Did Blake Shelton Really Compare “Neon Light” to George Jones?
Blake Shelton. The Decider. Mount BS. Mr. Lambert.
On August 18th, he released his latest single called “Neon Light” from his upcoming Bringing Back The Sun album. As a rather sedated, nondescript, somewhat country, but ultimately sort of boring offering, it was really hard to get worked up about it one way or the other. Sure it has a banjo and a somewhat country setting, but it’s no “Tear In My Beer.” And sure it starts off with a stupid hip-hop beat, but that’s every damn song on mainstream country radio today. Starting a song with a hip-hop beat isn’t expected in 2014, it’s required. That stop sign was blown through and a couple of pedestrians mowed over on country music’s way to careening head on into a retaining wall some nine months ago. In 2007 this song would have made us all want to drink Drano, but in 2014? Eh, there’s much bigger fish to fry, and much better stuff to listen to.
But either Blake Shelton let some Twitter troll get the best of him, or he’s decided to tilt at windmills to give a little jolt to the song’s deflated reception, and he’s struck out on the warpath against the “haters.” “Of course, I’m always going to have the haters and critics out there that say it’s not [country],” Blake told Rolling Stone Country. “But then, kiss my ass! I know more about those records than a lot of people.”
Whoa, slow down there speed racer. First off, who exactly has a huge problem with this song? I’ve scoured the world wide internet looking for negative reviews for “Neon Light” and came up with a big bag of nothing. You check all the usual suspects of Blake Shelton hate, including Saving Country Music, and mum’s the word on “Neon Light.” Not to say there isn’t someone chirping out there in some social network comment section, but that’s for every song. And what’s up with unilaterally tearing into our country music knowledge for criticisms that don’t exist?
Blake Shelton then goes on to say, “The song, the melody, the chorus is so George Jones or George Strait. It really is.”
Oh okay Blake, so just because your song has banjo and is loosely about seeking refuge in a bar it’s now fitting company to be compared with the overlords of the genre? Is it really up to an artist to decide where a song fits in the pantheon of country music, or is that the job of history?
The simple fact is that Blake Shelton’s “Neon Light,” aside from the opening hip-hop beat—which should immediately relegate songs to the trash heap of country music history—is symbolic of the very slow, but very present return of a little bit more sustainable country sounding substance that is being evidenced across country music in the emerging post Bro-Country era. “Neon Light” should in no way be compared to George Jones and George Strait, no matter what measuring stick or perspective is employed. But is it better than Blake’s “Boys ‘Round Here”? Sure. Of course this is all a symptom of the diminishing returns we’ve been receiving from country music for the past few years, but you can’t help but identify the green chutes of promise when they begin to emerge out of the barren landscape of horrendously bad music.
“Neon Light” is not terrible, but it’s not good either. That’s about the best I can give it. It still is slavish to the rhythmic trends plaguing country music in the way the song repeats words in triples, but the chorus shows off Shelton’s vocal range. How it will fare on the country music charts will be almost exclusively tied to how much money the label decides to put behind it in promotion, because it’s not good enough to have a life of its own. Blake Shelton knows he can’t compete with the worst of Bro-Country, so he’s trying to carve out his niche as the popular traditionalist.
But George Jones, or even George Strait? I’m sorry, that’s BS.
August 25, 2014 @ 10:01 am
terrible song plain and simple
August 25, 2014 @ 10:31 am
Not a huge Shelton Fan but I tend to agree with him here. When I hear this song it reminds me of George Jones and I could just as easily see George singing this type of song. This might be the first song of Shelton’s I’ve liked since Ole Red. With all the bashing of Bro Country etc that has gone on, I at least give him credit for releasing something that comes close to sounding country. Problem is, Shelton may be proven right that Traditional Sounding Country doesn’t sell.
November 20, 2014 @ 9:52 pm
This song needs a bit more length, another verse maybe. The instrumental at the end does not do it justice. That being said, the first thing I thought of when hearing this song was George Jones. Vocal Range? Who? George Jones? Willie Nelson? Johnny Cash? Yes, George Straight, sure. Of course Garth, if you count him as country, I certainly do. This song has George Jones written all over it. Neon light, about getting over someone one? Pay attention. This is what country music is.
