JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Why today's country BLOWS!!!!

It's bad enough the music industry will never be the same and they (big corp) have figured out a way to profit while 99% of songwriters/artists are effectively hamstrung and kept out of the loop. Big corps are building song writer groups and are pumping out some of the worst, pretentious cookie cutter crap I've ever had the displeasure of listening to.
Country Music is under the gun for perpetuating this conveyor belt type of "music" by slapping a twang, a title and country-themed lyrics to an existing, common melody and raking in the big bucks...with a tweak here and there.
IMO this is, at the very least greed and laziness, and at most, from an artists perspective, it's the ultimate fan con game.
Now I am not knocking the songwriters fortunate enough to be a part of this. Clearly, your talents got you there. However, cutting and pasting lyrics atop a " standard, new country groove" and schlepping them out to a young, ignorant, hormone and alcohol driven, post adolescent peeps, is just sad, really.

The country music backlash is already in full effect. I am not saying anything that "traditional country artists" and their fans haven't been saying about today's Country music or the negative culture being propagated in Nashville and elsewhere due to cronyism, corporate greed......I'm just repeating what most established artists and avid country music lovers already know about this genre and showing you a little video so you can hear it for yourself.

Take a look at this video and give me your opinion. I am sure I'll hear crap for this from those who've been fortunate enough to get inside this racquet. I couldn't care less. The truth hurts....and today's country music, A SCAM.

Do yourself a favor, burn your collection of today's "country".....and get out some Hank, Merle, Willie......or even some Sturgil Simpson (a true country artist of today). But we must not support this trend.

https://www.facebook.com/djhenryfong/videos/799731893427460/

That was AMAZING.....the Music GROOVE is good but the similarity of melody and lyrics is so redundant and awful that it really is a disregard for the fan and it's downright insulting. BUT They have this Country/Rock Groove that they are all using and it IS Compelling.....JUST too much Vanilla over and over and over again......where are the other flavors......We are going to be living in a WORLD OF VANILLA pretty soon.....nothing to hot and not to cold.....Nothing to small and nothing too bold... nothing too young and nothing to old JUST a bunch of Crap over sold.....HEY That's a pretty good start to my new song I think.....A WORLD FULL OF VANILLA....B

lol Barry........has the eerie stench of socialism, no?

Just a Black & White Re Run World....
Have you ever read AYN RAND....?
Some of her ideas I LIKE and others not so much....lol
Like everything else on Planet Earth.
B

Politically she, it appeared, played both sides of the fence. Although considered conservative, she clearly pissed off both sides of the political spectrum with her ideals. Never read "Atlas.." but had to read "Fountainhead" for a Govt class in college.

Oh yeah, this video comes round again. It shows nothing, and is completely misleading. It's a one sided sampling of similarities, hiding every difference there is. Nothing but bias and manipulation.

Everybody knows there are 12 notes in the western scale. What's the news?

Old is better, huh. Bullshit

Here's some old songs with the big daddy chord sequence, everybody knows: C-Am-F-G

- Stand by me
- Unchained melody
- Let's twist again
- Wonderful world
- I will always love you
- Every breath you take
- Runaround Sue
- All I have to do is dream
- It's in his kiss
- Duke of Earl

.. and countless others

These things are repeated because they are vehicles to sustain the recognition of genre. The same goes for the style these are played with.

When we learn to play, we all learn the same old songs, chords and licks. It's how tradition is sustained.

New writers, voices and players come around, and they want to play music and entertain audiences too, just like the old farts did.

80% of what audiences want is something they can recognize. It's how music works. The same goes for schools, politics, business ect.

In fact, new songs are different than the old ones. They tend to have more dynamics, more melodies, more hooks, more rhythm, contemporary lyrics, artists emphasize emotion a lot more, musicians are technically better, gear is better and there's a lot more innovative tools to work with, production has improved, a&r is more knowledgable.. the list is endless. But if you only focus on similarities, you don't get to hear any of this.

Listening for similarities is a habit of the untrained ear.

You wanna tell me that the songs of Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Vince Gill, Lady Antebellum, Sarah Evans, Zac Brown Band, Sugarland, Kacey Musgraves, Brooks & Dunn, Brandi Carlisle and many others, sucks? Suit yourself.

