RANT – Okay I’ll Say It: Country Music in 2013 Is Sexist
That’s right. A scandalous accusation I know, but one I stand behind with puffed chest and other such countenance to covey, “Yeah, I said it. You got a problem with that ?!?!”, and one that holds up when taking the most basic look at our little genre known as country music, and simply asking, “Where in the hell are the women?” Especially on country radio.
No, I don’t have any hidden camera footage of country music scheming with his fraternity brother that runs HR to systemically keep the women of country music at a lower pay scale. But if country music in 2013 were the equivalent of an office worker, it would be a douche-tastic, handsy, shallow, down-looking chauvinist with triple sec on his breath after lunch that specializes in subtle pelvic thrusts during elongated, unnecessary hugs, and pubic hair jokes.
Currently on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart, there is not one single female artist in the Top 20. Not even one. Not even a Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, or Carrie Underwood. Not even a song from a country music group like The Band Perry or Lady Antebellum that has a female member. And this isn’t the first time in recent memory that this has happened. In fact aside from the occasional errant single from one of the aforementioned girls, a country music sausage fest is the default setting for country music’s Top 20 in 2013.
A deeper look into Billboard’s other charts and Neilsen’s radio ratings reveals similar discrepancies when it comes to the female gender and country music. But it doesn’t just stop there. The term “sexism” has two definitions:
That’s right. It’s not just that the women of country music are getting locked out of the process, being ignored by radio programmers who are predominantly male, and are being under-developed by the male-dominated industry. It’s also that the songs, artists, and albums that are dominating the charts and that are being pushed first and foremost by the industry are portraying women in a very objectified, stereotypical manner, both in the lyrics of the songs and in the accompanying videos.
Hey, I’m a red blooded male with fully-functioning male plumbing and a propensity to want to look at T&A just as much as the next guy. All males were instilled with the stupid gene to drool at cleavage through evolution. But there is a time and a place for everything, and when I’m walking through the grocery store with my young, impressionable niece to buy her a freeze pop, I don’t want to be accosted by a Luke Bryan song that works like the soundtrack to a date rape terrorizing our ears. Do these assholes not have women in their lives that they hope will be respected by other men? There’s a time for all adults to get raunchy, but country radio is supposed to be that one place of respite on the FM dial. Here in 2013, Top 40 country music is just as much of a den of iniquity as anything.
Artists like Luke Bryan, Tyler Farr, and Florida Georgia Line have no respect for women, and they have no respect for country music. Or if they do, there’s no evidence of it in their songs and videos. It’s just stereotypical fashion-plate models in bikini’s in objectified roles with the sole purpose of being oogled at just like their shiny new jacked up pickup trucks.
But even worse, when I watch concert footage of these country music cocks of the walk up on stage strutting it like Chippendale’s dancers, I’m not seeing a bunch of men of the front row pumping their fists. No, this female-less country phenomenon is not just about males using their physical superiority and good ole boy system to keep women down. The women of mainstream country are taking the role of willing accomplices, inviting this cultural degradation and humiliation with their hands raised in their air submissively and screaming for Luke Bryan to shake his butt. The problem isn’t just that male record executives and male program managers at radio stations aren’t giving women their proper due. It’s that the women are the ones that are demanding this drivel and driving the market.
And no, I’m not just calling for an equal playing field for women. If you have to, you gerrymander the damn system to makes sure you have at least one song on the charts that showcases female talent. Are you telling me there’s nothing out there from a female fit for the Billboard Top 20? There are many women who could immediately make country music better right now—professional, proven, beautiful, appealing, relevant, and ready to take their music big time and represent women in a positive light in a genre that has always been about showcasing strong women like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Alison Krauss.
Come on country music, let’s do this. I’m tired of telling folks I’m a fan of country music, and then having to put a paper bag over my head in shame, or load it down with qualifying points. We have an obligation to discover, nurture, and showcase female talent. If country music was a board room of 20 members and not one female, some uptight women’s league would be suing their asses from hell to breakfast. So why should country music be held to a different standard?