August 25, 2014 @ 10:37 am
But George Jones, or even George Strait? I”™m sorry, that”™s BS.
Yes, it certainly is. BS, that is. I really don’t give a shit what Blake Shelton knows about George Strait, or Jones, for that matter. Can’t really speak as to the Possum, but I have George Strait’s entire catalogue. And I can tell you that if this song showed up on a George Strait album it would rank at or toward the bottom if I ranked my favorite songs on said album. And I would be incredibly disappointed in him for completely giving in to the trends of the moment. I’ll admit I like Strait’s earlier stuff better, but even as of late he’s still miles above this sort of thing. And yes, this is better than the likes of “Boys ‘Round Here” and “Doin’ What She Likes,” but that’s an incredibly low bar.
On another note, as I’ve put it elsewhere, Marty Stuart has probably forgotten more about country music than Blake Shelton will ever know, but you don’t see him being a cocky asshole to his detractors, assuming he even has any. So who’s the better representative of country music? I know my answer. I bet you do too.
August 25, 2014 @ 11:20 am
Yes, Blake Shelton says how much he knows about country music in the same breath he proves how little he knows about George Jones.
August 26, 2014 @ 4:10 am
He certainly knew to compare himself to two guys named George. Or do you think it was more like “The song, the melody, the chorus is so George Jones .. er… or…. um…. what’s his name?… Straight,George Strait. It really is.”
August 25, 2014 @ 10:58 am
And I was listening to Thunderstorms and Neon Signs on the way to work this morning…As for this…umm…terrible song plain and simple.
August 25, 2014 @ 11:00 am
What was he looking for, top 10 in it’s debut week? Sitting #17 in iTunes after 6 days.
As for the song, good review. And that includes the part about his vocal range, which actually surprised me.
Wouldn’t buy it, but wouldn’t change the channel as I do for Donkey.
(Well, not change the channel exactly: just discovered that my car has a 30 Gig hard drive to which I can transfer music via USB. Only loaded 3 albums so far, and have been enjoying Isbell/Simpson/Worsham on shuffle for a week.)
August 25, 2014 @ 11:04 am
It really is hard to get past the production. The Kid Rock backing track is really off putting, hard to take any song seriously when it’s been so smashed and compressed and layered with crap
August 26, 2014 @ 6:43 pm
I completely agree. I actually really like the chorus…but that electronic-sounding banjo thing happening in the background through the verses ruins it for me. This song would be better if it was just acoustic, bass, drums, vocals. If the song was THAT, I could almost see it as George Straight-equse. Almost.
But, “blonde, blonde, blonde, at the bar, bar bar.” No.
August 25, 2014 @ 11:30 am
He can talk on, so long as he don’t make the grave mistake of putting Waylon Jennings name back in his @#$%^ mouth !!! Don’t do that !!!!!
August 25, 2014 @ 11:40 am
Forget Jones and Strait, it’s not even as good as Chris Young’s “Neon.”
August 25, 2014 @ 11:42 am
If George Jones called ‘He Stopped Loving her Today’ crap (and he did…sorta) I’d hate to hear what he has to say about this BS.
August 25, 2014 @ 11:49 am
I didn’t even know he had a new song out.
I only have two thoughts on this song. 1. Dang, this thing is boring. 2. That repeating words three times bit is so irritating.
August 25, 2014 @ 12:22 pm
I’ll admit it. This song is pretty unoffensive. The chorus is even a little catchy. It does kind of bring you back to the old Blake Shelton. The one that I could tolerate. Ol Red, Some Beach, Austin. But it’s still nothing special. The writing is pretty immature and repetitive…
It takes a lot of balls to compare yourself to George Jones or George Strait. There is not a single second of that song that I hear an ounce of George. Jones is probably rolling in his grave while Strait is probably rolling his eyes
The funniest thing though is that he is the one that said nobody wants to listen to their grandpa’s music. I’m totally over that bullshit. But if nobody wants to hear that music then why would you compare your own sound to it?
August 25, 2014 @ 12:45 pm
The funniest thing though is that he is the one that said nobody wants to listen to their grandpa”™s music. I”™m totally over that bullshit. But if nobody wants to hear that music then why would you compare your own sound to it?
