Song Review – Randy Houser’s “We Went”
I’ve got an idea: While we’re in the business of thawing out Schwarzenegger to star in summer blockbusters about coming back from the future to save the world, how ’bout we cast him in a movie where the future sends him back to the “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” writing session as Jamey Johnson, and instead finishing the song, Jamey convinces his co-writers Dallas Davidson and Randy Houser there’s no future in country music and they should open a Shoney’s franchise in Murfreesboro instead, saving country music from certain annihilation due to Houser and Davidson’s future output? Anyone?
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Some bad songs make you angry that such a monstrosity would ever be released under the country banner. Some make you sad for what country music has become. This one? Randy Houser’s entry into this new R&B sexy time Bee Gees-inspired country music disco craze? This thing had me laughing out loud so hard from being so embarrassing and absurd, I had milk shooting out of my nose. And I wasn’t even drinking milk at the time.
To hear the festively plump, bordering on 40-something Randy Houser pseudo-rapping about running from the cops through cornfields with his hot lover had me in stitches to say the least. If you need any more validation that modern country music is nothing more than escapism of the mind for bored suburbanites with shallow understandings of rural life, look no further than Houser’s new single “We Went.” Randy Houser could never put enough hair gel and highlights in his 40-year-old’s faux hawk to make this thing seem either respectable or relevant. This songs’s got more pander in it than the Beijing zoo.
“We Went” reads like a rejected Penthouse Forum submission. So let me get this straight Randy, you’re so awesome that you’re running from the cops, at night, racing through corn fields, “tearing up” fences, and “jumping” ditches? Do you know what happens when you get barbed wire wrapped up on the back tires of a Pontiac? Your night ends right there. Do you know what happens when you try to “jump” a ditch like the Duke Boys without a ramp or other way to get any upward velocity in a Pontiac? You eat it nose first right into the ditch.
This song isn’t just stupid, it’s completely implausible. Apparently the songwriters Justin Wilson, Matt Rodgers and John King (why is it always three, ALWAYS?!?) took out the verse about the protagonist breaking his erection off and giving his girly girl blunt force head trauma as her noggin’ bounced off the dash board before they had to call AAA to tow their ass out … and got arrested by the cops they were running from anyway.
Oh, but they had plenty of time to shoehorn in the nonsensical line, “I need a little somethin’ with some get up and go and nobody knows how to get me goin’ quite like you do when you’re doin’ the things that you do.”
Huh?
Look, there is something patent and poetic to the American experience that involves young men in cars trying to find a little private spot to take their sweet young fraülein for a little bit of heavy petting (or if you’re lucky, deflowering). Yet right as you’ve got your nervous, sweaty hand twisted up in some elastic band or bra hook situation, here come cherries flashing in the rear view mirror of your hand-me-down bald-tired shitbox. Not that it was any songwriting feat in itself, but that was what was embodied in the Keith Urban single “Cop Car” (Yes, written by Sam Hunt, I know) and many other song.
But this? This is a song set to the music of a Cinemax softcore soundtrack with completely nonsensical lyrics. I’m telling you, there’s nothing worse than watching the dads of country music trying to rap and play the role of sexpots.
You’re old Randy Houser, and that’s okay. But good gosh man, meet your declining career head on with dignity, not slumming down in the sewers looking to pander to the least common denominator.
Two guns down.
June 1, 2015 @ 8:57 am
Like you said Trig, this song’s demographic has never seen a cornfield.
June 1, 2015 @ 8:58 am
I had milk shooting out of my nose. And I wasn”™t even drinking milk at the time. Lmao!
June 1, 2015 @ 9:06 am
That was one funny review. Made my day.
June 1, 2015 @ 9:24 am
Thanks for ruining my day. I was rocking out to Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East, then I had to stop that to listen to this trash… God damn that was awful.
June 1, 2015 @ 9:26 am
Right after the first line I turned it off
June 1, 2015 @ 9:40 am
“why is it always three?” stooges always come in three Trig, always.
June 1, 2015 @ 9:42 am
The useless blabbering in this song makes my head hurt. It’s like mixing some dude with a southern accent and a Coldplay song.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:31 am
Coldplay isn’t great, but they at least don’t deserve to be mentioned alongside Randy Houser, that’s just mean spirited.
