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Today's Country Music

C

CAVEMANager

Guest
Every Monday, Billboard Magazine releases a country music airplay chart and a hot hits chart. If you take a look at these charts you will find that 80% of the songs are sung by male artists. If you include men with female help the number goes up to about 90%. If you listen to the lyrics of these song you will find that nearly all of them are about two subjects: 1) Girls. 2) Alcohol. Some songs are about girls who drink. Invariably the girls are portrayed as good for love and sex and nothing else. And the girls have no names. They are called "Girl". Ex: "Girl you're looking good". Is there nothing else to write songs about? What happened to the songs about working people or driving trucks or unfaithful spouses? Another amazing thing is that if you look at the credits you'll see that it takes about four people to write most of these songs. I would think that the average ten year old could write such junk.

I wonder if the record companies are accepting cash from the liquor industry.
 
CAVEMANager said:
I wonder if the record companies are accepting cash from the liquor industry.
Click to expand...

The use of alcohol as a topic for country songs goes back a long way. Merle Haggard wrote a bunch, include "I Think I'll Just Stay Here & Drink." Country music in the 60s and 70s was mainly drinking & cheating songs, aimed primarily at men. Female artists like Kitty Wells had to struggle to get acceptance.

But truthfully, the percentage of females is a problem in all genres of music right now, causing the people who put on the Grammy Awards to change the rules in ways they hope will encourage more females.

https://people.com/awards/grammys-2018-male-dominated-grammys-show/
 
TheBigA said:
The use of alcohol as a topic for country songs goes back a long way. Merle Haggard wrote a bunch, include "I Think I'll Just Stay Here & Drink." Country music in the 60s and 70s was mainly drinking & cheating songs, aimed primarily at men. Female artists like Kitty Wells had to struggle to get acceptance.

But truthfully, the percentage of females is a problem in all genres of music right now, causing the people who put on the Grammy Awards to change the rules in ways they hope will encourage more females.

https://people.com/awards/grammys-2018-male-dominated-grammys-show/
Click to expand...

The bigger problem is that female country listeners prefer to listen to men. This wasn't the case back in the cheatin' and truckin' song days, when female country listeners identified with Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn. Not only that, the guys would listen to Wynette and Lynn as well. Now they run screaming from the room when Kelsea Ballerini or Carrie Underwood comes on. It's worse than what the Lilith Fair years were for CHR -- then, the guys might not have wanted to hear Jewel or Alanis, but the females sure did.
 
CTListener said:
The bigger problem is that female country listeners prefer to listen to men.
Click to expand...

If you go to country concerts, all you see are women dragging their guys around. The whole thing is being driven by women, most of whom like to drink a lot.
 
Seems like female artists were dominating a few years ago.

I wish I could say the trend toward male artists was a good one, but their songs are terrible.
 
CAVEMANager said:
Every Monday, Billboard Magazine releases a country music airplay chart and a hot hits chart. If you take a look at these charts you will find that 80% of the songs are sung by male artists. If you include men with female help the number goes up to about 90%. If you listen to the lyrics of these song you will find that nearly all of them are about two subjects: 1) Girls. 2) Alcohol. Some songs are about girls who drink. Invariably the girls are portrayed as good for love and sex and nothing else. And the girls have no names. They are called "Girl". Ex: "Girl you're looking good". Is there nothing else to write songs about? What happened to the songs about working people or driving trucks or unfaithful spouses? Another amazing thing is that if you look at the credits you'll see that it takes about four people to write most of these songs. I would think that the average ten year old could write such junk.

I wonder if the record companies are accepting cash from the liquor industry.
Click to expand...
"Have Mercy" from new singer Brett Young can be about an unfaithful spouse and I am hoping that the next song on the radio from new Opry member Chris Janson is the one that he did at the end of the ACM awards back in April named "The Redneck Life".

God bless you and Brett and Chris and their co-writers always!!!

Holly

P.S. Both of them songs were written by the singer and one co-writer.
 
For awhile there were patriotic and post 9-11 songs: Where Were You When World Stopped Turning, Arlington, Have You Forgotten, Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

The booze songs, yes, and it is a long tradition. Alcohol, Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, Red Solo Cup, I Love This Bar, Toes, Beer for my Horses, and years ago, I Love Beer, Chug a Lug
 
raccoonradio said:
For awhile there were patriotic and post 9-11 songs: Where Were You When World Stopped Turning, Arlington, Have You Forgotten, Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

The booze songs, yes, and it is a long tradition. Alcohol, Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, Red Solo Cup, I Love This Bar, Toes, Beer for my Horses, and years ago, I Love Beer, Chug a Lug
Click to expand...
I like nearly all those booze songs and I don't even drink alcohol.
 