Good point.
I guess the answer is I think Blake really sees his future in trying to be the traditionalist in popular country, and maybe he’s had a change of heart. And if either of these things are true, they’re not entirely bad developments.
August 25, 2014 @ 12:55 pm
This is true, although if that’s the case then it’d be nice if he’d ditch the arrogance. That’s at least as off-putting as his music, IMO. I mean, yeah, the music should be judged on its own merits as opposed as through the lens of Shelton’s previous asininity, but who really wants to root for someone who continually insists on being a very publicly arrogant asshole?
August 25, 2014 @ 2:12 pm
That is exactly what I was thinking. Every time he opens his mouth it makes it harder and harder to even try to like his music. If he suddenly decides to be the savior of country music, then more power to him (but from this, song, I think he definitely has the wrong idea of what traditional country is), but I’m not going to believe it just because he thinks its true.
But for me, it’s not up to you to decide if your music is great. It’s up to the fans. So for him to come out and compare himself to the greats shows a great deal of arrogance. He doesn’t have anything to back this up with, which just makes it that much worse. If it was Easton Corbin or Josh Turner saying this, I would give them a pass. But him repeatedly talking himself up is really getting old
August 25, 2014 @ 1:07 pm
What I like about this song: the vocals, the banjo, the lyrics, the chorus is okay.
What I don’t like: the awful, slick pop production that pretty much cancels out all those other things.
Strip this down to just Blake singing with a banjo and guitar and it would be a decent (not great) country song. But even then, not even close to Jones or Strait. I think Blake’s like, hey, this has a traditional country lyrical theme, here you go traditional country fans! Does he not even HEAR anymore how far off from “country” the production of this thing sounds?
August 25, 2014 @ 1:18 pm
Since when does the knowledge of a craft make you a proficient practicer of it? Someone needs to tell BS that knowing about country music and recording country music are two entirely different animals.
August 25, 2014 @ 1:20 pm
Meh , not God awful, not good just painfully boring and average. George Jones it is not ! Yes I get it a bar theme and a banjo but Jones quality not by a long shot.
August 25, 2014 @ 1:50 pm
This is beyond awful. If George Strait cut this song, Texas would disown him.
August 25, 2014 @ 2:12 pm
What angers me is that the “neon light at the end of the tunnel” idea could have made for a great country song. That line reminded me of ’90s country in a very good way. But the production took this song down a notch and the beat in this song kind of hurts its sincerity. As noted above, repeating words 3 times for affect was lame in pop music 5 years ago and is super lame for country now.
Had this song been written in the ’90s or late ’80s and just given the typical production of that era, it probably would have been a good song that deserved to be played with the other great songs of those eras. In this era of synthetic drum loops and echo effects, it loses all of its sincerity.
I would give the song a C. It could have been so much more.
August 25, 2014 @ 2:45 pm
I agree with you on this Trigger. It is not terrible. I listened to the entire song. However, I cannot see myself going out of my way to listen to it again.
August 25, 2014 @ 3:02 pm
I don’t think Blake gets enough credit from the country community. I get that this is going to be more pop than most here want, and I get that he should not have grouped himself with the George’s. Not sure if Jones would have ever cut this song but I could hear Strait doing it. Blake Shelton never apologizes for being a country music singer. Blake Shelton is the Country artist that pop singers get when they want to do a song with a little country edge. Shakira, Christina. And while Boys round here drops some pop and hip hop names and elements the theme of the song is un-apologetically country. Other “bro-country” seem to want to be pop hip hop artist first.
August 25, 2014 @ 4:54 pm
To be fair, the only reason Christina and Shakira collaborated with him was to promote The Voice. Same reason Maroon 5 collaborated with Christina and have recorded a new song with Gwen Stefani. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pharrell produces/sings on something from Stefani’s next album.
August 25, 2014 @ 7:37 pm
Blake Shelton is the Country artist that pop singers get when they want to do a song with a little country edge.
I”¦I don’t see how this is a selling point for Blake Shelton as a country artist.
August 26, 2014 @ 8:25 am
True, the two mediocre songs he has recorded with pop singers really don’t give him any credibility, country or otherwise.