But, a video from an ignorant bedroom producer proves otherwise, really? I don't think so. It's just sad and misleading. Online bullshit of the typical kind.

Thanks, Magne.

The only thing that comes round and round again are people who complain that the "newer stuff just ain't as good as the older stuff." And that's because as Camus noted, to paraphrase, it's the early stuff, the art we experience in our youth, that opens up our hearts to beauty, and the rest of life is an attempt to recreate that, to find that again..

I mean what, we should write Country Music in 7/4 time about Gilgamesh and use flatted ninth chords?

Country Music evolves like everything else, but the essence of what it is--the chord progressions and guitars and the bulk of it's lyrical message and attitude--these are the main things that make it Country, not whether it sounds like an Owen Bradley production or not. Technology affects just about all musics, except possibly traditional folk, played on one guitar by a campfire, with the tape recorder turned on..

Mike

**somewhere deep in the heart of Nashville, MAB stirs in his chair and feels strangely compelled to check out JPF..**

That's radio. That doesn't mean Country is dead.

Dig a little deeper. There is a LOT of good Country out there. The problem is that no one is BUYING it. The kids are buying. We complain - but we can't be bothered to support the artist who are producing GREAT stuff.

Go BUY Brandy Clark's "12 Stories"!!!! Country does not get better than that. Period. Did you buy it?????

Go BUY Kacey Musgraves "Same Trailer, Different Park"

Go BUY Jason Isbell's "Southeastern". A gorgeous CD. Did you buy it??? I can't stop listening to it. I saw him in concert a couple of night ago at the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater. Awesome show. 750 seats... He should be playing arenas. But no one buys music anymore....

Go BUY Chris Stapleton's "Traveler".

Go BUY Tyler Farr's "Suffer In Peace".

Go BUY Frankie Ballard's "Sunshine and Whiskey".

Miranda Lambert's "Platinum". BUY it.

GO BUY LEE BRICE's "HARD 2 LOVE" - Incredible album!!!! (I know it's a few years old - but I LOVE it... and I bought it...

There IS good Country music out there. Money talks.

SUPPORT GOOD STUFF. Talk is cheap. (CD's are, too - buying them might make a difference).

Aw, Humm,
Having listened to country music since the early 50's I can say that a lot of the new stuff is pretty bad. The Golden Era of Country Music was from 1946, right after the Second World War until about 1956 when Elvis showed up and things changed. The last modern CD I may have bought was either Pam Tillis, Leeann Womack or Leann Rimes. Not sure I can recommend any of the new stuff. Radio could care less what they play as it is all programmed from central locations as presented by the Major Labels to the Radio Stations.

Many times I have put on a local radio station and turned it off in less than 30 seconds. Yes it's that bad.

Let's not burn any music unless it's the new Britney Spears & Iggy Azaela song called Pretty Girls.

Kol/Mike,

I'm still trying to figure out just where this issue became an "old vs new" debate. Pay attention. It's not the music but the method. The vacuum created by the drastic changes in the business of music, the "conveyor belt method" of releasing music, the Rap/Country domination of popular music to the detriment of all the rest, the politics, the greed, the corporate takeover.....that's the point. The video, an amusing sidebar.
Today's country music blows because it's painfully obvious to me and half the country music world that the music has lost it's heart in favor of the almighty dollar.
Back in the day when a favorite artist "sold out" for the money, their fans let them know and sales/fan bases/careers, were affected.
The difference here, IMO, is that in this instance the entire GENRE sold out to the almighty dollar and have effectively shut out a lot of artists, songwriters and musicians in the process.

Yeah, it's all "derivative." But the key is to evolve and try not to SOUND derivative. Unlike Sturgil Simpson, Jason Isbell,...you know, those who re-invent the sound; modernizing the genre WITHOUT sounding derivative. Not the cut and paste approach minus the emotion. Today's country has no heart. Good production, top notch musicians, a "hot" singer and slick, polished lyrics can fool anyone into thinking a song is better than it is. That's why it's mostly the young teenie boppers and 20 somethings (and apparently, you two) who buy this pretentious [naughty word removed].
It's no different than Hollywood manipulating emotions in their big budget blood fests. They know what sells. Blood, guts, gore, sex, special effects......Country music today is no different.

Except that real emotion that comes from a good, honest song can never be derived.

