A topic that I think is always timely, because there have been occasions when country music seemed to be on the verge of extinction. CMT's Chet Flippo has his thoughts on the matter here:
http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1556504/2...cgraw_tim.jhtml
..and, as always, everyone else's thoughts are welcome as well.
Full Version: Something To Consider About Country Music Today
Country music is well on its way to being dead. Long are the days for Country and Western music........ What is country music today? It's not the country music I grew up with - I think it should have a genre all of it's own.
I realize times have changed and this isn't the '70s anymore but something drastically needs to happen to country music. I had stopped listening to country music and still don't listen to today's country music except for Reba, Trisha, George Strait, and other artists who keep country music as it should.
I guess when Country and Western music as we called it back then was the best thing and we did't realize what a gem we had at the time. I'll continue to listen to my satellite radio where you can still here Linda Ronstadt, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Dottie West, The Oakridge Boys, etc. until there's something happening exciting again to country music or any kind of music.
that's just my two cents.
I realize times have changed and this isn't the '70s anymore but something drastically needs to happen to country music. I had stopped listening to country music and still don't listen to today's country music except for Reba, Trisha, George Strait, and other artists who keep country music as it should.
I guess when Country and Western music as we called it back then was the best thing and we did't realize what a gem we had at the time. I'll continue to listen to my satellite radio where you can still here Linda Ronstadt, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Dottie West, The Oakridge Boys, etc. until there's something happening exciting again to country music or any kind of music.
that's just my two cents.
There are two big reasons why I think country music is in the kind of parlous state talked about in that article.
One is that it is all but totally lost touch with its rural roots. This is not to say it should go backwards to the stereotypical image of hillbillies and hay bales and stuff, but it always used to be the music that embodied the farmers, ranchers, and cowboys, and just the general feel of the land and the soil itself. That quality is basically absent from today's country, at least on commercial radio, in my opinion.
The second one is every bit as basic. There is no longer much of an effort being made to write songs that tell basic stories. Not to generalize things, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm not particularly interested in hearing about Toby Keith's high maintenance woman, or Gretchen Wilson bragging about how she can get stuff at Wal-Mart at half-price, or Kenny Chesney bragging about a girl who thinks his tractor's sexy. They may all be catchy and radio-friendly, but they're also rather crass and arguably kind of insulting. They just don't tell any kind of story.
How about Johnny Cash telling folks how he shot a man in Reno just to watch him die? Or Merle Haggard telling how he turned 21 in prison doing life without parole? Or Dolly talking about her coat of many colors? Or the Chicks talking about how Earl had to die? Trisha talking about the Georgia rain? Or Linda pining to be back on Blue Bayou? These are artists who know how to tell stories in song. Where did that ability go?
To be very honest, as popular as country music is today, I think its huge popularity has made a lot of its artists lethargic and lazy in terms of creativity, and the conservative radio playlists don't help any. Nor do all the shows that feature the worst excesses of 80s arena rock (lasers; fireworks; loud guitars). By playing it safe and not wanting to offend people, country music is doing a great disservice to a large audience; and unless (to paraphrase the Beatles) it gets back to where it once belonged, it may yet suffer a catastrophic collapse in the future (IMHO).
One is that it is all but totally lost touch with its rural roots. This is not to say it should go backwards to the stereotypical image of hillbillies and hay bales and stuff, but it always used to be the music that embodied the farmers, ranchers, and cowboys, and just the general feel of the land and the soil itself. That quality is basically absent from today's country, at least on commercial radio, in my opinion.
The second one is every bit as basic. There is no longer much of an effort being made to write songs that tell basic stories. Not to generalize things, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm not particularly interested in hearing about Toby Keith's high maintenance woman, or Gretchen Wilson bragging about how she can get stuff at Wal-Mart at half-price, or Kenny Chesney bragging about a girl who thinks his tractor's sexy. They may all be catchy and radio-friendly, but they're also rather crass and arguably kind of insulting. They just don't tell any kind of story.
How about Johnny Cash telling folks how he shot a man in Reno just to watch him die? Or Merle Haggard telling how he turned 21 in prison doing life without parole? Or Dolly talking about her coat of many colors? Or the Chicks talking about how Earl had to die? Trisha talking about the Georgia rain? Or Linda pining to be back on Blue Bayou? These are artists who know how to tell stories in song. Where did that ability go?
To be very honest, as popular as country music is today, I think its huge popularity has made a lot of its artists lethargic and lazy in terms of creativity, and the conservative radio playlists don't help any. Nor do all the shows that feature the worst excesses of 80s arena rock (lasers; fireworks; loud guitars). By playing it safe and not wanting to offend people, country music is doing a great disservice to a large audience; and unless (to paraphrase the Beatles) it gets back to where it once belonged, it may yet suffer a catastrophic collapse in the future (IMHO).
As much as I hate to restate the obvious, the Country music industry is going to have to to get back where they are producing quality music. If that means cleaning house and getting rid of the no talents, then so be it. Probably many of us remember that, when we did have George, Dolly, Johnny, etc. on the radio, that was a time when you had to be really good and really lucky to get on the radio. Back then, of course, the complaint was that even if you were good, you might still never see radio play. Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Except now that the music is no longer good... (with certain exceptions noted, of course, like Trisha 
).
I really feel like this is yet another example of the dumbing down of America. We have often heard the idea that if a child in school is not doing well, some teachers might be asked to give him an "A" anyway just so that he continues to feel good about himself; never mind the fact that the work he is doing is sub-standard. Thus you have a culture that rewards positively sub-standard work. In the same way, The music industry is supposing (or should I say, banking on the fact) that if they keep sending us sub-standard music that we will grow to like it because it's the only thing out there (with conservative playlists) and thus dumbing us down to accept anything that they throw out there, lulling us to sleep about other problems that might be out there.... Dumb down our education, our music, our television, etc....so we'll accept anything they tell us. (But that's all I'll say on that.)
).I really feel like this is yet another example of the dumbing down of America. We have often heard the idea that if a child in school is not doing well, some teachers might be asked to give him an "A" anyway just so that he continues to feel good about himself; never mind the fact that the work he is doing is sub-standard. Thus you have a culture that rewards positively sub-standard work. In the same way, The music industry is supposing (or should I say, banking on the fact) that if they keep sending us sub-standard music that we will grow to like it because it's the only thing out there (with conservative playlists) and thus dumbing us down to accept anything that they throw out there, lulling us to sleep about other problems that might be out there.... Dumb down our education, our music, our television, etc....so we'll accept anything they tell us. (But that's all I'll say on that.)
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