Country's got the blues
By: Leeanne Bispo
Issue date: 2/10/09 Section: Entertainment
I will be the first to admit that I like some of the newer country music songs. Some of them are not all that bad, but then you have the songs that just do not seem country to me.
Country music is what the older musicians used to sing, like Johnny Cash (borderline "rock") and Marty Robins. They sang songs that told a story, and it was done with very little cursing, due to the times, and was done with the most spectacular wording.
Yes, Marty Robins was a little bit repetitive with some of his works involving a Senorita and the vaqueros but he did have other things, and just because he was redundant does not mean that he did not at least paint a pretty picture.
Now most country songs consist of someone talking about how everyone and their dog hates them or how they want to get revenge on someone. Don't get me wrong Carrie Underwood's song "Before He Cheats" was an awesome song for any and every girl that has ever been cheated on; we all either wished we had done that exact same thing or giggled because we had. There are songs by even legends like George Strait that get on my nerves. I mean, to see his music go from something so beautiful to something so melodramatic is really depressing.
There are some new comers like Craig Morgan and Blake Shelton that do give me a little bit of hope for the country genre. Yes, some of their songs are a little bit over the top but for the most part they seem to be trying to revive the country genre.
The thing that worries me the most about country music is how it seems to absorb all of these other genres and calling them country. For example Kid Rock's song "All Summer Long" I believe is classified as Southern Rock but that genre is not really mentioned at all anymore. Then you have singers like Bon Jovi, a "real" rock singer, coming out with country songs that just are not becoming to his voice or to his image.
It terrifies me that someday heavy metal - which not one of my favorite genres because if you can't understand what someone is saying how can you listen to the song? - is going to be considered country music or some other simple genre that seems to think that it can in a sense gobble up all other genres.
Country music is no longer country, and it not only angers me, it saddens me to see the hard work of so many that came before dropped to such a level as to be associated with the so called "country" genre.
Country music is what the older musicians used to sing, like Johnny Cash (borderline "rock") and Marty Robins. They sang songs that told a story, and it was done with very little cursing, due to the times, and was done with the most spectacular wording.
Yes, Marty Robins was a little bit repetitive with some of his works involving a Senorita and the vaqueros but he did have other things, and just because he was redundant does not mean that he did not at least paint a pretty picture.
Now most country songs consist of someone talking about how everyone and their dog hates them or how they want to get revenge on someone. Don't get me wrong Carrie Underwood's song "Before He Cheats" was an awesome song for any and every girl that has ever been cheated on; we all either wished we had done that exact same thing or giggled because we had. There are songs by even legends like George Strait that get on my nerves. I mean, to see his music go from something so beautiful to something so melodramatic is really depressing.
There are some new comers like Craig Morgan and Blake Shelton that do give me a little bit of hope for the country genre. Yes, some of their songs are a little bit over the top but for the most part they seem to be trying to revive the country genre.
The thing that worries me the most about country music is how it seems to absorb all of these other genres and calling them country. For example Kid Rock's song "All Summer Long" I believe is classified as Southern Rock but that genre is not really mentioned at all anymore. Then you have singers like Bon Jovi, a "real" rock singer, coming out with country songs that just are not becoming to his voice or to his image.
It terrifies me that someday heavy metal - which not one of my favorite genres because if you can't understand what someone is saying how can you listen to the song? - is going to be considered country music or some other simple genre that seems to think that it can in a sense gobble up all other genres.
Country music is no longer country, and it not only angers me, it saddens me to see the hard work of so many that came before dropped to such a level as to be associated with the so called "country" genre.