So Eric Church, You Think That Genres Are Dead? (A Rant)
So Eric Church, you think that genres are dead? Well then why don’t you turn in your Country Music Association Album of the Year trophy, your Academy of Country Music Album of the Year trophy, your Academy of Country Music award for Best New Solo Vocalist from 2011, and your Academy of Country Music award for Vocal Event of the Year that you won with your country-rapping douche buddies Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan as you march your aviators-wearing ass straight out of the non-existent country genre that has made you millions upon millions of fucking dollars and see if the rock world will embrace your “Outsiders” Bon Jovi rehash and bestow awards, coast to coast radio play, and industry support to your ungrateful, arrogant ass.
You’re right Eric, genres are dead, and it’s because assholes like you have killed them by making murky, soulless, rootless pap to appeal to the wide masses while the roots of music wither, and there’s no better evidence of that than your latest rock opera being rammed down the throats of what are supposed to be country consumers, throwing the homogenization of the American culture into hyper drive so that you can hold on to your mainstream relevancy and make even more money stained with the blood of what country music once was.
If you want to play rock music because you think that country is too restrictive, then by all means Eric, do your worst. Play the music you want. But then stay the hell off of country radio, don’t perform at the country awards shows, and forfeit your trophies to the runners up if the country genre is meaningless to you or meaningless in general. Who do you think laid the groundwork for people like you to have untold success? Did you not notice the names as you were trouncing on the way to the top? You can’t use the legacy of country music to make it to the top of the hill, and then disregard it once you’re there.
Eric Church is a hypocrite ladies and gentlemen. From saying he’d never call himself an Outlaw while simultaneously selling Outlaw merch, to now saying genres are dead while shamelessly reaping the rewards of one. Remember the Eric Church song “Lotta Boot Left To Fill”? Remember the lines “I don’t think Waylon done it that way. And if he was here he’d say Hoss, neither did Hank,” and “You sing about Johnny Cash. The man in black would’ve whipped your ass”? What would Hank, Hoss, and Cash have to say to someone claiming the genre they worked their entire lives in and shed their blood for didn’t matter? I know what they’d say. “Eric who?”
The Future of Music: The Mono-Genre & Micro-Genres
And the sad part is yes, when talking about the very top of mainstream country males, Eric Church outpaces his peers as far as quality and innovation, his latest “The Outsiders” single rocketing up the charts notwithstanding. But that may say just as much about the lack of quality in his peers as it says about Eric. It’s his damn attitude, the arrogance bordering on downright hubris, and the uncaring if he completely tears down the country genre, or really anything on his way to the top as long as he gets his.
The death of genres in mainstream music means the death of contrast, and this is something that shouldn’t be regarded flippantly, something that shouldn’t be celebrated just because it secures the financial success of mono-genre artists like Eric Church for the future. It means that music will have that much less color and diversity moving forward and be much more about commercial success than making an artistic mark.
And that’s a sad commentary.
November 18, 2013 @ 10:56 am
Loved seeing it in writing by someone who doesn’t mind telling it like it is. If he or any others want to sing something other than Country they should go there and quit taking up space from real country artists. It makes me sick how radio plays his and other non country songs just because they are hot. I listen to country music because it is what I like and it infuriates me of all the crappy music I must either suffer through or turn my station from until it goes off. Hopefully one day real country music will be the only thing playing on a country station.
November 20, 2013 @ 2:28 am
Here’s the problem… like just about anyone else recording music, he wants to be played on the radio. The vast majority of radio stations only play one genre. So is he a hypocrite if he enjoys the fruits of being played on rock radio? No more or less than if he enjoys being okayed on country radio and winning country awards. If genres are meaningless to him, there’s no reason he shouldn’t enjoy being played on any damn station, regardless of format.
November 20, 2013 @ 9:43 pm
Let us know when rock, pop, and rap radio start playing country songs so we can listen to them instead of the pure pop and rock 0% country songs country radio is forcing on us. I want to listen to radio and I want to hear country songs again.
November 18, 2013 @ 11:07 am
He has some good tunes, and I would still rather listen to him than his peers. With that said, dude talks serious shit with uncanny (legendary?) reckless abandon. Holy shit.
November 18, 2013 @ 11:15 am
Current country is either Pop or it’s rock. Completely removed from what it used to be.
Church plays rock music , stupid to argue it even. Check out his joke of a “country” song he played on the last awards show … Yea Eric, your country alright lol
Such a dickhead, claiming to be an Outlaw & wearing sunglasses indoors…bloody Moron!!!
October 22, 2014 @ 9:55 pm
Eric where’s sunglasses when he performs because he has a eye light sensitivity you idiots.
September 19, 2020 @ 7:30 am
Yea !!! THAT’S WHAT THE MEDIA SAYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 18, 2013 @ 11:43 am
A resounding AMEN from us here in flyover country.
November 18, 2013 @ 11:48 am
You hear these country artists talking about how they are tearing down barriers, but the problem is they are the only ones talking this absolute mess. True artists in other genres aren’t trying to go outside of their genre. Real rap artists or R&B artists aren’t trying to make country albums. you would never hear someone like Jay Z having a country act on his singles. I think these guys sit around behind closed doors and laugh at these country artists thinking how cool they are bringing some of these rap artists into their songs. Their are some artists whose range of music is very wide and can cross different genres, but you can tell who those guys are and also see that their music is not trying to be fake. ZBB is someone who has a very wide musical influence and you have seen this from them since their beginning. Although most people hate him on here, Kid Rock is an artist who doesn’t seem to write toward a specific genre, the songs just kind of are what they are. These acts trying to mix rap and rock into their country songs today, seem more to me like that kid in school trying so desperately to be cool or that artist from these other genres who have come to country, because their star has faded everywhere else. Some people try to point at bands like Skynyrd and say “where would they be played today?”, but that goes to what I mentioned earlier, you can tell when something is authentic or fake and it doesn’t get much more fake than what we are seeing out of these artists.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:32 pm
Well put . Aldean , Church , Chesney and Bryan are the lame white kids who always showed up at the party with the baddest members of the football team . Because the lame white kid drove them there in his new Hummer H2 with 20’s and a built-in PlayStation .
November 18, 2013 @ 12:33 pm
Yes you are absolutely spot on here. It seems to me there are two possibilities for what is going on. One is that Aldean, Church, FGL, Gilbert are simply being incredibly disingenuous by claiming to be country artists and are in fact only identifying as such because the rock format has left there kind of music and the only home for them is country. Two is that many of these acts are so insecure and have such a strong desire to be liked and considered cool that they will sell out to whatever degree is necessary to be liked by the cool kids, at least as they see them. You are correct that there is no way any top level rap/hip hop artist would ever dream of including real country elements in their music. Their fanbase would rightly reject it out of hand and they know it.
November 20, 2013 @ 2:32 am
I can’t get on board with that. Ray Charles was not primarily a country singer. His (arguably) greatest achievement was a country album.
November 20, 2013 @ 9:57 pm
I bet Ray’s country is more country than The Outsiders and he never said genres are dead to push for country going and country radio playing pop, right?
November 27, 2013 @ 3:09 am
My issue was pretty clearly with the sentence “true artists in other genres aren”™t trying to go outside of their genre.” I consider that a load of nonsense and posted an example of why.
November 18, 2013 @ 11:58 am
I’m sorry Trig, I just don’t see it this way. I don’t see how you can make so many claims about his character.
The guy takes 3 years in between his albums. Isn’t it just possible that the kind of music he WANTS to record changes a little over time? Maybe as he began to put out more rock-influenced songs, he simply ENJOYED playing higher energy shows. (My impression from attending his shows is that he has a lot more fun playing the high energy stuff.)
I don’t ever recall Eric saying that he is the epitome of pure country. He has never claimed to be an extreme traditionalist. Look, I enjoy country music, and I enjoy rock music. It appears that Eric does too. I don’t get why the guy has to get crucified for putting out music influenced by both genres. It’s not his fault which radio stations and which award shows choose to include him among their content.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:44 pm
I’m not crucifying Eric Church for wanting to be influenced by both rock and country, I’m criticizing Eric for crucifying country with his words when it has afforded him untold riches.