June 1, 2015 @ 9:47 am
Some artists can accept declining or stagnant careers with dignity by not submitting to trends (Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, etc), while others shed their honor like a snakeskin to cling to any relevance. Randy Houser has released some pretty good songs in the past that went nowhere. This is the outcome of poor radio.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:10 am
“I need a little somethin”™ with some get up and go and nobody knows how to get me goin”™ quite like you do when you”™re doin”™ the things that you do.”
Why don’t you just say what you really feel and you’ll feel better than if you hadn’t said it and kept feeling frustrated by your feelings .Forgive them , Trigger …they know not what they write . (…. probably nothing a little ‘therapy’ couldn’t rectify ) . Go listen to ANYTHING GOES and comfort yourself in the arms of the good ol’ days
June 1, 2015 @ 1:08 pm
We get it, Randy!
She makes you horny! Didn’t have to waste a lot of syllables to say it straight! 😉
June 1, 2015 @ 10:25 am
If you are really from a “sleepy podunk town,” you don’t want to give the town something to talk about. Trust me!
June 1, 2015 @ 10:42 am
You know, I was actually wondering when Randy Houser might drop something like this. He started out okay with Anything Goes, got really good with the stone cold country rock of They Call Me Cadillac, and regressed but not offensively so with How Country Feels. Shallow as it might have been, I have a soft spot for that album’s last single “Like a Cowboy.” Unfortunately, he’s never had the success to validate the bright spots of his albums for his record label, which pretty much dropped him after his sophomore set and this song seems like a response to the fear of it happening again despite some number 1 hits. It’s also worth noting the guy can sing pretty well but here he’s wasting it.
You people mock “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” but at least Trace Adkins had enough sense tinge songs like that with a little humor and irony. Now he’s nowhere to be found on the radio and in his stead are dudes with the same shtick but not a shred of the wherewithal. Like they say, you don’t miss it till it’s gone.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:46 am
If I had a dollar every time, “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” was mocked on this site, I could purchase country radio.
June 1, 2015 @ 11:05 am
Well, it’s because in the pantheon of bad country songs, it is an all-time Hall of Famer. It was also the virtual starting point for all three of the songwriters, so it has cultural significance beyond the song itself. It is a very important song in country music, and you shouldn’t be surprised it gets referenced often.
June 1, 2015 @ 11:07 am
Us people?
I don’t miss “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” a bit, and probably wouldn’t replace it with this if I had the choice.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:49 pm
Really? I know that originally hearing the song was probably like a kick in the nuts, passing a kidney stone and a paper cut all at the same time, but you HONESTLY think a song where the performer seems to be in on the joke that the tune is stupid is of similar quality to one where the performer takes themselves completely seriously? I was originally being ironic, but now I’m just curious. I thought one of the things we complained about around here on a daily basis was the lack of self-awareness displayed by so many of country’s top males. I’m not saying Trace Adkins is any Weird Al Yankovic, but he at least seems to know when something he’s singing is dumb and tinges it with humor.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:10 pm
Splitting hairs. They’re both terrible songs.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:23 pm
Well, I guess we can agree to disagree then. I’m not saying I think “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” is good, but at least it’s serviceable junk food. I don’t feel that way about this Randy Houser song, Jason Aldean’s latest or Luke Bryan’s material. Also, Trace’s song is actually somewhat country, despite the “dance mix” version featured in the music video (but to be fair, country has been issuing dance mixes since the early ’90s). I think of “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” as a much less subtle version of Conway Twitty’s “Tight Fittin’ Jeans.”
June 1, 2015 @ 11:14 am
By itself, Honky Tonk Badonkadonk is relatively harmless. The problem with the song is how it seems to have inspired countless songwriters to ape it and gave the world Dallas Davidson one of his first big hits….we all know how that has worked out for Country music.
I honestly didnt mind most of the radio songs from Randy Houser on his last album. Sure, they were pretty stereotypical songs and we far from memorable, but they were less offensive than the crap Aldean, FGL and Bryan churn out.