The dirty little reason that women are not being showcased on country radio is because they’re not willing to sell out like the men. The women of country music respect themselves just fine. It’s the male performers of country music, their industry counterparts, and the women who fawn on them that are driving this trend.
And I’m mad as hell about it.
October 1, 2013 @ 12:09 pm
Spot fricken on.
“But he’s saying baby and girl, he must respect me!”
October 1, 2013 @ 12:28 pm
Trigger, you hit it on the head with the last line, the women that fawn over them. I know I told you before about working the CMA Fest this past year and how the majority of the crowd, flocking to see the “grindfest” were college age girls. I say girls, on purpose. If the Gleem watching, cheerleaders, who are behind the sales don’t respect themselves enough to demand something other than a Country version of Chippendales, then what the hell can anyone else do? It’s supply and demand. They demand their metrosexual, bromancing, pretty boy, no talent, rapping, statues, and Nashville is happy to supply them. Once again, it’s all about the money.
October 1, 2013 @ 12:33 pm
Best use of the word ‘countenance’ since Hank Williams’ “The Funeral”
October 1, 2013 @ 12:49 pm
Wow are you fucking kidding me ” uh uh yeah uh uh lets go” is this really how bad “country music” has gotten? Dirt Road Anthem is the last I was brave enough to hear, that solids like solid country gold compared to our boy Luke up there.
October 1, 2013 @ 1:10 pm
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
You could easily take out the word “country”, replace it with “metal” and this article would be about late 80s/early 90s hair metal.
The programmers in country radio grew up on misogynistic metal music. The 30- and 40-something soccer moms grew up listening to misogynistic metal music. And now they are making/promoting/buying/exposing that music to the next generation.
The wheel keeps turning.
October 1, 2013 @ 2:32 pm
I’m sure that explains a lot of what’s happening now. I was never into that hair-metal stuff anyway — part of why I started turning to country when I did in the first place was to get away from that crap. :p Granted, much of the popular country at the time was akin to ’70s classic rock (because that’s likely what many of those artists, station programmers and others grew up with), but as I recall, at least it was a good balance of fun tunes and sentimental ballads with more thoughtful, storytelling fare; more of a mix, not so one-dimensional.
October 1, 2013 @ 5:12 pm
“most of that music reminds me of rock in the middle Eighties where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos.” –Tom Petty
https://savingcountrymusic.com/tom-petty-slams-modern-country-as-bad-rock-with-a-fiddle
October 1, 2013 @ 1:11 pm
It may be sexist against women, but it is mostly women that are the reason this crap is on the charts.
PS. is there a way that I don’t have to sign in everytime I leave a message. Like a way for it to remember my info.
October 1, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
Mason, you shouldn’t have to log in each time, just the first time unless you delete your cache/cookies. Your browser may be doing this automatically, or for this site for some reason. Upon occasion things will reset but it shouldn’t happen every visit.
Anyone else experiencing this problem?
October 1, 2013 @ 3:16 pm
yes
October 1, 2013 @ 2:36 pm
If you look at the country charts from 1998-2005 these woman had songs on the charts and #1’s as well. This is a shame that all these woman are now forgotten or struggling to still get their music heard like Faith Hill, Shania Twain, Gretchen Wilson, and Sugarland. Plus Heidi Newfield is suppose to be releasing new music in 2014.
Shania Twain, Cyndi Thompson, Leann Rimes, Leann Womack, Faith Hill, Sara Evans, Kelly Coffey, Emily Proctor, Patty Loveless, Deana Carter, Gretchen Wilson, Martina Mcbride, Jo Dee Messina, Reba McIntire, Lila McCain, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, Trisha Yearwood, Dixie Chicks, Shedaisy, Tammy Cochran, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Jamie O’Neal, Jessica Andrews, Trick Pony(Heidi Newfield), Rebecca Lynn Howard, Terri Clark, Sherrie Austin, Sugarland.
October 1, 2013 @ 3:04 pm
At this point, I think our best bet at this point is not to expect someone like Kacey Musgraves to become the next big radio staple alongside Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, but rather expect her to move mountains behind the scenes alongside Brandi Clark and others as prolific songwriters.
