Joe Nichols is Releasing a Version of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”
Joe Nichols continues to be one of the most confounding country stars in mainstream country music today, many times saying one thing, but doing something much different. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Nichols has tried to stay true to himself and the roots of country music, yet he’s not above straying away at times and trying to tantalize radio with a catchy single.
Nichols has a new album expected in 2016, and tells Taste of Country about it, “The country stuff that we have on the album is very country, it’s very good stuff lyrically, musically. And I think the radio singles are made for radio.”
That’s mainstream country code for, “Album cuts are great and the singles suck, but it’s what the unclean masses will pay attention to.”
In the same interview, he also dropped the very curious nugget that he will be covering Sir Mix-A-Lot’s massive hip-hip hit from 1991, “Baby Got Back” on the new record. The news took interviewer Billy Dukes so aback, he didn’t know if Nichols was joking.
“I do have a dry sense of humor, but it’s really true. We’re gonna do a country version of it,” responded Nichols. “I’m telling the truth. It’s going to be on the record.”
Apparently Joe’s planning to do the song in a country shuffle style. Nichols says it’s going to be a hidden track, but with the way Music Row’s A&R reps have a nose for the awful, don’t be surprised if it ends up a hit single.
Nichols’ lead single from the new album “Freaks Like Me” is not terrible despite some fairly cliché lyrics, but if they were looking to make a big splash with the song, so far that has failed. Like so many singles from artists all across country in 2015, “Freaks Like Me” has failed to get out of the shadow of the #50’s on the charts.
See the full Joe Nichols interview below.
December 10, 2015 @ 2:15 pm
Bob Wayne pulled off All About That Bass, why can’t Joe Nichols do an ironic cover of Baby Got Back? Just as long as he doesn’t take it too serious and has fun with it, it will be okay. Just don’t go into Luke Bryan Country Girl territory either.
December 10, 2015 @ 2:16 pm
What a joke. Nothing else needs to be said.
December 10, 2015 @ 2:19 pm
Okay, I officially can’t tell real news from fake anymore.
There’s a pretty sweet lounge version of Baby Got Back. Other covers will have to work pretty hard to beat this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f66kEastC58
December 10, 2015 @ 3:29 pm
Try a big band swing version of “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns and Roses (obviously not sung by them) I once heard at a Christmas party.
Also: There’s no way in hell I’m clicking that play button
December 11, 2015 @ 11:01 am
How long has it been since we’ve had any fake news around here?
Are we being lulled into a false sense of security only to have, who was it? Freddie Fazbear??, jump out at us with a real zinger?
December 10, 2015 @ 2:23 pm
Good news: I heard it in concert and well, it at least sounds Country….
Bad news: Wtf Joe?
December 10, 2015 @ 2:49 pm
I know I should be angry about the death of genre or whatever…but I actually really want to hear this, since it’s conceivably something he could have come up with while fucking around in the studio and said “woah.”
It’ll either be weirdly awesome or impressively awful.
December 10, 2015 @ 2:55 pm
I’m thinking geometrically here, with the round Earth thing and all. If you were to keep walking in the same direction, eventually, you’d end up where you started. Is it possible then, that something can be so far beyond bad, that it’s starting to approach good again? Let’s hope this is Joe’s strategy.
December 10, 2015 @ 3:34 pm
O_o
Why do I have a feeling it’s going to be a rip-off of Jonathan Coulton’s version?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCWaN_Tc5wo
December 12, 2015 @ 6:43 pm
I guess he’s been doing it in concert, for years. here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX6t_LuerRk
December 10, 2015 @ 3:40 pm
It is possible that this is just something they were messing around with in the studio. He said it would be a hidden track. I didn’t realize country artists even did hidden tracks anymore. And since only 12,000 people will buy this album when it comes out, it probably won’t even matter. That’s what I’m thinking.
In the slight chance that they are taking this serious and considering releasing it as a single, it only goes to show how late to the party country is on every mainstream trend. 2014 was supposed to be the “year of the booty.” Now country music is gonna get its booty anthem in 2016? And it’s a cover of a song from the ’90s that was already sampled in a pop song two years ago?
Luckily I’m almost positive this will just be an 80 second recording of Joe and some musicians fooling around in the studio at the end of his album. That still won’t stop him from playing it at concerts though.
December 10, 2015 @ 3:41 pm
What’s wrong with Baby got back?
December 10, 2015 @ 4:16 pm
If the song was going to be a guaranteed single this is how I envisioned the conversation.