I never said he was the epitome of pure country or an extreme traditionalist either. If Eric Church wants to play a blend of country and rock, then that’s what I want Eric Church to do too. That’s all I want for any artist is to do is to find their true artistic expression. But if he’s using country music infrastructure to do so, then he needs to show respect to it. If not, go test the waters of the rock world, which means no widespread radio play, no big primetime awards or award performances, and much much less money. Why? Because rock never institutionalized their genre, and instead let anyone and everyone in until the term became irrelevant and now the genre has no legs. And that is exactly what will happen to country if it keeps it up, and in many ways that’s the underlying truth behind what Eric said.
I keep wanting to compare Eric Church to Taylor Swift, even though I know that is inherently unfair to both artist. But even though Taylor is no more country than Eric Church is currently, at least she shows respect to the genre, thanking it for being open-minded to her approach. Even Zac Brown Band says they’re not country, but thanks country for the support. With Eric, it’s almost like nothing is good enough for him, and he’s bigger than any genre, or any other artist. He’s up there with his fist raised like he’s the king of everything, and genres are dead because he decreed it so because it’s standing in the way of where he wants to go sonically.
I want to like Eric Church, trust me, and I don’t want to disenfranchise his fans who also happen to be readers of this site. If his music speak to you, I get it. I really do. And I have defended his music over the years. But saying “genres are dead” while reaping the rewards of country is indefensible in my opinion.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:54 pm
That’s well said, and I certainly understand. I, too, wish he would respect the country genre a bit more.
My purpose for posting was not specifically to defend him. I do not think Eric Church is a god or the greatest artist around. I legitimately don’t understand the desire to maintain rigid genre “restrictions”.
I look at a guy like Steve Earle, who’s 14 Grammy nominations span country, folk, bluegrass, and rock. Some of his best work was heavily rock-influenced, yet he also received Rolling Stone’s Country Artist of the year and his material was used by The Highwaymen. Petty has some highly country-influenced stuff too
I guess my point is I think a world with very rigid genre restrictions is boring. The term “Southern Rock” encompasses many artists who do not fit uniquely in to country or rock, and I wouldn’t want to imagine a music world where this is not accepted. I cannot (nor can Eric Church) control what kind of radio stations exist and who they accept.
Thanks for the response.
November 18, 2013 @ 2:12 pm
“I think a world with very rigid genre restrictions is boring.”
I agree. But I think a world with no genres would be even more boring. And were seeing this bear out as country, rock, and hip-hop simply become one big amalgam with little distinction between them.
November 18, 2013 @ 5:58 pm
I legitimately don”™t understand the desire to maintain rigid genre “restrictions”.
To revisit and expand on my remarks from my own blog again:
There is a very valid reason people divide music into genres and radio formats ”” they want to hear a certain sound. I love Metallica and Merle Haggard too, but if I tuned into a radio station wanting to hear one and got the other I”™d be a little nonplussed to say the least. The categorization of music is going to happen no matter what anyone says. It”™s just what humans do with things, whether it be music, food, or what-have-you. And I think there are perfectly valid reasons for that. Certain artists and bands are going to have similar sounds and those artists and bands are going to be grouped together despite protests about pigeonholing certain music into certain categories. And it works, because when you want to find more of that certain sound you have some idea of where to look for it ”” whereas, if it was “just good music,” that”™s just way too general to be of any use at all. That”™s just the way it is and it”™s one of the things about music as a concept that I see as very helpful, as it enables me to direct my finite funds toward sounds that I like. Taking the “it”™s just music” contention to its logical conclusion here, there are so many Sirius channels focusing on various genres and subgenres. Should they get rid of all but one of them? Or have differently shuffled playlists on the channels still from all genres, where you have, say, Metallica followed by Rascal Flatts followed by Kelly Clarkson followed by Van Morrison and so on? I mean, if I had to suffer through Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, and Luke Bryan to get to Iron Maiden, Merle Haggard and Stoney LaRue I wouldn’t even bother. I have enough issues with the ubiquitous JACK radio format precisely because of that sort of thing. I absolutely would not stand for that whole “playing what we want” thing to be taken to the extreme that “no more genres” implies, and I am sure I am not the only one.
November 20, 2013 @ 11:19 pm
I legitimately don”™t understand the desire genre “restrictions”.
Genres and radio formats need to be somewhat rigid so artists making country music have a place to get it heard to the masses (country radio) where all country fans can hear it. Do you like country songs and want to hear them on country radio? Many millions of people do. Pop radio isn’t playing country songs and Taylor had to drastically change her sound to get them to play her. When country radio plays a pop song that’s at least one less country song they can play and they’ve been playing way too many pop songs and not enough country songs since the Billboard Hot Country chart change. Playing a pop song at your shows is one thing. Putting it on country radio for over 50 million listeners is another.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:00 pm
Trigger, I feel like you are expecting way too much out of Eric Church. Sure his music sounds like a mix between Metallica and Bon Jovi. However, is Eric Church really capable of making traditional sounding country music? Just because a person is a star doesn’t make them more talented than a non- star. Frankly, Eric Church doesn’t possess the talent or willingness to make traditional country music. In addition, the country genre of today is completely different than what it was 20 years ago. Eric Church isn’t using the country genre to platform himself, he is the epitome of what the country genre has become. Eric Church, according to today’s standards, is country, regardless of what the music sounds like.
November 18, 2013 @ 1:34 pm
I don’t want Eric Church to make traditional-sounding country music. I want him to make the music that he feels is his true artistic expression, which is all I want for any artist. But if he’s going to release that music through country channels and win big country awards, then he at least needs to be gracious to that genre, if at least not try to pay homage to it in some respect through his music. Which in fairness, he sometimes does, and I’m sure there will be some country-sounding songs on his new album. But his latest single, and his latest words go toward eroding the integrity of the country genre.
“Eric Church, according to today”™s standards, is country, regardless of what the music sounds like.”
Exactly. And when you lose control of your terms and your sound as a genre, you risk imploding just like rock did.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:00 pm
Fans of cross-genre performers like Eric Church, Brantley Gilbert, FGL, etc…, for the most part admittedly do not care that the music isn’t “real country,” or even country music at all. So if fans of the genre don’t like this stuff, and fans of these performers don’t care what the music is called, seems like everyone walks away happy if we just call it something else (I have a few suggestions I’ll keep to myself), and we keep our genre.
The problem is these performers will say and do everything they can to distance themselves from country music, but reap the benefits when it comes to record sales, chart positions, and awards. If you want to play Rock ‘N’ Roll or Pop, play it, but all of a sudden the pond is a little bigger and scarier.
I can’t overstate how important genres are. Without musical diversity to illustrate our struggles and triumphs we lose an important part of history and who we are. Eric Church would rather dip his chain wallet in everybody else’s water.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
I’ve said it before: the great irony is that these milquetoast idiots only exist because Country is a separate, distinct genre from Rock, Pop, and Rap. Get your designer boot in the Country door to kick start your career, then disregard it as soon as convenient.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
Right on as always, Trigger.
Church has actually been on this “no more genres” kick for some time now; he said more or less the same thing back around the time of George Jones’ death…and he used Sirius, Pandora and services like them to back up the point. Which shows you how ignorant he is, because as I said at my own blog back then:
“If anything, satellite radio in general only serves better those of us who still think the concept of genres still has some utility, because it carves music up into categories even more than terrestrial radio does. And the same goes for Pandora, albeit not to the same extent. If you want to hear real country music and not ”™80s-rock retreads, it”™s going to be a lot easier to do that on satellite or Pandora than it is pretty much anywhere else.”
November 18, 2013 @ 12:10 pm
LMAO!!!!
I cannot believe some of what I read in regards to people defending Church, it’s hilarious lol
Trig, you must have an insane amount of patience … Yet I know your pulling your hair out reading some of these as well 🙂
November 18, 2013 @ 12:48 pm
It really seems like mainstream country is a genre that has nothing to do with the music anymore and that is just the way a lot of people seem to want it. From everyones favorite country music anti-christ saying that country music is anything “country fans like” (however he phrased it) to the fans that, when asked exactly how something like “My Kinda Night” is country, can only say “Luke is a country boy!” or say that the lyrics are about “country things”.
