Mashup Illustrates How Many Country Hits Are The Same
We complain all the time about how today’s popular country music pretty much all sounds the same, but is this really true from a technical standpoint? That is what one enterprising Audiophile and songwriter set out to illustrate by making a mashup of some of Bro-Country’s biggest singles over the last couple of years in a pretty mind-blowing and revealing video.
Posted under the YouTube username “Sir Mashalot,” the mashup takes six songs—“Sure Be Cool If You Did” by Blake Shelton, “Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan, “Chillin’ It” from Cole Swindell, “Close Your Eyes”by Parmalee, “This is How We Roll” from Florida Georgia Line, and “Ready, Set, Roll” by Chase Rice—and laid them all parallel into a Pro Tools sound file, changing the tempo and pitch slightly in some cases until they all ran at the same speed, and then pushing play. The six songs represent four #1 Bro-Country hits from 2012 until now, a #5 hit in “Ready, Set, Roll,” and a #11 song in Parmalee’s “Close Your Eyes.”
The video starts by selectively moving through parts and pieces of each song to illustrate the stark similarities in beat, melody and lyrical content, and then ends with all the songs running simultaneously together virtually seamlessly.
“My inspiration started when I heard Parmalee’s ‘Close Your Eyes’ several months ago,” says Sir Mashalot, aka Greg Todd who’s real life pursuit is as a Nashville songwriter. “During the chorus, I started realizing it had an almost identical melody/music bed as Blake Shelton’s ‘Sure Be Cool If You Did.’ So I imported them into Pro Tools, tweaked the key and tempo to line them up, and wahlah- turned out they really were the same song! So I overlapped them together and sent it out to a few friends, thinking it was an interesting exercise.”
“Then, while driving in my car over the next couple of weeks, I started hearing one song after another which I was certain would fit perfectly into the original mashup,” Sir Mashalot continues. “First ‘Chillin’ It,’ then ‘Drunk On You,’ then ‘This is How We Roll,’ and finally ‘Ready, Set, Roll.’ Each time I heard one, I would race home to plug it into the original pro tools session and yep, another perfect fit. Originally, I had all 6 songs overlapping, start to finish, but the more I listened to the lyrics, the more it occurred to me that it wasn’t just the music and melody that flowed together, but the actual lyrical content. So I presented myself with the challenge to create a singular, coherent story line using different snippets from the 6 songs. It took me about 2 weeks for that part of it. If I’m being honest, I think it still has tons of flaws (including some choppiness throughout), but my computer fried and so I finally just decided to get it out there the way it stands now.”
So there you go, it’s one big Bro-Country mega song all mashed up together. And apparently Sir Mashalot isn’t done just yet. “I am currently writing a song that will fit in as the 7th song of the mashup. I figure, hey- at least the gate keepers won’t be able to say it can’t be a hit!”
Who knows, if someone released this to radio, it might be a huge success.
UPDATE: Viral Mashup Exposes Silent Majority of Disgruntled Country Fans
January 7, 2015 @ 6:27 pm
In other news, water is wet, the sun rises in the east, and Luke Bryan has a vagina.
January 7, 2015 @ 6:38 pm
But sometimes the right illustration is what it takes to communicate this to the masses.
January 7, 2015 @ 8:23 pm
Perfect! We’ll simply calmly explain facts to Brantley Gilbert fans and let them see the error of their ways.
January 9, 2015 @ 3:45 am
They’d just call you a puss and move on.
January 8, 2015 @ 4:42 am
…And old Satan Claus, my friend. You gotta look out for him. ‘Cause he’s out there. And he’s only getting stronger.
January 9, 2015 @ 8:14 am
Wow, a Last Boyscout reference and screen name. That may be the coolest thing I have seen all day!
As a side note, I have always imagined the Last Boyscout as a Die Hard sequel, considering that it is a better Die Hard film than most of the actual Die Hard films.
January 11, 2015 @ 12:34 pm
I was bummed out to see Taylor Negron died yesterday of cancer….the guy who played Milo
January 8, 2015 @ 7:43 am
What in the world does having a vagina have to do with producing bad music? Can we please not with the stereotypical country sexism?
January 8, 2015 @ 1:57 pm
I think what they were trying to say is, its not the vagina that makes the bad music, but its the dude that’s attached to it.
January 8, 2015 @ 2:10 pm
I think you’re genuinely trying to help me understand and thus be OK with a an insult that marks me, a possessor of a vagina, as somehow lesser. That’s… cute. So I will again reiterate: Can we please NOT with the gendered insults? Particularly because they actually feed into bro-country stereotypes that Luke Bryan exemplifies. Which kind of makes the insult a wee bit ironic.
January 8, 2015 @ 4:02 pm
You and Your Vagina Shut the Hell Up,This is NOT about You unless Your Vagina makes this Bad Music.
January 8, 2015 @ 7:19 pm
That Rob idiot is a jerk. He’s an embarrassment to my gender. You are right in your estimation of the sexist vibe. It’s not taken seriously enough and it’s tantamount to bullying. It’s a shame that you get treated this way but I admire your standing up for what is right. All the best to you!
January 9, 2015 @ 11:19 am
Jo jo the white knight to the rescue!!!!! Maybe she’ll give you a quick handy if you play your cards right 😉
The fact that Luke Bryant has a vagina has nothing to do with anything. He was merely stating facts. The quote wasn’t “And Luke Bryant’s vagina is the cause of his terrible music.” It was merely, “Luke Bryant has a vagina.”
Stop looking for reasons to be offended and putting words in people’s mouths. You’re the worst type of person. LAWDSY.
