Justin Moore Covers Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home”
First rule here ladies and gentlemen is let’s not be fooled by the illusion of diminishing returns. If this was 2007, no “country” tribute to Mötley Crüe would even be conceived of getting made, especially one with the combination of pugnacity and ignorace to call itself Nashville Outlaws, let alone release a single to country radio. And yes I know, Carrie Underwood covered “Home Sweet Home” in 2009, but that that was more of a one-off deal for American Idol’s “send-off song” (whatever that means) and was for pop radio, not country. Oh how I wax nostalgic for the days in country when the worst ails you had to worry about were the encroachment of reality stars and Keith Urban’s nude photos in Playgirl.
This Nashville Outlaws tribute is the country music equivalent to the 1982 flick The Toy, with Mötley Crüe as Richard Pryor, and Scott Borchetta as Jackie Gleason. Still left wanting after his own hair metal band Burning Hearts went down in a blaze of glory, Borchetta has wrangled his Big Machine roster into living out his spandex and aqua-net dream for him since he’d strain a hammy trying to do the splits off of a drum riser these days. Somehow this is all supposed to bowtie with Mötley Crüe’s farewell tour, and actually, it might do so well since mainstream country is the last bastion of pliable music fans who are gullible enough to worship whichever golden boys corporate America puts up on stage in tight pants and charges $75 to see from the nosebleeds.
But as fun as it is to hoot on mid 80’s hair metal, the simple truth is when you delve into some of the ballads of these bands—and each of their albums can be good for one or two of them—they were not terrible, and can still translate to the modern ear to some extent. It’s an interesting observation that a band like Mötley Crüe would make sure to include a few songs of substance on their records so they could release them to radio and justify the rest of their wankery, while in modern country it’s the opposite: they bury any substance in “album cuts” so they have something to point to and say their music is not all fluff, and release the most horrifying examples of their sound to your local FM transmitter.
Songs like Poison’s “Something To Believe In”, or even Mötley Crüe’s “Home Sweet Home” were not half bad when you really sit down and listen to them. Holy shit, there was actually a story behind them, and a little bit of feeling. Why can’t modern country be influenced by that element of butt rock and not just the pyrotechnics and penis twirling? The opening piano riff of “Home Sweet Home” has withstood the test of time, at least more than guys with perms have, but of course right off the bat, in the new Justin Moore single version of the song, they have to underlay a stupid-ass digital dance beat under it like every other radio single in country right now, then they overlay a wanked-off guitar solo to boot. Couple that with the very opening scene in the stupid video for the song (see below) showing a shot of “Nashville Outlaws” on the top of a bus, and any good will or open-mindedness going into this song is eroded.
I commend Justin Moore for choosing a bold key much above his usual range and comfort zone to sing this song in to attempt to revive that Vince Neil vibe, and I’m not surprised Moore can sing in such a high register because there’s never been a question about his voice, aside from the nagging detractors convinced his Southern accent is a put-on. But when you combine Justin’s high pitched part with Vince Neil’s contribution to the reboot, there’s just a whole lot of screeching here that veers quickly towards being unpleasant to the ear. They tried to do too much here; they added too many layers of vocals and stunt guitars, suffocating what otherwise might be a somewhat decent offering. Only at the very end does some space open up to let the melody of the song resonate.
I have to take issue with a few things in the video, principally that they show the marquee of the legendary venue Layla’s on Lower Broadway in Nashville and Justin and Mötley Crüe walking into it, but when they cut to the live performance parts, they pull a bait and switch and show live shots of a stage that certainly doesn’t belong to Layla’s. And near the last of the video, it cuts to Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee nodding in approval in a moment that might be one of the most canned images in country music history. I’d almost rather see Tommy Lee pilot Pam Anderson’s dingy with his male appendage than such staged production as those two wash-ups display in that moment. Good gosh, where is their dignity?
I don’t know. As much as I want to give this song a tidbit of credit, it’s only because when held beside its current peers, it at least has a pulse. But we shouldn’t be releasing rehashed hair metal songs to country radio, or making tribute records to Mötley Crüe when there is much more worthy county stock that could use the attention. This is not as much terrible as it is ill-advised and mislabeled.
