May Sam Cooke’s Ghost Kick Thomas Rhett’s Ass for “Crash and Burn”
Like Mephistopheles himself gorged on a diet of the most grotesquely valueless souls, and then 36 hours of insidious churning in the innermost bowels of hell amidst unholy gastric juices eventually putrefied a malevolent impaction to be shot out of the Satanic anus like a worm-riddled disease baby, Thomas Rhett has unleashed a new single on the planet called “Crash and Burn.”
May the ghost of the great Sam Cooke kick Thomas Rhett’s ass eternally for ripping off the iconic rhythm and cadence from the classic American standard “Chain Gang” in such an open and arrogant manner that even a villainous bystander like Vanilla Ice would give this the hairy eyeball. “Evolution” in today’s country music is simply a code word for filching something from another genre as the result of the relative vacuum of new ideas in the country medium, and Thomas Rhett and producers
left so much of their DNA over the crime scene of this caper it would make a rape kit envious of the swabable masses lingering behind this messy and haphazard ruse. Someone rustle up the bulldog legal team for Marvin Gaye and get them under retainer for the Sam Cooke estate post haste.Thomas Rhett’s “Crash and Burn” is offensively cheery for what is supposed to be a sad song, and belligerently non-country in a manner that makes one question if the country genre even exists anymore if something this acid scrubbed and painstakingly sanitized of any and all traces of country influences could still make it onto country radio. Yeah I know there’s worse, and the retro feel of the song almost makes you want to hum along, but this is how the slow desensitization from these non country songs has masked the fact that there’s now music that belongs more appropriately in virtually every other genre of music except country scoring #1 hits on the country charts.
They’ve been trying to make a superstar out of the marginally-talented Thomas Rhett for so many years now that Rhett has decided to swallow any and all pride and simply become the silly putty star for his label and producers to mold him into whatever they wish. Focus group data attests that this R&B/disco/EDM bullshit is hot right now so just start releasing Motown rehashes with disco influences as country singles while the rest of the industry sits idly by and witnesses these audio felonies transpire with sealed lips. The country genre hates everything country right now, and covets the influences of every other genre than its own.
Even Rhett himself has been launching preemptive strikes in the press, knowing this song would be ridiculed. “I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t extremely nervous about what the feedback was going to be,” Thomas told Rolling Stone Country. Gee I wonder if he ever dreamed it would be compared to a bowel movement from the angel of darkness? Thomas knows deep down in his heart that this music isn’t country because unlike some of his peers such as Florida Georgia Line, Rhett has country pedigree. But that hasn’t stopped him from releasing “Crash and Burn,” and let’s not act like it’s some significant departure from his last single “Make Me Wanna.” Rhett doesn’t give a lick what his music sounds like, only that he can make his Ranger Rover payments.
And once again we look in the fine print of an unfortunate release and there’s Chris Stapleton’s name along with Jesse Frasure being given credit as songwriters. Stapleton’s solo work sure sounds good, but he’s got a hell of a lot of atoning to do, and sure makes it hard to hitch yourself to his bandwagon even though the words to “Crash and Burn” aren’t especially terrible, they’re just aggressively insignificant.
“Disco country” is what “Crash and Burn” is being labeled by some. Where are the gatekeepers? Are they too busy getting swept up in the disco vibe of this song to see they’re undercutting the very foundations of what makes country different from the rest of the music industry? Were no lessons learned from disco’s sugar rush career arc back in the 70’s to where it’s now not only rehabilitated from being the laughing stock of American genres crowning the trash heap of history, but it is being regurgitated like last night’s late evening burrito on a hot sidewalk after a drunken next day stupor home to terrorize passers by from its putrid emanations?
Bro-Country’s short life span, eat your heart out. Barry Gibb has written better country songs than all the new generation of country stars combined, and that’s not hyperbole. And Jerry Reed, Larry Jon Wilson, and many more were employing R&B influences in country with much better results way before Thomas Rhett was even a gleam in Rhett Atkins’ eye, so save your diatribes about “evolution” and “innovation.”