This is just terrible though. Honestly, the new singles from Chris Young and Houser show that you can be a great vocalist, but a great voice doesnt save crappy material.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:11 pm
Chris Young has been getting bro-country material for some time; just look at “A.M.” from a couple of years ago. The difference is that (to me) Chris and his writers take typical cliches and make some decent songs out of them (“Forgiveness”, “Lighters In The Air”, “Lonely Eyes”, etc.). The songwriters here didn’t even try.
Honestly, I’d take this over “Sippin On Fire”, “Tonight Looks Good On You”, or “Kick The Dust Up” any day. At least Randy Houser is a great vocalist, but it doesn’t save the song at all.
June 1, 2015 @ 4:47 pm
Yeah, Young is far from a terrible offender. My problem, at least my main problem with guys like Houser and Young is that they are so content to simply play the radio game. Maybe the temptation of big dollars is too much for either of them to pass up, but it’s damn frustrating to see two guys who have shown the capability to put out much better music, putting out crap.
At least in the case of Aldean and FGL, they are terrible singers so no talent is really being wasted. Not true with Young and Houser.
June 2, 2015 @ 3:26 pm
I disagree about Aldean and FGL. Aldean has sold out recently, but his older work is excellent. Even his previous album wasn’t too bad. Tyler Hubbard doesn’t have a great voice, but his insane southern drawl makes him sing pretty well….Brian Kelly on the other hand is pretty bad and thats why Tyler is usually the one singing in all their music.
June 1, 2015 @ 9:16 pm
Hence why it’s a terrible song that’s anything but harmless! 😉
It’s one thing to get a #1 hit off of a terrible song on paper, such as “Drink To That All Night” or “Dirt Road Anthem” or “Bottoms Up”. But then there is a whole other breed of terrible song that defies all odds and isn’t immediately forgotten two years later by most; one that becomes a cultural relic or artifact of sorts……………..and to which many co-opt as a template for their own terrible song craftsmanship.
Above all else, the misogyny is what makes “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” just as unlistenable now than in 2005. I swear, I purposefully pander to the masses whenever I go out for karaoke night (which, let’s be honest………….if you’re looking for a place to channel a more intimate and emotionally charged brand of song, go to an open mic at a local cafe or art gallery…………..but karaoke is designed to appeal to the lower common denominators as star performers) and am not afraid to perform stupid songs I don’t even like including Nickelback’s “Rockstar” and Luke Bryan’s “Rain Is A Good Thing”. But then there are songs where, no matter what, my heart and stomach grumble with utmost refusal to ever attempt to play straight because of how deplorable they are in the messages they send……………….and “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” is one of them (other examples being Tyler Farr’s “Redneck Crazy”, Justin Moore’s “Bait A Hook”, Brantley Gilbert’s “Kick It In The Sticks”, etc.).
Hell, I’ll even sing Florida Georgia Line’s dumb-as-sand-but-ultimately-inoffensive-except-to-your-vocabulary-bank “This Is How We Roll” on an unparalleled goofy day, and that says a lot about how comparatively gawd-awful “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” is after all these years.
June 1, 2015 @ 11:15 am
Songwriter 1: “What if this time instead of a pickup truck, the vehicle in the song was a car? Like a Pontiac or something?”
Songwriter 2: “Whoa now. That’s pretty radical. Better at least put in a line that it’s ‘like a pickup truck,’ otherwise folks might get confused.”
June 1, 2015 @ 11:24 am
I won’t listen to this, but I’ve heard it includes the line “Foot on the gas, ready and throwing up a little dust like a pick up truck does in the mud.”
I was just wondering: how does one throw up dust in the mud? Isn’t dust sorta dry, and mud sorta wet?
June 1, 2015 @ 1:27 pm
That’s as far as I made it. Brain just stopped right there.
“you wet dirt down so there’s no dust…” How do you do a mixed metaphor about mud?
February 6, 2016 @ 10:33 pm
I guess I’m lucky it took me this long to happen across this travesty of a song, but when I heard it while captive on a charter bus this weekend that was my first complaint: “How does one ‘kick up dust’ in the mud?”
How does a line that oxymoronic ever get past the three morons who wrote the song, let alone everyone else in the green-light chain for putting it on an album?
