How can anyone actually *like* this?

[LovebirdsFlying]

That'll teach me to fall asleep listening to a "classic country" radio station.

I woke up with a song stuck in my head. I don't remember it playing, but maybe my subconscious heard it. I like country music, but songs of this nature have always bothered me. Even when I was a kid. Which I was, when this song was popular.

The singer is telling how much he enjoys hanging out in this particular beer joint, and the picture he paints includes:

"A cowboy is cussin' the pinball machine
A drunk at the bar's gettin' noisy and mean...."

Hank Thompson, "Rednecks, White Sox, and Blue Ribbon Beer."

Violence is a reason to *LIKE* a place?

I guess I've seen too many noisy, mean drunks in my day. I remember running to my room to avoid the scene, night after night, when the noisy, mean drunk married to my mother finally spent all of his money and decided to come home.

Compare:

"Honey, Won't You Open That Door" by Ricky Skaggs. Um, no, I won't. Again, when you've been on the inside of the door, with a loud, violent drunk pounding on it, yelling "you BETTER let me in," the song isn't funny.

"I'm a Honky-tonk Man" by Johnny Horton, later covered by Dwight Yoakam. Notice it's "when my money's all gone" that he suddenly remembers he's married and wants to go home to his wife.

"I Love This Bar" by Toby Keith. As the song details, "I like my girlfriend," but "I love this bar." Something wrong here? Yeah, I've known a few who put wife and kids about third place. Drinking and televised sports come one and two.

Thanks for the rant. Anyone have any words of wisdom?

 

[BobW188]

I'm with you. A shame, too, as there is a lot of good country music. If only the stations would set aside a few hours each day strictly for Alcoholism Is Fun, Adultery Is Good, and Divorce Is Inevitable music, the rest of us would know when not to listen.

 

[Apollo Celestio]

Country is evil.
It's simple.

 

[Zecryphon]

Country is evil.
It's simple.

But it's very uplifting if you play it backwards. Think about it. You'll get your girlfriend back, your truck back and your job back.

 

[BlackSabb]

Sorry, edit.

 

[MrJim]

There are songs with lyrics as bad or worse as rocknroll, yet it often gets a "free pass". I like a lot of bluegrass music, which tends to get put into a "country" category, yet a lot of it is "gospel" style and not alcohol/sex oriented like a lot of country music (or rock).

<<At some point someone will weigh in that lyrics don't really matter and don't criticize "my music">>

 

[Nadiine]

Anyone have any words of wisdom?

slowly wean off country???
try to find Christian country?

I hate all of it personally most of my dislike is the sound and style, I have no idea about the words - I don't leave it on long enough to learn any
=0)

 

[Nadiine]

But it's very uplifting if you play it backwards. Think about it. You'll get your girlfriend back, your truck back and your job back.

and your noose back

 

[CyberPaladin]

It's just like any other style music people are generaly going to either love or hate it. Personaly I love it but it's not for everyone.

 

[Zecryphon]

and your noose back

It's tempting but there are some openings even I won't touch. You're on your own with this one. LOL

 

[Nadiine]

It's tempting but there are some openings even I won't touch. You're on your own with this one. LOL

(so glad I didn't say razor blades)

 

[desmalia]

slowly wean off country???
try to find Christian country?

I'd suggest that too... except there's a lot of crap out there that falls under the "Christian music" category too these days. Sometimes the Christian music station stresses me out more than the secular ones! lol

I hate all of it personally most of my dislike is the sound and style, I have no idea about the words - I don't leave it on long enough to learn any
=0)

I'm with you there. I can't stand most country music. Strangely enough I don't mind a little bit of bluegrass though. One thing I will say though... the one thing I appreciate about country music is that the lyrics are quite often much more profound than pop/alternative/rock. Not always (as LBF has pointed out in the OP), but often. The poetry of it seems to be done with more care for some reason. BUT that's not enough for me to listen to it. Even when I lived in Texas and that's all we had to listen to, I just couldn't get into it. My husband likes country, but thankfully he likes a lot of other stuff too. So I'm not forced to sit through it too often. lol.

 

[Nadiine]

I'd suggest that too... except there's a lot of crap out there that falls under the "Christian music" category too these days. Sometimes the Christian music station stresses me out more than the secular ones! lol



I'm with you there. I can't stand most country music. Strangely enough I don't mind a little bit of bluegrass though. One thing I will say though... the one thing I appreciate about country music is that the lyrics are quite often much more profound than pop/alternative/rock. Not always (as LBF has pointed out in the OP), but often. The poetry of it seems to be done with more care for some reason. BUT that's not enough for me to listen to it. Even when I lived in Texas and that's all we had to listen to, I just couldn't get into it. My husband likes country, but thankfully he likes a lot of other stuff too. So I'm not forced to sit through it too often. lol.

I think they do alot more patriotic music too -

Ya, I don't know why I hate it & it grates on my last nerve? I end up feeling depressed if I listen to it. I just can't help that I dislike it so much.

On the flipside, I like some real hard rock & some metal that people hate.
lol Not that I much listen to it anymore tho, but just to say how inexplainably different we all are

I always wonder if God just created us with those 'hardwired' into us or we acquire them?

 

[LovebirdsFlying]

Well, I do enjoy Southern Gospel a lot, which is sort of the Christian version of country.... But there was a time I couldn't bear to listen to Southern Gospel. Several years ago, in a past relationship, my then fiance's mother died. To say they were close would be a serious understatement. Codependent would come closer to the mark. I could tell you some stories about how codependent, but that's another post.

Which I'll make shortly.

