Eli Young Band Goes Metro with “Turn It On”
Here we go country music fans, it’s time to usher in the new Metro-Politan era of poorly-conceived country music hyper-trends, so turn your dirt roads and tailgates in for club hookups and cocaine mirrors because it’s Katy bar the door, here come the dance club “country” songs at you hard and fast. Bro-Country who? That was so 2014. Now it’s all about combing your hair over like Sam Hunt, acting like you just turned 21 even if you’re pushing middle age, and get ready to say “girl” in every other phrase as you sing about consuming alcohol, late night hookups, and hardly anything else.
The Texas country outfit now turned Scott Borchetta Republic Records signee Eli Young Band were so eager to get their EDM/R&B/Dance contributions out to the malleable and easily-bemused country music public, they just rushed out a digitally-exclusive four song EP featuring nothing but this Metro sound called Turn It On. The title track is the EP’s first single. “We live in a time when fans are consuming music at a voracious pace as well as having a strong penchant for instant gratification.” The president of Republic Records Nashville Jimmy Harnen literally said that in a press release about this song.
What’s so unfortunate about this burgeoning hyper-trend beyond how blatantly obvious it is and how everyone is so keen to chase it, is who it has already claimed as victims so early in its arc. Gary Allan is out there with his big Metro single “Hangover Tonight” acting like he’s Thomas Rhett at age 47, and even though Eli Young was never considered hard country, they had a knack of taking quality songs like Will Hoge’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” and making them palatable to a wider audience. Now they appear to be all about getting paid.
“Turn It On” begins in a way that makes you think that maybe it won’t be all that bad. A guitar pluck à la the Rocky theme with a little sub-textured melody that reminded me of Caitlin Rose’s song “Things Change” draw your ear in, but it’s only to have a bowl of pig vomit dropped in your lap when the vocals drop in all super Auto-Tuned with a “Damn girl…” and the stupid, worn-out, stereotypical story of bumping into some girl in a club begins in earnest. We’re still measuring this Metro-Politan trend by weeks instead of months, and the songs are already coming across as incredibly predictable and tired.
After an initial few verses that fly by almost like a formality, the lyricism of “Turn It On” descends into a rhythmic and repetitive droning of “Turn it on, turn it on…” over and over like an audio version of waterboarding. It just goes to show that today’s lyricism is just another vehicle for rhythmic catchiness, and not for conveying anything of value. The only thing that makes this song Texas country is mentioning Shiner Bock instead of some corporate beer, and the attempt at shoehorning something that kind of sounds like a steel guitar in the mix is laughable. Florida Georgia Line has songs written better than this.
And as bad as “Turn It On” is, another song on the new EP called “Drink You Up” might do it one worse in its trend-baiting club-mix manner. It even name drops that awful “Blurred Lines” song. This is not just the story of a lead single to get the attention of the public to peruse their album cuts, this is a downright direction-changing redefining of a career and sound going on for the Eli Young Band. We might get an entire damn long player of this stuff down the road. And the other two EP tracks “Your Place Or Mine” and “Plastic”—though maybe slightly less unfortunate—offer absolutely no reconciliation. Eli Young Band has gone full Sam Hunt, and it’s not a pretty sight to see.
Most mainstream country music male artists and bands don’t even have a defined sound anymore. It’s just following one fad after another. Have they just completely lost the desire to express themselves as artists? Do they enjoy playing music that isn’t them? And nobody seems immune. The only artists who can’t be accused of trend-chasing are acts like Chase Rice and Florida-Georgia Line because trend chasing is all they’ve ever known. Sam Hunt isn’t even original in what he does. It’s just original to country. And you actually compare this music to the artists who make R&B-infused dance club music for a living, and they’d wipe the floor with these country hayseeds trying to get in on the action.
Sorry Eli Young Band but this is blatant pandering, trend-chasing garbage.
Two guns down.
March 16, 2015 @ 9:35 am
Is this Savage Garden’s comeback album?
March 16, 2015 @ 9:43 am
I avoid this kind of music like the plague but yet I still end up hearing it somewhere in the path of life ( unfortunately)
I am sooooo sick of the word ” Girl” !!!!!!!
Any idea when all of this is going to end?
March 16, 2015 @ 10:58 am
18 months from now when this particular trend flames out for the next unfortunate craze.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:40 am
Don’t worry Trigger, I will cross over to your world and stop this foolishness by then.