All it takes to be “country” now is to say you are, and all it takes to have “cred” is to talk about fishing and pickup trucks and dirt roads and how hot “country girls” are. At this point mainstream country is, for the most part, a “dead” genre. And the people that make it as well as the people that claim to be fans are the ones who want it dead.
November 18, 2013 @ 12:54 pm
“I think genres are dead… There’s good music. There’s bad music. And I think the cool thing about Nashville is it is at the epicenter of that kind of thinking. I’m a country music artist in Nashville, but Nashville is way, way, way bigger than country music… If you’re passionate enough about what you do, if you’re good enough at what you do, all your dreams can come true in this town.”
This quote got me thinking… I often can’t help noticing how some “country” stars seem to be little more than wannabe pop-rock stars who weren’t sexed-up or outrageous enough to cut it in the pop world, and who didn’t want to associate with an increasingly niche rock realm — country is a way for them to reach an almost guaranteed bigger audience without getting overshadowed by more colorful personalities, so it’s easier for them to establish themselves there.
Problem is, when country is being used simply as a stepping-stone to cross over into pop-rock stardom, such stars are still considered the biggest things happening in the genre, which continues to be watered-down and further detached from its roots and history. Worse yet, whatever is “big” at any given moment tends to influence the overall standards of the format, making it harder for true variety to have a major outlet.
And to excuse all this by declaring that genres are dead? That just sounds unbelievably arrogant, as well as ignorant.
November 18, 2013 @ 1:12 pm
I think one of the biggest reasons for what you have correctly pointed out is the rise of the TV singing contests like American Idol and its many copycats. These shows create these performers and then you can almost see the gears turning in the execs heads as they decide which genre to put their creations in. Not because that is what these performers truly are but because of which format gives them the best chance at success. This has spread outward into the industry like a plague and now it’s not important who you are as an artist but what format allows for the quickest easiest path to the big time.
And you are correct that the biggest stars drive the direction of any industry. It’s true in TV, sports the business world or whatever and when that is a negative or self defeating direction then that industry is in trouble.
November 18, 2013 @ 1:14 pm
I agree with all of this. Another good example of a genre where this had run rampant is Christian music. A singer or band will start out fully entrenched in the christian music industry and scene, but yet after a couple albums or so they are heading out into the mainstream pop and rock market. None of the old fans will let go of the band / singer however and so these bands are still held up as the biggest bands in the Christian scene, even though they aren’t doing anything remotely christian anymore. And now the same thing is happening with country music.
November 18, 2013 @ 1:21 pm
The sad thing is that today’s country consumer (which, let’s be honest, is the root cause for all this shit) can be neatly bifurcated. The modern consumer base of country is frat boy douches on the one hand and bored suburban moms on the other.
The reason the country charts are dominated by baseball cap wearin’, Affliction tee sportin’, jacked up truck singin’ male mannequins is because the frat boy douches want to be them and the bored moms want to do them.
It’s why I don’t blame Taylor for putting out a much more pop flavored album in Red. What was she supposed to do? The country genre is no longer friendly to female artists who don’t sing about trucks or hooking up. If she wanted to enjoy success that was commensurate with her other albums the country genre was no longer the vehicle that would make it possible. Miranda Lambert is the only female artist these days holding her own in the country genre, but as the genre is further homogenized she will be further marginalized.
Modern country is the Bubonic Plague of the music industry for two reasons: the aforementioned consumer and the collapse of the rock genre. These days if you are a white male with the talent, the look, and the desire to be a singer, plus you want the fame and the boatload of greenbacks that go with it, country is your only option.
You can play rock if that’s your bag, but you’ll never get rich and famous doing it. That genre just doesn’t have the exposure or the commercial viability to make your Rockefeller Dreams come true. You have to market yourself as country if you want the money and the groupies. That’s why we’re currently inundated with all these fucking musical carpetbaggers.
November 18, 2013 @ 11:59 pm
Excellent point regarding aspiring rock singers choosing country as their career avenue.
I wonder whether the same was true the last time that pop music experienced a massive shift, in the 1960’s when pop went from jazz to rock. Did the aspiring jazz singers flock to the country genre then as mainstream jazz collapsed? Maybe that explains the 1960’s Nashville Sound.
November 18, 2013 @ 1:52 pm
Eric simply needs to ackniowledge he is not country like ZBB and others have thank country music for it’s support and move on. That would be honest. He has not done that and that is dishonest. Genere’s are important as a way to keep an art forms basic structure alive so that future generations will something left to understand the origins of the music they love.
November 18, 2013 @ 2:00 pm
Wouldn’t he be more radical if he did a real country cd? Wait..no..a traditional release…
Can’t Drink Whiskey
http://www.reverbnation.com/jebbarry/song/18880906-cant-drink-whiskey-solo-acoustic
November 18, 2013 @ 2:53 pm
He’s much better than most of Nashville.
November 18, 2013 @ 3:42 pm
And Foreigner was better than Loverboy, if I can make a classic rock analogy. Far from essential, though.
November 19, 2013 @ 12:01 am
One of the greatest pop songs of all time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWXMtjUZWM
November 19, 2013 @ 7:29 am
If you like cheesy 80’s power ballads. I have an aversion to them myself, but then I lived through the 80’s as a 20-something rootsy rock and roll/blues fan (some straight country by the late ’80s). I liked several of their more rocking songs from their first two albums, but not enough to plunk down any money for the albums. I do have soft spot for Lou Gramm, who hails from my college town of Rochester, NY.
November 18, 2013 @ 3:10 pm
With “Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas” at the top of the albums chart. And songs from Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Eric Church and Luke Bryan toping their charts. I’ve just got to chuckle, and most of all encourage oyu to come join us is the Bluegrass side. We’ve got Alan Jackson, and Devil Makes Three sitting in the top two spots. Ricky Scaggs and OCMS are hanging out in there too.
Bluegrass Rules!
November 18, 2013 @ 3:33 pm
New Genre: Doucheabilly.
November 18, 2013 @ 4:23 pm
While I too don’t want to see a “mono-genre” situation emerge, where there is no way to distinguish different styles and different types of music, I guess I view what Eric is saying about “dead genres” in a different perspective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKbrLNv4SsQ
When I watch that entire interview, I just see an “Artist” that doesn’t want to be told “Hey, you are THIS kind/type/genre of artist and you CANNOT deviate and expand your artistic horizons because you are going outside of an box that we have created for you.
I don’t think Eric has disrespected the traditional country format in the way that say Blake Shelton did with his “Old Grandpa’s music” remarks, by saying simply stating that genres in this day and age are gone (because that is become truer everyday).
Just because some of his music has a harder edge doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about country music’s greats and history. I think he views it like those guys -Cash, Willie, Waylon, Hank etc – did music their way and nobody will match it, so why try to copy it instead he wants to blaze his own path that no-one can match except Eric himself.
He can bust some of the BEST written, SOLID, stripped down acoustic performances as these videos below show, but he can also have a rockier edge when he feels like it.
Standing Their Ground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aifbcvlu6o4
Michael
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzLSDpG_cb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQgvdO8nI4
Lightning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpRiSiiflGw
2013 ACM’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYAm9I8Evg
Just my opinion……..
November 18, 2013 @ 9:12 pm
I agree Eric Church is nowhere near the territory of Blake Shelton’s comments, and I have never doubted his talent as a performer, espcially in the acoustic realm. Nobody is saying he cannot deviate or expand on the country sound. This is similar to when people say that “traditional” country fans don’t want country to evolve. Some of them don’t, but most of them understand it must evolve, expand, and find new boundaries. But just like when rap is brought into country as something “new” when it truth it’s a nearly 40-year-old artform, there’s nothing new about “The Outsiders,” it’s just simply a bunch of hard-driving rock riffs. If that’s what Church wants to do, even on his country album, that’s fine, but don’t release it to radio, and don’t act like genres don’t matter when the country genre is the only reason the masses know who he is.