Sam Hunt is cackling, a second-tier country opening act in Thomas Rhett has virtually more number ones than all of the women in country music do in the last half decade combined, and now disco has emerged as a relevant influence once again, and in of all places, the genre that’s supposed to be its polar opposite. We can only now hope that the four horsemen of the Apocalypse will storm out of the sky to cleanse away this hell on earth. Hell, since they’re on horses, at least they would resemble something even remotely country. The soundtrack to the true end of days would be audio relief compared to this.
Two guns down!
April 13, 2015 @ 9:37 am
I’m curious if he credits the sample at all in the album credits. He definitely ripped that beat from the Sam Cooke song.
If not, Sam Cooke’s estate definitely has a court case.
April 13, 2015 @ 10:31 am
I have yet to see any credit given to Sam Cooke, either verbally, or in any of the credits annotated on the song. This may be just the beginning of this issue.
But even if Sam Cooke was given credit, it still is such an obvious filching, how can you listen to this song as an original work?
April 13, 2015 @ 11:02 am
“Rhett Butler is just working in the time dishonored folk tradition of borrowing from other artists. You’re a wussie and a pussy if you think otherwise. His song is as original as anything I put together.”
– Little Bobby Zimmerman
September 27, 2015 @ 9:05 am
Why knock it a lot of singers do they just are allow to look at it like this it just takes classics that are good an make something better .
September 27, 2015 @ 10:24 am
No. Just, NO.
The Sam Cooke song is a timeless classic. This is a third-rate ripoff.
April 13, 2015 @ 9:42 am
Having Sam Cooke’s honey-coated voice in mind when I started listening to this, Thomas Rhett sounds like the pinnacle of mediocrity. I honestly felt a little embarrassed for him in that single moment that his mumble first slipped into the mix.
April 13, 2015 @ 9:48 am
The picture for the single should be Thomas Rhett wearing only a sport coat and one shoe….
April 13, 2015 @ 9:52 am
Christ, he doesn’t even try to hide it. That’s Chain Gang from the very first beat.
April 13, 2015 @ 10:01 am
Yeah, they’re going to have to pay up if they didn’t get permission. I have to imagine that they did in light of the Marvin Gaye court case, but maybe I’m giving them too much credit.
Dislike FGL and Luke Bryan as I may, I can admit that they know how to make mass-consumption pop music. I am perplexed as to how any Thomas Rhett song gets on the radio. He’s the ultimate in Music Row cronyism.
April 13, 2015 @ 11:16 am
“Dislike FGL and Luke Bryan as I may, I can admit that they know how to make mass-consumption pop music. ”
So does McDonald’s and about 4,000 other jingle writers . It doesn’t make them good songs …timeless , meaningful , profound , helpful , well-written pieces of music . It just means that you know your undiscerning , uncaring market doesn’t really give a damn so it justifies taking advantage of them with a poor quality product . No law against that . Dumbing- down is an old term which seems to be applicable to more and more scenarios than ever. Just look at pop culture . There’s a market to buy ANYTHING if you have the means to reach and ” persuade” them and don’t mind having your name and reputation forever linked to the crappy products you are selling .
April 13, 2015 @ 12:49 pm
“There”™s a market to buy ANYTHING”
I strongly doubt this. If this were true, there would be a market for classic country as well.
April 13, 2015 @ 1:42 pm
I remind you , once again , of the successful ” Pet Rock ” ….a ’70’s marketing success story which involved selling the consumer a rock …yes a rock …in a small box . There IS a market for classic country music …look no further than SCM to illustrate that . There is just NO mechanism in place to get it out to that market because it has been deemed inconsequential/insignificant and if mainstream radio ‘ ain’t broke ‘ …why fix it ?? A caring fan only has to listen to an hour’s worth of cont. country lyrics to understand that IT IS BROKE . But you’d need to find a CARING fan who listens to mainstream country radio.