January 16, 2015 @ 7:47 am
I understand that the sexist “vagina” comments get old. But haven’t you ever called anybody a Dick?
January 8, 2015 @ 2:00 pm
Thank you Melani!
January 8, 2015 @ 7:22 pm
With all due respect ma’m, you are reading far too much in to my little joke. I apologize for any offense caused. I do happen to like female artists. My SCM screen name is taken from a Dixie Chicks song.
January 9, 2015 @ 8:20 am
No, she is not reading to much into your joke, not to mention the fact it is so overused and needs to be retired. The “joke” clearly implies that having a vagina makes him less of a person. Trying to counter that by saying that you like some women musicians is like making a racial slur but pointing out you have Black friends. You may not be sexist, but are perpetrating a sexist attitude. LB is a crappy musician. It has nothing to do do with his body parts.
January 9, 2015 @ 4:09 pm
The woman above seems to think that I think Luke Bryan’s music isn’t any good because of his “femininity.” Mentioning my appreciation for the Dixie Chicks would refute the premise that I take gender into account when listening to music. Again, I sincerely apologize for making my above comment, as I did not realize its potential to be hurtful. I also wish to distance myself from Rob’s defense of me.
January 10, 2015 @ 1:42 am
No, it clearly implies that he is less of a man. Specifically, “[these are things everyone knows]… Luke Bryan [is unmanly]” It is meant as an insult, to Luke Bryan, not to women. ANd perhaps his fans, who are admittedly most likely women. I think most men would agree vaginas are great… unless you’re actually a man and found yourself in possesion of one instead your penis.
Oh wait, I get it… what you’re saying is, “in our patriarchal, misogynistic society, saying a woman has a penis is a compliment of the highest order”. Because if not, then you’re just being whiney, plus you obviously hate trannies you big oppressive hypocrite.
To be clear, I agree both insults are inappropriate and juvenile. But this hypersensitivity makes me crazy. Their are far to many legitimate wrongs in this world to be aggrieved of, to find yourself personally injured and outraged over this sort of thing. If you find yourself stretching so far to find injustice to rail against, then perhaps you should expend less effort finding it and more on gratitude for how awesome your life is.
January 10, 2015 @ 6:48 pm
I’m a girl.. And I think Luke Bryan has a vagina? Am I sexist too or is it just if it comes from a man? I mean it’s only true. He does.. I completely agree with every word you said truth no 2!!
January 7, 2015 @ 6:31 pm
Just a small error: Parmalee’s song reached #3 on he airplay chart, not #11.
January 7, 2015 @ 6:41 pm
For continuity sake, I went with the Billboard “Hot Country Songs” chart position. You’re right, it was #3 on Airplay.
August 16, 2016 @ 5:48 pm
U forgot to add “play it again” and “talladega” to the mix. I noticed it with Play It Again Talladega Just Chillin It And sure be cool if you did a while back didn’t realize the others were applicable as well
January 7, 2015 @ 6:34 pm
Man, I almost didn’t watch that because it just sounded stupid – but I would have REALLY missed out! 😀 Really well-done…and hilarious. Of course you do the same with classic country…or pop…or blues…or Mexiacan Ranchero Polka music for that matter – but still fun to see it illustrated.
What IS specific to bro-country though, is that when the video plays all 6 songs at once, if they hadn’t labeled it as such you’d never know that’s what was happening. They layer so much shit in those arrangements, it ALWAYS sounds like 6 songs playing at once in those songs.
January 7, 2015 @ 9:01 pm
Man …you NAILED it …it always DOES sound like 6 songs at once . Its like a contest to see who can put the most stuff on their burger and still get it in their mouth.
My deepest sympathies to all the engineers buckling under the stress of a producer barking at them to put some more “color” ( read white noise ) on the track .
Hey ….where the hell did the song disappear to ? Oh….. there never WAS one ?
January 9, 2015 @ 4:39 am
Perfect… illustrated perfectly and commented perfectly… we sit in on a pedestal of strange familiarity when one can proof something so honestly….
January 9, 2015 @ 3:40 pm
Thing is, it sounds so perfect because he manipulated the audio when layering all the songs. So it would not have sounded nearly as crisp had he put them all at regular volume. It should also be noted that he put different parts of the song in different places. Yes they are very similar, but not nearly as similar as this audio editing makes it. (and to be clear by “audio editing” I am only referring to the volume and placement of the parts of the song)
January 7, 2015 @ 6:55 pm
I thought this was going to be a fake-news thing, but that was a hoot! 😀
January 7, 2015 @ 7:20 pm
Truck yeah
January 9, 2015 @ 3:47 am
its the simple comments that make me chuckle
January 7, 2015 @ 7:29 pm
That was the most painful thing I have ever heard. They should play that on repeat to persuade suspects and criminals to give up juicy information.
January 7, 2015 @ 9:52 pm
Sadly, this mashup could become a top ten hit if it was released to country radio.
January 8, 2015 @ 12:50 pm
You’re absolutely right. I just told Joe Persek in New York, that If I put this into airplay rotation on our “Hot Country” station, it would get raves from listeners. I was very skeptical, but, not after listening to the entire track.
April 6, 2015 @ 12:36 pm
You sound like you’re a radio professional of some sort and it’s good to hear you acknowledge the truth of this article. My question is: As a radio professional, what are YOU going to do to try and change the situation and get some real, meaty, great songs on the air?
January 8, 2015 @ 7:13 am
Just proves what a lot of people have been saying and yet another reason today’s sucks horribly….