1 3/4 of 2 guns down.
July 5, 2014 @ 9:10 am
Keith Urban had nude photos in Playgirl?
July 5, 2014 @ 10:56 am
That was my question!!?? Who knew!!
July 6, 2014 @ 9:30 pm
There’s a guitar covering the, um, “down under” parts.
I know this because I went through a very intense Keith Urban fangirl phase in college.
July 7, 2014 @ 12:21 am
Full marks for using the words “down under” to describe an Australian’s genitalia, haha.
July 5, 2014 @ 9:32 am
Based on what I’ve heard in the previews for the album, The Mavericks knock it out of the park with their cover of “Dr. Feelgood.” Eli Young Band and Big & Rich sound decent with their covers. I recommend avoiding the rest of the album. Rascal Flatts’ covering “Kickstart My Heart” makes me imagine a disturbing image of Gary LeVox dancing.
July 5, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
That’s kind of how I felt when I read the track listing. The producers of this album took the edgiest song in the Crüe’s catalogue and gave it to … Rascal Flatts? I personally have no problem with the band and some of their songs are quite good, but they have nothing in the way of edge. They’re a boyband through and through. How the heck does that translate into a song about getting high? They might as well have paged the Backstreet Boys or Justin Timberlake.
July 5, 2014 @ 10:27 am
Another upside to Justin Moore singing higher than usual–can’t use that campy exaggerated twang without sounding like a squirrel that’s had a run in with some helium.
July 5, 2014 @ 11:41 am
The clips from the 1980s video just make you wish you were watching and listening to the original without Justin Moore singing over it. Maybe that’s what a “tribute” is supposed to do though?
July 5, 2014 @ 2:31 pm
I think it’s the opposite. When a cover or live rendition of a song makes you long for the original version, something’s not right. A “good” tribute stands on its own two legs and creates its own identity from the spoils of the old.
July 5, 2014 @ 2:46 pm
The shots of the older video for me made a visual representation of just how bad these guys have held up physically. You look at artists like Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant, even someone like Sammy Hagar, and these guys look like they have lived life, but have taken care of themselves. Motley Crue look like casualties of rock & roll, the guitar player notwithstanding because he’s suffering from a degenerative condition that is not his fault. It truly had me questioning my own mortality.
July 5, 2014 @ 2:53 pm
I had the same feeling when I saw this video. None of them, save for Mick Mars (whose condition is so advanced at this point that he can’t even bend his legs), look quite right, like they aren’t “there.” Vince Neil has obviously gained a lot of weight and had too much plastic surgery on his face. Nikki Sixx looks okay, perhaps a little weathered and tired. Tommy Lee looks like he’s about to drop dead. I’m not sure why, he just looks rough. Mars looks pretty bad, but as we’ve established, it’s not his fault.
July 5, 2014 @ 12:03 pm
I have been anticipating/dreading the release of the record since I heard it was coming out. This is the only song I’ve heard, and while it is far from the train wreck that I fear much of this venture will be, that still doesn’t make it good.
I come at this from the opposite perspective as Trig; I’m a Motley Crue fan.
I’m not going to comment on how country or not this is, not my area of expertise, but I will say that any of the power ballads from the 80’s would be an improvement over some of what is littering the airwaves these days.
This version of “Home Sweet Home” is layered in way too much extraneous fluff. It lacks any of the power ingredient of a power ballad. Structurally and melodically, it stays pretty true to the original, but the added layers and attempted nuances do nothing to enhance the song, but rather water it down and detract from it.
I don’t have any problem with Moore’s voice. Not familiar enough with him to make a comparison between this and his other work.
As far as the video, Motley has been making questionable videos for years. For me, not such a big deal.
Just for the sake of accuracy, it’s Vince Neil, not Neal. 😉
Although we get there in different ways, I think the overall rating is pretty accurate.
July 5, 2014 @ 2:35 pm
I’m a Mötley Crüe fan as well and I guess that my expectations were so low for this that I ended up enjoying it for what it was. It’s one of those covers that’s so lacking in subtlety (particularly when taken with the video) that the song seems to want to remind you that it’s a cover every five seconds. That said, it wasn’t terrible to me. I feel bad for any youngsters that think this is an original, though.