I actually feel like the persona he depicts on television kind of creates a bad stereotype for country singers. He too often plays up the “oh ahm just a dumb ole redneck” schtick and talks about being drunk a lot. Then he performs his terrible singles in front of 10 million viewers and makes country look terrible.
August 26, 2014 @ 8:48 am
the persona he depicts on television
Yep, that’s definitely part of his problem, even if it is just a persona as opposed to who he really is. For the life of me I can’t understand why any music fan would find that endearing, or even entertaining. I mean, for fuck’s sake, just be who you are!
Assuming that’s not who he really is, that is…
August 25, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
Good lyrics and vocal but who’s the drone at 2:35, Darth Vader auto-tuned? 🙂 I don’t like the synthesized music or 3-peat lyrics. Synth in country songs ruins them for me. It’s not because I hate synth, it’s because they’ve replaced better country instruments and music I love more with it and it ruins the real, human-played music in songs. Real music is why I love country. Synthesized music is half of what’s wrong with 2012-2014 country and they need to kill that noise quick. It’s a shame that a city full of the best musicians in the world is replacing them with computers. Why is country the only genre that can’t stay true to itself? We don’t hear pop leaders like Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, and Beyonce putting fiddle or steel in every song.
Am I a hater? No. Do I love country music, is it my favorite and is this honest constructive criticism? Yes.
August 25, 2014 @ 6:35 pm
I totally agree.
I love synthesizers, I love drum machines, heck I even love distorted vocals (not necessarily auto tuned though), but those things do NOT belong in country music. Those things do not improve country music, nor do they “evolve” it, they cheapen it and lessen it.
August 26, 2014 @ 6:23 pm
I actually think those elements can be put to good use in country music, when used by an actually creative musician. One of my favorite Lucero songs has an unobtrusive drum machine in it, and I’ve heard a William Elliot Whitmore song where the vocals are all distorted. For the most part, I’d agree with you though.
August 25, 2014 @ 3:55 pm
With all the great music readily available these days, no one should resort to listening to something this bland. Blake had some good material in the past, but his new stuff has ranged from awful to boring.
To each their own though. If you enjoy this song then.. welp, enjoy it.
August 25, 2014 @ 5:38 pm
I personally thought it was a really good hook. I mean, it sure beats the hooks of most of the other songs the last year or so.
August 25, 2014 @ 5:46 pm
production aside… the chorus has a melody i could here strait doing and the song as a whole (production aside) i could have seen jones doing late in his career.
still bad though.
those drums kill me.
August 25, 2014 @ 7:19 pm
yall better wautch out talkin bout Blate sheltan like that. Hes a classic an yall better show em some respect. if he has a opinyun on some thing hes probly rite.
August 25, 2014 @ 8:22 pm
Trigger,
Figured this was as good as a spot as any to ask this question. I have been listening to Sturgill hard the past couple of months and I was wondering if his sunday valley album is worth a purchase or if I would be disappointed after being inundated in Metamodern sounds.
Thanks
August 25, 2014 @ 8:40 pm
I think the Sunday Valley CD is definitely worth the purchase. The problem is, where to purchase it. It is purposely out-of-print, and at the moment virtually impossible to get a copy of.
August 26, 2014 @ 6:26 am
The internet is an intriguing place. I came across a copy of the album earlier this week for download. I’d purchase if available, but this was my only current option.
August 26, 2014 @ 6:27 pm
TheRealBobCephus, if you can get ahold of that album, do it. It’s close to being my favorite album of the past five years or so. It’s more rock oriented than Sturgill’s solo albums, but it’s still solidly country. Plus, you get to hear Sturgill show off his ridiculous lead guitar skills.
August 25, 2014 @ 8:33 pm
So I’m gonna go against the grain here . First off , I absolutely despise 99% of what Blake Shelton releases . I cannot fathom the mileage he got from that last album .Almost every song pushed down our collective throat as a single would have, in my opinion , been a throwaway track on anyone else’s record , the last one, “My EYES “, being the bottom of the barrel, which is saying a lot when it comes to Shelton. He’s a trend-chaser at best and pretty much a Reba and Husband investment project , from what I can gather , which is the ONLY reason he gets the attention he gets .