January 7, 2015 @ 7:29 pm
Trig, I dunno what’s going on but your site keeps giving me full page pop-up ads. Might wanna look into that.
January 7, 2015 @ 7:38 pm
Not sure what to tell you. There are no pop up ads on the site. Could be malware, could be that you’re inadvertently hovering or clicking on ads, or something I’m not aware of going on. I’m certainly not seeing any pop ups.
Anyone else having this issue?
January 7, 2015 @ 7:48 pm
I’m having the same problem. It’s very annoying.
January 7, 2015 @ 8:10 pm
Okay, we’re looking into it, but I’m not seeing anything, web team’s not seeing anything. Not sure what’s going on. Sorry for the problems. I hate pop up ads and am firmly committed to not using them.
January 7, 2015 @ 8:38 pm
I’m not getting ads.
January 7, 2015 @ 10:34 pm
I am not getting pop-ups either
January 8, 2015 @ 6:29 am
Never get pop-ups
January 9, 2015 @ 8:23 am
I have never had this issue here
January 10, 2015 @ 11:29 am
I am not getting pop-ups and feel left out
January 7, 2015 @ 8:21 pm
I am not seeing popups and would suspect this is indeed some type of malware. I am using Chrome. What browser are the affected folks using?
January 7, 2015 @ 8:27 pm
I figured it out after I was whining about it a month or so ago. There’s certain ads that when you hover over them they start a timer that then launches the full screen mayhem. It was an annoying fullscreen football video back then. I’ve seen several since.
You inadvertently run your mouse over it, go about your business, then the popup seems to come out of nowhere. You’re actually triggering it without realizing it.
Next time it happens, close the pop up, then go back up top, hover over the ad and watch it. You’ll see a little progress bar saying “Expanding in x seconds” …
January 7, 2015 @ 8:33 pm
This are the screenshots I took of it when I first figured it out – October. I didn’t get the “Expanding in…” part, but this is what it is.
http://samjimenez.com/scm.php
January 7, 2015 @ 8:42 pm
Normally I would agree with you, but I’m on my iPhone which doesn’t have malware. Kinda weird.
January 8, 2015 @ 8:21 am
I’m on an iphone too.
January 20, 2015 @ 3:55 pm
I’ve got Adblock Plus so I’m out of the loop, I guess.
January 7, 2015 @ 7:40 pm
The only problem … the masses don’t CARE that it’s the same song. They can tap their toes to it, and when the radio stations play these songs 3 times every two hours, the masses memorize them. So, they sing along. And then what happens? Then they BUY the song, because when they get that $5 iTunes card, they see a song they know and sing along with, and so they buy it!
WAHOO!
Good job on the mix, Trig. I just wish that waving the truth in front of people actually allowed them to see it.
January 7, 2015 @ 7:40 pm
Now take 5 songs out of 1962 by Ray Price, George Jones, Stonewall Jackson, Conway Twitty and Johnny Cash and find the similarities.
January 8, 2015 @ 1:10 pm
John,
I”™m not sure what you”™re trying to imply, but in 1962, George Jones had already begun to move away from the Ray Price sound, Conway Twitty”™s Rock ”˜N Roll career was coming to an end, and Johnny Cash was being Johnny Cash. Actually, the only two people with similar styles on the list you gave, in 1962, would be Stonewall and George, and even then, you”™re reaching.
January 7, 2015 @ 7:53 pm
That was seriously hilarious!
About the only song here that I don’t completely dislike is Luke Bryan’s “Drunk on You” which, unlike the others, features soft instrumentation, a good melody, and a solid vocal performance.
January 7, 2015 @ 9:04 pm
Yet the writers and creators of this crap are bitching because they are losing their jobs…
http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/01/04/nashville-musical-middle-class-collapses-new-dylans/21236245/
January 7, 2015 @ 9:09 pm
Those middle class songwriters that the article is referring to aren’t the ones writing songs like this, at least not usually. Usually it’s the 1% of songwriters, the Dallas Davidson types. I’m actually working on an article right now that explains this in more detail.
January 7, 2015 @ 9:18 pm
If you think those guys aren’t writing the same crap to keep their pub deals, you might need to investigate further.
January 8, 2015 @ 2:44 pm
Randy, you are right that the top songwriters keep writing this stuff to keep their publishing contracts which helps create hits.
January 13, 2015 @ 12:38 pm
I was going to ask what the similarities were….. SAME WRITER/PUBLISHER/PRODUCER/LABEL… etc.? What are the answers? I would find THAT interesting.
I said years ago how Country Music was getting homogenized and learning how the recording industry is in Nashville, suspected, well… they are all using the same Studio Musicians… no wonder they all sound the same. Just my little rumor…. what is the connection to all those songs?
January 8, 2015 @ 3:41 am
Is wahlah a thing? Or just plain confusion about how to spell “voila”?
January 8, 2015 @ 1:52 pm
It’s not a thing. Thank you for picking up on it. Doesn’t take away from the point of the article, FWIW, but please, please, can we just agree that the word is voilà ?
January 9, 2015 @ 1:22 am
YES, I wish it was more widely known that the spelling and pronunciation is voilá, but I only learned it from singing the song from Beauty and the Beast in my 6th grade choir…
January 9, 2015 @ 2:25 pm
Ha! Thanks for the clarification. The rest of the article was well-written and grammatical, and I’ve actually seen the “wahlah” spelling a few other places (and lord knows I am not hip to the new lingo).
January 8, 2015 @ 5:01 am
I actually saw this shared on a radio stations facebook page! Keep up the good work!
January 8, 2015 @ 6:14 am
Well done Sir!
