Embarrassment for Toby Keith’s ‘Red Solo Cup’ ACM Nods
I know I shouldn’t care about the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM’s), who just announced their 2012 nominations. I know that they will always live in the shadow of the much more revered Country Music Association awards (CMA’s), and as country award shows go, the ACM’s are the ones rife with the practice of block voting, i.e. labels, entities, and artists horse trading votes in a quid pro quo process to create the desired nominees and winners according to Music Row politics.
But if I don’t care, and we don’t care, who else will? Certainly the ACM’s don’t care, and lack any respect for themselves if they are going to nominate Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” for single and video of the year. This wouldn’t be the first time the devoted country music fan had more respect for a country music institution than it had for itself. And this comes on the heels of me finally coming to grips with this stupid song and many others of its ilk, knowing that one of the lessons that can be eeked out of it is to not take life too seriously. And it is intellectually easy to listen to this song, or look at many parts of life–the political climate or the economy–and complain that they are the worst ever, in a short-sighted take on the bafflingly-embarrasing evolution (or devolution) of human behavior and culture.
Yes, there’s always been stupid songs, but I fail to find the historical precedence of when they have been celebrated to this extent. Did Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” or Roger Miller’s “Chug-a-Lug” walk away with hardware on awards night? Weird Al’s “Eat It” was more culturally relevant than “Red Solo Cup”. Tell me country music, is this really what we want to do? Is this really what we want to offer up to history so that future generations can look back and say, “Ah yes, 2012. The year of the dumb gimmick song about disposable drinkware!” Then again, my tagline for the song has been “A toast to the onset of Idiocracy”, so maybe it is a good representation of 2012, and I am more right than I want to be.
And if anybody comes here and tells me it’s fine because Toby Keith admits it’s a stupid song, I’m gonna go gonzo. Just because he admits it’s stupid, doesn’t mean it isn’t in fact stupid. It only adds a layer of culpability, as does the fact that the only way the song gets nominated is if Toby Keith and the label he owns pushes for it to be to the Academy.
What the hell is wrong with me not wanting to be embarrassed by country music? Please, tell me. Here I have created this dumb website with the word “country” in the title and built a life’s purpose around it, yet I’m sheepish to utter the title in mixed company, afraid to be associated with stupid songs and a sellout culture. Look at the film industry. There’s a reason comedy is not considered for The Oscars. If anything, they are slanted towards over-artistic frap, just to make sure without a doubt that history and folks with half a brain will take them seriously.
You could fall out of a boat and find a better song to celebrate than “Red Solo Cup”. Dammit, I am personally daunted and awed by the amazing expressions of the soul that pass under my nose every single day, and I go from tears streaming down my cheeks to throwing shit across the room at my frustration that I cannot get more of these songs in front of more people. In fact, here is one right now:
January 27, 2012 @ 1:12 pm
Personally I prefer ‘Blue Dixie Cup’. On another note, ‘Idiocracy’ was a stupid but rather genius movie. I decided to just post a random comment.
January 29, 2012 @ 10:05 am
Idiocracy was indeed a brilliantly stupid movie. Anyone who hasn’t seen it should go watch it and if you don’t find it to be that funny you need to watch it again. As for Red Solo Cup, I still haven’t bothered to listen to it. I would agree that a single of the year should be a little more clever that what the title of this tune suggests, but I wouldn’t like anything they’d put in it’s place either…
January 27, 2012 @ 1:39 pm
No need to reiterate your points on the above article, because I agree 100%. What I do want to comment on, however, is how fucking great that Jessica Lea Mayfield song is. Seriously brilliant. And what a cool voice she has.
January 27, 2012 @ 2:07 pm
I agree F the ACM’s! Thanks for posting the video…great song
January 27, 2012 @ 2:48 pm
Maybe it’s a good idea to end everyone of your well written blogs on popcountry with a clip like this. That’s what SCM is for me: discover a lot of good music, served with a strong opinion on what’s happening in a scene that is not my daily radio-music, meaning popcountry.
But I have this strange fascination for stupid songs (used to have a radio-show), so I like reading all your popcountry-posts. So this clip after this blog really sums it up for me. Two guns up!
January 27, 2012 @ 4:39 pm
That really is what Saving Country Music is. Some people complain that I complain too much about pop country, but that is what gets people paying attention to the site. Then in theory, they learn about better stuff through osmosis. That is the SCM formula, and it works. If I had posted a song review, most people would have avoided it. It also seems a little inappropriate, because the song is something like 5-6 years old. I need to talk more about Jessica.
January 27, 2012 @ 3:52 pm
I am a member of the C.M.A. and the C.C.M.A. and nothing Toby Keith has done represents anything I stand for.
January 27, 2012 @ 5:27 pm
I love this article Trigg, I desperately want to be proud of country music as well, and want people to know that amazing music exists and is out there in this genre that I love. I know that there have always been novelty songs, I like novelty songs, I just smile and go on. I don’t give the novelty song an award. I realize I used love a lot in this post… I have been drinking.
January 27, 2012 @ 7:10 pm
I didn’t know you were a Jessica Lea Mayfield fan. Her brother David is also all kinds of kick-ass.
January 27, 2012 @ 11:38 pm
I’ve been a fan of Chitlin’ for a long time, but she’s one of those artists that I just don’t seem to have the opportunity to talk about as much as I’d like to. I think her center and SCM’s center are probably in two different places, but there’s still some overlap there. I’d been looking for an opportunity to throw this video in somewhere for a while now.
January 27, 2012 @ 7:32 pm
It’s just more evidence of the End Times! Duh!
January 27, 2012 @ 10:02 pm
Toby Keith is to country music as Flavor Flav is to rap. except Kieth is far more adept at actually making money, but i think you catch my drift.