November 18, 2013 @ 4:37 pm
If one more person tells me that “country music has moved on” or “we are changing the face of country music”, I’m going to vomit … but that isn’t the worst of it. I can forgive an artist anything but recording crap songs and there’s way to many of them. If I go to a steak restaurant and they offer me chicken …I’ll feel cheated, that’s about where I am with country music at the moment … Truck Yeah?
November 18, 2013 @ 4:50 pm
Eric Church is Rock and Roll music for those to dumb for Radiohead or Tool and too smart for….. well I’m sure there is something they are too smart for!
November 18, 2013 @ 9:36 pm
The Jonas Brothers? Or if we want to be a little more charitable, Nickelback?
November 18, 2013 @ 5:01 pm
The glory days of rock are gone….
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelecatalano/2013/02/28/where-have-all-the-rock-stars-gone/2/
I can’t say in a few words what this article says about all music genres disappearing.
November 18, 2013 @ 6:04 pm
“The Outsiders” is already posting a net loss in spins since last week on country radio, and the strong negative callout confirms what I suspected from the start: even generally complacent country listeners have their limitations when it comes to overtly non-country records being egregiously shoved down their throats. In contrast, “Creepin'” never bothered a plurality of listeners because it actually consisted of country flavors even while being predominantly arena rock.
Hopefully EMI will have the decency to call it a day with this and start pushing a secondary single that is at least a nod to the grain and gristle of the format. I do predict a more radio-friendly follow-up.
November 18, 2013 @ 9:15 pm
I’m a little surprised to hear it’s faltering on radio. I initially predicted radio would laugh it off, but then I saw how many adds it was getting and how quickly it rocketed up the charts, and I was afraid I was going to have to eat those words. I still might, but I still still will be surprised if it has any widespread success.
November 18, 2013 @ 9:44 pm
Well, it was aggressively buoyed by Clear Channel’s “Artist Integration Program” much like a handful of other top-tier format artists and their lead releases have been the beneficiary of.
The interesting thing is, at least thus far, singles that have been aided by this deal and enjoy colossal chart debuts would nonetheless stall at a peak position barely higher than where it debuted. Examples include “Feel Like A Rock Star” by Kenny Chesney/Tim McGraw (debuted at #13, peaked at #11), “Truck Yeah” by Tim McGraw (debuted at #22, peaked at #11), “That’s Why I Pray” by Big & Rich (debuted at #24, peaked at #16), “True Believers” by Darius Rucker (debuted at #26, peaked at #24), “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift (debuted at #13, peaked at #13 until Billboard revamped the Hot Country Songs chart to send it straight to #1 by default of crossover airplay and sales) and “I Like Girls That Drink Beer” by Toby Keith (debuted at #28, peaked at #18).
Granted there have been some releases that received this special treatment and weren’t adversely affected by it in the long run: including Jason Aldean’s “Take A Little Ride”, Luke Bryan’s “Crash My Party” and “Good Girl” by Carrie Underwood. But I would argue that more often than not, it has had a negative net impact on a respective release in the longer run.
And “The Outsiders” will be the latest of many who have fallen victim to it.
November 18, 2013 @ 10:03 pm
It seems like the number of these promos has slowed down somewhat lately. I assume it must be on the label end because I can’t imagine why Clear Channel would stop it when it really has no downside to them. As you mentioned the success rate has been pretty low and in fact the successful ones were really no brainers like Bryan, Aldean, Underwood. The others were either just plain awful (Chesney/McGraw, McGraw), not really country (Swift), or by marginally successful acts(Big & Rich). Maybe the labels know they have losers on their hands and figure why not open big and then let the chips fall where they may.
As for ‘The Outsiders’ it has flattened out (up 2 spins in the chart released today) which is not good and it may not top it’s debut. I bet the label releases a new single soon (maybe after first of the year) to build momentum for the album.
November 18, 2013 @ 11:33 pm
I’m glad you folks who pay attention to radio numbers lurk around here. I have respect for the data, but not enough time to crunch through it myself.
November 19, 2013 @ 1:41 pm
Did anybody else watch the documentary that the article is quoting?
It aired a couple weeks ago and I don’t think it has been mentioned on this blog until now. I watched it when it first aired, and I remember cringing a little at Eric’s comments, though I never expected them to be pulled out for a CMT article or used as fuel for a Triggerman rant.
In full context, the comments were pretty innocuous and were presented as part of a talking point about Nashville being “more than just country music,” a mind-numbingly obvious point that every article about a Nashville-based rock band is legally required to make (I assume.) Part of Church’s statement can be heard in the very beginning of the trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAvzmHRTAg
The sentiment about genres falling away in favor of “good and bad music,” is actually pretty rote. I cringed because I had already heard “The Outsiders,” a song which distinguishes itself by being both off-genre and unmistakably “bad music.” Maybe that’s what Eric meant? 😉
It’s funny that something from the doc. would be considered controversial, because it was actually a commercial in disguise. It was paid for by The Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau with part of the money granted by the federal government to promote the city after the epic flood in 2010. Apparently it’s no longer viewable online, which is a shame because I would be curious to hear other people’s thoughts on it.
November 18, 2013 @ 6:29 pm
Johnny Cash’s “The Hurt”, a Nine Inch Nails song, was not country … huh?
November 18, 2013 @ 6:51 pm
It used to be rock bands would come to Nashville to collaborate with country producers and artists. Bands like Credence,U2 and the Rolling Stones especially put out some amazing sounding country influenced songs. Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street are loaded with country songs.
Now it seems these “country” artists are ashamed of the genre. Maybe they look at it like it is so uncomplicated… Like I am an artist, I can’t be playing the chords G,C,D,C in 4/4 time over and over. I have to branch out and use synthesizers and bring in a rapper to do a verse. The simplicity of county and the blues is the beauty of the music. Not everyone wants to hear an overindulgent guitar solo or some God awful drum solo in music.
November 18, 2013 @ 9:18 pm
As I’ve been saying all year, 2013 is the year of the song: Kacey Musgraves and Jason Isbell. Artists who lean on rock riffs, even decent artists like Cody Canada and Shooter Jennings are seeing falling attendance numbers this year because rock guitar isn’t impressing anybody. What is the story of “The Outsiders”? It’s just rock riffs and bravado.
November 18, 2013 @ 10:56 pm
Exactly, I think Church has talent, but I want a story with the song. The Outsiders at least to me is just a bunch of notes without a coherent story. It’s like some horrible Rush track. The jury is still out on Kacey Musgraves… she really hasn’t had that break through song where everything clicks. In the end I think she’ll let us down.
November 19, 2013 @ 11:00 pm
Great Kacey Musgraves songs:
Merry Go Round
Silver Lining
Follow Your Arrow
It Is What It Is
Also, I would recommend listening to “Keep It To Yourself”. The lyrics are not the strongest, but the music is so mesmerizing that it will transport your emotions to an atmospheric state.
November 18, 2013 @ 7:47 pm
So Trigger, are you going to rant about and label Kacey Musgraes as a hypocrite as well? She has said the same exact things about ‘no more genres’ and ‘either good or bad music’.
I agree with one of the above posts, do you hold EC to such a high standard just so you can tear him down? It seems to me that EC only want some legitimacy since Country banished him to wilderness for years. I never got that he was trying to shit all over the genre and its roots.
November 18, 2013 @ 8:01 pm
Country banished him to wilderness for years.
”¦could you really blame them, after “Two Pink Lines”?
November 18, 2013 @ 9:24 pm
Hey, I’ve been critical of Musgraves for numerous reasons recently. And though she’s said similar things to what Church said, she said it with a lot more class, tact, and respect, and in the end her sound is probably more country. And hey, I agree with Church and Musgraves. Genres are dead in the mainstream, and I was saying that before anyone else did with my mono-genre theory. BUt I was just reporting it. Artists like Eric Church, and specifically “The Outsiders” is to blame.
“since Country banished him to wilderness for years.”