January 8, 2015 @ 6:21 am
Those writers are losing work because no one buys music anymore. And the formula works because on country radio they drive these songs at you every 30 minutes.
January 8, 2015 @ 6:38 am
Wow! great stuff! really helps validate the problems with the state of country music today.
However, as someone else commented, I’m sure a record label could package this as an actual song and have huge success on the radio haha. I can already hear my local radio station playing this and saying how cool it is!!
January 8, 2015 @ 7:37 am
Just reminds me of the good ol days when we would all get naked and barefoot of course. And we would drive our Silverados with 37 NITTOS to the creek bank and catch catfish all night. Some of the greatest times I remember growing up. Wasn’t awkward at all. Just uncomfortable when you sat on a copperhead with your bare ass.
January 8, 2015 @ 7:45 am
Here are the songwriting credits on the 6 songs:
”Sure Be Cool If You Did” by Blake Shelton: Rodney Clawson / Jimmy Robbins / Chris Tompkins
“Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan: Rodney Clawson / Josh Kear / Chris Tompkins
“Chillin”™ It” from Cole Swindell: Shane Minor / Cole Swindell
“Close Your Eyes”by Parmalee: Adam Craig / Shane Minor / Trent Tomlinson
“This is How We Roll” from Florida Georgia Line/Luke Bryan: Luke Bryan / Tyler Hubbard / Brian Kelley / Cole Swindell (note: Hubbard+Kelley = Florida Georgia Line)
“Ready, Set, Roll” by Chase Rice: Rhett Akins / Chris DeStefano / Chase Rice
So 2 of the songs (“Sure Be Cool If You Did” & “Drunk On You”) share 2 songwriters (Rodney Clawson/Chris Tompkins), 2 other songs (“Chillin’ It” & “Close Your Eyes”) share 1 songwriter (Shane Minor), and the 5th song is co written by 2 acts (Luke Bryan & Cole Swindell) who perform 2 of the other songs included in this batch (“Drunk On You” & “Chillin’ It”). Then you have “Ready, Set, Roll” which is co written and performed by 1 of the 6 writers responsible for the breakthrough hit (“Cruise”) of the guys who perform and co wrote the 5th song (Florida Georgia Line).
I’m glad somebody did this mash up. This is what happens when radio overrelies on callout research – callout research is inherently biased towards familiar sounds and lyrics, and so the songs that research like hits early are naturally the ones that sound like songs that are already hits. This is also why the bro country era at country radio has reinforced and aggravated the tilt against female voices and traditional country.
But the Nashville ratings success of the more diverse Nash Icons playlist (which plays older artists and some traditional country right alongside some of today’s top bro-ish hits) over the power-current-heavy Clear Channel station WSIX shows why imposing uniformity on radio playlists is not necessarily a winning strategy. The Nash Icons playlist not much more balanced on the gender front, which sucks and needs to change, but at least it spans a wider range of sounds.
January 8, 2015 @ 10:04 pm
Nice on the research. I hate to blame the songwriters, because I’m positive they are forced to write that crap. If they won’t write a cliche, catchy jingle type song someone else in Nashville will step up and do it. Once a songwriter has written a few annoying hits, the record companies will keep going to the well til its dry. The blame goes squarely on the ignorant listeners that crave this shxt. It won’t ever change, sadly.
There’ll always be a glut of stupid people who don’t appreciate quality music. They outnumber us 1,000 to 1 and they’re the ones that go to concerts and buy the albums. So why would a record label pander to us?
January 8, 2015 @ 10:47 pm
I want to agree with you, but I don’t know if I can. I definitely agree that the songwriters write this stuff due to the influence of the record companies, but I don’t feel bad hating on them, because they have no shame in it. Dallas Davidson is one of the biggest tools in Nashville. He thinks every word that he writes is gold. If these guys would show some form of regret and come out and say that their songs suck, I might have a little more sympathy for them just trying to keep their jobs.
It’s not just the sound of the music, or just the lyrics that make me hate country music so much. It’s the fact that it’s both of them together. Even if everyone keeps saying that country music has to evolve (which I still disagree with) and pop country is the only thing that they will play, couldn’t they at least come up with some more intelligent or meaningful lyrics? I feel like these songwriters are living high on the fact that they can write one pathetic excuse of a song and have it recorded eight different ways by different artists and get rich. I really don’t even think that saying that they’re “forced” is accurate.
January 8, 2015 @ 8:28 am
This is total garbage. You dont eat the same thing for supper everynight. You dont watch the same tv show every hour on the hour. Why would you listen to this garbage? Whoever originally wrote the song kudos to them but whoever is piggybacking them….. You should be ashamed. Total Garbage.
January 8, 2015 @ 9:45 am
And yet, Chinese people eat Chinese food–every day, day after day.
Go figure.
January 9, 2015 @ 3:54 am
Is this a serious comment? Because if it’s satire then it’s hilarious. You actually think Chinese people are chilling in Shenyang eating some General Tso’s?
January 9, 2015 @ 7:38 am
Im hungry
January 9, 2015 @ 8:38 am
Chicken or Shrimp?
January 10, 2015 @ 9:23 am
It’s flied rice you plick!
January 13, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
GOOD POINT! The guy that originally wrote the song….. whatever happened to plagiarism? Remember GEORGE “FREAKIN'” HARRISON got sued for “MY SWEET LORD” sounding too much like “HE’S SO FINE”!