March 16, 2015 @ 2:36 pm
Trigger, what would you say are the primary differences between the crisis country music faces now and previous crisis points that it has faced in the past? My historical knowledge is somewhat limited, but it seemed that things had gotten stale and too bogged down by the record companies when Willie, Waylon, et al, came along and turned things around. It seems to me that there were guys like Haggard out there who had a lot of authenticity, but they were not a part of Nashville and it took a revolution among the Nash set to right the mother ship in Tennessee. Can that even be done this time? There is a lot of music outside of Nashville that is thriving, but it does not seem to turn it around? Haggard didn’t change Nashville, the revival came from strong leaders from within. Is that what is missing this time or are the problems larger?
March 16, 2015 @ 4:49 pm
“Damn it, the fight isn”™t in Austin and it isn”™t in Los Angeles. It”™s right here in Nashville, right here two blocks from Music Row, and if we win”“and if our winning is ever going to amount to anything in the long run”“we”™ve got to beat them on their own turf.” ”“Tompall Glaser
Country music will always be cyclical. What I think is exceptional with these new Eli Young and Gary Allan songs is now they’re not even trying to hide what they’re doing.
March 17, 2015 @ 3:17 am
They can’t really hide it any more, so why try? Why not just steamroll this shit down the pike, ground pounding and disco lights flashing?? They went to all the trouble to build this turd machine–and they aren’t gonna use it???
Maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe we should thank Nashville for being such a shithole. Because if that shit machine ever started crapping out good music, it would kill all the good independent stuff.
You know, the old Walmart vs. mom-and-pop scenario.
March 16, 2015 @ 4:09 pm
I will be with you until this unneeded country EDM phase fizzle out.
March 18, 2015 @ 3:41 pm
That’s not very uplifting news … At all lol 😉
March 16, 2015 @ 9:43 am
Jesus. I couldn’t even make it through 35 seconds of that song. Got a good laugh though, so I guess it’s good for something?!?
March 16, 2015 @ 9:57 am
Since when were dance clubs country?
March 16, 2015 @ 10:01 am
I wouldn’t even make my minions listen to this for punishment… I wouldn’t even torture Reed Richards with this… It’s too much, even for me…
March 16, 2015 @ 10:04 am
“We live in a time when fans are consuming music at a voracious pace as well as having a strong penchant for instant gratification.” The president of Republic Records Nashville Jimmy Harnen literally said that in a press release about this song.
He must have some Frankenfurter on his mama’s side.
March 16, 2015 @ 10:07 am
We live in a time when fans are consuming music at a voracious pace as well as having a strong penchant for instant gratification.”
What the hell does that have to do with any of this?
As to the song at hand, I am not surprised. Been suspicious of the EYB since the re-recording of “When It Rains.”
March 16, 2015 @ 10:10 am
I think we have a new subgenre here. Red Dirt Metro. 😉
March 16, 2015 @ 10:14 am
Selling out is such a double edged sword. On one side, they get a “quick fix” of becoming relevant again and getting a lot of (short lived) attention and a burst of iTunes sales, but at what long term cost? Do they really think that someone that likes this crap song is going to also like Crazy Girl or Even if it Breaks Your Heart and become loyal fans? Doubt it. So now they’ve pissed off their long time followers for a few dollars and an endorsement from Bobby Bones, but when they release a more traditional sounding song, the country clubbers are going to snub it and move on to the next Sam Hunt wannabe. Stay true to the fans that got you where you are guys. They are the ones that buy your albums and tickets to your shows, not these Coachella going clowns that you are ruining your reputation for.
March 16, 2015 @ 10:53 am
Jerod Niemann is the poster boy for this. Hope he made some cash off that Drink All Night song because it probably killed his career long term.
March 16, 2015 @ 3:35 pm
Hee haw!
March 16, 2015 @ 10:16 am
“We live in a time when people are consuming drugs at a voracious pace as well as having a strong penchant for instant gratification, like chewing the fentanyl patch instead of waiting for it to soak in over time.”
March 16, 2015 @ 10:23 am
I miss the good ‘ole days when they recorded quality music written by the likes of Will Hoge.
I actually never knew EYB existed until I heard “Even if it breaks your heart” on the radio and was disappaointed when I listened long enough to realize it was not Hoge but someone covering his song.
To this day I have never heard another song from EYB until I listened to that electronic drivel posted above.
