I was reading a blog on music, the Twang Nation site, which had an article Hating on the CMAs which pretty much says what I’ve always said about “Country Music.”
I like country music, but what most people call country music isn’t, so I usually don’t admit to liking it.
After again watching the Country Music Association Award ceremony last week I was again left with the feeling that I had sat through an hours-long infomercial. I mean is Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney really the rightful heirs of Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash? Of course they’re not.
But they are the heirs of a a finely tuned trade organization whose job it is to perpetuate brand and maximize profits. Nothing to do with crafting great and memorable work. Swift and Chesney are not Lynn and Cash, they follow in the gilded footsteps of Shania and Garth.
I’ll say it right out, mainstream pop-country is crap. It’s not crap because it sells zillions of units, but because to hit numbers that high the product typically is as brain dead boring. Innovation is risky and costly. Mediocrity and homogeneous product maximizes profit by drafting on an already proven brand.
The best part was at the bottom of the post, where the Related Posts gives links to five similar articles that pretty much say the same thing. Maybe people are waking up and realizing that what they’re being sold isn’t music, it’s a manufactured product with little art or life in it.
Speaking of Taylor Swift, on the drive to Pittsburgh, as we cycled through stations with the scan button trying to find something other than commercials, religious stations, or new-country crap, we listened to some slightly less-offensive station for a few minutes before we drove out of range.
There was a song about some girl who was going to steal some other girls guy, “she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts” was in it’s chorus. Al and I tried to guess who it was. I said it sounded like Alanis Morrisette. He guessed Avril Lavigne. It turned out to be Taylor Swift.
That just goes to show how little country music has to do with country music. It’s really just pop music. They don’t even make the pretense of throwing in a banjo, fiddle or steel guitar any more. It’s all highly-polished pop. Big producers are hired to make mediocre talents sound good. Add an orchestral track, run it through the auto-tuner, make a video, and fire up the promotions team, we’re throwing money at it until it’s a hit.
And it works, because most people are music consumers and like what they are told to like by TV and radio without much thought.
Meanwhile, real talent is struggling to get heard.
If it makes you feel any better, Rosanne Cash has a nice new album out. I happen to think that Taylor Swift is a lot more talented than most of the other girl singers around her age out there, but I know what you mean. Country music has ceased to be traditional country for a long time now. Faith Hill and Shania Twain always bugged me, and I couldn’t quite figure out why as I do think they are both talented. I finally realized that what it was is I think their song lyrics are really dopey.
While I was reading your comments, a song played. It sounded like it could have come from a Shania Twain album. Heck, it was almost like they copied her.
What was it? Cobra Starship. (Good Girls Go Bad.) Definitely NOT Country. But then, either is most of what is being called country music. That’s what’s wrong with Shania and her ilk. Their songs are more Pop-Dance crap that they churn out to sell records (er… CDs, or iTunes songs. Noone uses records anymore) than anything like country music.
They real stuff is still out there. Most of the artists aren’t as well-known, or rich, and they have to call their music something else to keep from being called a sellout. They’ve come up with the Alt-country, Roots and Americana genres to accomodate this niche.
Rosanne Cash recently came out with an album of songs written by her late father. Mostly lesser-known songs, but interesting enough to be worth a download. But who did she turn to when she wanted help on them? Her mother? Willie, Waylon or Kris? No, she brought in Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen and Rufus Wainwright. Not a “Country” name in there at all. While I won’t argue their credentials as musicians, songwriters or talents, that’s pretty far from the country nest.
Elvis Costello, incidentally, has become quite a chronicler of the music scene with his CTV show “Spectacle” where he does a music/interview show with various music celebrities. It’s a shame you probably don’t get it. We can see it direct out of Toronto here. It’s something that HBO or PBS ought to pick up.
And Rufus Wainwright. I should write a whole post about the Wainwright Family. They’re a fascinating story, from the McGarrigle sisters on down.
No, we don’t get any Canadian TV around here. New England has a thriving music scene, but surprisingly a lack of local tv or radio shows about it. I do hear a lot of good interviews on NPR though. I recently heard a Loudon Wainwright interview, and have heard Rufus in the past. I recently saw Martha for the first time on one of the late night talk shows. They all seem to have chosen a different path musically.
FYI, the music show “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…” is now on Wednesday nights on the Sundance Channel. I caught it last night for the first time. It’s a good show. Any guy who looks like a middle-aged Buddy Holly, calls himself Elvis, and marries Diana Krall has to be cool.