I sound like a broken record at this point acknowledging how depressing the dearth of female artists on country airwaves are. It is, obviously. And yet, even with a few trojan horses implemented in the songwriting cadre to disrupt the apple cart resembled by the likes of Dallas Davidson, Luke Laird, Rhett Akins & Thomas Rhett and Rodney Clawson among very few others, that alone will take us a long way for the better.
What country music DESPERATELY needs right now are sex-positive songwriters. And as a sex-positive activist and educator myself, allow me to explain what I mean here for those unfamiliar with the term. Sex-positivity is about acknowledging sexuality as something that encompasses all aspects of relationships: including those with our bodies and in how we interact in very dimension. It also acknowledges that there is no such thing as a sexual hierarchy and brings to light the fact that there are many other types of relationship models besides monogamy (open relationships, solopaths, polyamory, etc.), while also respecting monogamy as a choice, other family structures besides the nuclear family (intentional communities, conjugal families, etc.) while also respecting nuclear family as a choice, and other types of sexual preferences beyond the hetero/homo/bi continuum and gender expressions beyond the male/female binary.
Musgraves has somewhat scratched these themes in her outspoken love of relationship choices (“Follow Your Arrow”) and casual sex/open relationships (“It Is What It Is”). However, she’s going to need all the help she can get…………and because Nashville’s infrastructure is driven by older white men just like countless other institutions, it will be an exceedingly difficult and rugged road ahead.
Now I’m sympathetic as to why so many can’t get their head around all of this: because they are simply unfamiliar with all of this. The standard narrative incessantly stares so many of us in the face via the advertising industry (which tends to shun out alternative archetypes), the multi-billion dollar abstinence-only education industry (which is accomplishing virtually nothing) and aggressive theology that shames sexual expression. It’s not hard to see why all of this, along with puritanical shame-baiting, has resulted in few opportunities to discuss sexuality at a much more deeper level.
Coupled with that (if any of you have read “The Chalice & The Blade” by Riane Eisler, you will surely understand this but even not will nod your head in at least partial agreement) a modern revisionism of history by patriarchs who subjugate the importance of the goddess, or feminine deities, to its footnotes if not outright obscurity. In egregiously diminishing the goddess across recorded history and the feminine spirit, most women have in result been repressed and victimized in that they feel divorced from their bodies………….which brings us to where we are now in contemporary times, where so many women to this day remain objectified and, even when they dare to embrace their sexualities authentically……….they are slut-shamed.
Many of us are aware enough of the big issue with us men. We carry an immense sense of privilege due to our patriarchal leanings. But what’s less publicized is how in direct result of what I just mentioned above, with women feeling divorced from their bodies………….they often struggle to ascertain/discern sensuality from sexuality just as men obviously do too. Hence, why we have a lot of women driving this tragic trend, while more sexually confident women like Kacey Musgraves are standing their ground even while struggling to achieve mass mainstream attention directly because of that.
As is tirelessly said, however…………something’s got to give. I’m confident that not only will the likes of Musgraves and Clark do their level best to forge ahead as they constantly are……………but we also get a deluge of sex-positive songwriters………..men, women, transgenders and non-gender specific individuals altogether………………to crash the gate that is the songwriting oligopoly in Nashville and bring some fresh perspective to the arena. I believe only until after this songwriting oligopoly is broken can it then prove to pump fresh oxygen into the rest of corporate country’s anatomical structure.
October 1, 2013 @ 5:20 pm
The thing about it is, the industry is pushing Kacey Musgraves harder than I have seen them push any female. They nominated her for an ACM before she even had an album out. She’s now nominated for more CMA’s than anyone. But where is her big single? “Merry Go ‘Round” didn’t even crack the top 10. I think they hooked her up with Luke Laird and Shane McAnally and they took the edge off of her music. “Same Trailer, Different Park” doesn’t have any big singles on it. And the only reason “Merry Go ‘Round” did so well was because the industry inexplicable got behind it. I’m a Kacey Musgraves supporter, but I just can’t see how she is going to make a big splash. All of her best songs were left on the cutting house floor.
Then you have Kellie Pickler with many radio ready songs, and she got completely ignored.