March 16, 2015 @ 10:31 am
“Even If It Breaks Your Heart”, a Eli Young Band fan shouldn’t listen to this song.
March 16, 2015 @ 10:35 am
“…..but it”™s only to have a bowl of pig vomit dropped in your lap…”
You must be watching some interesting movies Trigger …. .!
This visual is so good it will almost surely wind up in a video when the next faction purveying yet another perversion of ‘country music ‘ spearheads its own 15 minute assault on tradition ( Metal Country ? ) Hey …pigs may be the only creatures that HAVEN’T yet thrown up consuming the shit being fed to the world under the ‘country’ brand .
March 16, 2015 @ 10:35 am
I’m in the minority that likes the new Gary Allan song, but this is pretty terrible and the other 3 songs released aren’t any better. Sad to see that they evolved into the garbage that gets radio play today.
Trigger, any chance you are going to review the new singles from Brothers Osborne or Drake White?
March 16, 2015 @ 11:01 am
I’ve been reviewing singles left and right and don’t want to become a one trick pony here, but there have been an inordinate amount of them worth commenting on lately. I might get to those, we’ll see.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:15 am
I really appreciate all the reviews Trigger; albums, singles, mainstream, independent, all of them.
Keep ’em comin’.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:36 am
Thanks. I appreciate the reviews and that you take the time to respond to comments. It seems like a lot of the single reviews lean toward mainstream acts releasing garbage. There are some interesting newer artists out there.
March 16, 2015 @ 10:47 am
Won’t these guys a positive influence in the country music world at one point?
Welp, another one bites the dust.
March 16, 2015 @ 2:47 pm
I’m not sure EYB was ever a “positive influence” in Country music. At least not like Gary Allan was/is prior to his new song. Honestly the best thing EYB ever did was probably bringing Will Hoge to more people by recording his song.
Outside of that, most of their songs have missed the mark for me. I have never disliked EYB, but they have always felt pretty vanilla/generic/safe. This marks a downturn for them simply from the fact they went a band I had no real affinity or dislike for, to now recording a group of songs that are awful.
March 16, 2015 @ 4:36 pm
I agree. Lol, I reckon we’re just a point in mainstream Country that generic and not bad is considered a positive for the genre.
March 16, 2015 @ 10:48 am
SUGGESTION for new ratings system Trigger
Pig Vomit ( undeniably the worst song ever released by a 2-legged mammal )
Pig Shit ( an unlistenable but unchangeable fact of life )
Pig Mucous ( unlistenable with long term unknown side effects )
Pig Drool ( unlistenable , unsightly but understandable considering the source – FGL , Aldean – Hunt etc.. )
March 16, 2015 @ 4:19 pm
Don’t forget Bacon for the occasional good song/album.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:15 am
I like EYB, but this new EP is atrocious. Unlistenable. Dumb, dumb career move. Maybe they can tour with Gary Allan now?
March 16, 2015 @ 11:15 am
Seriously did no one see this coming? They’ve always been a countrified Matchbox 20 band that only got by because they constantly pointed out that they’re from Texas. Always the Love Songs was even a direct rip off of 6th Avenue Heartache if we want to go further into 90’s pop comparisons.
I’m a big fan of a lot of the red dirt/texas acts but guys like this and Josh Abbot are pop bands and nothing more.
March 16, 2015 @ 5:34 pm
I’d be fine with EYB and plenty of today’s acts if they were a countrified Matchbox 20. At least MB 20 typically had really good lyrics and hooks.
March 16, 2015 @ 9:08 pm
Yeah, I actually consider “countrified Matchbox Twenty” a compliment myself.
Many assume because of my blistering reviews of so much of current country/”country” music that I am equally as dismissive of anything mainstream……….and that’s just not true. What I ask for most of all is some integrity and honesty in the lyricism and at least some teeth to the production………….and I thought Matchbox Twenty was one of the more honest mainstream pop/rock acts of the late 90’s and 00’s.
Granted vulnerability is not everyone’s cup of tea, and sometimes Rob Thomas can veer towards the syrupy his fair share. But his distinctive vocal (it used to have more of a drawl but it since has kind of softened) and heartwrenching lyrics generally struck me as coming from a sincere, personal place. I have very seldom doubted his sincerity as a songwriter, even if it was a little too “mom rock” for my tastes sometimes. And he didn’t try to pass himself as someone he wasn’t.