July 5, 2014 @ 12:21 pm
A fucking horrendous mess, this goddam song. More embarrassing than “girl ridin’ shotgun”. Well, okay. Maybe not that bad. But still shitty. Also, the thought of rascally flats doing “kick start” makes me feel like I gotta pee out of my butt.
July 5, 2014 @ 12:46 pm
why the hate for hair metal 🙁
July 5, 2014 @ 1:18 pm
I am by no means trying to put words in the author’s mouth, the following is just my general thoughts on why hair metal is looked down upon by so many.
I don’t think it’s so much the music as it is the idea of hair metal. The excess, the bombast, the perceived style over substance of the entire sub-genre, the makeup, the spandex, etc. And this song was right at the apex of when Motley was the most glam.
With the over-signing of any band with long hair, AquaNet and Maybelline, that featured guitar-driven melodic rock was given a record and the market became oversaturated with mindless drivel. And that, in turn, caused the entire sub-genre to be thrown under the bus, the good stuff as well.
I still listen to good deal of 80’s hard rock, as I like to refer to it. There was some good stuff to come out of that era. And the good stuff has survived.
A lot of the hardcore metal heads like to think that Glam/Hair/Pop metal killed heavy metal. And to some degree it did. But it also opened the airwaves to a lot of heavier bands that would have never received any airtime without it.
With the amount of crap that was being put out in the very late 80’s and early 90’s, it was just a matter of time before something like Nirvana was going to happen. I could see it coming at the time. The only thing that surprised me was the abruptness and almost totality in which it all came crashing down.
July 5, 2014 @ 1:58 pm
In many ways, the difference in mood between hair metal and grunge can be attributed to the weather differences in their respective centers.
Hair metal was based in Los Angeles, with its warm and sunny weather. Therefore, the genre featured generally upbeat songs (similar to most non-metal 80s songs as well).
Grunge, on the other hand, was based in Seattle, with its gloomy weather. The downbeat music conveyed the emotions stemming from that climate.
July 5, 2014 @ 2:42 pm
I find it odd that many rock fans think hair metal “killed” rock & roll. If anything grunge did it more harm than hair metal ever did. Sure, the former was embarrassing in terms of the personas, makeup and antics of the artists, but the genre hasn’t recovered since it devolved into melody-less drivel about being depressed or screwing the system. Darkness and rebellion have always been a part of the spirit of rock & roll but that doesn’t mean they have to be a part of EVERY song in the wake of grunge. The de-facto mood of almost every modern rock song is “depressed” or “angsty” and the genre isn’t looking like it’s going to recover any time soon. I find it funny that many grunge fans claim that rock died after grunge when all of the so-called “post-grunge” artists appeared. Apparently they missed the memo that those guys wouldn’t have shown up if it wasn’t for their forbears.
July 5, 2014 @ 3:09 pm
I always thought the early 90’s infusion of alternative rock into the mainstream realm was a respite between two different crappy periods in mainstream rock music (cheesy hair metal and dour post-grunge respectively), the latter of which continued on until mainstream rock itself just dwindled and died out. Oh, and nu-metal was in there somewhere too.
But I’m far from an expert on the subject.
July 5, 2014 @ 3:59 pm
Early 90s alt rock was quite dour in and of itself.
July 6, 2014 @ 3:06 pm
Don’t forget the atrocity of rap-rock thanks to Korn and Limp Bizkit and then there was Marilyn Manson doing something there I liked Glam Metal because in the end most of it I could dance and sing along with. Grunge didn’t give me that. And yeah it was dour and I can appreciate dour in doses but it was too much. And yeah I was uncool in HS because I was into older acts and not Nirvana or Smashing Pumkins or whatever else MTV was selling me and my peers. And I still think Nirvana is overrated even if they did change the landscape and even if RS still sucks on their teat with every new list they make. Soundgarden were more artistically interesting in my opinion AND just better.