Michael,

LOL..It's funny to me, and a bit frustrating that you say you can't see how this became an old vs new debate, then tell me "pay attention," and then say "today's country music blows, today's country has no heart, etc."



But your point is that these are just not "good, honest songs, with real emotion?" So is it a case of mutual exclusivity? If a song is well produced and sung well it simply cannot be a good honest song?

In your opinion, music produced through the Nashville system is "mostly crap" and you are entitled to your opinion. But at the same time, you are also saying loud and clear that people who like it cannot possibly be liking it for it's own merits, but because they have been manipulated by a system (your words) that is no different than Hollywood's.

So let me see if I've got this, Michael, because I am listening and trying to understand. You are saying that all people who like any of the music that comes out of today's Nashville have been manipulated into liking this music? That is rather a tall statement, don't you think? Perhaps you might go into a little detail and tell me how exactly Nashville is manipulating me and Kostad and every person that likes any Nashville music? It sounds like some kind of mind control, LOL.

Certainly there's a certain amount of homogenization that occurs in Nashville. It is a system aiming at big numbers, but that doesn't mean that what comes out is soulless. Good, honest songs still come out, because there are good, honest people in Nashville that are part of the process of writing, performing and producing them. Your generalized and paranoid rant poo poohs away a lot of good stuff in one fell swoop, and that's too bad.

Perhaps instead of seeing it as being a case of youthful gullibility, manipulation and possibly mind-control, perhaps give folks who like music that you don't, such as (modern) Nashville made music, a tiny little bit of credit, That maybe we like what we do because we find something in it to like? And if you then want to think of us as being lesser beings for that, that we are being controlled or whatever..that's fine. But do realize, it kinda makes you sound like a jerk, you know? You, presuming to know why everybody buys this soulless, pretentious Nashville crap, as you call it.

And just because I defend Nashville doesn't mean I don't buy Texas artists like Guy Clark and Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and countless others.. Perhaps I see Nashville to be "apples" and music that's not made through the Nashville system as "oranges" instead of a blanket good/bad situation?

I have a hard time with folks who want to tell me what art is good and what is bad. What to like and not to like. The nature of art is that we get to decide that for ourselves, and that aesthetic thought about what is good and what is bad is for the most part subjective, no matter how hard one beats ones chest..

If you come away from this conversation, Michael, thinking that I must not like good, honest songs, then you have entirely missed my point.

Mike

I heard this the other day for the first time, and couldn't help but think that it's from 2003...over a decade ago.

This link has the lyrics and about 45 seconds of the actual song, but enough to get the idea across.

And again, it's over a decade old.

http://johnm.com/track/443755/music-rowbots?trackship_id=408826

Just putting it out there for perspective.

Midnite

Hey Mike.....looks like I MAY be your only ally here but I agree with everything you say and it won't change a thing because EVERYTHING TODAY is SOULESS....Our Country Lost its Soul AND IT'S WAY.....I wrote a song that nobody cares about called WHAT IF THE MUSIC DIED....and got the same response to it from everybody I know that it's just my ridiculous Pie in the sky idealism and the song won't resonate with anybody. The Premise of the song ( Possible Concept Album or Broadway Musical ) what the world would be like if there was no NEW ART of any kind for 10 years. Would be we be MISSED....right now we are being taken for granted BIG TIME.....SO...on and on and on it goes BUT I continue to be Idealistic and Hopeful and will try by best to write fresh and interesting songs and LET God be the Judge. B

“It's bad enough the music industry will never be the same...”


The 'same' as what, exactly? The same as it was 40 years ago? 40 years ago, a lot of music was formulaic, predictable, and for the most part, utter crapola. Remember “Bubble Gum”?

The industry has changed, to be sure. 40 years ago, you could make a phone call cold and set up an appointment with an A&R person at a major label in New York or L.A. You would arrive with your reel-to-reel tape, he would cue it up and play your demo. In the early 70's they were signing everyone with a pulse in L.A. Few survived the first album.

I'm hearing a lot of sour grapes in this thread. The competition is fierce in music today. That has produced a crop of multi-talented artists and producers. Performers who can write, perform, record and sell out concerts without the clout of a label. I think that's a good thing.