See, this is ridiculous. Eric hasn’t been oppressed by the industry whatsoever, he’s been propped up buy it. And it’s that exact type of marketing that he tries to force down the throats of people that makes me very suspicious of him. “Chief won Album of the Year at the CMA’s and ACM’s. He’s a country industry darling, being marketed as an Outlaw.
November 19, 2013 @ 8:04 am
I agree with your last sentence and that is the way that I interpreted his comments. I just think with Eric and Kasey both, all they are saying is in this digital age of music, people listen to all genres of music, more-so than before.
I also agree with their comments on “there is good music & there is bad music”. Even in this digital age today, I personally know people who ONLY listen to ONE type of music (usually mainstream country) and think that all other types, including Pop, Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, Electric, etc are crap and couldn’t possibly be good because they don’t fit inside of their “genre bubble”, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
And while I’ll be the first to say that the “Outsiders” is not the greatest song, and is FAR from Eric’s best, at least he didn’t play it safe and release a “Springsteen pt2”, “Drink in my Hand pt2”, “Like Jesus Does pt2” that would have shot to number one, but instead tried something sonically different for him.
November 19, 2013 @ 8:06 am
My first paragraph is in response to Seth.
November 19, 2013 @ 11:18 am
I’ve been seeing a lot of this, “Music is different these days, and people listen to everything, not just one genre.” I think that’s fine. On its face, I have no problem with people listening to rap, country, rock, etc. one song after another because they’re exploring different cultures and celebrating diversity in a way. I don’t only listen to country music, thumping my Johnny Cash albums like the Bible. What I have a problem with is when country songs sound like rap songs, and rock songs sound like country songs, because then it doesn’t matter what you’re listening to, if it all sounds the same the distinct musical dialects that keep the music culture vibrant suffer.
November 19, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
I don”™t only listen to country music, thumping my Johnny Cash albums like the Bible.
But even if you did, so what? Some folks really like only one or two genres and that’s okay. People are going to be drawn to sounds with certain characteristics. Some folks are going to like fewer sets of sounds than others. Why, exactly, is there anything wrong with that? (I ask that as a general question.)
November 19, 2013 @ 12:10 pm
There’s nothing wrong with that either. BUt when people say that listeners these days listen to all types of music, that’s not an excuse to make all types of music sound the same. If anything, it’s grounds to keep the diversity the genre system affords.
November 19, 2013 @ 12:16 pm
I absolutely agree. I don’t really listen to many kinds of music myself, but the genres I prefer all have characteristics that make them completely separate from one another, and that’s what I like about them. Such is the great irony of “artists” like Church accusing people of wanting artists to make the same music over and over ”” in their quest to innovate, they themselves aid and abet the creation of the mono-genre in which all of the music sounds more or less the same.
August 18, 2021 @ 6:33 pm
Thank you ???????? And tbt every male country artist has said the same shit Eric has and everyone of them referred to johnny cash or Merl haggard as someone sort of country music god and if you remember correctly a great deal of late 80s through early 90’s country had the same sound Eric has now then they went poppy late 90’s through early 00’s when gay was trendy and now they’re adding rap into the mix country has never been original it’s all the same pandering bullshit that’s regurgitated mad libs style just like rap ???? it’s all the same and that’s why they clash
November 18, 2013 @ 8:29 pm
It’s just all about the money folks. A guy like Eric could muddle around and find his musical ethos, try a few indie records, experiment with his technique, but that’s not where the money is. I do not believe these main streamers care about the art of music, the creation, or the evolution of a song. It’s all about having their name put out on everything and making cash. Sadly, it seems the only way to do so is to do whatever your handler of a record producer tells you. These “artists” are just characters made in a studio. Dressed by stylists, dolled up by make up artists, and put on stage like they are on the TV show Nashville.
November 19, 2013 @ 12:12 am
I disagree somewhat when it comes to Eric Church. In my opinion, he does care about the art of the music, which explains his willingness to make controversial comments like this and put out musically unconventional songs that risk his position on country radio such as “Creepin” or “The Outsiders” (though I am not personally fond of either song, especially the latter).
November 19, 2013 @ 4:14 pm
If the persona he puts out there is who he really is then I just think he is a tool. It just seems to me that he is Nashville’s other option they are giving us instead of the hick hop crap. I can see some record exec saying “we need a bad boy, hard ass type” and then somehow Church was chosen. I’m not saying that I know that is how it is, it is just how it seems to me.
November 19, 2013 @ 12:21 am
Good Rant!
No genre in Pop music. If only they were in it for the “music” instead of money. Too bad their idea of Country music includes distorted guitars, rap verses and excludes Western. Though the Country genre has always had a way of incorporating the “new”, so it’s not surprising. It is laughable that Eric Church thinks he’s some sort of pioneer, or something.
Genre’s are the musical accents of this country, but they are no stranger to each other. The boundaries are constantly changing, either by big business or society. Traditionalist are important, but we still need people who think outside the box to move us forward. The thought of punk country to some is unsettling. But now anyone with roots is Americana, an umbrella of a genre, that has become exclusive instead of welcoming. Very sad…
November 19, 2013 @ 7:08 am
This doesn’t really surprise me coming from Eric Church. I thought he said something similar in the past and I found this quote from him at the CMA awards last year: “I spent a lot of my career wondering where I fit in ”“ too country, too rock I want to thank you guys for giving me somewhere to hang my hat tonight.” Anyway, Eric Church doesn’t strike me as the most eloquent man in “country” music today so the fact that his quote comes across as offensive to country music doesn’t really surprise me. I hope that he was intending to say something similar and just chose his words very poorly.
November 19, 2013 @ 11:06 am
I consider Eric Church a rock artist in the same vein as Bon Jovi, Nickelback, Creed, and the likes. The pseudo- hard rock/cock rock/boring rock type (my kind of rock includes Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, The Red Buttons, The Beatles, you get the idea). But that pseudo-hard rock/cock rock has its purpose too. And when I wanna drive or party and feel like crankin’ that kind of music, I would prefer having Eric Church and Jason Aldean than Nickelback and Creed.
My definition of modern country music includes Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks (yes I do include him), The Secret Sisters, My Darling Clementine (british duo), Jason Eady, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jason Isbell, Ashley Monroe, Max Stalling, and Darrell Scott. Diverse yet somehow there’s something holding them together that I can’t explain. I can just feel.
And I don’t consider myself a true country fan considering the type of music I have in my iPod but I do appreciate real country when I hear one.
November 19, 2013 @ 3:03 pm
I picked up one of his CDs a couple of years ago and it was awful.
I did the same with Brantley Gilbert.
They were both vapid, one-dimensional garbage.
November 19, 2013 @ 8:00 pm
I don’t begrudge anyone that wants to make money, but in the same sense what musicians that say they want to be artistically free while blending genres are really doing is taking away a market place. It’s like a Super WalMart that moves into a town. It’s got a grocery store, a pharmacy, a toy department, a record store, a gun store, a computer store all in one place. It’s convenient and some people demand that but the externality is that quality suffers.
Adam Smith the economist argued that nations should devote their scarce resources to a particular trade that they are good at. If one nation is good at producing tires but bad a producing cars that nation should trade the tires for the cars that another nation is good at producing. The same holds true with music. Instead of being all over the place with a rock song and then a country song and then a rap song the quality of the music will suffer. Coming up with a song is hard enough, by adding all these different elements from different backgrounds you end up with a confused mess. Art is no different than economics. Specialization in a particular facet produces higher quality. I.E. John Wayne was a good cowboy but bad dancer, Dickens was a good writer but bad painter, Jack Daniels is a good whiskey but bad beer.
November 19, 2013 @ 8:09 pm
Good point.
November 19, 2013 @ 8:18 pm
I will not be the one to judge your investment of time in this guy who will eventually be forgotten and tossed into the dustbin of Eternity.
November 19, 2013 @ 8:46 pm
I think it’s just a matter of country music content and exposure. REAL country is not popular. Country radio “country” is climbing in popularity cause its cornier and more forced than anything ive ever seen. And so is social networking bullshit.. look at all the pictures of self proclaimed rednecks with their brand new chev with a bit of dirt splatter on the doors flexed on a curb that say theyre wheelin big time.. its a joke. people these days are just not about bein themselves anymore. all about social status! what happened to the eric church before his Hollywood haircut who made some of my favourite music ever? like previous comments.. people like to call themselves country but cant back any of it up. songs are “country” nowadays cause they mention southern belles in boots or muddy trucks. its in your blood plain and simple. country state of mind.