Glam Metal was cheesy sure but some of those guys really did have chops. And frankly Def Leopards drummer playing with one arm is pretty awesome no matter what. And of course Spinal Tap…
July 5, 2014 @ 4:07 pm
I sometimes read rock forums filled with grunge fans, and the level of revisionist history there regarding the genre is remarkable. Somehow they have become convinced that early rock n roll was defined by depressing and angsty songs, when the truth is that it was actually dominated by party songs! Even the non-party songs in early rock n roll were usually narrative-based, not abstractly angry.
July 6, 2014 @ 11:16 am
I don’t know that it’s fair to say grunge was the sub-genre that killed rock ‘n roll. While you’re right that you can’t have a viable mainstream genre based only on sad and angry songs, during grunge’s peak their was still a wide variety of styles played on alternative and mainstream rock radio.
Melodic bands like Gin Blossoms, The Counting Crowes and Toad the Wet Sprocket were all able to score smash hits and platinum albums in the early and mid ’90s and throwback bands like the Black Crowes were able to become major stars of mainstream rock radio.
True grunge faded from the mainstream and gave way to more poppy post-grunge bands like The Wallflowers, Matchbox 20, Third Eye Blind, New Radicals and Goo Goo Dolls in the late ’90s.
Rock died after the one-two punch of rap-metal and shlock rock becoming popular in the early ’00s. Those trends, paired with the fact the radio groups were trying to merge alternative and mainstream rock into one big format killed the genre. Because of the attempts to merge formats, alternative radio was playing bands like 3 Doors Down, Staind, Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd heavily, even though most alternative fans weren’t into those bands. This alienated alternative fans. Rap-metal alienated the fans who weren’t alienated by shlock rock and thus rock radio lost a huge portion of it’s audience.
So in conclusion, I don’t believe it was grunge that killed rock music.
July 6, 2014 @ 12:30 pm
I disagree with the idea that rap-metal killed rock. If anything, rap-metal probably helped extend the lifespan of popular rock.
Mainstream rock died for the same reason that mainstream jazz died: generational shift, coupled with technological changes. Just as jazz was the preferred genre of the Greatest Generation and most of the Silent Generation, rock was the preferred genre of the Boomers and the Gen Xers, and hip-hop/techno has been the preferred genre of the Millennials.
On the technological front, the invention and subsequent appeal of the mass-produced solid-body electric guitar helped kill mainstream jazz and usher in the era of rock. Similarly, the invention and subsequent appeal of computerized beats helped kill mainstream rock and usher in the current era of hip-hop/techno.
July 5, 2014 @ 1:40 pm
I don’t hate hair metal as much as I hate hair metal as an influence and an element in country music. We used to laugh a few years ago that mainstream country had just become mid 80’s glam rock with a cowboy hat, and now they have confirmed it. As I said up above, hair metal had its moments that still hold up. But overall, it was an awkward time in music that I think is benefiting from a little bit of nostalgia at the moment simply because of the timeline.
July 5, 2014 @ 1:51 pm
Didn’t you mention a few times that back in middle school you disliked the mainstream music of the era and instead listened to classic rock?
If my calculation is correct, then your middle school years corresponded to the hair metal era…
July 5, 2014 @ 2:50 pm
I’m not good with dates or years, but don;t try to make me older than I am ;). “Home Sweet Home” came out before I was in middle school. In middle school I was mostly running from new wave and MC Hammer. Hair metal, though I remember it, was a little before my musical consciousness had come into bloom.
July 5, 2014 @ 3:57 pm
New wave? Is that a sub-genre of hip-hop?
July 6, 2014 @ 3:17 pm
Wow we may be very close in age. MC Hammer… C+C Music Factory, Paula Abdul… Ush.
Where does this general dislike of what your peers were into come from? I didn’t hate it because it was popular and I wanted to different I hated it because it was boring and bland, though I can appreciate a good top 40 pop song now. I had the same feelings about movies and TV.
I’ve been called an old soul but I never knew what to make of that. I just hated almost EVERYTHING my peers liked. At that time I was making mixtapes by recording songs off of oldies radio because I couldn’t find them in my local record store. Dave Clark Five, Petula Clark, Three Dog Night, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, The Ventures…
July 5, 2014 @ 2:36 pm
of course some of the bands from the 80s were cheesy (bullitboys, brittny fox, black and blue) but the durable bands (motley crue, poison, bon jovi) are still around.
i think one reason why people likes 80s metal so much IS the style. The songs were about girls, partying, and having a good time.
