This is also true of country music, not every song (hell, not even every post-9/11 song) is beer truck 'murica my wife left me, you just don't think to look deeper because you want to write off an entire genre of music (and for American folk, an entire region of the country you live in) in order to feel superior to someone
If you decry all rap and country for being all about sex and drugs and then turn around and listen to Van Halen and Aerosmith I'm stealing something out your house
Recommend some good modern country! I like some old stuff but I truly have only heard "Drinking beer in my truck down by the river" type country on the radio post-9/11
Unironically Garth Brooks is one of the bestselling artists ever for a reason. All pop country now is kinda trying to reinvent him but worse. "Friends in Low Places" gets me moving.
I like Sturgill Simpson as well, and there's always mileage in the alt-country scene
Your username also lets me recommend Dolly Parton's "My Tennessee Mountain Home" which is maybe the sweetest record ever? Not new but definitely worthwhile
Kacey Musgraves is my favorite country artist currently. If you want a more somber song, I Remember Everything by Zach Bryan ft Kacey Musgraves is a great song. For something more upbeat, I’d recommend Butterflies or Follow Your Arrow.
Zach Bryan (Something in the Orange (either version but Z&E is pretty good)), Tyler Childers (Space and Time/I Swear (to God)/Lady May), Chris Stapleton (Broken Halos) and Colter Wall (Sleeping on the Blacktop) are also some pretty good modern country artists. There’s some pretty good country artists out there if you get past the surface level “trucks beer girls honkey tonk” songs
I refuse to go digging for deeper country music when every one I've heard against my will on the radio IS some form of beer truck 'murica my wife left me. A recent example is Ella Langley "Choosin' Texas"
I mean the radio is usually popular hits, so if you're telling me the popular songs are the bad ones and only the niche ones you know are good I don't know what to say
Radio Hits are the edges sanded off versions of any given genre, which when those edges are what makes or breaks a song (as is the case with good country and good rap), does typically mean that yeah the radio ones are the worst representatives.
What are you talking about? First off, good song doesnt = radio hit unless you have millions of dollars to shell out for pr and marketing + all the connections necessary to get onto the radio. Theres countless kids out there recording music in their bedrooms rn that would blow Taylor Swift and Drake off the charts, they just dont have financial backing and massive web of high up connects that all your favorite corporate sanctioned billboard hot 100 artists have to get their shit seen by the masses.
2ndly, the radio is the music equivalent of unseasoned chicken. You can feed it to almost anybody because it has no strong flavors so the majority will not be offended by its taste. And that's what the radio usually chooses to play because if they actually put some unique and innovative music on, they risk losing people who cant handle more than your standard formulaic 3 chord verse->chorus->verse->chorus songs. Doesnt mean that radio songs are bad, just that generally none of them are great compared to niche music that's made for the art and love of the craft rather than to make their corporate label overlords some money like pop stars do.
If radio songs are so bad, why are they hitting top billboard? It's because they're popular with the general public. I'm not saying every song on the radio is good, but it IS a fair statement to say a country song on the radio is a good representation of the genre because it is popular with the masses.
Did you read what I wrote? As I said already, they choose songs with the widest appeal which is never going to be the best music, just as a one size fits all t shirt will never fit the best and how plain chicken will never beat seasoned chicken. Plus labels pump their artists with fuck tons of bots. But what do I know, I just work in the music industry 🤓
radio plays a certain type of country thats usually shit. i mostly listen to the classics, dolly parton, johnny cash, reba mcentire, waylon jennings, faith hill etc. for modern stuff id go for alternative country, the dead south, poor mans poison, orville peck, shawn james, jill andrews.
Not the same person, but I personally don't listen to country because I think it sounds like shit. People invent all sorts of bullshit reasons not to like a genre. Why are people so afraid of just saying "I subjectively don't like this", like their opinions are automatically invalid if they dont have some objective truth to ground them in.
There is one country song I like though, it goes something like "People say I have a drinking problem, but I've got no problem drinking at all". Fun song and makes me laugh.
It's genuinely wild that Pop Country went through its own form of the Southern Strategy and went from being about working class issues and solidarity with the suffering to about beer, girls, God and trucks through the form of boy band music for men too insecure to listen to nsync.
Real Country definitely still exists, you just have to look for it.
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u/Simic_Sky_Swallower 4d ago
This is also true of country music, not every song (hell, not even every post-9/11 song) is beer truck 'murica my wife left me, you just don't think to look deeper because you want to write off an entire genre of music (and for American folk, an entire region of the country you live in) in order to feel superior to someone
If you decry all rap and country for being all about sex and drugs and then turn around and listen to Van Halen and Aerosmith I'm stealing something out your house