And you'd be surprised how many Southern Gospel songs are about "my saintly mother who's up in Heaven now...." By the time he left me (biggest favor he ever did me) I was so sick of the subject, I couldn't listen for a while.

It's been 5 years since that marriage ended. To this day, I still can't listen to the music of Jimmy Swaggart, who my ex was fixated on. It ties a knot in my stomach.

Yes, Nadiine, I think people are hard-wired to like a certain sound. I don't care for metal, but for me it's not some kind of moral issue. It's just that the sound actually hurts my ears. I like the classic stuff. Rod Stewart. Elton John. Alice Cooper, believe it or not, as long as his wilder stuff isn't played too loud. I like the calmer older music, such as Jim Croce or Lobo, and I just *love* Gordon Lightfoot. I love 50's doo-wop. I can enjoy a rock ballad, something like Journey's "Open Arms" or Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is," but nothing that sounds like shrieks to me.

Hubby, by contrast, prefers the shrieks and can't stand to listen to the whine of country music. I think it's a matter of inner ear structure or something.

 

[LovebirdsFlying]

<<At some point someone will weigh in that lyrics don't really matter and don't criticize "my music">>

It won't be me. Lyrics *do* matter. Very much.

One bad lyric can ruin a whole song for me.

 

[Nadiine]

It won't be me. Lyrics *do* matter. Very much.

One bad lyric can ruin a whole song for me.

I can't count the number of bad lyrics that have forced me to quit listening to some awesome tunes.
It's completely upsetting - as I say this, I'm having to delete 2 songs off my MP3 player - they're wearing on my conscience & I think I should deal with it.

HEAVY

 

[desmalia]

It won't be me. Lyrics *do* matter. Very much.

One bad lyric can ruin a whole song for me.

Totally!
Drives me nuts too because it's such a rare combination to find many songs these days that have both great lyrics and a great tune. I can put up with a so-so tune if the lyrics are good, but even if the tune is fantastic, the lyrics can so easily ruin it. Like there's a song out right now with the chorus "I kissed a girl and I liked it" (sung by a girl). I actually quite like the tune. But the lyrics are terrible. So many like that these days.

I agree about the "hardwired" thing too. I like a bit of a strange mix of music too. Alternative/grunge, pop (well..... some pop, a lot of it is too generic these days), rock, jazz, blues, classical, some opera, some bluegrass, some African beat, even a tiny little bit of rap, and yep I LOVE 50's doo-wap too. Most stuff with really good vocal harmony will win me over. There's probably one or two more that I like too, but can't think of right now. But I can't stand country (especially East Coast Canadian country *shudders*), and I don't care for the really screaming heavy metal stuff (which my husband loves!). I'm finding these days I tend to go for the more mellow stuff than I did in my teens and early '20's. I've been so happy to come across the band Stabilo. They're not Christian, though the lead guitarist is, and the song writer/lead singer had a Christian upbringing. They've got good lyrics and the kind of music I enjoy.

 

[Nadiine]

Totally!
Drives me nuts too because it's such a rare combination to find many songs these days that have both great lyrics and a great tune. I can put up with a so-so tune if the lyrics are good, but even if the tune is fantastic, the lyrics can so easily ruin it. Like there's a song out right now with the chorus "I kissed a girl and I liked it" (sung by a girl). I actually quite like the tune. But the lyrics are terrible. So many like that these days.

I agree about the "hardwired" thing too. I like a bit of a strange mix of music too. Alternative/grunge, pop (well..... some pop, a lot of it is too generic these days), rock, jazz, blues, classical, some opera, some bluegrass, some African beat, even a tiny little bit of rap, and yep I LOVE 50's doo-wap too. Most stuff with really good vocal harmony will win me over. There's probably one or two more that I like too, but can't think of right now. But I can't stand country (especially East Coast Canadian country *shudders*), and I don't care for the really screaming heavy metal stuff (which my husband loves!). I'm finding these days I tend to go for the more mellow stuff than I did in my teens and early '20's. I've been so happy to come across the band Stabilo. They're not Christian, though the lead guitarist is, and the song writer/lead singer had a Christian upbringing. They've got good lyrics and the kind of music I enjoy.

you sound just like me w/ music taste... I like the stuff that almost always has evil lyrics LOL
I think I"m a magnet for it.

I've mellowed out alot too with all that screaming stuff, I hate that stuff now & it actually gets on my nerves & gives me a headache - but when there's some good serious hard rock w/ a killer beat ...

oh myyyy, stand back kids LOL - some of it I just won't listen to becuz of the singer. Like Marylin manson... a few of his tunes have been in some movies that they play part of it thru - & I really like it. But I won't go listen to it & stay away from it...
Some Rob Zombie is really good - Dragula (Matrix) & Living Dead Girl (begin. of Bride of Chucky - then I turn the movie off lol)....
GREAT songs. But again, I just stay away from them until I hear them in a movie.

NIN, closer & head like a hole, Hand that feeds....... & a few others.
Loved Live, "I alone" - I had that CD till I was told it was about Satan & Jesus is mocked in it. Figures. Had to throw that CD out. (Lightning Crashes on the same CD is still a classic).

All I can say is I WISH I didn't like that stuff. I'd love it if my taste was Kenny Rogers & The Carpenters, I'd have it made

 

[Jim47]

I used to listen to country all the time, but the modern so called cross over music such as you mentioned in the OP gets to be a little trying. I still listen to some but most of the time its old stuff on CD and even then very little. I listen to conservative talk radio now instead.

 

[CyberPaladin]

What can say I really relate to country songs I got no job, my truck ain't run right, my dog is dead, and my girlfriend left me.