July 5, 2014 @ 2:48 pm
“The songs were about girls, partying, and having a good time.”
Wait, are we talking about modern country, or hair metal?
Point proven.
July 7, 2014 @ 6:16 am
…so basically the archetypes or rock n’ roll since it’s inception.
I don’t think the demise of, or current disdain for, hair metal was or is due to these themes or even the shallow nature of the music. It was due to the fact that the aesthetic overtook the substance. This led to a conformity that stopped being interesting.
The “hair metal” part of this song, in the worst sense of the word, is the stupid electronic drum beat that is trying to conform with every other damn thing on the radio.
The historically troubling part of hair metal is the general lumping of everyone with big hair in the 80s together in one big subgenre. Guns N’ Roses is very different from Firehouse. You have people that call Scorpions a hair metal band when they’d been making music since the 60s. They don’t realize “the guy from Whitesnake” was actually the lead singer of Deep Purple with Glenn Hughes and he released an album with Jimmy Page.
July 7, 2014 @ 9:34 am
The Coverdale/Page album was not half bad. I remember buying it the day it came out in 1993.
July 7, 2014 @ 9:45 am
Or a band like Tesla, which was just a good hard rock band. They never wore makeup and never teased their hair, but somehow they were labeled “hair metal.”
July 7, 2014 @ 10:03 am
Haha, that Coverdale/Page album was probably the third CD that I ever bought. I can still picture exactly what it looked like. It was not bad, but it was one of those deals where they were never going to be Zeppelin, so they were doomed from the get go. I still laugh at Plant’s dig at “David Cover-version.”
Tesla is a great example. Further things to ponder: how Def Leppard can be considered hair metal, while Van Halen never is.
July 7, 2014 @ 10:53 am
As far as Whitesnake goes, I think you can blame those videos that co-starred Tawny Kitaen. Coverdale was pretty glammed up in those videos. I remember watching them and thinking this is the dude who sang Burn?
I really wanted to like the Coverdale/Page album. I think liked Shake My Tree and that was about it.
December 31, 2015 @ 12:10 pm
Why? Because Hair Metal sucks!!!!
NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) for LIFE!!!!!
July 5, 2014 @ 12:53 pm
Amen to your remarks about 80s ballads.
Unlike bro-country, 80s power ballads were thoroughly melodic and contained lyrics that conveyed true romantic emotions. For those reasons, 80s power ballads probably rank as my favorite pop songs of all time. Though I prefer the soft rock ballads of that era to the metal ones, here is a partial list of my favorite hair metal songs:
Cheap Trick: The Flame (more soft rock than metal)
Poison: Every Rose Has Its Thorn (the intro sounds downright country)
Guns n Roses: Sweet Child of Mine
Bon Jovi: I’ll Be There for You
Warrant: Heaven
Def Leppard: Love Bites
White Lion: When the Children Cry
Night Ranger: Sister Christian (again, more soft rock than metal)
Whitesnake: Here I Go Again
July 5, 2014 @ 2:48 pm
Gee Trigger, who would have thought you hated hair metal? 😛 In all seriousness though, I can’t blame you: a lot of it was downright stupid. But I find that to be more representative of the image and scene than most of the actual music, as you imply. I take it from this that you won’t be reviewing the entire album? Or at least dreading it? Wait until you hear Brantley Gilbert’s rendition of “Girls, Girls, Girls.” It makes this one seem like a classic by comparison. And stay tuned until next week when the country tribute to Nirvana, titled Random Lyrics, Mediocre Musicianship and a Drug Addiction is released.
July 5, 2014 @ 2:53 pm
From some of the comments I’ve read, it seems like I’m the last to hear the thing, and we’re still over a month away from the release. I haven’t decided either way if I’ll review it or not, but since this was being released as a single, I felt it was worthy of commentary.