April 13, 2015 @ 12:51 pm
“No law against that”
Damn right there isn’t. As terrible as bro-country is, censorship would be immeasurably worse.
I am reminded of the saying: “I vehemently disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. Just replace “say” with “sing”.
April 13, 2015 @ 1:17 pm
I dunno Eric. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some law that said they can’t call this stuff country music?
April 13, 2015 @ 1:47 pm
Agree 100% , Eric …but Fuzzy makes a good point . How about we don’t call Coca Cola ” Orange Juice “
April 13, 2015 @ 10:17 am
I said this elsewhere, but it bears repeating here:
I still can”™t understand why Thomas Rhett bothers with country music beyond the financial aspect, as opposed to doing hip-hop or playing in some glam metal tribute band ”“ you know, stuff he”™s actually admitted to liking.
April 13, 2015 @ 10:33 am
Because country music lets him. They celebrate his goofy dance moves and cheap Bruno knock off act with Best New Artist Nominations. These kids that go see him, love him, because they too love Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake (I do love me some JT though) and Robin Thicke (or did before he totally skeeved everyone out by stalking his ex wife) same as Rhett. Most of the people going to these concerts aren’t country music specific as fans. They just like what they like and don’t care what he is labeled as. Meanwhile, those of us that are fans of country music specifically, have to wade through shit like this to hear a good song because Country Radio is catering to a demo that mostly doesn’t even listen to country on the radio.
April 13, 2015 @ 10:25 am
In no way shape or form should this be labeled as country or played on country radio but we all know it will, and probably top the charts. Sad to say. Thank God Randy and Wade’s duet album and William Clark Green come out next week. Then a few weeks later Whitey Morgan’s Sonic Ranch. So I’ll be nowhere near the radio in the months to come.
April 13, 2015 @ 10:59 am
Don’t know if I would call it country-disco. Billie Jo Spears singing ‘I Will Survive’, now there’s country-disco. I don’t know how but she manages to make it work.
April 13, 2015 @ 11:05 am
Megan Trayner anyone ? They’ve totally ripped off her ‘vibe ‘ ( as did T.S ) along with Cooke’s groove and vocals . Of course , Megan is ripping off the 50’s like there’s no tomorrow ….which judging by this shit there isn’t . Hopefully Rhett is doing us a favour with his wishful singing of this one and he’ll crash and burn sooner than later….which I thought he already was with that last ridiculous thing he released .
But perhaps the biggest tragedy in this travesty , as Trigger points out , is that , once again , Chris Stapleton will be in on the spoils . HOW DOES THAT MAN SLEEP ? I’m hoping to read that he suffers from schizophrenia and the royalties will cover his much-needed medication . This is the only answer that for me could justify his ‘artistic’ association with the likes of this ….. this …..thing.
” Country ” music continues to shoot itself in the foot . A waste of bullets that should be aimed at the relentless assault on its fading traditions . Fuck these mindless strawgraspers .
April 13, 2015 @ 3:55 pm
I’ve heard songwriters say they wrote a thousand bad songs before they wrote one good one, so can we blame Chris for this? Did he write the lyrics or the music? Maybe it started out as a better song. Who overproduced it? It’s up to the labels and radio to reject the bad songs and they aren’t doing it. Instead they are rejecting the better songs.
April 14, 2015 @ 6:26 pm
I have no trouble with musicians doing homages to earlier styles, though I think for Meghan it is more gimmick than actual affection. But when you Blurred Lines , which isn’t homage but a direct cut (meaning, for me I think of Give It Up instantly and not Blurred lInes) then I get peeved. And you are right this song want to hit that doo-wop groove but since the bros are going EDM he can’t get TOO much like the girl groups (what with his masculinity and being a bro an all).
The fact that it is Sam Cooke’s groove is all the more insulting because at least Tarinor made her own grooves.