^^^ I am not a drinker either and the drinking songs will never be my most favorite part of country music, but of what's been put out there so far, to me, the best ones are these.

"Dam* Right"-James Otto (my most favorite song from him)
"That Was A Cold One"-Eric Church (party song)
"That's Why I'm Here"-Kenny Chesney (AA song)

God bless you those three wonderful singers always!!!

Holly
 
Okay, this makes no sense. I don't watch all of "Beat Shazam" but I see the songs that the contestants choose from and listen just long enough to see if I know the song (I usually don't). The category was country. The song was "Blown Away" by Carrie underwood, which is not even identifiable as country. The last song played, when the team had to guess the exact title, with no choices listed, was "Stuck on You", Lionel Richie's first (and only) solo country hit as a singer. The category was R&B. Huh? There's nothing R&B about the song. That one's actually country. In fact, several of The Commodores' hits could pass for country.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Okay, this makes no sense. I don't watch all of "Beat Shazam" but I see the songs that the contestants choose from and listen just long enough to see if I know the song (I usually don't). The category was country. The song was "Blown Away" by Carrie underwood, which is not even identifiable as country. The last song played, when the team had to guess the exact title, with no choices listed, was "Stuck on You", Lionel Richie's first (and only) solo country hit as a singer. The category was R&B. Huh? There's nothing R&B about the song. That one's actually country. In fact, several of The Commodores' hits could pass for country.
Click to expand...

Lionel Richie is Motown isn't he? That's pretty much "R&B". What classifies "Stuck On You" as Country?
 
semoochie said:
Lionel Richie is Motown isn't he? That's pretty much "R&B". What classifies "Stuck On You" as Country?
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The fact that it charted as a country song. By this time, Richie has success writing "Lady" for Kenny Rogers. A couple years later, he had a Top 10 country duet with Alabama "Deep River Woman." They performed the song together on the CMA Awards.
 
^^^ I love that "Deep River Woman" song". Lets not forget the duets album that Lionel did with several country singers a few years ago.

God bless you and him and his singing buddies always!!!

Holly
 
James Otto Sweet Heart said:
^^^ I love that "Deep River Woman" song". Lets not forget the duets album that Lionel did with several country singers a few years ago.
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And the "Rhythm, Country & Blues" collection that came out in the '90s on MCA. Some of it worked, some didn't, but the concept showed the connection between classic R&B and country music. My favorite track was the Conway Twitty and Sam Moore (Sam of Sam & Dave) duet on Brook Benton's "Rainy Night in Georgia."
 
CTListener said:
And the "Rhythm, Country & Blues" collection that came out in the '90s on MCA.
Click to expand...

Of course there was also the Ray Charles "Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music" in the 60s. As Ray once said, "You can't be from Albany Georgia and not be country."
 
TheBigA said:
Of course there was also the Ray Charles "Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music" in the 60s. As Ray once said, "You can't be from Albany Georgia and not be country."
Click to expand...

Or Sledge, Mississippi, as Charley Pride was. I drove through there in the late '70s. It was exactly the sort of place he had sung about in "Mississippi Cotton Pickin' Delta Town" earlier in the decade. And yes, there ware big signs at either end of town welcoming motorists to the proud "Home of Country Charley Pride."
 
CAVEMANager said:
Is there nothing else to write songs about? What happened to the songs about working people or driving trucks or unfaithful spouses? Another amazing thing is that if you look at the credits you'll see that it takes about four people to write most of these songs. I would think that the average ten year old could write such junk.

I wonder if the record companies are accepting cash from the liquor industry.
Click to expand...

Modern country music seems to be tailor made for younger demos who party and drink.

And it sells. The writers write -- and the producers produce -- what sells.

As for the number of writers, every guy who contributed a line or changed a line or two for more marketability gets credit for their contribution for a reason. You would want that too if you were a songwriter or collaborator. Country music is a business.
 
boombox4 said:
As for the number of writers, every guy who contributed a line or changed a line or two for more marketability gets credit for their contribution for a reason.
Click to expand...

In fact just last week Merle Haggard got writers credit on a #1 song by Keith Urban because they used a short guitar riff from one of his hits.

It was Merle's first #1 as a writer in 30 years.
 
TheBigA said:
In fact just last week Merle Haggard got writers credit on a #1 song by Keith Urban because they used a short guitar riff from one of his hits.

It was Merle's first #1 as a writer in 30 years.
Click to expand...

It won't do him a lot of good. He died two years ago!
 
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