In truth, I actually prefer Rob Thomas’ solo albums to Matchbox Twenty’s (which aren’t bad, either, though certainly not groundbreaking). “…Something To Be” had plenty of interesting production touch-ups; especially on “I Am An Illusion” and “All I Am”
March 17, 2015 @ 8:53 am
I know! I always have considered Rob Thomas to be a great writer. I never understood why MB20 got so much flack. I understand they tended to be softer rock but the lyrics were always great, production was at least decent and the vocals were good. They never tried to be something they weren’t.
Their 1st album, “Yourself or Someone Like You” was my favorite by them. That one leaned more towards grunge or 90s alt. Anybody saying they are just mom rock needs to remember that “Push” received a lot of opposition from women’s rights activists who thought the song promoted beating women (it didn’t). Also, “Long Day” certainly doesn’t fit the mom rock style either.
Check out the Tabitha’s Secret album “Don’t Play With Matches.” That was Rob’s band before MB. Some of my favorite Rob songs are on that album. I particularly love “Dear Joan” and “Unkind.” There are also two early versions of “3 AM” that show how the song was originally arranged.
Most MB/Rob Thomas fans don’t know about Tabitha’s Secret but they were really good.
March 17, 2015 @ 3:10 pm
I’m indeed familiar with Tabitha’s Secret.
The group’s key founder Jay Stanley and Rob Thomas have been in a longtime feud. Apparently when Atlantic Records approached the band, the executives wanted primarily to develop Thomas as a frontman and also allegedly wanted to ditch Tabitha Secret’s two guitarists. Matt Serletic and Rob Thomas, accompanied by two of his bandmates and two new replacement guitarists, would then ultimately sign a deal that would result in Matchbox 20……………and resulted in a legal firefight after the fact.
Jay Stanley has even called Rob Thomas the “anti-Christ” in a previous interview. Who knows exactly how the transition truly turned out, but all I know is I appreciate music from both those bands regardless.
*
Another thing about Rob Thomas is that he obviously has a soft spot for country music……………but he also hasn’t tried to carpetbag genres.
I prefer he continue to refrain from trying to get on country radio altogether, but his collaborations with Willie Nelson and Travis Tritt and others were quite enjoyable, I have to say. They sounded like they were truly engaged in their efforts.
Seriously, if Rob Thomas were to pitch songs to the Eli Young Band and they cut them, it would automatically be a whole lot better than most anything they’ve trotted out since before “10,000 Towns”.
March 19, 2015 @ 3:26 pm
Look up “Matchbox 20 Push Country” on Youtube. It’s pretty cool.
I always loved the banjo part in “Unwell.” That song featured banjo more prevalently than most of today’s country songs.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:18 am
I might be alone in this, but I like the term “Metro-Politan”, though the music it describes can burn in Hell.
Trigger, if I may, your reviews are always the highlight of my day, and if there’s one good thing about the crappy “country” music being produced today, it’s the fact that we can all get on Saving Country Music and read what we wish we could say.
Now that the bullshit is said, can I borrow $5.00? 😉
March 16, 2015 @ 11:40 am
Had to listen after reading the review, and the comments. Not overly familiar with EYB, so wasn’t sure what to expect. Well, review/comments nailed it, this is pretty dreadful. 3 minutes I’ll never get back.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:47 am
Thanks for the review Trigger. Another forgettable radio song, if the radio will even play it. In my whole 29 years on this Earth, I have never hated country radio as I do right now. I am a life long country fan. I can’t stand this crap. I am not saying everything has to be hardcore honkytonk. I like variety which country radio has none right now.
March 16, 2015 @ 12:09 pm
The worst offense to me is not that it’s being trotted out as “country” on mainstream radio (because we all know that ship sailed long ago). It’s just a flat-out dreadful song no matter the genre.
This fits perfectly into Farce the Music’s tagline, “Because Bad Music Sucks”. There is no other way around it. It’s just bad, awful, horrendous, pig-vomit inducing drivel. And those are the good things I have to say about it.
March 16, 2015 @ 12:15 pm
I’ll admit to never having been the biggest EYB fan, I have found a number of their songs to be a bit melodramatically written and teetering on the Rascal Flatts line of soccer mom country.
That being said, they have produced some decent songs in the past, including “Prayer for The Road”. Sad to see them chasing trends, their run in Nashville may be closing soon if this does not pan out for them.
They may be headed back to Texas since they still seem pretty popular there, but we shall see.