June 1, 2015 @ 11:33 am
You can laugh at this stuff all you want Triggster, but I guess I’ll stick with sadness.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:53 pm
Good point, Clint. The song itself might be so ridiculous that it’s humorous, but I’m mostly just sad that this is what we’re reduced to and that the current “country” music fanbase will eat this crap up like they always do.
June 1, 2015 @ 11:43 am
Good Gawd!!!! How far are they going to take this crap?? What age group is buying this? Hearing it and liking it??? It’s gotta be teens and young 20’s with absolutely no idea what a country song sounds like… Cuz this is as far from country as it gets. Two thumbs down for Hauser!!!!
June 1, 2015 @ 9:48 pm
Please sir, not ALL of us teens are buying into this “music”. I, as a teenager now that started listening to country in 08 or so and therefore am somewhat numbed to pop country, can still easily recognize that this is, indeed, a special kind of crap. Lol.
June 2, 2015 @ 5:49 pm
I’m 26 and I’m embarassed what my peers are doing to the genre.
While they’re listening to crap (no offense to crap), I’m listening to Eddy Arnold, Waylon, Hal Ketchum, Conway, and Charlie Rich.
June 1, 2015 @ 11:50 am
Radio is a very interesting medium even in these digital streaming times . Its omnipresence affords it much more respect, power and influence than it deserves . And yet it DOES have that influence over a culture simply by way of that omniprescence and really NOTHING else . ( If it ain’t on the charts /radio , it doesn’t exist ). We believe that it spews truth , that it reflects society’s moral compass ,and that if a person or a song or a commercial finds it’s way to radio it MUST hold more significance than all the rest of what DOESN’T find its way there. We tend to conveniently ignore , however , that stuff doesn’t just land on a station’s rooftop or antenna .That stuff is promoted , pushed , paid for ( one way or the other ) and , in effect, forced upon whomever owns the rights to the signal and in turn forced upon a listener .Surely , radio MUST be important and invaluable to society if everyone is fighting for precious airtime …no ? A song being broadcast must mean that its a better song than those that aren’t broadcast….right ? I think that THIS has always been the the demon who’s mercy we are at . Not RADIO perse …but the importance and credibility we invest in it personally and culturally .
Most mainstream ( country) music today is a perfect example of just how powerful the medium still is …even in these times of countless more practical and sensible options . The music is sooo inferior to where pop music , largely , has been in the past …and yet because its on the radio , we worship it , we accept that its must be the best of the best and we even PAY to do so . A n interesting medium indeed .
June 1, 2015 @ 12:03 pm
I made it to 0:06 and the boring guitar line and throbbing beat annoyed me too much to continue.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:06 pm
Randy has been slowly regressing, but how do you drop from “Like A Cowboy” (one of my favorite songs off “How Country Feels”) to this so quickly? I would say he finally jumped the shark, but this isn’t even jumping the shark as much as it is bouncing up and down on the shark and screaming “Look what I can do! Give me attention!”.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:12 pm
Caught Randy a few years ago (2009? 2010?) at StageCoach in the middle of the afternoon. He absolutely played the set, and had the whole crowd on his side. I loved it. I thought this guy would be one to really bring some hard-backboned grit back into Country Music.
It’s sad to see that the power of radio has forced “lowest common denominator” to dominate in such a fashion that he’s come down to it.
I guess once you reach a certain level of stardom, but not SUPERstardom, you just have to keep the income stream pumping…and to do that, you have to be a friend to Radio. That often means churning out garbage. Sad to see.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:13 pm
Horrible, shameful waste of talent. I always said I could listen to Randy’s voice sing anything. I was wrong.
June 1, 2015 @ 8:07 pm
I feel totally the same way. It’s painful to listen to someone with a great voice sing this silliness. I liked this song a lot better when it was sung by Dierks Bentley and called “What Was I Thinking?”
June 1, 2015 @ 12:40 pm
I still want to know how one “throws up dust in the mud” the way Houser suggests early on in this song.
June 1, 2015 @ 1:05 pm
This is not particularly terrible to my ears, but it just leaves me feeling sad more than anything.
Like I said in Country Perspective’s review of the song, I completely understand why Stoney Creek decided not to follow-up “Like A Cowboy” with another song of that sort to anchor his next album. Because while “Like A Cowboy” was clearly a success at radio, it also had a #62 peak on the Billboard Hot 100……………which is weak for a Top Five radio single. The sales weren’t awful, but nothing to brag home about.