April 16, 2015 @ 2:13 pm
How can somebody rip off a decade. It’s a style of music and she chooses that style I wouldn’t call it ripping off. Also this song is terrible. Blatant rip off of Cooke
April 13, 2015 @ 11:10 am
I can’t imagine how the universe will keep existing if country keeps “evolving.” I can’t see how there will even be a hint of country music when I am an old person. I find the 4 Horsemen of Apocalypse comment to be very fitting, because I literally cannot see the world existing when all music is the monogenre.
April 13, 2015 @ 11:17 am
Goddammit! split the fucking format. Country and real bad shitty forgettable pop music. This song is bullshit. Give me back my Country Music. As Brett stated, thank God for the Whitey and Randy/Wade albums coming. Thomas Rhett has the pedigree as mention by another SMC loyal commenter. Even Rhett Atkin’s “that ain’t my truck” is creepy and kind of pathetic when you get down to the lyrics. Last summer I learned it to add a good 90’s country song to my set list. I only did it a few times because I am like the guy in the song is kind of pathetic. But I will never make it in a million years and Thomas Rhett and his dad have at least one number 1 song.
April 13, 2015 @ 11:31 am
Mainstream country = anything but actual country. Straight up 60s pop music? No no, it’s COUNTRY, see, a guy from Georgia is singin’ it!
MAKE. IT. STOP.
April 13, 2015 @ 11:39 am
Amen on the Jerry Reed reference. “Jerry Reed sings Jim Croce” is a great album. and don’t worry about Mr. Rhett’s country music degree, he turned it in in exchange for a drum machine.
April 13, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
Love Croce’s “Chain Gang Medley.” Great homage to the song.
April 13, 2015 @ 11:49 am
I get this guy and Tyler Farr mixed up. These generic bros are all the same.
April 13, 2015 @ 12:00 pm
No they aren’t. they wear their wallet chains differently.
April 13, 2015 @ 12:10 pm
Just THOSE two guys ? You’re doing better than I am . I thought it was all ONE guy called Kip Tylerfarr Currington- Gilbert -Hunt -Church -Swindle -Paslay -Bryanaldean.
April 13, 2015 @ 12:37 pm
Is the bro-country demographic really that big compared to everything else? Couldn’t they push real country music that would appeal to a wider range of more mature people? If pop music appeals to the 15-24 or whatever crowd (for the record I’m 19 and I hate it), why compete with that when you can just go for another demographic, instead of brushing off the more distinguished listeners and focusing on the um… less distinguished listeners? If they insist on drawing in all these suckers, why not do the stupid pop country songs on a specific “pop country” format which not many people will care about anyway, while also promoting more substance in a format called “COUNTRY MUSIC” that a lot of people will actually care about? I’m willing to bet there are way more country music fans out there than there are pop country fans, so why not take the more lucrative approach of catering to them? They only make stars out of the people who either prefer other music than country, or who don’t care enough and will do whatever they’re told unless they’re paid. Even the DJs and record people are not country. It really doesn’t make sense to completely turn country into pop when you have people out there who want to play and/or hear country. And you can make more money when you don’t compete with pop as opposed to when you do. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
April 13, 2015 @ 12:53 pm
Kale: I’m a 20 year old college student and have spent a lot of time studying music (I have a music degree) Bro-Country is huge right now, yes. But Bro-Country is huge in the way that Miley, Beiber, and Pirates of the Caribbean were huge. It’s just a trend that got really big really fast. In fifteen years, people will still listen to Merle, and Jones, and Strait, but there will be stacks of FGL CDs at goodwill. In fifteen years, people will still be watching the “Wizard of Oz” and “Smokey and the Bandit” and Pirates of the Caribbean is going to be just another one of those bygone franchises. The industry and the masses are kind to trend-chasers. But time is kind only to legends and quality. There’s a Hank Williams movie coming out this year, Elvis is still recognizable enough to appear in Statefarm commercials, after the terrorist attacks in Paris the people spilled into the street singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The reason all the pop music is on the country stations is because “Country” is cool right now. When the next big thing hits and the bros all leave the industry will come crawling back to the real country fans.