Regards,

Bob

I think rock was a lot better in the 90s than 2000s. Songs were more memorable.

County pop is nothing new. Think Patsy Cline. And the Everly Brothers may have been the original country-rock act.

For some real throwback to old country, try to find the Jack family videos on YouTube, especially the young lady named Jade Jack. She is amazing!

"**somewhere deep in the heart of Nashville, MAB stirs in his chair and feels strangely compelled to check out JPF..** "

Yes, here we go again. LET THE WHINING COMMENCE!!!! Happens pretty much as regular as clockwork. Been hearing it since 1988 when I moved here and before that when I was in Birmingham. Yeah I know. It ALL SUCKS! Country music is terrible!!! Why do they play such crap!!! It all sounds alike..." blah blah blah blah!!!!!

My question to you is, "WHY IN GOD'S NAME DOES IT MATTER TO YOU?" If you don't like it, DON'T LISTEN TO IT! there are MILLIONS of ways to get music now. There are hundreds of thousands of pod casting, web sites, PANDORA, SPOTIFY, YOU TUBE, Sirrius radio, downloads, I Tunes, hundreds of television cable stations, WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE?

It all sounds alike? Sure does. HAVE YOU LISTENED TO RAP OR HIP HOP FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS? Do one of those little "mash up" things over a couple hundred rap or hip hop songs. See what you get?

They don't measure up to your standards? Probably not. but YOU ARE NOT THE COUNTRY MUSIC TARGET AUDIENCE. Listen up folks, MOST OF US ARE OLD NOW!!!! WE ARE OUR PARENTS! Get used to it. It is part of life. Music moves past us. We think it all sucks. That is what we do. And does it? OF COURSE IT DOES. It always has. Our Grandparents and parents thought Elvis and Beatles were the end of civilization!

HANK, MERLE, WILLIE,they were looked down on IN THEIR DAY. Why do you think most of them moved OUT of Nashville? Do some "Googleing, on YOU TUBE. Watch Charlie Rich announce JOHN DENVER AS ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR AND TAKE OUT A CIGARETTE LIGHTER AND LIGHT THE ENVELOPE AND ANNOUNCEMENT. It has always been this way.

Do I like all this stuff? OF COURSE NOT. I am too busy writing my own stuff, working with artists, writers and trying to create my own to worry too much about all that. I don't really get too caught up in it because most of it IS GOING TO BE GONE IN A COUPLE OF YEARS. And there will be some new stuff out there you can hate and then be moaning because it is not as good as it is NOW.

That is a great post by Floyd Jane about some really great artists and songs out there. And I HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH ONE OF THOSE. Had I not worked with him and helped him get into this stuff, you might have never heard of FRANKIE BALLARD or SUNSHINE AND WHISKEY because he was known as JUST A BLUES GUITAR PLAYER and had been passed over by everyone in Nashville. I helped him find his writing chops. Do I even like all his stuff? NOPE. I wish he had recorded the songs I wrote with him, BAREFEET,MY GIRL'S HOTTER OR I'M SO AT HOME WITH YOU. Or the 15 other songs including two of mine he recorded on his first CD. But that is fine. He is doing well and I applaud him.

So the question is, what do YOU want done about it? As always my suggestion is FIND YOUR OWN ARTISTS. WRITE YOUR OWN SONGS. Help someone else build their catalogue, their career. Find people you like, support them. Tell others about them. Write with unsigned people and help them get signed. Do something about it instead of just complaining about the way things are.

But that is not what most people do. Most people complain. So if that is what you want to do, there is plenty of room for that too. Just most of the time realize you are only talking to hear yourself talk.

MAB

Oh c'mon Marc, don't surgar coat it. Tell us how you really feel:-)

Midnite

P.S....Yeap, I've been checking in every hour or so, just so that I could be the first to respond to MAB....:-)

Like it. Don't like it. Don't matter. Same old same old. I love all the Mike's in this thread, and no one appreciates a good rant more than me...But still...As another Mike suggested in another thread: Put it in a song so that we can at least critique it(which John N. did in a song that I linked to in a previous post.

And I do have to take exception to anything that denigrates the artists who are out there paying dues that we never see..