January 8, 2015 @ 9:09 am
Well to be fair, you could probably mash up any song with any other song written in the same time. 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 etc if you adjust the timing. Then you have how many chords? A lot of songs are written with 3 chords especially country songs. Take the song timing and same 3 chords and you will be close to the same songs. Is this a bad thing, no not necessarily. One song may pull at the heart strings more than another etc. Take Weird Al, change the lyrics a bit now it’s a funny song. I commend Trigger mashing up the 6 songs from 3 different years. I think it’s pretty cool. It shows you that when you take a good tune with good lyrics you can make it a hit.
January 8, 2015 @ 3:58 pm
I think you may have missed the point. The lyrics are garbage, for the most part, and it’s the same recycled story over and over.
Hits? Yes. Good, original content? Nah.
January 8, 2015 @ 6:23 pm
The phrasing and melody for each song is almost identical . There was a time when an act would have been sued for doing that . Now they are rewarded with $$$ and told to do it 6 more times.
Interesting that , with a few exceptions , of course , every country awards show seems to feature the same nucleus of acts doing the same kind of music . There are so many great acts who are marginalized on a regular basis who DO record something a little different and DO get airplay ( Chris Young , Josh Turner , Lee Brice , Kellie Pickler , even Randy Houser comes to mind …he’s had some different things from time to time ) yet rarely , if ever , appear on these high profile high exposure programs . Its almost like there’s an agenda controlled by some music mafia .
January 8, 2015 @ 9:14 am
But remember, kids, it would be boring if everyone sang the same song over and over! Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood said so!
January 8, 2015 @ 12:02 pm
Boom!
January 8, 2015 @ 11:45 am
Hey folks,
So as you may or may not have been noticing, the site has been experiencing some catastrophic issues today. Unfortunately because of these issues, we’ve had to eliminate the “like” function on the comments, and had to enable the dreaded “Capatchas” that everyone hates. Hopefully these will only be TEMPORARY things, but until we can assure the site can stay up for good, and any malfeasance is kept at bay, they are necessary measures.
January 8, 2015 @ 1:04 pm
Wow. I’ve been here several times today – hadn’t had any problems. At least you got the kind of Captcha that can actually be read, not the kind that looks like a little kid tried to write on the refrigerator with his diaper contents.
January 8, 2015 @ 11:46 am
Well done. This kind of thing lead me to leave Nashville. It took the fun out of the recording studio and made engineering boring. It made it an assembly line of recording. Part of the problem is there’s also a specific set of studio musicians that play on all of the records so their playing style and sound is going to end up on a lot of the records. But in general each song is driven from the demo to have the same structure. Listening to this made me remember another 20+ songs that I heard while working in Nashville that sound exactly the same as this. I’ve sat in the listening sessions for not only songwriting talent but also for songs to push to the acts. They are all looking for the exact same thing. And it’s songs like these.
January 8, 2015 @ 12:35 pm
The other problem with these songs, is the same subject matter. In the 80″s and 90’s country songs appealed to a variety of demographics, based on different subject matter. Too many of todays country songs target twenty something’s and partying. There is also a lack of artist that can actually play and enjoy the interaction of other musicians, ala Vince Gill, Steve Wariner… How many of these guys could actually sit in with a band and hold their own? I am glad I moved to Nashville and played when there was still country music on Broadway!
January 8, 2015 @ 1:59 pm
I would say that there’s still country music on Broadway, although it mostly consists of cover songs we’ve all heard before. It’s a tourist thing at this point.
January 8, 2015 @ 12:46 pm
now i see why i have trouble telling some of these songs apart on the radio 😀
reminded me of the 4 Chord Song, by Axis of Awesome (an Australian group) basically saying the same thing, just in a different way..
January 8, 2015 @ 12:58 pm
Interesting and tangible evidence of what anybody familiar with Nashville ‘country’ music has known for years. Writing derivative and mediocre country songs long ago became its own ‘art form’. So sad. Come back Roger Miller, come back Harlan Howard, come back Hank Cochran, come back . . . . . well, you get the picture.
A little ‘housekeeping’ tip to the author of this article: I’m only guessing here, but I believe the word you were looking for is the exclamatory: “Voila”,(instead of wahlah, as in “and wahlah- turned out they really were the same song!”). It’s pronounced: ‘Vwah-llah’. In some areas people pronounce it with the ‘v’ silent but in most places I’ve been on this continent (hundreds of places) people pronounce the ‘v’.
For reference as to how to use the word and its pronunciation, I would refer you to Rodney Crowell’s classic “Voila, an American Dream”. And from one writer to another: Keep a dictionary handy and use it before hitting the “publish” button.
Thanks for the article.
April 6, 2015 @ 12:07 pm
IMPOSTER!!!!!!!!!
April 6, 2015 @ 12:45 pm
Disregard above comment IMPOSTER!!!!!!!!
April 17, 2016 @ 11:01 pm
I am the “Sir Mashalot” mentioned in this article. This is the first time I’m seeing your comments, Jesse, so allow me to clarify something, so I can basically help push that stick-up-yer-ass back your way. Ya see, Jesse, Trigger, the author of this article, was quoting my written words, which I sent him via email. In a hasty, brainfart moment, I actually forgot about “voila” and wrote “wah-lah”. All he did was copy and paste it, as he should. Imposter? Nah, get lost, scrub.
January 8, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
All this illustrates is that all you need to do is put an attractive face in front of the mic. There is nothing real about these songs or those performing them…and nothing real about those listening to them.
Doesn’t make them bad…escape from reality is fine, but when these d-bags are winning awards and their names are side by side with legends….ah, that is just criminal.
January 8, 2015 @ 6:27 pm
‘All this illustrates is that all you need to do is put an attractive face in front of the mic. There is nothing real about these songs or those performing them”¦and nothing real about those listening to them. ‘
Amen . Its ALL ABOUT THE ACT …they need something to do while we gawk at them. Might as well have them pretend to sing .