April 15, 2015 @ 8:12 am
Wow Fuzzmeister! I’d’ve never guessed that you were 20 years old. I can’t remember the last time I met a 20 year old that wasn’t a dumbass.
April 15, 2015 @ 9:09 am
I like to think I’m not a dumbass, but I’m also not 20 so… 😛
April 15, 2015 @ 9:46 am
aww thanks! I do tricks too!
April 15, 2015 @ 12:12 pm
Gotta love 20! Wait though, i turn 21 in a couple months…will i be a drunk dumbass then?? =D
April 15, 2015 @ 12:46 pm
Well you’ll be old enough to drink…
April 13, 2015 @ 2:13 pm
That’s why the country music format needs to split and have a separate format for country music that actually sounds like country, and a Top 40 format that can do whatever they want. Right now country is alienating a huge segment of fans.
April 13, 2015 @ 12:56 pm
YUCK!
April 13, 2015 @ 1:13 pm
So, by the review, I ascertained that 1. Trigger really loves Thomas Rhett and this song, and 2. My vernacular is woefully deprived of metaphors and adjectives.
Oh, and the song is shit.
April 13, 2015 @ 2:07 pm
Wow. This song is the worst country song of the last five years. Wtf is wrong with you Stapleton?
April 13, 2015 @ 2:14 pm
How great this song could have been if they had decided to record a country version. It has some competent writing from Stapleton. I’d have expected no less from Rhett, but I am concerned that this may signify a fundamental change in direction for Gary Allan, who fought with Thomas Rhett for the rights to record this. Gary’s last single went the metropolitan route as well. Gary apparently co-wrote some songs for Will Hodge’s new album. We’ll see…
April 13, 2015 @ 2:23 pm
If songs can be classified as musical deformities, that was it. I don’t want to know what incestuous musical 30 second encounter caused something so traumatic, but someone must hunt it, and they must kill it will steel guitar!
April 13, 2015 @ 2:39 pm
OMG, Trigger. You may have outdone yourself with that first paragraph. Now, I’ll go read the rest of the article.
April 13, 2015 @ 4:14 pm
Absolutely. He could never write another word, and his body of work would be complete with that one paragraph alone. Truly worthy of a Noble Prize if I had anything to say about it.
April 13, 2015 @ 6:17 pm
Sam, I think you must mean Pulitzer Prize? There’s no peace in that prose.
April 13, 2015 @ 6:30 pm
That’s for sure! 😀 But there are many categories of Noble Prize, literature being one of them.
April 13, 2015 @ 6:41 pm
Excellent point.
April 13, 2015 @ 2:47 pm
Hopefully this song title is indicative of the trajectory of Thomas Rhett’s career.
April 13, 2015 @ 3:02 pm
Couple more observations:
It seems to me that just like Shane McAnally, Chris Stapleton seems intent on blowing his trad-country cred to shit with all this slick pop country that he’s putting his name to. Honestly, I’ve been suspicious of that guy since I first heard “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright,” my least favorite cut from George Strait’s Here For A Good Time.
Thomas Rhett may well have a country music pedigree, but it’s not really that much of one. From what I remember of Rhett Akins’ singing career, he really wasn’t all that. C-level at best. I don’t know to what extent dad helped son get his foot in the door, but I find it difficult to believe that son got in the biz on his talent alone.
April 13, 2015 @ 7:46 pm
“…..Love”™s Gonna Make It Alright,” my least favorite cut from George Strait”™s Here For A Good Time.”
Man you said it …that song was one of George’s worst EVER . I didn’t realize it was a Chris Stapleton write but it fits right in with this one and JOSH TURNER’S worst record …YOUR MAN .