Saying all of that , I’m gonna give Neon Lights a pass . NOT cuz its a great tune . But because it’s , at the end of the day , about the best thing I’ve heard from Blake Shelton since AUSTIN which , again , isn’t saying much , but let’s hope BS is starting to see MORE than the NEON light .
August 25, 2014 @ 9:09 pm
Do all these “hip-hop” beats in country music remind anyone else of Jimmy Pop from Bloodhound Gang with his Casio?
August 25, 2014 @ 9:59 pm
I agree. Not terrible but not really good. I really like Blake’s voice. Just needs to be cutting better songs. His singles before Boys Round Here were mostly good. I think The Baby is country at its finest, to cite one example. Everything he releases now hits #1. This one will probably do the same. Unfortunately, this will give him no reason to stray from his current formula. Much like Brad Paisley, another artist who used to carry the torch for traditional country. If the music and concert tickets are selling, why change? It’s too bad.
August 25, 2014 @ 10:37 pm
Sounds like every crap song he’s been releasing for a few years now. Jones? Strait? He’s having a laugh!
August 26, 2014 @ 6:16 am
Banjo sounds fake, the repeated words 3 times ambuscades my ears.
Seriously, one guy (like George Jones) used to write an excellent song. Now that we have 3 songwriters for every song why do the lyrics have to suck so bad?
August 26, 2014 @ 7:12 am
I hate this guy more every day, and I didn’t think I could hate him more than when I first heard him butcher Chris Knight’s “It Ain’t Easy Being Me.”
August 26, 2014 @ 7:55 am
I guess Ol’ Blake is strategically getting out in front of all those inevitable “haters.” So, so sick of the overuse of that word.
August 26, 2014 @ 7:56 am
“prayed, prayed, prayed for a sign, sign, sign” is lazy lyricism at best. Makes me want to “reach, reach, reach for a knife, knife, knife” and “lose, lose, lose my mind, mind, mind”
August 26, 2014 @ 8:31 am
When I think about it, I can’t understand how Blake Shelton’s music can be so overwhelmingly mediocre. He is one of the biggest stars in the genre and doesn’t write his songs. All he has to do is find good songs and record them. Any writer would kill to have Shelton record one of their songs since he’s so famous so he obviously has access to any song he could possibly want.
He can work with any writers, producers or musicians he wants since he’s a superstar but despite all of the resources he has easily available to him, all of his singles are either bad or okay. It just doesn’t make sense. For somebody with the resources he has, he should be able to make really good music. He has no excuse not to.
August 26, 2014 @ 8:42 am
SSR, I think the deal with that, generally speaking, is that some folks have a better ear for good songs than others. George Strait, for example, arguably has a great ear for good songs; I don’t think he’d have lasted so long if he had not. Neal McCoy, on the other hand? Not so much. Shelton falls somewhere in the middle of those extremes, more toward the Neal McCoy side as of late.
And that doesn’t even get into their motivations for recording certain songs. I don’t think it was discussed much here, but recently in the New York Times, John Esposito, the chairman of Blake Shelton’s record label, recalled getting a text from Shelton after they recorded “Boys ‘Round Here” saying, “Espo, we have just recorded the sound of money, lots and lots of money.” I mean, can you imagine George Strait or Alan Jackson saying something like that?
August 26, 2014 @ 12:59 pm
” It just doesn”™t make sense. For somebody with the resources he has, he should be able to make really good music. He has no excuse not to.”
You’d think .
The reality is that if it ain’t broke , why fix it . Whatever lack of knowledge of a great song BS may or may not have , he could not be any more successful than he is even if he DID record great songs instead of the crap he does record. He has a market for what he peddles . The market is happy to PAY for what he peddles and can’t seem to get enough of it. Which leaves INTEGRITY as the missing ingredient .He doesn’t seem to care enough about the music …only the $$ and the success and staying trendy while cultivating his Good Ol Boy image .
As I’ve wondered aloud in the past , how the hell do he and Miranda have intelligent conversations about songs when she records some of the most fresh , clever , trad-sounding ( with an edge ) raw , honest songs of substance ( for the most-part) and music around while he cranks out this generic over-produced under-written mindless bro-crap ?