That said, is it too much to ask that, if they were insisting on running with an up-tempo song or an energetic mid-tempo as the lead single, that it actually did the broader range of Randy Houser’s powerhouse vocals justice and had a distinctively country rock flavor as opposed to arena rock with very subtle token country instrumentation?
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Vocally, Houser is still Randy Houser. So there”™s that, at least.
Then again, we”™ve already heard vastly superior vocal performances from Houser on songs that actually give him room to fully breathe. On his previous album, we got outstanding results on not just “Like A Cowboy”, but also “Power of a Song”, “The Singer”, “Shine” and “Route 3 Box 250 D” (which, not surprisingly, are also the five best songs overall on an album that was otherwise mostly safe, but still above-average as a whole compared to his male peers). We”™ve also heard it on “In God”™s Time” (which infuriates me it remains unreleased on an album), some of “They Call Me Cadillac” and “Anything Goes”.
Houser”™s commanding boom still gives this an air of authority that demands attention that most of his male peers would fail to achieve. Yet in terms of timbre and tone, it”™s a decidedly plainer, unvaried vocal performance. It”™s all attitude and in-your-face. In contrast, his performance on “Shine” oscillated between reflective, pensive hushes and stridently defiant cries, and on “Route 3 Box 250 D” knew that you can effortlessly make the themes you”™re addressing relatable without sacrificing the personal and intimate hushes.
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As for the lyrics”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦..well, is there really much noteworthy about them?
It”™s formula to a tee. Name-drop a brand of automobile? Check! Cite a backroad? Check! Declare how a hottie accompanying you “makes you crazy” or, in this case, “get me going” (because country ain”™t going to alienate the soccer moms and allow you to say you”™re horny or have an erection, right? 😉 ). Check! Name-drop a liquor brand or moonshine?
”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦uh oh, you forgot one: Wilson, King and Rogers! You”™re slipping! 😉
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I guess I”™ll make two further points with the lyrics.
Firstly, what is it with this recent obsession with evading the “blue lights” in radio country songs? I mean, from “Lettin”™ The Night Roll” to “Just Gettin”™ Started” to this, we regularly hear this phrase pop up, without any additional context whatsoever. WHY are they relevant to the song? WHAT is triggering those “blue lights”? It just seems like a cop-out (pun intended! 😉 ) to me”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.a shallow, trivial means of making this song appear more edgy than it actually is or to give the artist rebellious street credibility.
Just. Stop. -__-
Secondly, does anyone else find it hilarious that Houser cites a Pontiac as their choice of ride in the song, yet desperately flails to name-drop a “pick-up truck” in the song too? It”™s almost as if the trio of writers for this song had nearly finished their final draft (assuming they even edited this) and then realized: “Oh s***, we forgot to mention a truck in the song! And I can”™t see any way we can go back and change the first few lines and still make it rhyme!” Then one of the other writers said: “Wait, truck rhymes with mud too, right? Let”™s just mention a truck where we originally had another word rhyming with mud, see? Problem solved!” 😉
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In the end, “We Went” doesn’t leave me throwing a chair at the bedroom mirror or make my blood boil in any way. For the most part, it’s just painfully par for the course as far as mainstream country/”country” from male performers is concerned circa 2015 A.D. I’m just left feeling sad and exasperated as to how little Houser and Stoney Creek Records are willing to settle for.
I’m thinking 1 1/2 Guns Down for this one.
June 1, 2015 @ 1:33 pm
This song was better a decade+ ago as Dierks Bentley’s “what was I thinking?”
Seriously, how many people passed on this shit before it got cut. It’s so generic I’d almost think it was satire.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:09 pm
It really just angers me because it seems like Randy is really trying hard to sell the song as genuine, but the material is so bland and shallow that no amount of vocal presence or range can change the fact that the song is just uninteresting.
As for the lyrics, what the hell? Not only are they generic, but for some reason he stops in the middle of a cop chase to dance and make out with some girl? Because that’s what you should do when you’re being chased by cops, stop to dance and play a loud radio. You know, as not to give away your location. Why did they even need to shoehorn in some love “story” that’s not at all relevant? It just makes the song feel disjointed.