October 1, 2013 @ 11:42 pm
And while her album is selling well enough (it’s outselling even some second-tier male names)……….it can’t help but look like a Pyrrhic victory when you consider the overwhelming hype surrounding “Same Trailer, Different Park”, as well as the respect she has garnered well outside the genre proper.
Which is what I was warning everyone before the album was released. It sounded like everyone was deifying her as some saviour of country music. Which as tempting as it is is actually irresponsible. Because you then set her up for ridiculously sky-high expectations that she will all but certainly fail to live up to and, when it is realized the expectations greeting her weren’t achieved, it just makes Musgraves look washed up.
We know better, surely, but the figures just don’t quite add up. I just don’t see her becoming a staple radio presence unless she makes additional concessions to the big machine (which she quite likely won’t be willing to do). I do maintain she has a bright future ahead as a perennial songwriter, however.
October 1, 2013 @ 5:31 pm
Actually, I’d really just like to hear some more good old songs about mom and dad and family and country living.
October 2, 2013 @ 1:06 pm
As do I! =)
I believe you were missing part of my point, however. Those themes you mentioned will and should always have a place in country music. Because it reflects what makes American culture and our heritage unique and distinctive, of which family, faith and tradition are core.
But the theme of “family” shouldn’t merely be refined to the concept of nuclear family structures either. Family has a much broader appeal than that. For instance, as much as I find the vast majority of these frat-boy “country” anthems saturating the airwaves annoying and insulting to the intelligence, I nonetheless do understand the appeal of male bonding, where we go so far as to regard a buddy or a few as “brothers”. I get that. Family isn’t merely a biological phenomenon. We also find family, in a different sense, beyond the nest…………and I’d love to see more songs touch upon that.
Also, we often lament the lack of women on country radio……………yet the same ALSO rings true with (open) homosexuals, lesbians, transgenders, African-Americans (besides Rucker), Hispanics, Asian-Americans, autistic Americans, Americans diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and countless other constituencies as well. That deficit is rarely articulated, nonetheless……………but can you imagine how much more opulent our genre’s scope of songwriting can be if they all were represented somehow at a broader level?
October 2, 2013 @ 1:51 pm
I imagine you won’t be satisfied until a blind wheel chair bound lesbian person of color is inducted into the country hall of fame. Really bud, ease up on the womyns studies and queer theory. Your radical acceptance of everything leaves you in a spot where you really can’t stand for anything, any contrived deviancy that stumbles along must be embraced with open arms. The inevitable end of your kind of thinking ends up somewhere between Bakunin and the Marquis de Sade. God help us if your ilk ever gain supremacy in this land, there will be nothing left of the country I love.
S/F
October 2, 2013 @ 2:08 pm
Wow, you figured me all out at a mere glance, didn’t you? A lot of what you’ve disclosed about me is surely news even to me, considering I haven’t even scrutinized the works of either of your name-drops as of yet! 😉
The bottom line is this. I don’t believe anyone should be raised or lowered based on their characteristics or any specific distinction like those I mentioned earlier. What I DO pine for is a day where everyone is evaluated based on their integrity, vision and hard work. And the sad result of the fact we’re not there yet is reflected in the stale, interchangeable subject matter and lack of culture in much of what gets heard on the airwaves.
Honestly, I WOULD hypothetically like to see a blind wheel chair bound lesbian person of color is inducted into the country hall of fame. But NOT merely because of who she is, but because she worked hard, asserted herself and offered a vision that would prove catalytic for the genre. It’s all contextual. Trust me………….I would much rather see another white male artist who works extremely hard and has something absolutely substantial to say make it big than, say, a transgendered female artist who only asserts herself half-heartedly and offers more of the same.
But make no mistake: the playing field simply isn’t leveled. Our genre can only grow with the acceptance and integration of more unique voices who respect the genre just as much as we both do.
March 14, 2024 @ 7:52 pm
Dan,
You called it.
October 1, 2013 @ 3:21 pm
“The women of country music respect themselves just fine. It”™s the male performers of country music, their industry counterparts, and the women who fawn on them that are driving this trend.”