January 8, 2015 @ 1:08 pm
I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply, but in 1962, George Jones had already begun to move away from the Ray Price sound, Conway Twitty’s Rock ‘N Roll career was coming to an end, and Johnny Cash was being Johnny Cash. Actually, the only two people with similar styles on the list you gave, in 1962, would be Stonewall and George, and even then, you’re reaching.
January 8, 2015 @ 1:12 pm
Disregard this comment. It’s in the wrong place.
Modern Country...
January 8, 2015 @ 1:40 pm
[…] […]
January 8, 2015 @ 1:45 pm
Sorry to say but this idea is not as origanal as you think
2 or 3 months ago I was flippin through radio staions and I heard Close Your Eyes playin
Close Your Eyes is one of few songs I like so I listened to it and it turned out it was a mashup of it, Sure Be Cool If You Did, and Play It Again
The lyrics were similliar but the music was almost the same
They fitted together perfectly (or imperfectly if you know what I mean)
So not only does the lyrics say the same thing but the music is exactly the same too
For example listen to Close Your Eyes and then listen to Whatever She’s Got from David Nail and tell me if they don’t sound the same
January 8, 2015 @ 1:57 pm
I wonder if there are classified jobs on sites like “monster.com” for people to work on a music assembly line, tweaking the lyrics a little, changing the tempo, then releasing it as a single?
I think this could be the easiest job in the world. What do you think?
If any Nashville music executive is reading this, I can do this as a side job.
Girls in Cut Off Jean Shorts – Check
Jacked Up Pickup Trucks – Check
Dirt Road – Check
Overuse the world “Girl” – Check
Scott
January 8, 2015 @ 1:58 pm
As long as it isn’t Islamic I don’t care!
April 6, 2015 @ 12:10 pm
Racists but weirdly I agree
January 8, 2015 @ 2:08 pm
Is it sad that I like the mash up better than any ONE of the originals, the doing the editing for it took a ton of talent, where as the original songs… You know!!
January 8, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
I sent the link to that video in a lengthy email essentially daring every country station in Kansas City, Topeka, KS, and Manhattan, KS to play it on air. I encourage more people to do the same. If more stations get pressure, maybe they’ll cave in, and maybe people will wake up. It can’t hurt.
January 9, 2015 @ 7:35 am
Unfortunately, I don’t think it will do any good. Our local country station in Dayton posted a link to the mashup (although on Taste of Country) on Facebook. Seven comments so far. Six of the comments were “I love it” or “OMG it’s so great”. Only one person commented to say how it shows the sad state of mainstream country today and how watered down it is.
January 8, 2015 @ 2:45 pm
I question the authenticity of this. Can anyone clear up why, even when all six songs are played together, that there is absolutely no variance in the percussion? I mean, I get the point, and my perspective is to like what you like and let other people like what they like (unless you’re talking about a band I play in, in which case if you don’t like it, you’re crazy). Someone worked hard on this, but part of that work was to support the premise by making it sound as much like one song as possible, and with todays DAW software, there are countless tools to do that. And given the degree to which they succeeded at making a mashup that sound like one song, I can only conclude that if you were to recreate this experiment with say, CD players, you would not be able to recreate this result. Your mileage may vary.
At the end of the day, who cares? People have been whining about other people’s taste in music for hundreds of years. What’s the endgame?
January 8, 2015 @ 3:56 pm
Those Casio keyboards they’re rockin over there only have the 4 preset drum rhythms.
January 8, 2015 @ 3:02 pm
This officially depressed me. I’m headed to the bar.
I’ll say this- this is why I hated country music growing up in Nashville. There’s zero diversity in mainstream country music. Look at rock or pop or metal, and there’s gobs of variations and sub genres that get attention. Sigh….I can’t wait for Doom Country to get big (Southern groove metal with less screaming). Who wants to start the movement with me?!?
January 10, 2015 @ 10:02 am
I’m so on board with this it’s not even funny. As long as we can make a little room for ambient country like Casualties of Cool (the country project of Canadian extreme metal act Devin Townsend which is overall pretty damn awesome), I’m definitely game.
January 8, 2015 @ 3:25 pm
So are all of these in the same key?
January 8, 2015 @ 3:42 pm
“I actually like it! Best mash-up ever.” says the disloyal country fan who just loves country because it “reminds them of summer”.
January 8, 2015 @ 4:30 pm
The first bar of the tune “ready set roll” sounds like a tune by “the who”
This is pretty funny. Thanks for doing it.
My thought”¦. why do they even pay songwriters? An average twelve year old could write these lyrics.
Seems there’s only one melody, so no need to pay anyone for another one.
And, you probably just have to give the 12 year old a playstation or something. Think of the bottom line boost!
They better watch it, record companies are going to figure this out. then what?
It’s too bad, obviously those players whoever they are, are really good studio guys.
Maybe they’re doing something at home that they’d let us hear.
Comeon people, cough up the basement tapes!
January 8, 2015 @ 4:31 pm
“Doom country”
I’m in.
Thanks for the laugh.
January 8, 2015 @ 5:41 pm
to be fair, at least a few of these are time-corrected (you can hear the artifacts). Still, it’s pretty funny.
January 8, 2015 @ 6:04 pm
This is so dumb. It’s called a DJ mix and you can do it with most types of music. Would you say that Immortal Technique is a shit rapper because you can lay his vocals on top of a KRS One track?