July 5, 2014 @ 3:00 pm
I wouldn’t blame you if you avoided it entirely. As you’ve said it seems to be more of a cash-grab than anything. It’s looking to make some waves though, probably bad ones. I can’t seem to find a single person that is anticipating this release. All of the rock fans are crying foul at the idea of a genre as “low brow” and “beneath” rock as country covering these songs while the country fans are appalled at the idea themselves. One can’t help but wonder, aside from the green, what the Crüe was thinking. They themselves haven’t released an album since 2008 and by the sound of things from Nikki Sixx, the tenth album is destined to be split into promotional singles. So as it stands, this tribute seems to be taking the place of a final album. What I can’t understand is why the band would want a tribute album from an otherwise unrelated group of artists to stand as their final testament to the world of music under the Mötley Crüe monicker? Surely a final studio or even live album would have been better?
July 6, 2014 @ 9:39 am
I listen to Nikki’s radio show “The Sixx Sense” most nights and I’ve yet to hear him mention this country project. Probably because his show is played on rock stations and he knows that audience won’t go for a country tribute album.
July 5, 2014 @ 3:02 pm
Ah, I almost forgot: keep your eye on the Brantley Gilbert contribution. You can bet your butt it’ll be one of if not the very next single. Unlike the majority of the artists tapped for this project, the stigma of hair metal fits Gilbert’s persona and since his iron is hot at the moment, Borchetta will likely try to capitalize on that success.
July 5, 2014 @ 3:12 pm
I’d be kind of surprised if Brantley Gilbert’s song was released since he has a brand new album they’re likely looking to release singles from and promote. Honestly, I’m surprised they released any songs as singles. That’s a very big rarity from a project like this. Remember when there were rumors Luke Bryan’s version of “Pancho & Lefty” would be released to radio from the Merle Haggard tribute? It never happened, probably because Luke has so many singles out there already.
Side note: Whenever an album release gets pushed back, it always is a sign of something, and usually not something good. Motley’s farewell tour has already started, and the timing of this whole thing is coming off a little wonky from how they probably originally planned.
July 5, 2014 @ 7:27 pm
I heard the Rascal Flatts song as a single last night I think. It felt like a desperate attempt from them to stay relevant.
July 5, 2014 @ 3:20 pm
I”™d be kind of surprised if Brantley Gilbert”™s song was released since he has a brand new album they”™re likely looking to release singles from and promote. Honestly, I”™m surprised they released any songs as singles. That”™s a very big rarity from a project like this. Remember when there were rumors Luke Bryan”™s version of “Pancho & Lefty” would be released to radio from the Merle Haggard tribute? It never happened, probably because Luke has so many singles out there already. Side note: Whenever an album release gets pushed back, it always is a sign of something, and usually not something good. Motley”™s farewell tour has already started, and the timing of this whole thing is coming off a little wonky from how they probably originally planned.
Perhaps. But then again, Justin Moore’s newest album hasn’t been out for that long, either. And the sad irony being that more bro-country fans probably have an idea who Mötley Crüe are than Merle Haggard. The Hag tribute seemed to be more fixated on guys like us on the dregs of the country music landscape, as opposed to anyone that would actually be fans of those artists. I’d wager that the eventual abandonment of “Pancho & Lefty” as a single would be the stark contrast between that song and the rest of Bryan’s output and the almost guaranteed lack of a fan-base for it. With Mötley Crüe, many of their songs are classic rock staples. Merle’s are classic country staples, but rock has more breadth than classic country as we all know. Plus, the Crüe have always been about gimmicks so they’re no doubt hoping that this will send them out with somewhat of a bang, or at least remind people that they still exist. As for the change in release dates, I was thinking the same thing. I think the aforementioned reluctance of either genre to openly embrace this project has them second-guessing their plan, hence the single release to stir the pot and generate some publicity (which would also explain the reasoning behind including the bus with the title on it in the video).
July 5, 2014 @ 5:08 pm
Made me pull out my Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys 7″ with the cover of Every Rose has its Thorns.
I think there is formula here that could read “Garth Brooks=Kiss>Justin Moore=Mötley Crue”. The problem is it stills adds up to 0.
July 5, 2014 @ 6:16 pm
I wish rascal flatts was covering “shout at the devil” instead
July 6, 2014 @ 12:36 am
Why does “Country” music feel the need to do a tribute to a band that most Country fans have never listened to? How about a tribute to Ernest Tubb instead?