August 29, 2014 @ 6:25 pm
I’m sure that Blake and Miranda approach music the same way that James Carville and Mary Matalin approach politics: they ignore it in their intimate conversations.
August 26, 2014 @ 2:02 pm
Such a boring song. Put a banjo in there and pretend it’s country
August 26, 2014 @ 2:12 pm
“Starting a song with a hip-hop beat isn”™t expected in 2014, it”™s required. That stop sign was blown through and a couple of pedestrians mowed over on country music”™s way to careening head on into a retaining wall some nine months ago.” Great analogy, Trig!
How in the hell does starting a song with a hip-hop beat put ANY song in the same realm of George Jones or even George Strait? A banjo does not a country song make… in this case it is insulting, reverse pandering even.
Yes… I’m a hater… but if I have said it once, I will say it yet again… 10 years from now no one will remember one freaking BS song. He won’t even be a trivia question.
August 26, 2014 @ 2:16 pm
I would add, if he knows more about those albums than most anyone, and all those old guys renegades like Ray Price, George Jones, and George Strait are his heroes, apparently he didn’t learn a damn thing… much like the banjo in a hip-hop song, it’s just lip-service.
August 26, 2014 @ 3:53 pm
What a fucking joke, so far from Country it’s not even funny.
August 26, 2014 @ 6:39 pm
whats the point of these lyrics I don’t really understand them. Essentially she left him, he’s bummed, and going to get a drunk at a bar. Well that’s not much of a story, that could easily be one sentence of a song. There’s no plot, no point, no metaphor; there’s nothing here to critque or deplore.
August 26, 2014 @ 7:19 pm
This lost me about 1.37 seconds in. Ugh. That processed drum beat. That’s before we even get to the overprocessed banjo.
The whole thing was waaaaay overproduced. And really I couldn’t get past that to even decide if I liked the song.
Jim Steinman, Tom Scholz and Mutt Lange can get away with overproduction. This song, not so much.
August 26, 2014 @ 9:26 pm
Its shitty!!
I made it to the 1:04 mark then just couldn’t take anymore.
When is this going to come to an end…like seriously, enough already!!!!
August 27, 2014 @ 1:33 pm
NEVER! THEY ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT STOP!!!
EVER!!!
UNTIL COUNTRY MUSIC IS DEAD!!!!
August 26, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
Blake Shelton actually put out a very good song in my opinion on his last album. It is a “bonus track” on iTunes. It’s called “Frame of Mine” and is a true country song. I definitely recommend listening to it. http://youtu.be/35aeJCjvdZc
August 27, 2014 @ 7:43 am
Meh. Blake’s comments are a desperate cry for relevancy. This song isn’t worth the comments in this thread … including mine.
August 27, 2014 @ 8:49 am
Ya know Trigger.. out of all current male singers and I mean ones we see on the tele, award shows, hear on mainstream country radio station and charts… Blake is actually the one I WANT so badly to give current music a new direction (at least for himself) the one I want to hear sing songs more soulful and raw… what most people call country.
I know he has it in him. I base that on seeing him live myself, songs he has cut more in recent years (those kinds on the record that are like throw-a-ways), songs he has cut in the past, songs I’ve heard him cover live, his deep love for all the great singers from the 80’s country era and his voice… wow, he honestly has a great voice. Like a good golden voice and one that is perfect for country music. Give him a great country ballad.. and he does it so beautifully. Don Williams, Conway, Ronnie Milsap… and god don’t shoot me. I’m not comparing his voice or him to them but his voice pulls me in the way they do on certain songs.
And even though we can all hate his past comments he made and some don’t like The Voice show and his songs in recent years haven’t been liked by some… I still think he is a cool dude and one most could sit down and have a beer with. That’s what I believe. But I know.. that has nothing to do with music for most.
Brad Paisley is the other one I think that way about too.
I have hope I guess. I don’t try to stay in a negative pool about current music and that’s because I’m listening to and enjoying so much other great music out there – new and old. (Sturgill, Brandy, Ashley, Loretta, Haggard, Waylon, Patty, Strait, Alabama, Dolly, Don, etc) I have hope for the future.. somewhere down the road that these guys pull me back in… like the way they did when they first came out. They have the platform and power to do it.