March 16, 2015 @ 12:59 pm
I don’t know what I hate more about modern mainstream “country”–the lazy lyrics or the arrangements that include nothing whatsoever within the stylistic parameters of country music.
At least I can learn to like an arrangement if I drop the genre tag. Bad lyrics are bad lyrics, though.
Last but not least, the word “girl” needs to GTFO.
March 16, 2015 @ 12:59 pm
What the fu%k is that $hit? Why must everything be repeated repeated repeated?
March 16, 2015 @ 1:13 pm
Lazy, lazy, lazy.
No talent, no talent, no talent.
March 16, 2015 @ 1:19 pm
True true true
March 16, 2015 @ 1:23 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0njEwB1LVXo
March 16, 2015 @ 1:03 pm
Speaking of repetition, I want to see a rant on David Fanning’s “Doing Country Right.”
March 16, 2015 @ 1:34 pm
I found it humorous in a bad way, that you called these city boys “country hayseeds”. These guys are about as country, musically or otherwise, as the Austin skyline. But whatever, I love your rant-views.
March 16, 2015 @ 1:58 pm
This trend is like five years too late. I was honestly looking for country club music years ago when I was getting country music but now I kind of wish it didn’t exist ‘cos it’s ruining the genre. Having to defend country music to non-country listeners gets tiresome.
March 16, 2015 @ 2:11 pm
What in the hell happened to lyrical substance? This is the first radio country song I’ve listened to in nearly a year (went on a diet of straight Hank III and alt/outlaw bluegrass) and I’m…horrified. Who actually listens to this shit? What’s the target market?
March 16, 2015 @ 2:49 pm
In our small rural city (roughly 15,000 people or so) we have 3 radio stations: pop fm, country fm, country am. The country stations were mirrored and while it played lots of new stuff it also played older music. I’m talking “Tulsa Time” and the like. Now the FM country station is owned by the same conglomerate that owns our pop station (the AM station didn’t change) so it’s nothing but Sam Hunt and other shit 24/7 and people here fucking love it.
So there’s no accounting for taste I guess.
March 16, 2015 @ 2:11 pm
Dammit dammit dammit. These guys were one of the few mainstream country acts I liked anymore. Keep on sellin’ out, even if it breaks your heart.
March 16, 2015 @ 2:27 pm
Oh heck no they just didn’t
March 16, 2015 @ 2:42 pm
How to create an album for country radio in 2 easy steps:
1. Record an album in any* musical genre (rap, rock, pop, metal, jazz, etc)
2. Say the album is “country” in a press release.
Congratulations! You are now eligible to be played on the radio!
*NOTE: actual country, roots, bluegrass and Americana are not eligible.
March 16, 2015 @ 4:39 pm
Lmao, great post!
March 16, 2015 @ 9:12 pm
LOL that fits in today’s country radio and billboard hot country songs charts.
March 16, 2015 @ 3:36 pm
This song is awful. Eli Young band you stabbed Texas /Red Dirt in the back.
March 16, 2015 @ 3:37 pm
First Gary Allan and then Eli Young Band released crappy songs. Way to go country music.
March 16, 2015 @ 3:54 pm
It’s official
The sub genre of Nu-Country is here
It hurts me to say that cause I actually like Nu-Metal
March 16, 2015 @ 3:55 pm
WHYYYYYYYYYY???!!!!!!!!!
March 16, 2015 @ 4:12 pm
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
March 19, 2015 @ 9:55 am
indeed
March 16, 2015 @ 4:17 pm
How in god’s great fuck is that considered country by ANY stretch of the imagination!?!?!?!?!
I would pulled out a third gun to turn down Trig… Damn… :O
March 16, 2015 @ 4:22 pm
Yeah, fuck this.
March 16, 2015 @ 5:26 pm
I’m worried I’m looking at my first bar fight at my local honky-tonk. If they put this shit in the jukebox I’ll punch the first guy playing it in the face.
”“ Seriously
March 16, 2015 @ 5:31 pm
I’m again gonna try to call this “Metro-Bro” instead of “Metro-Politan.” When I hear this, I notice bro country roots but I don’t hear any countrypolitan roots.
So I will once again ask if anybody else favors calling this trend Metro-Bro.
March 16, 2015 @ 5:39 pm
I again second this.
March 16, 2015 @ 6:40 pm
I think Nu-Country still has a bit of a ring to it
March 16, 2015 @ 9:14 pm
I like that one too. metro-bro, nu-country, or country x.