July 6, 2014 @ 9:37 am
It’s interesting to note that George Strait has played the last date of his farewell tour and there are no plans of a tribute album for him. It was announced the day after Motley Crue announced their farewell tour that they would get a country tribute album.
Also, George Jones died last year and there still is no country tribute album for him.
Where is Nashville’s dignity?
July 6, 2014 @ 11:08 am
Not to defend this shit pile of a record, but there is a pretty fair overlap between classic rock fans and country fans.
July 6, 2014 @ 3:23 pm
Ernest who?? You can’t honestly think most of these acts even know who Ernest Tubb is. An Ernest Tubb tribute album would be made up solely of old fats and jackasses and maybe Emmylou Harris.
July 6, 2014 @ 9:27 pm
Tubb, that’s fucking who; T-U-B-B. I can’t tell if you think you’re funny, or if you’re serious, but if any of these assholes don’t know who Ernest Tubb is, they need to get off the stage. It’s funny that you’re trying to imply that the founding father of Honky Tonk music is some obscure singer. Why are you even here?
July 6, 2014 @ 9:41 pm
I’m pretty sure Bear was being sarcastic Clint. Deep breaths.
July 7, 2014 @ 2:54 am
There is another angle to this that hasn’t been mentioned yet that I think is worth considering.
To date, Justin Moore has not had ONE radio single peak in the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100 composite chart. And, in recent years, I have found studying the peaks of country singles on the composite chart to be effective in gauging its overall appeal and impact, as opposed to merely the airplay chart.
To preface my next point, there are exceptions that should be pointed out. Firstly, singles buoyed more by critical acclaim or aren’t blatantly intended for mass commercial consumption or instant gratification. Secondly, buzz singles that enjoy success in their first week or two, but quickly fizzle out. And, thirdly, singles that have had particularly lengthy chart runs and, upon peaking on the airplay chart, had already sold about as much as they were going to in their initial commercial run.
Overall, however, I feel whether a corporate mainstream country single impacts the Top Forty of the Billboard Hot 100 is a better indicator of how successful the single actually was and how much staying power it is likely to have down the line, as opposed to where it peaks on the airplay chart. And if a single makes the Top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100, that suggests that particular release had broader crossover appeal and is likely going to be among the thin minority of radio releases from that time frame that will hold up as recurrents in later years.
*
Which brings us back to Justin Moore.
It’s interesting to see Moore moving along with this as a proper single release, because Darius Rucker has served as an interesting case study within this past year as to how covering a well-known record can both immensely help your career in the short-term, as well as hurt it in the longer term.
There’s no disputing Rucker’s reading of Bob Dylan’s “Wagon Wheel” will be remembered as the biggest hit of his career. It has been nothing short of a multi-platinum monster. Yet, what happened next? Its follow-up, “Radio”, peaked at #65 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the final single from the album, “Miss You”, failed to chart altogether.
I think Rucker fell prey to what I often like to term “Musical Marquee Event Syndrome”. Where an entertainer scores a ridiculously leviathan hit that also goes so far as to be the subject of much commentary and discussion………….but which its success puts too much weight, too much excess baggage, on any respective follow-up………..and ultimately demolishes it under its own weight. In other words: he may have won the battle in picking up a huge hit, but now he risks being remembered as that guy who covered “Wagon Wheel” and that will hurt his broader commercial prospects.
*
I think Moore is at great risk of replicating Darius Rucker’s example. I confidently predict he’ll easily pick up the biggest hit of his career off of this cover……………..but then this can prove to hurt him in the long run because he’ll wind up being best remembered as “that guy who covered that song” than a full-fledged entertainer.
July 7, 2014 @ 3:15 am
Interesting comparison. I would argue that the difference between Rucker’s and Moore’s cover songs is that “Wagon Wheel” was relatively unknown before Rucker covered it, whereas in this album Moore is covering the work of an extremely well-known classic rock band. In that sense, Moore is in significantly greater danger of falling into the “cover artist trap”.