January 8, 2015 @ 7:26 pm
There is a difference…Immortal Technique and KRS One is good music. So that is allowed.
Bro country is shit music, and that should not be allowed!!!
January 8, 2015 @ 9:55 pm
True and there are plenty of mashups out there that kinda work. But to put this many songs together to the same general melody with the same delivery, cliches, intros, and tones is what makes this stand apart.
January 11, 2015 @ 6:25 am
And trust me. I have listened to and followed both Immortal Technique’s and KRS-One throughout their careers. Not once have I heard a song from either of them where their beats or rhyming sounded identical.
January 8, 2015 @ 6:20 pm
Not that I enjoy or like country…..At least some of the words are different. Now lets see how many hiphop/ rap songs have identical parts. I fear the internet doesn’t have enough space for that comparison!
January 8, 2015 @ 6:53 pm
Hmmm…this was a little better when it was Nickelback doing such horseshit…at least that was all the work of just one band.
Ridiculous!
January 8, 2015 @ 7:43 pm
I’m probably the only one here that thinks this would be cool to see but it would totally be awesome and interesting to watch all 6 artists get together and actually sing and record this mashup song all together.
January 8, 2015 @ 8:07 pm
Trig, this is true for every genre of music. Pop, Rap, EDM, even Classic Rock, all sounds the same layered on top of each other. “Pop Country” has its place in music just as “Texas/Red Dirt” and “Traditional Country”. It’s really annoying when you subtly hint in every other blog that you’re traditional/independent music is better than what on the radio.
And this is coming from someone who likes Sturgill, Turnpike Troubadours, Jason Isbell and traditional country more than whats on the radio. It’d just be nice to focus on that instead of saying or hinting that popular music is bad all the time.
All this does is promote a video that sheds country music in a bad light as a whole, similarly to the “Why Country Music Sucked in 2013” video.
January 8, 2015 @ 9:20 pm
Tim, you are right. This is true for every genre of music. The point is, it didn’t USED TO BE true for country music. Up until the the 21st century, country music was distinct. Variety of topics, lyrics, instruments, melodies, sounds, etc. Not much anymore. I agree whole heartedly with Trig. Young people who like this new country don’t even know what real country is.
January 8, 2015 @ 10:51 pm
Please don”™t allow me to subtly hint anything. I think traditional/independent is better than is what is on the radio, period. Having said that, I agree pop country has it”™s place in the country music panorama. The problem is that when you”™re talking about the mainstream, pop country is virtually all you see. There”™s no balance.
I think there”™s fundamental differences between this illustration and “Why Country Music Sucked in 2013.” Yes, this illustration could also be mistook as representing all of what country music has to offer, but by zooming in on specific songs and a specific style of songs, I think it does a better job focusing on the root cause of the angst of many listeners.
It”™s unfortunate that yet again, it is a negative piece of media that goes ultra viral, when for example a really heartfelt piece I posted about Sturgill Simpson the same day will probably get 1% of the attention this article did. But what that speaks to is the frustration of society of what is happening to country music, just like it did with the ”™2013”² video, the Florida Georgia Line album review I posted in October, Blake Shelton”™s “Old Farts and Jackasses” comment, and all of these other viral events. The silent majority is frustrated at what has happened to the cultural institution of country music, and it”™s illustrations like this that galvanize them.
January 9, 2015 @ 5:39 am
I’ll start out with I’m not a big country music fan, I do like old country and a little bit of new, but I am a big bluegrass fan and musician. You gotta face the music “pun intended” it’s the new stuff that is drawing in the younger generation. I was at my local watering hole recently and someone played a rap song on the jukebox. I said “tell me that’s not a country song!” Unfortunately it was, it was at that point the I felt country music is doomed. But it must be selling, When I watch CMA awards and I think I’m watching rock music awards I feel country music is doomed. But it’s selling and selling to big crowds. So far the country bands that I bring into the theater are playing mostly old country. My sound man is a main stream country artist getting ready to cut a new CD and go back on tour. He’ll play what the fans want to hear. “FANS!” It’s all about the fans. It sells and puts money in his pocket and guess what, I’ll buy his CD’s because he’s a great singer and a good friend.
January 9, 2015 @ 1:05 pm
Ron, been meaning to touch base with you to see about getting booked at the Grey Fox. Contact me through my website.
January 8, 2015 @ 8:08 pm
You could probably add a few more songs to this if you wanted to. John King with his song Tonight Tonight. That would fit in well as would Joe Nichols’ Yeah.
January 8, 2015 @ 8:33 pm
Plus David Nail’s Whatever She’s Got.
January 8, 2015 @ 9:15 pm
Interesting what Taste of Country says on their site about the mashup — “One epic mashup. What the songs lack in diversity they make up for in infectious melodies and catchy hooks, and country fans know there”™s nothing wrong with that. We just wish you could buy this on iTunes!” Arrrrrgggggghhhhh!!!
January 10, 2015 @ 1:43 pm
Of course they are going to say that. Taste of Country is owned by Townsquare Media, part of the radio brodcasting oligopoly. Their mission is solely to promote performers that are accepted by the big time record companies and in turn big radio. One tentacle washes the other. It all exists to squash creativity and keep a stranglehold on what the general public is allowed to hear.
January 10, 2015 @ 4:11 pm
That explains a lot. 🙁
January 8, 2015 @ 9:53 pm
It’s embarrassing, I’m just glad someone took the time to put that together. But I still blame the mindless idiots that support these “artists” (and I use that term loosely). Fact is, there’s a big market for stupid people to listen to stupid music.
D’oh, and the captcha is back!