In the end, I’ll say it again; this song isn’t Randy jumping the shark, it’s him jumping on the shark repeatedly because he can.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:20 pm
I see your point about the disingenuous factor making this worse than it really is on paper.
Still, I guess I wouldn’t rate this among tracks at the very bottom because, like I mentioned in my earlier response, we’ve been seeing this random “blue lights” pseudo-“outlaw” street credibility bullshit surface in countless songs from leading male country/”country” entertainers as of late.
Jason Aldean’s “Just Gettin’ Started” cites “blue lights” in its lyrics. So does Justin Moore’s “Lettin’ The Night Roll”. So does Kip Moore’s “I’m To Blame”. You have yet others that don’t specifically cite “blue lights”, but also refer to running from the cops.
All of it is so shamelessly phoned in to the point it strikes me inauthenticity IS par for the course these days. I’m obviously not thrilled with any of this, but I also don’t feel like Randy Houser’s song should be singled out any more than the aforementioned names because of that. I would only single out Houser’s song if it, say, also incorporated trap-like or Urban Adult Contemporary beats and production elements like Sam Hunt and the latest from Luke Bryan do. But the song as a whole just sounds like a retread of the generic, tired 80s arena rock template.
June 1, 2015 @ 7:02 pm
My other main problem is the odd addition of making it a love song halfway through. Not only is it lazy, but it throws the whole song from mediocre to just a laughable, disjointed mess. Where as a song similar to this, Cop Car, knows exactly what it wants to do and makes a decent story out of it, this song just includes a girl because it feels like it. The disingenuousness is par for the course now, but at least most songs can try to tell some sort of cohesive story or say something. This is just clumsily written. Why are they getting chased? What did they do? Why do they decide to dance on a beach when they’re being chased? Is being chased supposed to arouse this girl? What is this song even supposed to be about?
As for “blue lights”, it’s really an overused trend that needs to stop. Again, there’s a difference between telling a story with the idea (Cop Car) and just throwing cops into your song because why not (Just Gettin Started).
June 1, 2015 @ 9:27 pm
My theory as to why there’s a sudden obsession with “blue lights” in radio country/”country” songs is that what they are ACTUALLY referring to is KMart’s Blue Light Special! 😉
And the reason why they’re running from them as opposed to rushing to the store, is that KMart has been notorious for forcing workers to work on Thanksgiving Day, and this is “Aw shucks!” country boys’ way of saying “Hell no, we won’t go! We’re here for our families!” 😉
June 1, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
I don’t see how this fits into the R&B/Bee Jees style of music you toss this into? Sonically, I don’t hear anything more than another wannabe 80s mid tempo pop/rock anthem. Comparing it to ZBB’s latest or Thomas Rhett’s past 2 singles, I don’t see it (or hear it).
I realize this is a minute point and nitpicky compared to the rest of the issues the song carries. I agree 100% that this song is an absolute mess – from the lyrics to the production.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:29 pm
I, too, respectfully disagree with that aspect of Trigger’s review.
This is a straight-up tired retread of the 80s arena rock masquerading as “country” boilerplate that has ruled much of the roost since the late 90’s onward. Doesn’t make it any more country than the incursions of Urban Adult Contemporary and EDM into the commercial format, but I disagree with this song’s equating with the Bee Jees.
If anything, it’s a continuation of the sound that dominated his previous album “How Country Feels”: predominantly middle-of-the-road commercial rock peppered with light country instrumentation (mostly a choice organ or pedal steel brushing). Which makes sense considering “How Country Feels” marked a surprising commercial turn-around for him when, at the time, it appeared he was slipping into obscurity.
June 1, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
I couldn’t agree more, great review. Such a bad song by Randy.
June 1, 2015 @ 3:24 pm
My opinion I would give this song 1 1/2 guns down.
June 1, 2015 @ 3:28 pm
He is capable of so much better. I really enjoyed his album “They Call Me Cadillac” as well as the song “Like a Cowboy”. Sad to see all of these artists like Gary Allan, Randy Houser, and Jake Owen (His new single is absolutely horrendous) that we all know are capable of more, release songs like this.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:02 pm
To be fair, we’ve already seen Randy Houser release songs that were even worse than this before.