January 28, 2012 @ 2:28 am
…Flav is a pioneer and a legend (and a crackhead,i know), Toby Keith is tool.
January 28, 2012 @ 2:03 pm
I only partially agree. Toby is a tool ! Flav is a legendary crackhead. I do know that the legendary status of Public Enemy and other early rap acts was due to that they were a voice of their peers who had something to say, telling people to WAKE UP, rap used to have something to say, country and rap have diminished. It is why we’re here on SCM. to be a voice that says wake up people!! Have some effing standards.
Do you think that Flav has even made any music ? Chuck D, Griff and other members of PE still have opinions, still maintain their dignity. Do you think they approve of how Flav has portrayed black people? Only been able to support his numerous children by allowing the media to turn him into buffoonish caricature of himself ?
Flav and Kieth have started their own branded restaurant chains, Kieth’s is thriving in no small part due to his savvy image manipulation. Flav’s chicken chain failed and when it did he left workers owing them money- even disreputable contractors know you pay labor first!!
I stand by what I said. Kieth and Flav are the same! Both are embarrassments to their respective genres. Both are sellouts with nothing of sustenance to say. Kieth promotes country fans as drunk kegger attending rednecks, thereby diminishing country music and its fanbase. Flav has nothing to say but “Boyyyyeeee” and has been himself and been promoter of negative black stereotypes in the media. I hope that when ( if ) you vote you use a more sophisticated criteria than when you came to Flav’s support.
January 28, 2012 @ 2:45 pm
Flav was the reason Public Enemy was so “public” to begin with. He was also the reason I despised rap in the 90s. SCM’s articles on countryrap spurred me to explore rap’s true history. Rediscovering Chuck D and Professor Griff has been an eye-opener. Flav’s clowning allowed Chuck and Griff to spread their message to a MUCH wider audience.
In comparing Toby to Flav, I have to ask why Keith doesn’t lobby to nominate “Made In America” for an award. Toby Keith COULD have a message, why isn’t it put to the forefront? He’s obviously not afraid to speak his mind and take a risk. Pushing “Red Solo Cup” sure makes him look like a tool.
January 28, 2012 @ 3:13 pm
80% of the prison population is African American. When “Hip Hop culture” sports saggy pants, oversized shirts and, shoes with no laces, the followers of the trend are already dressed in prison attire. Is that an accident?
When a song about mindless allegience to a drinking receptacle supercedes a song about national pride, independence, and work ethic, is that an accident? This is meant to target America’s working class.
January 28, 2012 @ 6:28 am
i agree 100%. then there’s the fact i’m embarrassed by most award shows.
January 28, 2012 @ 8:53 am
i like the way Triggerman writes and thank you for what you do…but here is something he didnt touch on…maybe it isnt about how completely embarrassing the song is or the ACM’s are a waste of network tv time or the lobby process involved with getting an award…maybe it really is about how completely AWEFUL all MAINSTREAM country music has become…this might actually be one of the top 5 or 6 songs of the year…can you name more than 3 or 4 that are actually well versed poetry combined with artful music produtcion and entertainment value? i cant. Where is Keith Whitley when you need him? or 1987 George Strait, or even the young abtitious Garth Brooks? Dead. Pandering. Sold Out in Vegas…in that order. I would love to go back to Roger Miller, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, but we have had our chances to be saved since them…and instead Justin Moore and Jason Aldean and Toby Keith and Trace Adkins are what we are left with. Here’s a question: Can I please have Rascall Flatts back? They are at least vocally talented…kind of.
January 28, 2012 @ 9:19 am
i stand corrected! you did touch on that! man…you cover all the bases! good work.
January 29, 2012 @ 10:47 pm
Can’t believe this atrocious song actually got an ACM nod. Blue Dixie Cup FTW!
January 30, 2012 @ 1:25 pm
Hey…I respect your comments about Red Solo Cup, but “A Boy Named Sue” shouldn’t be thrown under the bus for being a stupid song. It is a great song, wrote by Shel Silverstein. Come on now, I know there has to be some love out there for “A Boy Named Sue”
January 30, 2012 @ 1:30 pm
Wasn’t throwing “A Boy Named Sue” under the bus at all. I love Johnny Cash and Shel Silverstein. I was just using it to illustrate the point that a joke song has never received a nomination for an award, even a good one. Sorry if it came across any different.
January 30, 2012 @ 3:25 pm
Don’t misunderstand me , I’m not a fan of Toby Keith . But he’s smart enough to know that dumb shit is all the rage in neo-“country” . If I could pen a song about a turd knowing it would make me millions of dollars I’d do it too . He simply pressed most of the hot buttons that the uninformed Aldean/Chesney type listner fucking crave .
January 30, 2012 @ 6:02 pm
Without a doubt, Toby Keith is a smart and shrewd guy. That is why he is the owner of one of the most successful record labels in country, and makes more money than everyone else except Taylor Swift. Without question this song was calculated to enterprise of the trend of stupidity in culture.
February 12, 2012 @ 3:15 pm
I’m not going to defend “Red Solo Cup,” nor am I going to defend the ACM and its awards show (country awards shows are a sell-out of a music genre that has already sold out). I will, however, defend Toby Keith (okay, not everything Toby does, but…) Personally I enjoyed pre-buffoon Toby with great vocals on stuff like “Dream Walking” and “We Were In Love.” Even on his current albums, if you poke around you’ll find listenable material. I thought “White Rose” was one of the best town-down-on-its-luck songs to come out in a long time. If you throw out the beer songs (nothing against beer songs, mind you, but they were so much better years ago) and the bombastic jingoism, you can still find a bit to like on Toby’s albums. Your mileage may vary.
March 23, 2012 @ 1:53 pm
Terrible Article, but good song posted thanks