April 13, 2015 @ 8:05 pm
Yup. First thing I do when I get a new piece of music is see who wrote all the songs. And right or wrong, when I see Stapleton’s name mentioned, that Strait song is the one that comes to mind…
April 13, 2015 @ 3:26 pm
This song is awful and everything except country. Someone pull the plug on the giant monogenre blender because a carrot, chocolate, garlic and strawberry smoothie tastes better than this sounds. For the love of all things good and country and the hate of country trying to be everything except itself, we can only hope radio throws down the stop spikes and makes this song crash and burn at #60. How on earth does this stuff make the final 100 songs for an album?
Rhett naming Bruno Mars as a big inspiration is shocking, ridiculous and hilarious. If he’s country why not name a country artist as inspiration? Rhett isn’t a good singer and his singing annoys me now as much as it did the first time I heard him sing on Something To Do With My Hands. Very grating, like nails on a chalkboard. He sounds even worse trying to sing this 70’s pop/disco (pissco) with twang. Hello, you have to be a good singer to sing multiple genres and songs like this! Rhett is one of the worst on country radio and this is a terrible direction for country music and radio. I wonder how much payola is changing hands to get him to #1 multiple times despite his average music and relatively low sales.
April 13, 2015 @ 3:38 pm
Maybe this will be his “Donkey”? Heard anything from that guy lately?
One can hope.
April 13, 2015 @ 3:51 pm
This song has been the most added song at radio for 4 days in a row with a huge lead over the #2 each day. It could debut pretty close to #40 on the radio chart. I’m guessing it will have a big first sales week as well.
Actually just checked, it debuted at #38 on radio. Already better than “Donkey.”
April 13, 2015 @ 4:33 pm
What was it, two years ago that you had a worst country songs list Trigger? That sucker is getting mighty obsolete. Why not cull the worst 40 (the list is getting bloated!) or so and make a poll and let all of us Triggerheads (?!) vote the list, just for fun?
April 13, 2015 @ 4:59 pm
Triggerheads!!! Love it!
April 13, 2015 @ 5:00 pm
This’d be a decent song… On the pop charts. The lyrics are fine, but there’s no way that isn’t ripped straight from Chain Gang. This is barely even an original song.
April 13, 2015 @ 5:01 pm
“Like Mephistopheles himself gorged on a diet of the most grotesquely valueless souls, and then 36 hours of insidious churning in the innermost bowels of hell amidst unholy gastric juices eventually putrefied a malevolent impaction to be shot out of the Satanic anus like a worm-riddled disease baby…”
My hat’s off to you, sir — that was one hell of a simile. 😀
April 13, 2015 @ 6:12 pm
This song is garbage.
April 13, 2015 @ 6:51 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZHwxIL9oYo
April 13, 2015 @ 11:41 pm
Ha! 😀
April 14, 2015 @ 9:49 am
“Were no lessons learned from disco”™s sugar rush career arc back in the 70”™s ”
I think disco is the most enduring form of American pop music. I’m serious.
take a listen/look at any of the big time DJ performancers in front of thousands upon thousands of pilled up dancers all over the western world.
It’s disco no matter what new name they call it.
Disco is like to herpes”¦. the symptoms disappear for a while, but it’s always in the system and comes back now and then to afflict us.
April 14, 2015 @ 2:47 pm
At this point, I am not even surprised by this. These people have no freaking shame anymore….or any integrity! And it is going to get a hell of a lot worse before it gets better.
April 15, 2015 @ 6:51 am
I don’t know anything about this joker, but a quick read of the bio on his website that includes:
“…throws AC/DC hard-rock chants and Coolio hip-hop phrasing into songs that are otherwise country.”
and:
“It”™s as if Roger Miller had been reincarnated and gone on a songwriting retreat in the ”˜hood.”
ensures that I won’t be listening to his music anytime soon. This guy sounds disgraceful.