As a youngish woman (certainly older than the college crowd, but not part of the “soccer mom” crowd), I can’t really defend my gender for being so willing to settle for so little… Part of me likes to think that if only they were exposed to material by Ashley Monroe, Valerie June, and others, they might ditch the lowest-common-denominator fare and actually find something enjoyable that they can also relate to on some level.
***
OT, but I thought I’d mention this country-related piece on ‘Entertainment Weekly’s website:
http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/10/01/country-music-identity-crisis/
Nothing really new, but there’s a mention of SCM and Trig’s “Boys ‘Round Here” rant. 🙂
October 1, 2013 @ 3:46 pm
I was just reading an article on EW.COM that touched on this subject and referenced our favorite country blogger and SCM! Congrats, Trig! Don’t forget about us little guys who’ve been reading your blog on a regular basis for years!
Here’s the link
http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/10/01/country-music-identity-crisis/
October 1, 2013 @ 5:30 pm
Just stumbled across this. Kinda thought it’s weird that he would complain about country radio seeing as how he is 100% a product of the radio. It makes you wonder if he even likes the music he or other artists are recording or if they are almosed being forced to record them because of their contacts. I’d like to hear your opinion Trigger.
http://www.countryweekly.com/news/luke-bryan-says-it-sucks-women-arent-being-played-more-country-radio
October 1, 2013 @ 5:50 pm
Spot on, Trig.
Tyler Farr’s song makes me so angry. Talk about an ode to harassment and stalking.
October 1, 2013 @ 6:28 pm
Finally!
100% agree with this article. About damn time ‘Country’ music gets called out. Listening to Country radio made me feel like my IQ dropped drastically and went back to primitive age.
October 1, 2013 @ 7:28 pm
I casually happened upon Ashley Monroe via the radio. While I’m not super impressed with The Pistol Annies, her solo work sucked me in with its traditional sound. She may be no Emmylou Harris, but I would love to turn the radio knob and hear her through the speakers more often.
October 1, 2013 @ 11:45 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIFomfwGrJw
If you’ve been long pining for a YouTube reviewer to finally give country music the respect and recognition it deserves, I highly recommend y’all check out this young, 23-year old Canadian’s channel titled “Spectrum Pulse”: who just uploaded a special comment on the current state of country music that is well-done.
October 2, 2013 @ 4:27 am
i miss Dolly Parton.
October 2, 2013 @ 6:51 am
My theory is you’re seeing a departure from the soccer mom demographic. Soccer moms slurped up Shania and Faith and Martina McBride and Sugarland. Now that country is frat party music there’s a whole bunch of new younger consumers (men and women) that have no time for the adult contemporary (or traditional) side of the genre. They slurp up douchebilly with the same consumerist fervor. Unfortunately, this leaves the ladies on the outside looking in. Add to this the fact that the female leaders have crossed over solidly into pop, like a baseball team promoting its top prospects to the show. Mark my words, it will take a country sex kitten of the pop star mold to break through commercially in the current climate – and that would truly be the most sexist part of it all.
Thank god there is Paramore for my daugher.
October 2, 2013 @ 9:29 am
Maybe Scott Borchetta and Taylor Swift were ahead of the curve when they decided to put out a more pop album. They saw if she put out another straightforward pop country album, it would be ignored by radio, just like her last one was.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/taylor-swift-courts-radio-w-we-are-never-ever-getting-back-together
October 2, 2013 @ 8:10 am
Good article, Trig. By the way, how big of a push do you think this doofus Tyler Farr is going to get? He seems to have put all his chips in marketing this “Redneck Crazy” theme, which seems to be appealing to a lot of folks. Sadly.
October 2, 2013 @ 8:23 am
A strong contender for the most sexist song of the year.
In terms of message, that song is far more damaging than any country rap song.
October 2, 2013 @ 8:33 am
Well it’s already #2 on the Billboard chart, only beaten out by “That’s My Kind Of Night” this week.
October 2, 2013 @ 1:28 pm
And the sure signs it condones stalking and harassment isn’t even the sole red flag it raises.