Label: “Joe, your numbers are paltry.”
Joe (who truly loves country music): “Well shoot, I want to keep a traditionalist like sound on the radio.”
Label: “Traditional doesn’t sell, Joe. Be like Thomas Rhett or join us like Easton Corbin. We have a tuxedo and tie already for you.”
Joe (in a last ditch effort to avoid hair gel): “What if I sing a 90’s hit? Since country music now is all about being other genres?”
Label: “You win.”
“For now.”
December 10, 2015 @ 6:04 pm
This isn’t that big of a deal. I don’t know why so many people are getting emotional. It’s honest, and come on what’s the harm in clowning around with a hidden track? lots of groups do it.
December 10, 2015 @ 6:08 pm
If he can make it as cool as the Gourds did Gin and Juice he gets a pass. I doubt he can though.
December 10, 2015 @ 6:16 pm
I’d be more excited if he did a legit country version of Fuck Tha Police.
December 10, 2015 @ 6:52 pm
😀 I’d like to see him try one of “Mama Said Knock You Out.”
December 10, 2015 @ 11:49 pm
I’d be pumped to hear a country version of Fuck Tha Police.
Classic song.
December 12, 2015 @ 7:02 am
Or Ice-T’s “Cop Killer” with Body Count.
Which I find very weird that we’re talking about two songs that are tackling the subject of Police Brutality. (And yes I like “Cop Killer”, anybody got a problem with it can either listen to it in full or kiss my ass)
December 10, 2015 @ 6:17 pm
My bluegrass band is recording a version of I CAN’T FEEL MY FACE WHEN I’M WITH YOU …..but I’m not doing THAT with my hair .
As far as Joe goes , I’m happy listening to the first few albums of REAL country he recorded in the 2000’s. It was as good as it gets lyrically , musically and certainly vocally and means I don’t have to gamble on what he’ll do next .
December 11, 2015 @ 11:12 am
I am guessing you’re familiar with the Mountain Faith version from America’s Got Talent ?
December 11, 2015 @ 11:40 pm
‘I am guessing you”™re familiar with the Mountain Faith version from America”™s Got Talent ? ‘
I wasn’t familiar with this at all Robert . Thanks for clueing me in.
It sounds just as stupid as I thought it would ….lol,…..
December 10, 2015 @ 8:23 pm
He’s been doing this in concert as a joke for a while now. Pretty much a joke track like what Brad Paisley might do.
There’s a video on youtube of him performing it that I shot in September.
December 10, 2015 @ 8:32 pm
https://youtu.be/1p5ed-Ax60c
See if that link works. If not, google Joe Nichols, Baby Got Back and Freaks Like Me.
December 10, 2015 @ 9:21 pm
“The country stuff that we have on the album is very country, it”™s very good stuff lyrically, musically. And I think the radio singles are made for radio.”
I will not buy an album if there is a shit song on it. I don’t have to think every song is a gem, but I won’t waste my money and time on a shitty song. Do it right or find some other sap to buy your half assed bullshit.
Of course, he’ll only be losing 1 album sale by me not buying it, but I’ve purchased George Jones’ “I Am What I Am” 3 times.
December 11, 2015 @ 6:27 am
I have to disagree, if there are ten great songs on an album, I can ignore one bad song. It is better to have ten great songs and one awful song than have an album with all mediocre tunes.
December 11, 2015 @ 6:47 am
I can find plenty of albums with 100% decent/ good/ great songs, albums that don’t have to settle for trash to sell copies. Mediocre filler is at least better than trend chasing, eye roll inducing dreck. I value the album as a whole. I couldn’t care less about this or that particular single
December 11, 2015 @ 7:35 am
I have to concur. I shouldn’t have to settle for the track forward buttons when so many artists are releasing albums that don’t have trashy music on them. A few meaningless worthless ones are okay, sometimes. BUT when a song is out and out garbage it devalues the whole album. It’s why “You Don’t Know Jack” despite being a great song wasn’t enough to redeem the poopstorm that is “Tailgates and Tanlines.”
December 11, 2015 @ 5:43 pm
Exactly. If you want my money, earn it by putting out only listenable (at the very least) material. Some 90s country albums had some fluff and boot scootin’ filler, but it wasn’t on a lowest common denominator level.
December 10, 2015 @ 9:26 pm
Joe is still great and I still love him. So what, he wants to have some fun, let him. However, I think it was stupid of him to announce this though, as it discredits him as a neo-traditional artist and makes him look like a sell out.