April 15, 2015 @ 9:11 am
Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I actually don’t miss the “Era of Rants” like everyone else seems to. Organic criticism is much more constructive, both for us and whatever outliers might read this article. It makes us (and I say “us” because Trigger is more or less our voice as regular readers of SCM) seem less like butt-hurt secularists and more like fans that are simply concerned about their music and its integrity.
April 15, 2015 @ 7:30 pm
LOL @ the “ripped off this, ripped off that” comments. Anytime a new artist is heavily influenced by an older respected artist, whether living or deceased, there is always these idiots that come out of the cracks of the drywall accusing the new artist of “ripping off” the older artist. It’s hilarious. Funny thing is though, I never see anyone talking shit about how all these new pop/top 40 artists are ripping off motown/oldies/doo-wop songs (besides the “Blurred Lines” incident, which was laughable), it’s just in the country genre.
Thomas Rhett is just a corporate puppet, if you think he wanted to release this song you truly are an absolute moron. The guy is just a kid, in his early 20’s, I’m more than sure he’s being told what to do and if he doesn’t do it, he’s out of a career. So many of you are so damn ignorant and do not understand that it’s not the artist’s decision. Thomas Rhett is a good guy, and he has alot of good music. While i agree that he is MARGINALLY TALENTED, he makes damn good music with the talent that he does have. I enjoy this guy’s music. I’m more than sure if he was someone like Josh Thompson who is on a weak label, that this kid would be making real country music….in fact I think MANY artists are that way..
With all that being said, this is NOT a bad song. There isn’t much of a country sound to it, but as I stated before in previous posts, COUNTRY MUSIC IS DEAD – at least on country radio. I shook my head in despair as I have watched Mo Pitney’s traditional single “Country” fail miserably on the charts, along with Montgomery Gentry’s new single which is doing terrible, and even Austin Webb’s true modern country single “All Country On You”. Face it boys, country music is dead and it’s gonna continue to get worse. The real country artists ain’t gettin played.
May 25, 2015 @ 2:07 pm
You can’t copyright a “rhythm and cadence.” Rhett (and probably Chris Stapleton) should credit Cooke as an influence, but I can guarantee that Cooke’s “rhythm and cadence” was influenced by someone else as well.
As for Rhett’s “marginal talent”… as anyone who’s heard Mick Jagger sing, his talent extends to making music some people like… and that’s enough.
June 8, 2015 @ 4:31 pm
Hey trigger, how much do you charge To edit a book? Cause I gotta tell you, You didn’t miss your calling.
June 10, 2015 @ 7:53 pm
Gottdamn there are a bunch of dumbasses posting on this site that don’t have a freakin clue what country music is about. Not talking about oldies as all genres have oldies. Radio played country right now is total shit. Total absolute shit. Back in the late 70s and during the 80s you would have a pop type country song flare up here and there and while these sucked the genre kept its direction.
All of you fucksticks defending this crap need to get you own genre and stations and get the freaking fuck out of real country music.
July 9, 2015 @ 12:40 am
For some inexplicable reason, I found myself watching some lame country videos tonight. The current state of country music makes this sound like a pretty futile and depressing effort. Maybe that could be a country song itself!
Anyway, one of the videos was this Thomas Rhett tripe. I was instantly struck by how many parallels this video had with Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up, the 80’s classic. Whether it is the brick walls, the random, night time dancers or a singer whose voice does not necessarily seem like it ought to belong to them, there were many surprisingly similarities. Granted, Rhett’s has a little more narrative cohesion, but other than that, there was a lot shared between the two. Even some of the dance moves were the same! Given the 80’s nostalgia, and the Say Anything reference in the video, I would not be surprised if that was intentional. Of course, that means we can call Rhett the Rick Astley of country music…a fitting comeuppance for his accosting Sam Cook. I can’t wait for the Rhettrolling to begin!
July 15, 2015 @ 2:31 pm
Wow you all are ridiculous and I have absolutely 0 respect for the person who wrote this article.