November 19, 2013 @ 8:52 pm
and to boot, that Jason aldean luke bryan and church song,
That”™s the only way I know
Don”™t stop ’til everything”™s gone
Straight ahead, never turn round
Don”™t back up, don”™t back down
Full throttle, wide open
You get tired and you don”™t show it
Dig a little deeper when you think you can”™t dig no more
That”™s the only way I know
this song is about nothing.. NO MEANINGFUL CONTENT is what pisses me off these days
November 20, 2013 @ 12:24 am
“I want to like Eric Church…”
I did to at one point.
His songwriting is amazing, his lyrics are great, I don’t even have a real problem with him mixing the rock in so heavily from time-to-time.
But douchiness just oozes from the guy that it’s a major turn-off.
I don’t want my music to come from saints, look at some of the stuff Waylon said over the years, but he never directed it at his fans or the genre that made him wealthy.
November 20, 2013 @ 1:35 pm
I’d like to know how he can look himself in the mirror every morning, knowing he’s a fucking whore, and carry through his day with any kind of dignity at all?
November 20, 2013 @ 1:57 pm
Really Trigger, this was a cringe worthy read.
The amount of things you take out of context and the way you analyze situations and people with little to no background information, in this post in particular, is FOX news level.
And like FOX news, the way your audience responds with even less of a proper viewpoint at all is even more surprising. But hey, welcome to the internet I guess.
Its a good thing you titled this as a rant (emotional unloading without little if any prior research) because otherwise
“So Eric Church, you think that genres are dead? Well then why don”™t you turn in your Country Music Association Album of the Year trophy, your Academy of Country Music Album of the Year trophy, your Academy of Country Music award for Best New Solo Vocalist from 2011”
All the awards you listed were for the Chief record. It was a country album. Despite what a closed minded listener would tell you it was a modern country record by the sound, message, and in my opinion was one of the more unique and heartfelt mainstream country albums of that year. Why is what that record was be taken away by a new direction he’s taking his music? I guess Darius Rucker should forget everything he did with Hootie, I guess Glenn Danzig should’ve forgotten about the genre defining sound he Made with the Misfits. I guess Johnny Cash should be slammed for all the multi genre songs he had on the American recordings and he should be remembered for those as opposed to the Folsom Prison album.
So much ignorance in the first paragraph and it just goes on throughout this entire post.. Its sad Trigger because you’re usually quite skilled at analyzing what artists intentions are and getting down to the real deal but I got to say you struck the fuck out on this one.
I’d break this down even more but I’ll let it go since you titled the article as a biased “Rant” on a comment you took at face value and not “Intelligent and open dissection”. I think you actually already know that what you’ve written is farfetched and that you simply make these mainstream bashing blogs to get traffic to the site where then readers can discover good quality underground music they wouldn’t have normally found otherwise.
But in the case that you are completely serious or if you need to know what else about your post is completely wrong. I’d be happy to share my other two cents.
November 20, 2013 @ 2:12 pm
I think the issue here is more about Eric Church’s comment rather than his musical output. His statement that “genres are dead” is an insult to those who proudly hold on to genre identification, such as country music fans. I don’t think that Johnny Cash ever made such a broad statement.
If Eric Church feels the need to justify his deviation from country music, he should take cues from Taylor Swift. Every time that Taylor is asked about her drift toward pop, she always gives a nuanced response to the effect of “I want to explore new sounds”. Never does she say anything as arrogant as “genres are dead”.
November 20, 2013 @ 2:38 pm
But what makes me so critical is the fact that everyone is the statement “Genres are dead” is that Eric wants music to be an that music going to be an unfuddled mess of unrecognizable garbage that all blends together. When it is actually quite the exact opposite.
When I saw Eric at lollapalooza earlier year he made his mid-Springsteen speech about the topic.
He said something along the lines of “It’s not about the genres of music that you like but its about the Artists you like.”
When he said that it really resonated with me. The fact that every person on this earth is different, and the idea that music is a reflection of oneself, and by law of association is that one’s own music should not be the same as anything that anything else that anyone has ever made.
If everyone makes their own music that is a reflection of who they are, like I believe should be every artists goal, then yes genres might as well be dead because that sound is going to be unique to them.
If you believe that every artist from now til’ all the time should hang onto the coatails of their predeccors and repeat the ideas and melodies
Even digging into the lyrics of “The Outsiders..”
“We let our numbers show, where the numbers ain’t. We’re the paint where there isn’t supposed to be paint.”
The metaphor is that they want music to be a reflection of an individual instead of placing established ideas musically into a song and that is what makes it good.
Paint by numbers isn’t art, because your doing what somebody else made. So why should you make the same music as someone already else did?
He’s trying to break the trend in music that its only good if it sounds like Waylon or Haggard. They did what was unique to their time and that should be that.
Back then they all made music that was reflective of themselves and was unlike anything else. Why should todays artists be any different than that songwriting practice then?
November 20, 2013 @ 2:36 pm
I report, you decide 😉 .
“All the awards you listed were for the Chief record. It was a country album.”
Not according to Eric Church. According to Eric, genres are dead. There are no country albums. There is no country anything. That’s what he said. I’m simply reacting. I’ve said myself and many times that “Chief” was the most forward-thinking and country album from a top-level mainstream country male last year, and I take nothing away from Eric in the regard, nor am I changing my stance about that. I also said that Eric deserved those Album of the Year wins compared this his other nominated competition. I’m simply reacting to what he said, and I stand behind those words. He’s said genres are dead, and if he’s going to be so flippant about the importance of country or any other genre, then maybe he should ponder what the true music landscape would be if he was right. That would start with there being no industry awards.
November 20, 2013 @ 2:44 pm
It would probably be like the 70s where music was new and creative instead of trying to fit within a specific archetype and people tried to piggyback on the success of their elders.
Crazy the thought.
November 20, 2013 @ 2:46 pm
And I’m not taking away from the artists of old.
I’m saying the reasons why those artists were so amazing is because they took that music to places it has never been before. Why should today be any different?
November 20, 2013 @ 3:54 pm
the reasons why those artists were so amazing is because they took that music to places it has never been before. Why should today be any different?
If you don’t see the utility of genres ”” which, from your comments, you do not ”” and you’re asking that question to those who still believe in the genre concept, the question is never going to get a good answer because you and the person you’re asking are operating on completely different fundamental principles.
November 20, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
And that I can accept, as should any opposing parties.
Music in itself is an opinion and while you or are I may feel like we may know
It only comes down to attacking an artist on a personal level that I would get defensive.
November 20, 2013 @ 3:50 pm
I read a lot of stuff on here Trig, and I’m gonna completely disagree with you here. In fact I’m sort of sick of how you can go and decide what’s “country” and what isn’t. Just because a song isn’t the EXACT same as hank used to make it doesn’t make it bad. Is “The Outsiders” a country song? nope, but I really like rock music so I won’t say I don’t like the song…I make my living writing and singing “country” music or whatever you wanna call it. Being a songwriter makes me appreciate a lot of Eric’s music even more because he actually uses a lot of metaphors etc. in his songs. I appreciate country music but I don’t appreciate someone ripping him for coming out with something different than all of the tailgate drinking songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAH95R-n6xo
November 20, 2013 @ 5:16 pm
” In fact I”™m sort of sick of how you can go and decide what”™s “country” and what isn”™t.”
What in the world are you talking about? You people have completely missed the point that both Eric was making, and I was making. Eric Church said that genres don’t exist. That means that country doesn’t exist. If you want to have an argument about what is country and what isn’t, that’s a completely separate matter. But if I’m understanding Eric Church’s comments correctly, even he doesn’t think he’s country, because country and genres in general are an outmoded way of thinking about music via Eric Church’s own words.
” Just because a song isn”™t the EXACT same as hank used to make it doesn”™t make it bad.”