December 10, 2015 @ 11:51 pm
He’s very open about the fact that “the radio singles are made for radio.”
Honestly, it’s kinda refreshing.
December 11, 2015 @ 2:33 am
Absolutely. IMO he us a very down to earth guy and he seems concerned bout keeping country music just that, country. I liked all of his radio singles, I think Hard To Be Cool was his best “radio friendly” song and its a real shame it never got out of the top 20.
December 11, 2015 @ 11:45 am
I prefer “Yeah,” honestly. I just love his voice, and the line “Then she played me some band on her iPod/Kinda hit me kinda hippie and I thought, ‘Naw.’/But I said yeah” always cracks me up (in a good way).
December 10, 2015 @ 9:55 pm
I saw joe live a few years ago and he played it. Trigger listen to The Gourds cover gin and juice bluegrass style
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ur1N3UyT1lE
December 11, 2015 @ 5:53 am
What a song “Just A Little More” is by this guy though. His version of “Farewell Party” too.
Both unreal songs
December 11, 2015 @ 5:55 am
Sigh. Really?
I guess one never knows, though. In addition to the aforementioned “Gin and Juice” cover, I also heard a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You” by Texas artist Jason Allen a few years ago that was, to be frank, absolutely stunning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pirMcKP8yos
December 11, 2015 @ 7:57 am
This sounds like the headline of an Onion article.
December 11, 2015 @ 8:14 am
Sad that it has come to this for Country radio, but I guess it has.
Honestly I haven’t been offended by Joe Nichols radio single, by in large they have avoided being offensively bad even as he has veered into bro-Country territory.
That being said there is little chance this will not be a total disaster.
December 12, 2015 @ 6:54 pm
I doubt it will be a single, probably just a funny song on the CD.
December 11, 2015 @ 9:00 am
I’ve never really liked Nichols and I just heard the live cover… He laughs through it, and obviously doesn’t take it seriously. I’m fine with it.
December 11, 2015 @ 9:17 am
Joe has seemed like he’s having some kind of mental breakdown.
December 11, 2015 @ 11:32 am
And a year ago or so, Billy Dukes posted a video “Stop Complaining about Modern Country Music.” Maybe now he knows why people are complaining.
December 11, 2015 @ 11:35 am
Maybe now he knows why people are complaining.
The Taste of Country dude? Not bloody likely, IMO.
December 11, 2015 @ 1:37 pm
So when’s the country version of “Valley Girl” coming out? They could throw in some references to Appalachian hollers.
December 11, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
Wtf?!? I used to like Joe. Now, not so much!
December 11, 2015 @ 2:49 pm
Joe is not even a has been, he is a never been. This guy can’t make a good album or his record company won’t let him. Good voice, and he has a few great songs. Why is he cutting shit songs.
December 11, 2015 @ 7:59 pm
dude. Go listen to “Revelation.” That’s an example of a great album. It’s just his label being… labelly.
December 11, 2015 @ 10:24 pm
I actually saw him play this live about three years ago, and it was enjoyable. I dislike almost everything about the mainstream country scene, but this doesn’t fall into that category. Joe’s last record had some questionable cuts, but it also had some gems. I hope this gets a postive reception and gives him an opportunity to advertise some of his good stuff. He’s one of the few radio-friendly acts that I still root for.
December 12, 2015 @ 6:16 am
…and in other news, Cole Swindell has announced he will finally release his polka version of Ice Ice Baby. He was quoted as saying that Vanilla Ice was a huge inspiration on his style and substance and that his fan has been demanding that he cut the track for too long to make him wait any longer Rrecorded on tour last week at the Big E fairgrounds while at a meet and greet with his fan, Brad paisley has been rumored to have provided the requisite talk box guitar solo. He said the song will be a hidden single release, that way only his true fan will know how to find it.
December 12, 2015 @ 5:31 pm
where’s the fake news tag? …WHERE’S THE F****** FAKE NEWS TAG?!?! no… no… NO!!!!! dammit Joe I want so badly to continue being a fan of yours why do you have to make it so difficult?
December 12, 2015 @ 6:46 pm
It’s actually a good country cover of the song. As long as it’s a filler song on the CD i think it’s ok. If he releases it to radio then we will know there is a problem.
December 12, 2015 @ 6:44 pm
Here it is folks. Instead of just commenting about how terrible it will be before you even hear it, why not do a search for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX6t_LuerRk
December 13, 2015 @ 8:31 pm
He country-s the shit out of it. And that voice