It's cookie cutter.
But then, so is every single commercial genre. Everybody is looking for the big hit, and the easiest way to find it is to copy something else that has already been a big hit.
So, they copy.
And copy.
And copy.
And copy.
Until there is a new artist that somehow breaks through the clutter with a new sound that hits it big.
And then they start copying that sound.
And copy.
And copy...

And it's the same for pop and R&B and rock as it is for country.

There ya go again Pop Todd, bringing in rational thought...

Midnite

Hey Midnite,

By the way, I've been traveling all over the state of Tennessee the past two days to do my OWN music. So I wasn't able to get on here. but pretty much have been laughing about it the whole time. It all kind of makes me laugh.

There are hundreds of thousands of artists all out there, writing, singing, traveling, trying to get attention. Some very good ones. Actually performing with one tonight, Dani Jamerson, who I think is going to be a big star in the future. The latest artist with a shot, I've been involved with.

And that is really all you can do. Try to participate as best you can. You can complain, everyone does. but that really doesn't do anything except make you insane. Why waste the time?

Record companies ARE cookie cutter. They have ALWAYS BEEN COOKIE CUTTER. Something resonates with the public, and all of them dive on the same trend. they all show up at the same time because for a while THEY ARE MAKING MONEY. Then that trends slows then dies, and it is on to another trend.

And yes, Todd it is EXACTLY like it in every genre. When I was doing rock, there were some very interesting cool groups. Journey, Styxx, Springsteen, Boston, Journey some of my favorites. and my band, 24 KARAT was right in there with them.

Then HEAVY METAL BAND OF THE WEEK all came in. They all had big hair, leather, huge Marshall stacks, huge drums, the songs sounded the same, the hot chicks in the videos were all the same. That started my exit from rock.

THEN came everyone wearing flannel, playing guitar badly, with all these depressing, negative songs about how bad everything was, they didn't bathe, they were so screwed up on drugs they couldn't stand up, and what you could understand what they were saying it wasn't anyone you wanted to be around. That was Seattle grunge. That was the NAIL IN THE COFFIN for me and Rock. AND THEY ALL SOUNDED THE SAME. For me, pretty much all of rock has been that way for the last 30 years.

Is there good stuff out there? I'm sure their is. Just has nothing to do with me.So now, they say Rap has more of an impact on the culture than the Beatles. I guess. Doesn't have much on me.

I just carry on my little way, trying to do the best I can. I don't listen to a lot of the same stuff you people complain about either. Again, DOESN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO WITH ME.

Don't like it. Turn it off.

MAB

I think the government should control popular music.

Ahh, umm....Biggest belly laugh of my day!

Thanks Ben!!!:-)))))))))))

Midnite

Marc!,
Michael is not whining! He is giving Constructive Criticism! Ok whining. I shouldn't be using those big words! I don't remember any "Whining" back in the 50's or 60's. I have a bunch of old Country Song Roundup Magazines. I will have to re-vsit them to see if anybody was whining back then.

Midnite said to write a song about it. I did that.

https://youtu.be/6X9fpKnI_7M

Joe

I don't know what the big deal about Hank and Merle etc is. I've heard their songs and they weren't all that memorable. They aren't memorable because I have no memories to those songs. Take a walk with me through psychology 101. You don't miss old time country. You miss the way your worlds / lives used to be when that was the music you'd listen to. It has nothing to do with music of today. You have no memories to these current songs so it all sucks.

Ray,

Hmmmm, you've got it half right. Micheal is giving 'Critism." There is nothing "constructive" about it.Simply giving an opinion based upon observations from your own point of view, and complaining about things not being the way "you like them' is not constructive. Giving out that opinion, THEN pointing out some things to do about it, like offering up some different music one might like, showing how to find out some different places to get music, and giving specific EXAMPLES of where and how and who to do that with, IS constructive. There's nothing about complaining, giving the same tired cliche's about something and just saying the same thing over and over expecting everyone to agree with you is NOT CONSTRUCTIVE.

And dragging out some old magazines might be a great idea, because there have ALWAYS been the same complaints. "Elvis Presley was shaking his hips and bringing that 'devil' music and destroying kids, the "Beatles claiming they were bigger than Jesus', Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jimmy Dean, Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves putting STRINGS on country music and making it 'countrypolitan", Buck Owens bringing "drums" onto the Grand Ole Opry, Johnny Cash putting trumpets on "Ring of fire" and making it sound like a damn Mexican song..."