“My Kind of Country” was initially tipped to be the third single from his debut LP “Anything Goes”, and that was an absolute face palm of a song lyrically. Worse still, the song they chose to make his next single instead, “Whistlin’ Dixie”, was even worse than “My Kind of Country” in that not only is the lyricism just as bad, but the production is absurdly loud and Houser basically yells throughout the majority of the song! =X
But while I’d consider both those songs worse than “We Went”, I actually think I’d prefer hilariously and painfully overwrought sing-alongs like those to deliberately banal and predictable fare like “We Went”. At least there’s brief entertainment value to be had with the former. The latter leaves me feeling completely shrugging my shoulders in sad indifference, and nothing more.
June 2, 2015 @ 2:12 am
I really liked how country feels cd. But this song is crap. I thought he was starting to hit his stride, so much for that.
June 1, 2015 @ 4:39 pm
It’s hard for me to even get worked up about bad songs anymore, I’ve just given up. I haven’t listened to the radio for almost 2 years, because the mainstream stations are a complete mess, and even the “classic country” station is 90% Urban Cowboy. That’s why I thank God for Trigger and Saving Country Music for the opportunity to find good music. Heck, without this site, I’d probably think a Sturgill was a kind of fish.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:08 pm
Years ago I had hoped that Randy would stay decent and be somewhat of a throwback to old outlaw country. Especially after seeing some clips of Randy doing a USO tour with Jamey Johnson & Kellie Pickler.
I know Randy doesn’t wear a hat, but he needs to stand up for himself (like so many others who are capable of much better) and quit be a hypocrite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5S1sDf–PE
June 1, 2015 @ 5:37 pm
So these guys in their late 30s and 40s who “write what they live” have nothing better to do but molest drunk teenagers in cornfields or party with their fellow jobless welfare recipients on tailgates all day long?
This is Walmart rock, and that’s almost insulting to Walmart. The bad thing is, Houser actually can sing. I hope his brief fame and ill-deserved money is worth the price of his dignity, respect, and longevity. I won’t listen to the radio. I have plenty of records and CDs, thank you very much, Trashville.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:39 pm
I guess it just never stops… I always think it can’t get worse but it always does. County Road 44! Thanks for adding a relevant phrase to a well written, lyrically deep song! I guess that fits in as well as any other phrase does though!
June 1, 2015 @ 6:07 pm
Because county roads are more country than state routes! 😉
Perhaps it’s a backhanded name-drop of the County Road 44 Ottawa Valley Bluegrass Band as if to say in the same breath of a decidedly non-country song: “Look, I name-dropped a stone cold roots music band! See? I’m country as shucks, dammit!” 😉
June 1, 2015 @ 5:58 pm
33 seconds in and I noped right the fuck outta there.
I’m not really familiar with most of Randy Houser’s stuff. “Anything Goes” came out right about the time I started getting more into metal. But I thought that was a pretty good song. Dude’s got a pretty good voice from what I could tell from that song. I don’t know why he feels like he’s gotta waste it on such shit.
Recommended ear bleach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bczpJR_9rLg
June 1, 2015 @ 6:49 pm
Ha! I’m not gonna bother listening to the song. The review was all the entertainment I need for the day.
June 1, 2015 @ 7:16 pm
I haven’t listened to this song but Randy has some great songs and is a damn fine singer. It’s ashame this song takes away from the power and range of his vocals.
June 1, 2015 @ 11:06 pm
What happened to the Randy Houser from 5-6 years ago? I saw him at a dive in nashville and thought damn, this guy is good. I bought his “They call me Cadillac” album. That album was full of a steel guitar and had some good songs in my opinion. Same year I saw him with Jamey Johnson and Willie Nelson. He had a gritty, and hate to say it but “outlaw” look and sound. Flash foward a few years, he’s lost weight, got a professionally trimmed haircut and beard with a sweet faux hawk, wearing vest, and singing checklist songs to appease tween girls. Definition of a sell out.
June 2, 2015 @ 3:23 pm
Unfortunately, Jake Owen and Brett Eldredge have sold out too. There really isn’t anyone left that plays real country music except Jon Pardi and Josh Thompson, and you never hear about them or hear their songs cuz they get no airplay or media recognition. Easton Corbin has even taken to releasing pop country songs after the failure of “Clockwork”, which was a great real country song.