March 17, 2015 @ 3:05 am
Hopefully it won’t get too big, and we can call it . . .(wait for it) . . . . Micro-Bro!
See what I did there?
Cheers!
March 19, 2015 @ 12:15 pm
Nashville Pop BS
March 16, 2015 @ 6:25 pm
Eh. They labeled themselves the way they did because it was a way to get into sorority girls’ pants where they came from. They’ve always worn lots of make up and hair gel. Even when they were playing in Texas there weren’t many guys in the crowd who weren’t there for the same reason.
True story. Several years ago I got set up on a date with my best friend’s wife’s cousin. As it turned out she was waaaay better looking than most girls I went out with. The plan was that we were going to dinner and then a concert. I acquired tickets to Ray Wylie Hubbard, who I’d never seen. She thought we were going to eyb because that’s who was being promoted on the radio station she listened to. I picked her up, everybody seemed to be pretty happy with the evening was going, things were going spendidly, and then I told her I was really looking forward to seeing Ray Wylie. She asked if that was who was opening for eli young band. She played their song guinivere for me on her ipod and told me how deep it was, how they really understood being a woman. Everything pretty much went to sh!t after that.
March 16, 2015 @ 7:31 pm
I feel like Casey Donahew Band, Josh Abbott and EYB are essentially the same bands and are completely interchangeable. They are all terrible bands that are so pandering it is sickening.
March 19, 2015 @ 12:13 pm
You are speaking pure truth, there, brother. They ALL suck lately.
Listening to JAB makes me want to stab myself in the eye with a fork.
March 17, 2015 @ 6:38 am
Sticking to your guns “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”. I’m proud of you.
March 16, 2015 @ 7:01 pm
puke in the air
March 16, 2015 @ 8:55 pm
………………..what’s this?
No line of shot glasses in the video?
BLASPHEMY!!! 😉
March 16, 2015 @ 9:02 pm
I rather listen to Chris Gains cd than this crap of a song.
March 17, 2015 @ 10:45 am
I must be one of the few people on the planet who really liked the Chris Gaines experiment . I ignored the ‘ drama ‘ and ‘ mystery’ behind it and listened to it as an album of good songwriting and solid musicianship/arrangements . And I still do . It’s way better on those counts than nearly everything on radio right now
March 16, 2015 @ 10:16 pm
Who’s next Lady Antebellum or Randy Houser please not?
March 17, 2015 @ 6:47 pm
Lady Antebellum have already been zeroing in on hyper-trends beginning with “Downtown” off their “Golden” album.
Then they tried returning to quality with the second single “Goodbye Town”. Then when that underperformed on the airplay chart and sold poorly they went into panic mode, rushed to the studio, recorded a few tracks clinically designed to fit in with trendlines, and released the EDM-meets-Mumford & Sons-dripping “Compass” as a radio single: which unsurprisingly topped the chart (quixotically they never released “And The Radio Played” as a single also, which would have been a bonafide trend-chasing hit).
They then further cashed in on the EDM-country bandwagon with “Bartender” and collected another big hit. But over the past few months, in the attempts to follow that up with another upbeat single that aggressively pandered to pop culture via namedropping Macklemore and pseudo-rapping the verses among other things in “Freestyle”, it proved to be too much to listeners and has become their second-lowest peaking single to date.
I’m pretty sure this will not be the last we’ll see Lady Antebellum desperately chase trends.
*
As for Randy Houser, he has blatantly pandered to bro-country and laundry-list country trends in his previous releases. Let’s not forget “How Country Feels”, despite also teeming with some strong cuts including the single “Like A Cowboy”, “The Singer”, “Power of a Song”, “Shine” and “Route 3 Box 250 D”…………..it also was anchored by three singles that all featured a truck and dirt roads in their lyrics, moonlight in two of the three, and generic love song cliches. It also had a couple of other pandering duds like “Sunshine on the Line”.
Now he has said in recent interviews that there are topics and themes he used to sing about that he will no longer do including “sippy-cup country”: which is very encouraging to hear come out of his mouth. On the other hand, while he may ignore certain lyrical fads, he may adopt some of the EDM/hip-hop production incursions with new material, and two of the rumored tracks from his forthcoming album are titled “Whiskeyssippi River” and “That’s How You Make Love”………which are hardly titles to be enthused about at face value.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:28 pm
anyone else think that this metro-country bullshit is a million times worse than bro-country?
most of this new crap doesn’t even have a country sound, it’s pop music. At least bro-country had some of that country sound we all love.