It also cashes in shamelessly on the redneck label, further depicting rednecks as reckless drivers (“Gonna drive like hell through your neighborhood…”), litterers (“Throw empty beer cans at both of your shadows…”), violent to outright abusive (“I didn’t come here to start a fight, but I’m up for anything tonight…”) and menacing (“Did you think I’d wish you both the best, endless love and happiness. You know that’s just not the kind of man I am. I’m the kind that shows up at your house at 3am.”)
The depictions of rednecks as unintelligent and harebrained are nothing new. That’s been ingrained in our culture for several decades at least. But as bad enough as that is, rednecks are only going to look much worse……………….unhinged, violent, creepy sociopaths…………..because of stupid songs like “Redneck Crazy”.
October 2, 2013 @ 3:14 pm
Lets not forget who sustains this current system.
Women are the biggest consumers of the garbage on the radio. That’s why singers have to have an image and put out videos. Only the sexy survive.
Luke Bryan is the Adam Lambert of country music. Checkout his audience.
Jason Aldean and Brantley Gilbert have a lot of female fans.
The macho posturing deters a lot of guys, and really mainly appeals to the frat boy crowd.
I don’t know anyone who will admit to listening to country radio. It’s a guilty pleasure for even young frat-fag types.
Unfortunately, we’re descending into an Idiocracy.
Back during the late 90s early 2000s, the grrll power thing was happening, but now that kind of faded, because most female acts don’t have a lot of stamina and their audience is aging and can’t afford to the time/money to pay for arena seats and they don’t go to bars.
Women like Loretta Lynn are the exception to the rule, Miranda Lambert I think is the only current female star that’s going to have long-term staying power.
I’d like Miranda even if she wasn’t hot. She plays her own guitar and is a genuine fighter, country type.
I’ve liked her ever since I was rooting for Kerosene to keep climbing the charts, years back.
She connects in a way most female singers don’t. I’d prefer if she toned it down, added more instrumentation, though…
October 2, 2013 @ 6:29 pm
My first thought is that it isn’t surprising considering many of these bro-country singers want to be rappers and we all know what that genre thinks of women (or should I say girls since women seem to be non-existent.)
October 2, 2013 @ 9:07 pm
Country radio is very sexist and the most sexist organization or media I can think of in America. What other large organization gives only about 15% of the benefit (chart) to women? 15% is just way too low, unfair, and should be illegal. There should be a law requiring that solo females get at least 30% and 3 in the top 10 at all times. They need to figure out a fair way to balance it out between men, women, and groups.
It’s really the % of spins that matters. Has anyone figured out what % of spins solo males and females get per year, excluding recurrents? I was thinking females get around 15% but that’s actually the % of songs on the chart and there’s hardly ever more than 1 or 2 in the top 10, sometimes none, so I suspect the spin % might be less.
October 9, 2013 @ 2:19 pm
It is my understanding that because of the competitive nature of radio, only songs that are expected to be quite popular are played. this means that songs from well-established artists or highly-regarded label are more likely to be played, as opposed to artists from independent or self-published labels
That sucks, but it is where the money is and what the fans like.
For all of you country music haters… SORRY it is what is popular. If you don’t like it…don’t listen to it!
I have been a country music fan for thirty years and still love it, even through the changes. Granted there are some silly songs but somebody likes them because they are at the top of the charts. As far as “rappin”. I myself find it pretty cool that the genres are able to come together. If one listens to country music. they now know who Nelly, etc is. That didn’t used to be the case. Country Music is where it’s at. SORRY, but that is the simple truth. Hate it for you jealous haters
October 3, 2013 @ 3:16 am
Trigger I have enjoyed many of your articles, but this one is absurd. There has always been more men than women in country music. Why does it surprise you men have ruled the charts this year? Has it occurrd to you that just maybe the the men are just making better music right now. Luke Bryan isn’t sexist! He talked about his concern for the lack of women in country music. I think you dropped the ball on this one. This is literally the worst article I have read in ages.
October 3, 2013 @ 8:42 am
No, it didn’t occur to me that men are making better music right now.