July 7, 2014 @ 7:32 pm
In no way do I mean anything negative towards the author of this article, and I really hope it does not come across that way, but I must ask what the point is of giving something like this any press? Is it a case of being fair in what you cover from, even if it is only slightly inside the “country” ballpark? I’m genuinely interested in knowing, more so out of well-intended curiosity than anything else.
I also ask because it seems to me that at least a few handfuls of people would have never known this existed or clicked the video link, which I assume adds to its views whether it is watched on this site or on the site hosting the video (I could also be wrong and people may visit enough websites outside of this one that they would know about it either way.) Personally, I enjoy a few songs by guys like Justin Moore, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, etc. I also completely agree that they are no good for country music. I do not buy their albums. I listen to the songs I like by them on Youtube, Soundcloud, or Spotify. I purchase records from artists such as Jason Isbell, John Moreland, Caleb Caudle, Lucero, Tim Barry, American Aquarium, Justin Townes Earle, Austin Lucas, etc. because I want to support them.
I guess what I’m saying is, even a person such as myself who listens to guys like Justin Moore probably would not have anything about this song had it not been for the exposure it got here.
July 7, 2014 @ 9:01 pm
Josh,
First off, this song was released as a single to country radio. A song being released as a single is one of the requisites for me reviewing a song for the site (though not always). Since it is released as a single, it will be exposed to millions upon millions of people. The amount of people “exposed” to it since I wrote a review for it is nominal compared to what it will get through country radio. I assume an intelligent reader when writing my stories, and it’s not like “exposing” someone to this song is going to somehow affect that reader’s listening habits from there on out negatively.
I am a music critic. It is my job to review things, positively and negatively. The job of a critic is an important one in the music landscape in my opinion. Unfortunately, the lack of true criticism in the mainstream country genre is one of the reasons it has run amuck. That is one of the reasons I have committed to covering mainstream country objectively, positive and negative, to hopefully contribute to a more healthy music environment. It is a common misconception that the point of this website is to solely turn people on to new music. If that’s all I did, I would not be writing this, you would have never seen this article, and this website would not exist, because virtually nobody reads positive music coverage, and most that do simply want their already-established opinions reinforced.
July 8, 2014 @ 8:36 pm
I just got done listening to the one minute snippets of all the songs from this album on iTunes. There is some really watered down, straight-up versions of the originals, there are some a couple of good straight interpretations, there are some that venture away from the originals that fall flat, and then there are three fantastic songs.
Aaron Lewis (I don’t even know who the hell he is) turns a pretty bad, fairly obscure Motley Crue song into a pretty damned good country song in his version of “Afraid”. Truth be told, I had to go back and find the original to even compare because I can’t recall ever having heard it before.
Lauren Jenkins (don’t know who she is either) does an interesting version of “Looks That Kill”.
Then there’s the Mavericks cover of “Dr. Feelgood”. They take the song straight out of the seedy alleys of LA and transport it to “Miami Vice” era South Florida. Genius.
July 8, 2014 @ 8:45 pm
Never mind, I just realized this is the Aaron Lewis from Staind. Interesting that his is the most country sounding song on the record. Not surprising that he would be the one to turn a mediocre, obscure song into something good.
July 9, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
Regardless of ones feelings on Aaron Lewis’ country output, I must say he has come across in the past as a very genuine fan of some very good country music (both well known & non-mainstream artists) and he’s the ideal choice for a tortured sounding vocal, so I’ve got to say I like his odds here. He may end up being a reasonably good country artist but he’s never going to be viewed as a country artist but he is going to attract some country fans of (slightly) more discerning taste. I get the impression that he knows this, and it allows him freedom to make the music he actually likes. It’s an interesting position he’s in. I see him almost as a possible gateway artist more so than any megastar in the mainstream. I think he may well be cognizant of this, and (though I’ve yet to hear his latest release) his next record may tell the tale of how he views his place in country music.
Sorry to hijack your thread, just wanted to comment on a sub-plot that I find interesting.
October 27, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
Motley Crue is actually more country than Justin Moore. Shit, Ozzy Osbourne is more country than him.
Oh wait nevermind- Moore wrote five hundred songs about how country he is. My bad.