Yeah, there has been a LOT of complaining (Whining) when it comes to one generation complaining about another generation. they even used to have a name for it, THE GENERATION GAP. See, it is a good idea to get a historical perspective on anything. So maybe some of those old magazines will show you something.

That it is not that different today than it was then. One generation being replaced by another one. In a way it is simply a natural evolution of life.

Aaron is absolutely right. The current generation has NO CONNECTIONS to those songs, those memories or those styles of music. I, even listen back to a lot of Hank and Merle and go, "Man, I can't believe people liked that. A lot of it was pretty boring.

But the point is, YOU STILL HAVE IT. In the words of John Lennon when the Beatles broke up, "People still have the records if they want to reminisce."

And I'll tell you what ol buddy, that music is STILL OUT THERE. Merle still plays casinos and clubs. Most of those older iconic artists who are still alive, are out there playing all the time. They even release new music. they have web sites. They have children and grand children that protect their legacies. They have "tribute' shows that people impersonate them. One of he biggest industries in the entertainment business are tribute bands. They even have their own festival.

And there are a LOT of people influenced by those artists and are out there now doing new music that sounds just like you like. You just have to do a little work and go find it. But it is out there, trust me because they come into this town daily, play on writer's shows, go to workshops, etc. We have terms for that too.
"Retro, or "Dated."

So it is out there. If you want to be constructive, go find it. Or you can write your own. If you only want to complain. That is "Whining."

MAB

Here's some reasons NOT to be involved in the music industry:


http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2015/05/10-reasons-not-to-work-in-the-music-industry/s/yet-here-i-am/

Marc!,
It isn't the latest stuff we are "Evaluating" We are not comparing the latest offerings to what was released from yesterday. A couple of songs I have seen and heard on CMT is DRINKING CLASS and AIN"T WORTH THE WHISKEY. Now you will have to agree those songs take a lot of Talent and Imagination to write! And much of those sound tracks. Some of it sounds like it came out of the Movie, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. Or at least the Cat!

Some of that they call music. Well they do like to take liberties now, don't they.

There is that old saying, BUILD A BETTER MOUSE TRAP AND THE WORLD WILL BEAT A PATH TO YOUR DOOR. I think Hank Snow had to play a lot of stuff Acoustic because there wasn't electricity available yet where he toured.

Now Marc don't get mad but I will take any three country artists from yesterday and beat any three you can name from today 3 to 0. Some of the most fantastic classical recordings from the past were recorded before digital was available. They were still using tube equipment and tape! I know I have some of them!

Sorry but I do hear the stuff that is being put out today. Most of it should have never made it into the studio, let alone out to the public. You call some of that music? OK.

Ray,

The thing is I AGREE with you on some of that. But WE are not of any consequence in the world at all. I don't care for most of what is out there. But what do you want me to do about it? The fact is that I can't. I can only be responsible for what I DO.

And the things you are talking about work for YOU. YOU have your opinions as do I, but that is what they are. OPINIONS. Talk to anyone under 30 and they dissagree 100% with you. And THOSE are the BUYING PUBLIC, not you or I.

All I am doing is providing a little perspective. You have your opinion as do I. But that makes no difference whatsoever in the overall scheme of things. Our time has passed. We have to deal with it.

I deal with it by trying to work with people, bring in my own experiences and processes and try to make a difference. That is all I can do. And to just get into a "venting' process, just doesn't make any sense to me. All it does is offend younger people,and divide people. To me, there is nothing positive that comes out of it. And since I don't do negative in my life or my writing, there is no place for me to put that.

Someone posted some "There is no country anymore" song on another thread. it is the same plodding, boring diatribe that most everyone who has that point of view has. Nothing different, no new information, just a rambling complaint. Fine. They have their opinion too. Doesn't change a thing.

That is all I am saying. If people want to complain, this is a place for it. The Internet is the place for it. Everyone has their soapbox. About 90% of the entire Internet is simply people venting their spleen on some issue or another.

But as far as having ONE SINGLE positive effect, it doesn't. The people who DON'T agree with that opinion, are NEVER going to agree with it, no matter what anyone says, and the people who DO agree with it, only agree with it, because they want someone to listen to THEIR OPINION ON THE SAME THING, SAYING THE SAME THING.