January 8, 2015 @ 10:53 pm
Just more proof that 95% of country music is just the same old re-used music and the same overused lyrics… Over and over again.
January 9, 2015 @ 1:11 am
Try playing all this garbage in a cover band and not mix up all the openings to the songs. They are all the same! And half of the titles make you think of the other songs!
January 9, 2015 @ 11:47 am
Dude, that’s very sad you need to find another band.
January 9, 2015 @ 10:51 am
Yeah, it’s funny. But if you pitch shift and tempo adjust things, you can do this with any style of music.
January 10, 2015 @ 9:45 am
That’s exactly right. That, and change the volume levels. I’ve been doing that for years. To each their own!
January 9, 2015 @ 11:27 am
I bet the people who sent these nearly identical songs to #1 are the same people who were complaining about U2’s album being put in their catalog free on itunes (first world problem…you got a free music album, oh the horror!). At least their music is creative.
To be fair I think many songs can sound similar simply because how much variety could there be, obviously sometimes its going to happen when you change pitch and all that…but this many songs in the same genre in the same few years of each other is a bit much and does make it seem like a quick easy cash grab. And its the entirety of the songs in this case, not a few parts that sound alike. Would be interesting to do it with other genres, and wider range of years just to see.
January 9, 2015 @ 12:15 pm
I am not surprised by this, I often turn on the radio in the middle of a song, and I can’t tell you which song because so many of them sound the same. we often hear stories about writers who just put on a loop set at 76 bpm, and then play the same three chords (verse and chorus) and write a song to the loop. I wish the average radio listeners could experience this. My friend at CBS records years ago had this slogan, “the masses are asses” and he would explain that the public will buy anything if you tell them enough times to buy it, which is what is happening here on Country Radio. I so miss hearing great songwriting, which is why I don’t listen much to radio anymore. Thanks for exposing this
January 9, 2015 @ 1:38 pm
While I’m happy to poke fun at anything that undermines the respectability of modern mainstream country music, I have to point out that this is really nothing new.
The classic tunes “Thrills That I Can’t Forget”, “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes”, “Great Speckled Bird”, “The Wild Side of Life”, and “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” all used the same melody. Granted, it’s probably significant that these songs weren’t all on the hit parade at the same time. And of course “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” was an answer song to “The Wild Side of Life” so the use of the same melody is justified in that case.
But there were plenty of Nashville Sound tunes in the ’60s and ’70s that featured pretty similar melodies. I think this is something that rears it’s head every time country music gets lame. Country music of the ’90s featured a lot of bland sameness, just not wo much in the melodies used.
And for the record, I’m not saying it’s okay, just that it’s nothing all that new.
January 9, 2015 @ 6:29 pm
This article is getting some love over at Yahoo.
http://ramcountry.yahoo.com/post/107617952531/six-hits-become-one-song-in-crazy-country-mashup?noRedirect=1
January 9, 2015 @ 10:08 pm
Thank God this is the first time I have heard any of those songs(unless you count the 2 seconds it takes me to change the station when I get in my wife’s car)
January 10, 2015 @ 6:15 am
For those of you whining about tempo changes to make the songs match, you have OBVIOUSLY never bought any of these songs online and listened to them at home. Once or twice I bought songs on Itunes and was disappointed because the tempos were WAY slower on the original recordings. Yes the songs sounded totally different than what I was used to hearing.
MANY country stations speed the music up to get segments done faster, get more music on the radio so it seems like they play more music than they do, etc. It’s pretty sneaky and disgusting if you think too much about it.
January 10, 2015 @ 8:27 am
This illustrates perfectly the total lack of originality and lack of creativity along with the meaningless redundant lyrics being cranked out by Nashville and “Today’s” Country Music. “Today’s” dopey fans haven’t the sense to know they’re being duped and disrespected by an industry that ignores quality creative endeavor and actively encourages “production line” music. About two years ago, a very well known Country artist and songwriter defended his position that my disgust with the sellout attitude was justified by the money. How sad. These kids and producers come to town expecting instant wealth and gratification. I don’t listen to country radio anymore, and I haven’t for quite some time. It hurts to hear its quality dissolve before my very ears….and heart.
January 11, 2015 @ 1:14 am
So much of today’s country stars Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, Parmalee, Florida Georgia Line, and Chase Rice. They all should be hanges as the are guiltu for Murder On Music Row
January 11, 2015 @ 9:14 am
Many people here have already expressed how I feel about the state of current country music. All the artists voices sound the same, and the songs do also….to the point that I sometimes can’t tell you who’s on the radio at that moment. Even when songs are the similar, I could always count on the fact that I could identify the singer by his/her voice. Not really the case anymore. I grew up listening to 80’s country, but also was forced to listen to 50’s and 60’s rock/pop/country thanks to my mom. I can play name that tune pretty damn good with music (even including rap occasionally) up to the 90’s. Since then, I think music’s been pretty monotonous and trending toward ignorant. Whenever someone asks me what my favorite type of music is, I tell them it’s classical.
January 12, 2015 @ 9:52 pm
A couple years old, but the same concept applied to pop/alt music… performed live no less. Worth the watch if you haven’t seen it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
January 13, 2015 @ 2:30 pm
It’s funny how they are acting like this is only possible with country. You can do this with any genre, and you can clearly tell which songs are sped up and slowed down…
January 17, 2015 @ 2:50 pm
This video was posted to one of my friend’s facebook pages. Their comment on it was:
“Maybe this explains why I like Sam Hunt so much for country music right now. It’s not traditional. But it’s also not the same stuff we’ve been listening to in country music for the past several years.”
These people exist…