And as far as his new song, I’m like a few above. It’s just.. meh. Prolly would stand out more in a positive light but it won’t because of all the other songs by males on the radio right now that are cheesy.
August 27, 2014 @ 1:31 pm
Trigger.
I think you have a great website and I agree with everything you say about this piece of crap song. However, at this point, I think the best thing we can do is just not write about him at all and forget he even exists. Why? It is because personally, when we complain about this, we are giving him what he wants, like a spoiled attention starved child.
It is my firm belief that he puts out drivel like this and quotes like this to get under the skin of people like us. So the best thing is to not give him the attention he desires. Like I said, I totally agree with your opinion of this song, I am just saying we might want to try a different tactic that will not add fuel to his fire.
August 27, 2014 @ 7:16 pm
At some point, objectivity has to re-enter the country music landscape. Ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away in my opinion is a plan for failure. In my opinion, one of the reasons country music is in the state it’s in is because true journalism and critics were replaced with outlets that are simply promotional arms for major labels and the industry. Rolling Stone Country, where these quotes came from, has only been in business for a few months, and has already grown into the biggest bullhorn for Music Row and the country music industry we have ever seen. Country Weekly, eat your heart out. Blake Shelton compares his song to George Jones, and it goes unquestioned. Blake Shelton was back at Rolling Stone Country again today releasing more promotional copy about his music.
For some reason there seems to be a prevailing mindset in independent country that if we ignore stuff, it will go away. Saving Country Music was founded on the principle that everyone deserves good music, and to save country music, we have to take the war to them, not burrow back with an elitist mindset of, “Well, we have ours. Screw the rest.”
Blake Shelton will compare this song to George Jones over my dead body. The conspiracy theories are tiring, and many times, incorrect. You want to see someone falsely using the media for marketing, check out Brad Paisley. My radar is up for gaming of the media more than anybody’s. And if I have any, ANY inclination that is what’s going on, I will not participate. In this case, Blake Shelton said something stupid, and needed to be challenged publicly.
I appreciate your concern Mike, and I certainly understand the perspective. But in this case, I don’t believe ignoring the issue was the best course of action.
August 27, 2014 @ 3:14 pm
I think it’s damn good. Just because it doesn’t SOUND country, things change. Deal with it.
August 27, 2014 @ 4:11 pm
If you’re going to dismiss people’s opinions so flippantly, without even an acknowledgement of said opinions, then why the hell are you even here other than to just stir up shit?
August 28, 2014 @ 7:49 am
So I re-listened to the song after hearing his comments. I can actually hear how, in his vocal delivery, he is trying to emulate George Jones’ vocals. I’m not saying the song sounds like Jones, but it is clear to me that Shelton was trying to emulate Jones’ vocal style. I appreciate his attempt to be influenced by George Jones even though the song sounds nothing like a classic.
I can’t, however, see how this is influenced by George Strait. I get the feeling Shelton just name dropped one more legend to get more credibility or maybe relate to younger fans who don’t know much about George Jones.
August 29, 2014 @ 4:44 pm
OK . I’ve heard this song about 4 times in the past week and I’ve only turned my radio on for less than an hour trucking uptown and back in all that time . They play this non-stop it seems. I hate to do this but as much as I thought the idea NEON LIGHT was working , I’m so bored with it after only a few listens. I have to backtrack on my initial thoughts ( above ). It’s really no better than the shit Blake’s been peddling . In fact , its such a lazy attempt at writing a song that there is only ONE chord . ONE CHORD IN THE ENTIRE SONG !! COUNT ‘EM …..ONE ! It never moves or builds tension or resolves in a chorus or adds an interesting bridge chord or thought . I was really hoping I’d get more mileage from this one but…….
August 31, 2014 @ 3:29 pm
This is painfully bad. It is just awful racket with no redeeming qualities. With mindless lyrics like this, it is impossible for a singer to find the emotion of the song. The man
sings not from heart, but from his wallet.
And George Jones should not be mentioned in the same sentence with this dude.
October 7, 2015 @ 10:04 am
George Jones was one outrageously talented son bitch!. I’m sorry Blake but no one comes close.