June 2, 2015 @ 5:52 am
The chances of a song being dogshit increase exponentially with the number of songwriters credited.
I wish I had a dime for each time I’ve thought “It really took three (or four, or five) of you to write this crap?”
June 2, 2015 @ 7:24 am
This song is just another tired effort by Houser in the same category as “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight” and “How Country Feels”. The exact same themes in each of these songs. Very pathetic. And, as others have said, Houser actually has an outstanding voice to which he is capable of so much more than this shallow garbage of a song.
Houser and I are about the same age and we grew up in east Mississippi about thirty miles apart – he’s from a small town called Lake, Mississippi, and I grew up in Meridian. I like to see fellow Mississippi succeed in country music, but his work as of late is very weak. But, I’m sure the Clear Channel stations will float this song out there to all of the 18 year old girls to swoon over.
June 2, 2015 @ 9:37 am
My Gf and i “We Went” right to listening to I am What I am after hearing this.
June 2, 2015 @ 12:49 pm
These songs are the norm now, no surprise. What I don’t understand is how corporate radio still has such influence and power. Never in history have there been more platforms available that you think would directly hurt radio-and maybe they are hurting radio-but the garbage being pushed to the masses just seems to get worse every year. Are there really THAT many people who still listen to mainstream radio? It blows my mind if there are.
June 2, 2015 @ 3:17 pm
I’m a pretty big Randy Houser fan, but when I heard this song two weeks ago my mouth was literally dropped open. I would have never expected Randy to pump out some generic, horrible ear rape like this. This song is so terrible that I only made it halfway through, then I had to turn it off. I attempted three more times a few days later to listen to it again, and found myself turning it off again and again at the same point. The lyrics are hilarious and immature…..I don’t really know what else to say about the lyrics cuz they are so awful that I’m still speechless about it. I’d have to say that I’d rather listen to that new trash song by Luke Bryan over this piece of garbage.
None the less, “We Went” completely reminded me of Headlights by Montgomery Gentry (which was also a shit song, put out by a reputable country music duo selling out to get airplay). Same lyrics are Headlights? Check. Same shitty generic music as Headlights? Check. Same overall lyric plot as Headlights? Check. Same song theme as Headlights? Check. Same embarrassment to a reputable country artist as Headlights? Check. Same music video as Headlights? Check. This song is a total knock-off of Headlights, which failed on the charts. Writing about running from the cops and driving thru cornfields is just an easy, generic way to write a song with no quality and make money off of it. Anyone reading this, do not waste your time listening to this song, it is a waste of time and extremely forgettable. Two guns down? No, I would take the two guns and shove them so far up Randy Houser’s asshole for making this song that they’d be popping out his mouth!
June 3, 2015 @ 11:11 am
What can I say that hasn’t already be said….This song is garbage……coming from a Randy Houser fan. This song is trash. Awful lyrics….just garbage.
June 3, 2015 @ 4:13 pm
“…modern country music is nothing more than escapism of the mind for bored suburbanites with shallow understandings of rural life…”
Best description of modern country ever.
August 5, 2015 @ 8:33 am
No criticism here, except towards the lackluster phrasing of ideas. I’ve read writings on bathroom stall walls that have more depth. There is no real substance here, besides the only idea being conveyed, outrage towards country music. Neat and all, but tuck these small outbursts away in your diary. Shaming one side of country music does not “save” the others. And really, “hand-me-down bald-tired shitbox?” This really sums up the writer’s priorities, so much thought put into describing a car, yet has no real idea where his own ideas end, and his asshole begins.
June 16, 2016 @ 8:32 am
It really is a nonsense song. Some of the lyrics really do make you go . . . hmmmm. But guess what? It became a #1 song.
But the worst thing about this song was the video. Terrible video. If you think that the lyrics make you go hmmm, the video will make go hmmm as well. And wonder what the songs will be like now that Randy and Dallas are brothers-in-law?
I kinda wonder if he didn’t have a young fiance driving this song, maybe even the whole album. Most of the songs seem high school-ish. You would think for a 40 year old man, he would be past wanting to sing about that era.