October 3, 2013 @ 11:40 am
they aren’t.
stream lindi ortega’s new album
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2013/10/album-stream-lindi-ortega—tin-star.html
October 3, 2013 @ 12:58 pm
I think “frat-boy” music is one of the best ways I’ve heard current country music described for sure. I went to a festival in Michigan in July and it was basically nothing but a gigantic kegger/orgy. The only female singer in the line up was the girl from Thompson square, just to reiterate the monopoly male singers have. It was July, and it was relatively hot, but there were girls (and I def say girls not women) walking around in bikinis (not just a top and cut off shorts, I mean just bikinis) and cowboy boots.. the trashiest look I’ve ever seen. There was nothing but people excessively drinking acting like complete idiots and women constantly exploiting themselves by dancing like cheap strippers and constantly flashing the cameras. The worst thing of all was 99% of the main headliners (some stayed classy like Chris Young and Kix Brooks) did nothing but encourage the behaviour. They would say stuff like “This is best crowd I’ve ever played for, I’ve never seen so many hot chicks in bikinis”. Dierks Bentley pulled a barely dressed girl up on stage and got her to “play” his guitar, and grinded behind her. I lost a lot of respect for him because of that, because I used to be under the impression he was a good family man, what with having daughters of his own. At the time of concert I was 5 months pregnant, so not only did I not fit in with the masses of skanks, but I didn’t fit in with the drinkers either. All the acts would give shout outs saying how much they loved the crowd and how they were the best fans because either 1. they were dressed like hookers, 2. they were wasted or 3. both. Shouldn’t musicians appreciate fans simply for appreciating their music?? When I expressed my concerns about the atmosphere to people there and later on the festival website, I was told I didn’t belong there if I was pregnant anyways. So I guess because I can’t get drunk and rowdy I don’t belong in a country music crowd.. so that’s what the genre has became to me.. Tasteless frat-boy music.. Thank god I am having a boy, because I’d hate to raise my daughter in a world where one of the most pure and family oriented genres has become all about “shakin’ it for the young bucks”.
October 4, 2013 @ 8:22 am
“So I guess because I can”™t get drunk and rowdy I don”™t belong in a country music crowd… one of the most pure and family oriented genres has become all about ‘shakin”™ it for the young bucks’.”
That is so screwed up. 🙁
To me, country (as compared with rock and modern pop) was always the good, God-fearin’ stuff — whether celebrating love and family, or addressing the heartbreak of losing them. And, for the most part, even songs addressing relatively edgy subject matter seemed to be more about moral dilemmas, guilt, consequences, and/or simple storytelling — nowadays, popular country just seems to be this perpetual wallow in debauchery and leering.
October 4, 2013 @ 9:08 am
I don’t think one can say that all of country music is God fearing and family oriented. I do think that country music has been the only American genre that has remembered those are important aspects of our life. I’ve gotten into debates with friends who have wanted to know how Johnny Cash singing about drug use and misogynistic violence( Cocaine and Delia) differed in anyway from the same themes occurrence in gangsta rap.
I argued that the main difference lay in the moral dimensions of the music and stories. A lot of rap is based on bragging about these kinds of things. In country these kinds of songs are informed by a larger moral universe. Sure, the man in Cashes songs may have been snorting coke like a fiend and murderin girlfriends left and right but he can’t escape the certain moral implications of his actions. In both songs justice catches up with him, and his conscience is so guilt ridden he can’t even sleep.
Country Music has always existed hand in hand with the old time gospel traditions, Williams had Luke the Drifter, when Cash started recording in the fifties, he wanted to cut Gospel Songs, Ernie Ford put out some great gospel recordings. The kinship of these genres arises allows for a deeper spiritual context than the crass and shallow materialism one finds in a lot of Pop and rap music today.
However, as mainstream country music moves further and further away from its roots it begins to fall victim to the same pitfalls that have caused a moral and spiritual stagnation within other genres.
Now, some people might go and say that I’m making country music out to be something holier and pretentious than what it is, and argue that a moral dimension just leads to stiff color high horse holier than thou stagnation. I would disagree emphatically; I believe that the recognition of moral lines and standards make the transgression of these things all the more striking. Ya gotta draw a line before ya walk the line.