To me, that is an exercise in futility. Gets no one anywhere except worked up over something they can't do anything about.
Got your opinion? Fine. State it. Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

Enjoy the music you like.
Turn off the music you DON'T LIKE.
Write your own.
Find others to interact with, artists, co-writers, companies, web sites, and do something YOU DO LIKE.

That's all I'm saying.
MAB

"Now Marc don't get mad but I will take any three country artists from yesterday and beat any three you can name from today 3 to 0."

Ray, I am never MAD about any of this. I try to respond to it, and I hear it ALL the time from many other sources than here. i care about people here and everyone that puts their time and money into this so I try to give a PERSPECTIVE on things. But you have to look at REALITY.

You could make that comment from YOUR PERSPECTIVE, and put your "three artists up there" and someone under 30 years old would laugh you out of the conversation. Because they don't feel the same way.They don't have the same experiences.To you those "classic artists and songs" would just be BORING to other people.

And you have the right to your opinion. But it is just that. Your opinion.

My only comment is why does all this JUST get talked about with country? As it has been demonstrated over and over, by myself and many others, MUCH OF MUSIC AND EVERY GENRE ARE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME. Throughout history, there was more Ear Candy" than classic songs. More bubblegum than Beatles. That is just the nature of music.

Imagine being an "old world painter or sculptor" who spends their lives studying the masters, finally achieving a little notoriety and then a bunch of impressionist painters and sculptors come in with squiggly lines, and strange looking artwork and suddenly THEY are all the rage and making all the money. To those people it was INSANITY, NOT ART.

That is what this is. Aaron has it right. You want to remember your music the way it was because it reminds you of the WORLD it was back then. WE all do the same thing. I listen to a ton of those songs, and remember every moment of then. Then I listen to modern rock or pop and it has NOTHING to do with my experiences. So it all SUCKS to me.

It's the way of the world. Dude, we got OLD. You want to be upset about that, fine. But don't blame everyone else for what you don't like. Just don't listen to it.

MAB

Marc, I am doing exactly that. Some of my lyric repertoire includes pieces that would make good throwbacks to the traditional country sound of yore. And I haven't read all the posts here, but the premiere song of lament on this issue is "Murder on Music Row", and there have been several versions of it which can be found over on YouTube. One of the best ones was one with George Jones and Dierks Bentley, which is ironic considering that Dierks is one of the gurus of today's country which many here poo-poo, and I'll admit that it isn't what I consider as country. But I pointed out that pop-sounding country is nothing knew. Think Patsy Cline, for one. And the original country rock act may have been the Everly Brothers. All I do is write lyrics, basically because when I write them I do have other melodies in mind and don't want to deal with the increasing lawsuits over infringements. Therefore when I can afford to do so I have a demo company who has no idea where my inspirations came from set the music to them. Is there a column here on JPF for those looking for songs and people to record them? These days it seems that most music artists write their own songs, which was not always the case. I believe the singer-songwriter phenomenon began with Dylan.

Eh,
There is that other "opinion" over on the Industry Message Forum UK SONGWRITER SLAMS NASHVILLE "LAZINESS". I didn't write that one either. Again, it isn't about Yesterday's music versus Today's music. It is about what we are being subject to mostly on the Airwaves. Ear Candy? Yes I think Homer and Jethro made a mint parodying Ear Candy! And they had a ton of Talent to go with it!

Hey Marc......LOLOLOL
Everything you say is Spot on and I you gave me two new ideas for songs.
I DON'T DO NEGATIVE & YOU CAN'T GET HERE FROM THERE....lol

BTW....It's NOT just Country Music that has diminished in quality in my opinion. I was watching the amazing four years of Mad Men for the past four years and the Finale episode was on at 10 PM last night and IT IS AMAZINGLY GOOD.....BUT I did peruse over to channel 17 to catch the Billboard Awards and seriously had to go for the Pepto. I really TRY and have an open mind BUT the songs and sameness of MOST of the songs was dreadful.

ALSO...and this is only my take on TAYLOR (Who I really love most of the time) is that even though she is the post popular Star in the world has taken a nose dive for the long term. She is NOW sounding just like all the Pop Women Artists....she still writes engaging and catchy melody, looks great and is a live wire but I just expected more in the way of Quality going forward. She is doing what Mariah did and I find it sad....BUT She is rich and powerful and I guess that's what she wanted.

