vanessa Carlton - Home, take that song. To me that song is like, totally easy to relate to, and it's beautiful. But there's very nice country songs like that, too (for example, Crystal Gayle - Till I Gain Control Again.) But generally the person that hates country will hate a non country song like that, too, as it's not super mega action packed. Lastly, for the people that don't need super mega action packed music, many times music to them is an intellectual thing. Country music is never really complex or intellectual. You have to feel it. Some people are legitimate in their "intellectual" needs for music, and other people are poseurs and do it to look smart and sophisticated.

Again, I actually DO like country now, I'm a convert if you would. One neat thing I'd like to get into is more Spanish music. I got an Ana Gabriel album on vacation in Vermont and I'd listen to it daily for months. Think of it like Spanish country? Lots of ethnic music that's slower/older style is imo, the same as country in spirit.
Ana Gabriel - Quien Como Tu
Oleg Romanenko - Yes it Was Love (Russian Pop music)
Sen Masao - Kitagani No Haru
This song is a Japanese enka song from the 60s or 70s, looking at the lyrics, it's really no different than country lyrics, no?

Long tl:dr post, but maybe stuff to think about, or I'm just rambling.

I haven't been exposed to too much country music, but Pandora does a pretty good job at that.

I think the only modern country artists I actually like are Little Big Town and Michelle Branch.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmfi1DxPFvo[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Ui__B6efA[/youtube]

I didn't know Michelle Branch was country? But I love Michelle Branch.

EDIT:
Oh wow, her new songs are quite country. Compared to her old stuff.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPQQ3eJWEk4[/youtube]
Her old stuff just sounded more pop. Heh, time to check out her new stuff. It was just odd hearing her sing that way, though.

nobody can beat any of the hanks.

I can't listen to country without feeling sick and getting a headache. Folk is fine though.

I just cain't take the twang.

This is supposed to be the ultimate country song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsa5IiNjIkQ[/youtube]

The repetition. My opinion is based more on current country radio vs the classics, but here goes...


-Performer must sing with drawl, even if they're Canadian or Australian?!?
-Two verses with repeating chorus, then it's key change time for emphasis.
-Find the most completely depressing scenario to sing about, and really roll around in it. (Such as a recent song about dying of cancer...that was played five times daily at least)
-Insert key relevant "country" phrases... mom, apple pie, pick-up truck, beer,whiskey, American flag, fishin', etc. Otherwise you aren't truly country, I guess.
-Don't change song rotation on any station for at least five years.
-Play it backwards, and get your wife, dog, and truck back.


This is just from my experience of being forced to listen to our local country station pretty regularly.

Generic Country Song #5...

[opinion=mine]

Many of today's C&W songs have a very melancholy rhythm. The rest are what I call "Country Rap" - instead of gangstas, they have Good Ole Boys; instead of "Hos" they have ex-wives, ex-girlfriends, and mothers-in-law; instead of cocaine and meth, they have beer and whiskey; instead of "Homies", they "... got friends in low places".

Occassionally there may be a country song that catches my attention for a while, but then there is an almost immediate rush by every other wannabe country music star to copy the instrumentation, the harmonies, and the rhythm of the song (if not the actual song itself) and claim it as their own.

I'm not saying that country music is inherently bad - most of the performers are infinitely more talented that I could ever hope to be. I'm just saying that there seems to be a sameness to the genre that is matched only by the sameness of the genre called "rap".

[/opinion]

My dad listens to BlueGrass stuff all the time and it can get on my nerves. I'm not sure if it's just the music I can't get into or the culture that comes with it.

Country music also tends to be weak on beats and percussion.