Where did I say that? Did I say that anywhere in this article, or anywhere ever? I have written entire articles on this subject, of how people couch an argument against people like me that we don’t want country to evolve and we want it to only sound like Hank Williams forever and ever. But the only people making that point is YOU. I have never said anything like that, or ever alluded to anything like that, and I have gone out of my way to say that country music MUST evolve, and even that Eric Church is helping to lead the way in the regard in the mainstream.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/song-video-review-eric-churchs-creepin
QUOTE from Sept. 17th 2012:
The catch-all, stock argument made against folks that complain that rap, rock, and pop influences are encroaching too heavily into the country genre is to say that country must evolve. Eric Church has made that argument himself in the boldest of terms when he wrote the song “Country Music Jesus”, inspired by an article on Saving Country Music.
There”™s this writer, at the time that kinda had written a critique of the new country Outlaw movement. Said something about “I wish all these new guys would do it like the old guys did it, and make the same music, the same way, over and over.”
Of course this is an erroneous take of Saving Country Music”™s stance. Many times adding influences from genres outside of country results in devolution of the music because the motivation is to make the music appeal to the widest possible audience by attaining the lowest common denominator. Of course country music must evolve, and it has been in the independent, Americana, and underground country worlds for years to the general ambivalence of the mainstream.
UNQUOTE:
Now, go read the rest of that article where I praise Eric Church for putting out a song that is both progressive and respecting of country’s roots.
You folks are just following a thread from somewhere that says that I’m attacking Eric for not sounding like Hank Williams, and are not even reading what I wrote.
November 20, 2013 @ 4:02 pm
one last thing…one of my favorite artists ever JOHNNY CASH did a collab with U2 and it wasn’t a very “country” song….so does that make him a garbage nashville sellout as well?
November 20, 2013 @ 4:09 pm
And that I can accept, as should any opposing parties.
Music in itself is an opinion and while you or are I may feel like we may know what and what isn’t right in the industry the fact is people will listen to whatever they damn well please weather that be Alan Jackson or Fart noises and wub wubs out of a labtop.
It only comes down to attacking an artist on a personal level that I would get defensive.
November 20, 2013 @ 4:48 pm
Eric Church is an “outsider” though; that’s essentially what the entire songs entails. He steps out of whats expected of country music, does his own thing, & you can either take it or leave it. He has never been afraid to do his own thing, & he has ALWAYS had a rock side to him. It should be no surprise to anyone that has ever listened to him, that he’d eventually come out with a song that it more on the rock side. I don’t understand how an entire article like this could be written when there are countless other “country” artists who are played on multiple different genre radio stations. I’ve been a die hard fan of Eric Church since the first song I ever heard by him, “Lightening.” That song was hated & also banned from being played on country music stations… because it talks about someone dying in the electric chair. It’s real, it something that happens, why run away from it? Eric Church is by far the most real and raw artist out there in country music. He doesn’t rap, he isn’t played on pop music stations, & he sure as hell doesn’t claim to be anything but himself. Eric Church doesn’t give a shit if he’s popular, “and if it looks good on TV, it’ll look good on a CD, shape it up, trim it down who gives a damn ’bout how it sounds…” This is exactly what he’s been telling everyone from the very beginning. Eric Church writes every single song he plays (with the exception of one), and he doesn’t write them or play them so they’ll become a number one. He writes it for his fans, for the people that understand him. It’s fine if you dislike him & every country radio station in the US and Europe decide to not play him… he’s Eric Church. He does what he wants & doesn’t care about conforming to one particular area of music. He’s always been out there causing trouble, singing about pot, and doing what he does best; singing his heart out for his fans with songs that he loves.
November 20, 2013 @ 5:27 pm
“Eric Church is an “outsider” though; that”™s essentially what the entire songs entails. He steps out of whats expected of country music, does his own thing, & you can either take it or leave it. “
Marketing. Plain and simple. Eric Church is an industry darling. Artists who are “outsiders” don’t win Album of the Year from both the CMA and ACM’s. They don’t even get nominated. They don’t even get invited to the event. “Outsiders” don’t have Top 10 singles, they don’t get played on the radio at all. Eric Church is couching himself as an “outsider” to appeal to demographics of people who feel disenfranchised by popular culture so popular culture can being them back into the financial fold.
November 20, 2013 @ 11:31 pm
And Eric IS a marketer. He has a degree in marketing.
November 21, 2013 @ 10:08 pm
If outsiders don’t win CMAs or get invited to the event explain to me how kacey musgraves own and got the most nominations? Would you call her an industry darling? I’m not saying Eric is country. I’m not even saying I like him, but I do respect him for putting out the music he wants. How many other artist write their own material. I know he had co-writers but he had a say in all of it. I don’t think some of his music belongs on country radio, but isn’t it really the label who decides?
November 22, 2013 @ 10:28 am
I haven’t doubled over with laughter in a some time. Holy Christ are you mis-informed.
Eric Church does what he wants and it is all for the fans??? Fuck, it is all for Eric Church and putting himself on a made up pedestal. This dork is legend in his own mind. And what is with the fucking sunglasses??? I guess it means my music can’t carry me so I need an image gimmick.
I’ll see your Eric Church is an outsider and does his own thing, and raise you Jamey Fucking Johnson. You can parallel these two careers and see the difference in Nashville pussy (I mean darling) and true outsider that does his own thing and cares about country music.
God damn your response is troubling. Anyone that buys into Church any deeper than you might like a song or two is troubling.
November 22, 2013 @ 12:53 pm
Your pretty misinformed yourself sir.
When he played at bars and shit the lights would dry out his contacts and he couldn’t he see so he had to wear a ballcap and sunglasses for him to be able to see at all. And after that it became sort of his trademark so now he wears him everywhere. It’d be
Anyone that’s played under those lights could back up that story. Those puppies are hot.
Also on the topic of Jamey Johnson, I applaud him for being a pretty powerful and moving lyrcist but musically it isn’t anything I havn’t heard before. Wouldn’t really call that being an outsider either by your definition. Lots of of Hank Jr. teet sucking especcially on the “Guitar song” album. His latest original album debuted at #4 on the country charts in its first week. He’s pretty big as well. If your #4 on the charts I don’t think that makes you an Outsider either.
The fact that you hate Church so much but applaud Johnson for singing the same type of music Church was from 2004-2010 is not musical criticism. But just butthurt personal bias.
People need to get over the stupid image shit and get down to what’s important and that’s the music.
November 22, 2013 @ 12:55 pm
2004-2010 meaning their in the same position in terms of popularity not musically sorry been in the same spot as Jamey is in where they only play smaller gigs. They’re largely different musically
November 23, 2013 @ 8:02 am
Man, I thought Anna’s response was something but you my friend are on a new level. It is not surprising that all Church fans come from the same dementia…and the same dementia of Church himself.
You’re right about the contacts and lights being the reason for the sunglasses. That can be backed up, that is clearly why all the other entertainers wear sunglasses and ball caps.
And Johnson took a much different path to gain his popularity than Church. And I might add Johnson’s popularity isn’t with the Affliction shirt frat crowd. It is with Willie, Merle, Kristofferson…and not their fans, but the actual artists. Church is cutting songs with Aldean and Bryan. What an outsider.
Johnson’s music hits charts because of the quality not force feeding.
Finally, you actually listen to any of Johnson music? Hank Jr. teet? No doubt there is some influence there but he is much more influenced by those I mentioned above along with Gosdin, Cochran, Jones, Tillis, Jennings…and that comes out in his music in Johnson’s unique but respectful way.
Church simply being loud in many songs and then…ohhhh he does a tune acoustically (that’s ground breaking)…or oh oh…. the dead on copy of any HankIII tune made 10 years eailer, “Creepin”.
Church is amateur when you look beyond the loud lights and flames and through the sunglasses and teary eyed contacts. haha.
November 20, 2013 @ 5:45 pm
I take it this article was linked somewhere because all of sudden here comes a bunch of people making very similar, and erroneous, claims about what has been written.
I’ll say this much, when you and your fans have to put so much effort into proving you’re an ‘Outsider’ I think you have proven that you are not one. It’s all branding folks wake up!