March 17, 2015 @ 8:41 am
Are we now entering the era where we say “at least bro country had…” ?
That scares me.
March 16, 2015 @ 11:56 pm
Whatever happened to women? It seems like people have abandoned women in mainstream music.
Destiny’s Child had a song Called Independant that was a huge hit for them and then Beyonce in the last few years releases a song about Girls running the world. Madonna put out Girl Gone Wild. Tim McGraw had “Lookin’ For That Girl”.
Leave it Cher to relaese “Woman’s World”. While not revolutionary at least it is about women and to some extent an acknowledgement of her age (meaning not a girl). But seriously to from Independent Women to girls utterly perplexes me. It’s like nobody in mainstream music wants to make lyrically mature music at all!
What happened to maturing and becoming a lady or a woman or you dating women. Hellen Reddy, Chaka Khan, and Peggy Lee we need you!!!
March 17, 2015 @ 1:20 am
Drunk last night was the last song they released that I could really listen too. I listened to there last song ‘dust’ and was extremely dissapointed because I knew it was the turning point to them making shit music. I saw they had released an EP recently but didn’t bother listen to it knowing I wouldn’t like it, sucks because these guys used to make damn good country music.
March 17, 2015 @ 4:59 am
It is easier for them to know what is popular than what is good. As long as they venture no further than that, we get the shit wagon.
March 17, 2015 @ 6:48 am
As I have often said thank god for Siriusxm I am rarely if ever exposed to complete crap anymore like this if at all. Every now and then I hop over to highway country for a good laugh but I spend my time on outlaw country, Willie Nelsons Roadhouse and bluegrass junction if you dont have SXM it is worth it.
March 17, 2015 @ 7:26 am
They should go back to their life at best stuff. They were Nashville then but not sell outs. Now they’re sell outs, and suck.
March 17, 2015 @ 10:52 am
Eli Young Band (Turn it on) I’ll turn it off.
March 17, 2015 @ 10:53 am
I don’t like this dog crap of a song.
March 17, 2015 @ 11:40 am
My mouth actually dropped open a little at that comment from Jimmy Harnen. I think it’s more that this sort of culture is being encouraged on every side that shocks me more than its mere existence.
I didn’t make it past the first minute of the song. One of my big questions is who hires these producers in modern country? The choruses are all so giant and loud and so crammed with stuff that it sounds like nothing at all. It’s annoying sound design if I’ve ever heard it.
March 17, 2015 @ 1:22 pm
This band sucks live. I mean, golf ball through a garden hose sucks. They don’t have the chops as musicians to write and play great music, so why not this? It makes perfect sense.
March 17, 2015 @ 6:21 pm
Funny story.
I’ve quite liked most of what EYB have put out previously, have seen them live quite a few years ago opening for Tim McGraw here in South Australia and enjoyed it. I buy this EP, hear the first track and think it’s pretty bad. But then the next track comes on and I was pleasantly surprised – it sounded like they were back to their Texas/red dirt upbringing! Until I realised iTunes was on Shuffle and it had picked a song from their self-titled debut. Played the remaining 3 songs on the new EP and proceeded to poke my ears out with sharp objects.
Way to alienate your long time fans, fellas.
March 17, 2015 @ 7:15 pm
Eli Young Band went from real country to crappy music. Eli young Band you need to beg Texas/red dirt for forgiveness.
March 18, 2015 @ 12:50 pm
This song should be called TURN IT OFF!
March 19, 2015 @ 9:54 am
“Turn it off” indeed
March 19, 2015 @ 9:57 am
Country music went downhill since 2012.
March 19, 2015 @ 3:29 pm
I think the spiral started in 2008 at the ACMs when Jason Aldean debuted “She’s Country.” That was the beginning of country moving towards more of an ’80s hard rock sound and fueled the “I’m so country” trend.
It also signaled the beginning of country getting louder and louder drums and guitars.
March 19, 2015 @ 12:11 pm
I remember when Eli young Band used to not suck… those days are long gone.
March 20, 2015 @ 5:41 am
And this long distance dedication goes out to Bobby’s sister, Peggy. Peggy can you turn it on before I turn it off”¦.Eli Young Band’s Turn it on everyone, not topping the charts anywhere that matters.
-Kasey Kasem