October 3, 2013 @ 7:48 pm
I concur with everything said in this article.
well, something positive for the female gender, Taylor entered the top 20
RED
#15 (+6) Country Songs
October 5, 2013 @ 6:13 am
Hey, maybe it’s time to dust off this old chestnut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4KJrvlMccw
“So, put another log on the fire.
Cook me up some bacon and some beans.
Go out to the car and lift it up and change the tire.
Wash my socks and sew my old blue jeans,
(come on baby) You can fill my pipe, and then go fetch my slippers.
And boil me up another pot of tea.
Then put another log on the fire, babe,
And come and tell me why you’re leaving me…”
Put Another Log on the Fire (Male Chauvinist National Anthem)”
Written by Shel Silverstein back in the day.
It’s interesting to compare the chauvinistic Archie Bunker-like attitude being satirized in that old song with the new hyper-sexual “shake yer country ass, girl” bro-country attitude.
Also, any thoughts about Entertainment Weekly’s use of the term “bro-country?” Wonder if it will catch on.
October 8, 2013 @ 12:49 am
I guess I might have an outsider’s perspective on this. Living in the UK, I don’t hear country music on the radio so I only listen to what I go out and find for myself. In my happy little world, modern country music is dominated by Lindi Ortega, Holly Williams and the Pistol Annies. I’d never heard Jason Aldean until I found this website! But I’ve heard lots of great music since coming here and I dig the passion everyone has for the music. And it seems like a damn shame that the morons who program country radio don’t appreciate the talent under their noses. I saw a FB post from Terri Clark a while back commenting that she’d been listening to country radio for an hour and had only heard 1 single song by a female artist. What a missed opportunity!
October 9, 2013 @ 2:08 pm
The SEX of the artist is not the issue. You guys crack me up!! There are many talented female country artist. The country ladies have RULED the charts in the past and they will again. The top producing artist right now jut happen to be male. GEEZ. Get over yourselves. Your just jealous
October 9, 2013 @ 2:04 pm
Just read your article.
I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time!!
Country music has changed and obviously that is what the fans want; hence the ratings, etc.
Sex sells, it ALWAYS HAS!!
Sorry you don’t like the TOP Country Music artists. FGL is very talented. Every song on their debut album is amazing…SONGS not videos! Country Music is about the MUSIC not the VIDEOS. I have been listening to FGL and other bands similar to their genre for five years. They both went to Belmont and are truly talented. VIDEOS are staged you idiot.
You might want to take your jealous ass and comments someplace where someone cares. HAVE A NICE DAY…sorry you are not in the top 20:(
October 30, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
I know this is an old comment from a couple weeks ago, but ”¦
Saving Country Music is his own site! This is EXACTLY where his “jealous ass and comments” belong, and where people will care about them.
That was the most ridiculous comment I have read on here in ages.
October 23, 2013 @ 11:09 am
Tom Petty is a musical genius. I still listen to his songs.
I think this article gave someone a very big pinch….maybe even someone “who” is in the top 20.
“Jealous haters”? Jealous of what…
We’re stepping on some deeply felt principles and those who are worshipping at the altar of the “progressive” country cash cow.
October 27, 2013 @ 1:13 am
You know the real problem? They all yell/scream while hitting the high notes. There is very few in the country music genre that can actually SING! (Male of Female) Carrie did much better in her early days before she started sounding like a banshee.
You list: Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Alison Krauss… well theyre case in point between screaming and singing the high notes…
Country in general is a hiding place for the untalented to make a living singing ‘country’ the only difference is theres more women than men trying to milk their way to the tops.
You can count on one hand which songs have twang and thats the real problem right there!
October 30, 2013 @ 8:12 pm
You nailed it, man.
I just posted something to this effect on another article yesterday. Comparisons between Cash and gangsta rap are misguided and based on ignorance and a shallow ounderstanding of his work IMO.
November 8, 2013 @ 9:05 am
Naked is the new norm. Miley and Gaga are taking their clothes off to be heard.
There’s only one rock bottom level left to go…the human worm pile.
Women have willingly given up their self-worth and dignity for a dollar.