I had an interesting conversation with my best friend Mike who is a Billy Joel Nut.....And he told me that he is Angry at him for stopping writing songs. He would love to know what Billy has been doing and thinking in the past 20 years and is furious....lol
I would also love hear some new songs but it's Billy's Prerogative not to do it for whatever reasons. I can think of a few but that's for another post......HE sure did have a great songwriting style BUT Still performs the oldies for sellout crowds.
SO that's my ravings this morning. I was just talking to my wife about how a few years ago I HAD to let go of the dream of being SOMEBODY in the Business.....Just didn't happen and had to let it go AND IT WAS HARD....SO now I write stories and new songs and just try and keep busy.

I'm doing a new Pro Life song ( Have a few now and wasn't always pro life ) called SIXTY MILLION LITTL COFFINS (All in a Row) and it's going to be an amazingly powerful song that I hope will move few hearts to pro choice for the unborn baby. I enjoy writing songs like that the most....and on and on and on it goes my Journey from THERE to HERE....lol
B

Anyone remember "Murder on Music Row?" This is the premier lament on the way the genre has evolved. We may just be awaiting the next equivalent of Alan Jackson or Patty Loveless.

I like some of today's country. Little Big Town and Luke Bryan are already among my all time favorites.

Good Lookin' Girl - Luke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qUMlwqQFCo

Good People - LBT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBkzLZc1Ewg

Um, I came to "classic country" relatively recently and it struck a chord with me immediately (no pun intended).
I have lots of other friends who are the same way. All they know is the modern country stuff and they hate it. But then they hear Merle or Hank or Gram Parsons or old Dolly Parton or any of that old stuff and they're hooked.
It really just boils down to taste. What do you like?
Me? I like GOOD music.

We all think the music we listen to is good. Why would any of us listen to music that we think is crap?

They call her the queen of country but this is the first time I have heard of her.
Emmylou doesn't ring a bell.

A pertinent question here:
How old are you?
Here is a recent video of her singing like an angel, as she always has.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWVjaaGlQl4

And something from a long time ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r-VwSRzXbk
(and yeah, that is Alvin Lee on Telecaster.)

And, she did have her own career, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpyai-X3BgA

30 this year.' I sampled some of her hits. First time hearing them and the last. Just not my cuppa tea.

Fair enough.

We all like what we like for whatever reasons. Some are indeed psychological, others for more purely aesthetic reasons.

But there is absolutely NO WAY to prove that any era of music is better than any other. It all boils down to how we feel. That's why these arguments are amusing and a little bit frustrating--to hear people straining and gyrating to prove such a point, where a scientific method of involving big groups of non-biased participants is the ONLY way to truly get any answers. Like Aaron said, nobody listens repeatedly to music they think is crap.

Maybe Midnite Bob will get a grant to go to the deepest jungles of Africa with a hundred classic country songs, and a hundred top modern country songs, with a questionnaire approved by the government, and film these natives and see which they prefer, and call it "The Gods Must Seriously Be Crazy This Time" because they all end up loving a little jingle, not in the study, about shaving cream, the most, and no matter how hard he tries, he can't steer them back to the survey. They want they shaving cream song.

Why African natives? Because it's an attempt to find a group of non-biased people and get a purely aesthetic response. But it, too, ultimately fails the scientific method because if these particular tribes happen to have certain music rituals of their own, they will probably end up liking music that sounds similar. They may lean towards the modern, and for psychological reasons..

Although no one can really explain why Native South Africans absolutely worshiped Jim Reeves (back in the early sixties), a silky voiced country crooner popular in the late fifties/early sixties. Hell, he even made two movies down there in South Africa. So maybe unbiased Africans liked MOR sounding country back then, but it proves absolutely nothing other than we live in a wacky world, where we like things, and we think we know why, but it's truly a mystery. The science of psychology and aesthetics as applied to popular music is very lacking, but that (and a scientific method) is what is needed to make these arguments anything more than p*ssing contests.

Mike

Hah!:-))) Count me in!!! Combining film making and music and surveys that will prove absolutely nothing, and all at the government's expense? How could I resist!


Midnite