November 20, 2013 @ 6:05 pm
I think you’re describing Hot Topic.
November 20, 2013 @ 6:14 pm
Damn! That was supposed to be a response to Triggerman:
“Eric Church is couching himself as an “outsider” to appeal to demographics of people who feel disenfranchised by popular culture so popular culture can being them back into the financial fold.”
The posts don’t go to the right spot if you get the CAPTCHA wrong the first time.
November 20, 2013 @ 11:06 pm
Good points. If genres are dead why aren’t pop, rap, and rock radio playing country songs? Why isn’t Eric nominated in the Grammy non-country categories (pop, classical, bluegrass, rock, rap, jazz, metal, gospel, etc.)? Why don’t the Grammys get rid of all genre categories? I agree that it’s a bash to and hurts country music to say things like genres are dead while making and putting pop songs on country radio, especially when top leaders like Eric say it. Make country songs and get rap and pop radio to play them if genres are dead and you want to respect and help country.
Eric is on the same label as Luke and Taylor (Universal, the biggest pop label in the world) and like a middle finger to country music and fans they have all released the worst, most pop songs on their latest albums to country radio as lead singles (We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, That’s My Kind Of Night, and The Outsiders presumably) and got them played largely via special deals with Clear Channel. Coincidence or making country pop agenda? Methinks agenda especially since Eric is repeating this no more genres pitch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpUjZtPWwIk&t=4m20s
It wouldn’t surprise me if Universal top brass or someone in between asked Eric to give these “genres are dead” speeches. Regardless I think it’s obvious Universal + Big Machine and maybe Clear Channel have a make country and country radio pop agenda and asked Billboard to change their Hot Country chart rules to help make it happen.
November 20, 2013 @ 11:57 pm
Taylor’s record label Big Machine, not Universal. Universal simply serves as the distributor for Big Machine.
November 21, 2013 @ 10:19 pm
That’s not the whole story. Taylor signed with Big Machine in 2005?, released her debut album is 2006, then in 2007 they partnered with Universal to make her music more pop, put it on pop radio and expand it worldwide. 2007 is when they started remixing her songs for pop radio.
“Big Machine and Universal Republic first joined forces in 2007 to propel country Superstar Taylor Swift to Top 40 radio and beyond…”
http://www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com/label/republic_nashville
Don’t you think much larger Universal, the biggest pop label in the world, has some say and influence? I’d be surprised if the top dogs at Universal listen to or care about country music. Scott loves pop too.
Big Machine also partnered with Universal label Universal Republic in 2009 to start a new label, Republic Nashville. So they truly are partners in the music business. Cassadee Pope won The Voice, Universal has the contract to sign The Voice contestants and they had her sign with Republic Nashville. She made a pop album and they put it on country radio, same as those other pop songs. Maybe Universal got the American Idol and The Voice contracts as another way to control the music and make country go pop.
November 21, 2013 @ 10:37 pm
The fact that a major pop label has significant influence in the country industry is not a new phenomenon. Nashville has historically been dominated by large labels headquartered in New York City or Los Angeles. RCA, one of the largest labels in the world since the 1920s, pretty much dominated the country music industry in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Capitol Records, another huge label headquartered in Los Angeles, served as the home for most of the Bakersfield Sound artists, including Merle Haggard.
November 22, 2013 @ 9:36 pm
I didn’t say it was new but even artists are saying it’s worse than ever now. Big Machine is a fairly new Nashville label and power. Labels and radio consolidating into a few monogenre giants controlling everything hasn’t been good for music or art and has even caused radio problems (debt). We’ve gone from labels controlling music to Wall St. investors controlling it. What’s country about that? Billboard recently changed country chart rules to help pop take over. Then country radio started playing more bad pop songs to the top 20 and #1 and they play way too few country women with far better songs. I’m not buying what they’re selling.
November 24, 2013 @ 2:45 pm
I get the point of you, Chris. The problem is that even with Billboard helping country to go multi genre, country music only appeal country music stations despite country music are mainstream music. Country music does not appeal mainstream music. That’s why country is separated from other mainstream music genres like pop. Pop/rock/dance/soul/rock music made more money than country music because worldwide music will not appeal country music at all. You have to use North America music to appeal country music. As for Taylor Swift, her country music is different than most country music which is why she has a crossover appeal. Plus, Taylor Swift’s fanbase demands her country music on pop radio. But only some of her country music has a crossover appeal. I think music should go by artist, not that’s what popular. I hate today’s America populars. I’m sick of America populars. It’s getting annoying. America populars ruined America’s music industry like new Avril Lavigne songs. Stupid recycled America populars and radio airplays. Music going by artist is better in my opinion. If Taylor Swift does pop, she has to keep her pop music away from her country music department. Only Never Ever is fine since that pop song has a crossover for country. But in order for music to go by artist, she has to perform her country music in general to pop including her country music that lacked crossover appeal. I would rather want pop radio to play Taylor Swift’s country songs without a crossover appeal as special airplays. Same thing for Carrie Underwood. Never put country music by most country artists like Miranda Lambert to music stations outside of country music. Only Taylor Swift (and Carrie Underwood) are capable of airing country music on pop music station department like MTV since Taylor and Carrie are both crossover artists.
November 21, 2013 @ 2:03 am
I actually agree with a lot of the sentiments behind his comment, though I probably wouldnt have said “genres are dead”. I think what he was trying to say was that, the concept of restricting yourself to one genre, is dead, and not the actual genres themselves. That’s how I interpreted his comments anyway.
I think Churchs point is that artists should just be focusing on bringing the best out in their craft and less focused on what genre it will fit in to.
November 22, 2013 @ 9:41 pm
Country artists going pop or one theme doesn’t bring out the best in their craft or satisfy country fans. These pop and truck songs are the worst they’ve made since their careers started years ago.
November 21, 2013 @ 9:29 am
Genres are dead….there is nothing to restrict or restrain yourself to.
GMO Country….Hybrid Country.
The biggest disadvantage of Hybrid Country is that it doesn’t reproduce true in the second generation.
Hybrid Country stars will often be bigger, brighter, faster-growing and higher-yielding than either of their ‘parents’…which makes for a great selling point.
But it’s a one hit wonder. Subsequent Country generations don’t have the same vigour.
You don’t save seeds from Hybrid Country…you just throw them away and buy some more. This is bad for Country and bad for you.
The Hybrid Country industries make a packet of hybrid seeds and gain increasing control of what we buy and what is reproduced. :-{
November 22, 2013 @ 10:20 am
Why does anyone give this guy any credit or criticism? The guy is a complete tool. He clearly has some lingering issues from teenage years were no doubt he was razed for his skinny rat like appearance, and any dude that wears sunglasses 24/7 and isn’t blind or named Hank Jr./Dale Sr. needs boot to fill his ass.
Church…this is classic “can’t stay out of your own way.”
And enough about how he got kicked off Rascal Flatts tour for playing to loud. Jesus, this mainstream generation thinks that is the baddest ass thing in the world. Gotten anything else worth putting on your bad ass mantle?
Bring your pussified fanbase to say, a Jackson Taylor show. He can show the ‘outsiders’ what bad ass is. …Hell Follows
November 23, 2013 @ 11:09 am
Talking out of both sides of the mouth….
One minute…there’s griping about the ‘tone’ of comments reverting backwards to nastyville….needing more ‘censorship’…(Jamie Spears).
Next minute.. the flood gates are opened.
I love this site because it’s family. There’s rarely an official rebuke.
You can express your strong disapproval of the molecular changes in Country music….everything is very straightforward and earnest.
If you didn’t get a pinch from time to time…it would all be milktoast.
December 29, 2013 @ 11:50 am
I just curiously stumbled on to this site/article. You people are insane! Solution: Dont listen to him and get a life!
July 22, 2020 @ 7:40 am
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September 17, 2020 @ 6:15 pm
Wow! How nice to see people who agree with me. I was like why is it Eric seems like such a phoney? First time I heard him.
Gotcha! Thanks
Hard to believe he’s from N.C.