Thomas Rhett is a very talented guy, and he puts on a Helluva live show. He is a great writer and he can also sing, and even dance.
Some of you have said how he should sing Pop music or whatever because “that’s what he has admitted to liking”. I’m sorry, but NO ONE can say they specifically like only one kind of music. You might not like another genre as a whole, but you can like songs and artists from genres other than country, and that is coming from a country singer! I write songs, play music and I live in Nashville.
“Crash and Burn” is a well written, fantastically catchy tune about heartbreak. Thomas has said himself how cool it is that it is a sad song with a happy melody. That makes it kinda like bluegrass! While it may not be something Waylon Jennings or George Strait would do, it fits in with the “new country”. You all need to suck it up. The genre is evolving, and someday I’m sure it will circle back around to the more old school country with up and coming artists such as Mo Pitney, Mickey Guyton and even the writer of this song, Chris Stapleton.
And for those of you who doubt how “qualified” Thomas Rhett is to be where he is? He learned from the best. His dad, Rhett Akins had his own country music career and still does today, writing many of the top country songs in the last ten years. Thomas is just as good of a songwriter as his dad, and he has a great country voice. If you don’t agree, don’t buy his music. Simple as that. Nobody cares about your backwards ass opinions so just keep them to yourselves.
As a songwriter, there are millions of songs out there. The whole Marvin Gaye/Blurred Lines trial was bullshit. With all the songs out there, some are bound to sound the same. There are only so many chords that can be played. That is the only thing similar about “Crash and Burn” and Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang”. Two chords are the same. Ooooooooo scary!!! The tempos and the melodies are VERY different! All it is are people trying to make money off of music that they aren’t making money off anymore by suing and claiming that the music is “stolen”‘. As a rising artist it really worries me what the music business is going to come to in a few year. And you people who have nothing better to do but criticize those artists and songwriters who are making music for YOU to listen to and to make you feel emotions that only music can make you feel, you are pathetic. They’re making music for YOU. If you don’t want it, then don’t listen and don’t buy it, but don’t bash them for doing what they love and using it to help others through the power of music! Grow up people!
May 10, 2016 @ 11:11 am
After reading your rant, I think its safe to say that Brokeback Mountain was your favorite movie.
May 10, 2016 @ 11:22 am
You’re absolutely right! This is saying exactly what I was thinking! All these fuckwads commenting on this, bashing an artist and a songwriter are ridiculous cowards who need to get the fuck on with their lives and accept that country music stands where it stands.
August 12, 2015 @ 9:42 pm
I think this song also rips off Dwight yoakams 1000 miles from nowhere
November 12, 2015 @ 2:42 pm
Take it for what it is – a nice bubble-gummy pop-rock tune with a country accent, manufactured to be radio-friendly in an era when radio needs all the friends it can get. And while I hear Same Cooke’s “Chain Gang” rhythm all over it, a slowed-down version of the same rhythm powers Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.” Sure, it’s “influenced,” but to call it a ripoff would mean that every 12-bar blues is a ripoff of every other one. Get over it – you like this or you don’t. I do. You don’t. I get it. Next….
By the way, Rhett as a second-rate singer? I don’t know – this is the first I’ve heard him, and while he seems in search of the key in the low register, he finds it and delivers the song well. And in the video, handsome Tom is definitely chick-bait, which may account for some of its popularity. If this had come into my country station back between ’88 and ’93, I doubt we would have played it – but we were playing The Desert Rose Band and Kevin Welch’s “Til I See You Again” and people were all over us for “going pop, so this could be a case of the same. We used to say that today’s country is ten years’ ago’s rock. Just positing an idea….
May 10, 2016 @ 11:09 am
When Rhett drags out the word ‘down’ repeatedly…He sounds like a pussy. And that silly, corny whistling…I hate this song so much I wish Rhett would get his candy ass beat every time it plays on the radio.