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Taylor Swift, Why The Hate?

The Mirrorball Man said:
For the last twenty years, what has been called "country" by most people has basically been "songs that kinda sound like Hotel California".

As far as I'm concerned, the last time country music has felt vivid and interesting was during the short-lived "alt.country" movement.
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I'm the G-man and I approve this message.

This reminds me of an article I read recently that pointed out that, technically, Mumford and Sons was closer to "real" country than what gets played on country radio.
 
I can't say I'm a fan of her music, but...

I worked five years at a job where I went around to different stores and counted their inventory, so I spent a huge amount of time in places like CVS, or Stop & Shop, or Sears completely subject to their radio.

Every time Taylor Swift came on, it meant that none of the thousands of options that were much, much worse came on. No Michael Buble, no whiny falsetto boy. For three minutes, my ears will not be in horrible pain. So I owe her a debt of gratitude.

I think Taylor Swift just wasn't ready to handle the tabloids when she became famous.

To me 'country' means Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams. This new country-pop is just a bunch of fake cowboys singing about America and small towns being awesome and blonde teenagers singing about guys being horny.
 
Snaploud said:
I actually like her songs. It's only when I see her music videos that I get a negative vibe. *shrugs*
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Swift is an artist I've never paid much attention to. When I've heard her music, she sounds like she's either tuneless or has a very narrow vocal range. I've heard a few of the songs off her recent album on the radio recently. Sonically, they remind me of Liz Phair's work when she went "pop" with her eponymous album.

Which kinda makes me want Swift to do an album of Liz Phair covers. Maybe Exile in Guyville in full. Swift singing "Fuck and Run," yeah. I'd buy that.
 
Westboro is against her? I may have to re-evaluate my views of her music. As much as I don't like it, she's not a whore.
 
There's nothing I don't like about Taylor Swift. End of story.

Okay, not quite the end: anyone who writes their own material automatically gets a lot of points and ranks folks who are primarily performers. The successes of people like Swift come, as Harlan Ellison once put it, out of the ends of their fingers.
 
There is no such thing as "real" country music, and there never has been. It has always been about having the "country" aesthetic, but it has never been "real," no matter how big your cowboy hats, and pick-up trucks are.
 
Yeah, well, put Taylor Swift against this...

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...and, I guarantee, she won't win. :lol:
 
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Mr. Laser Beam said:
Yeah, well, put Taylor Swift against this...



...and, I guarantee, she won't win. :lol:
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Charley Pride? Depends upon who is listening. Sorry, my friend, but just because you think he's a legend, doesn't automatically make him the better choice, nor does it make him "real" country. Charley Pride won a CMA award back in 1994, as a "Pioneer." His last earned (by sales and popularity) award (an AMA, for a total of 3 CMAs, and 3 AMAs) was received in 1976.

Taylor Swift, on the other hand:

Wiki said:
Swift has been the recipient of seven Grammy Awards, eleven American Music Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, six Academy of Country Music Awards, and twelve Billboard Music Awards. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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And she's still selling albums, and she's still in the musical spotlight, and she's younger than when Charley Pride won his award, AND she has a long career ahead of her. You will lose your bet. I can bet you, and win, on the idea that there are people who don't consider Charley Pride "real" country. That doesn't make them right, either. You know why? Because there's no such thing as "real" country.
 
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My grandfather was an Appalachian hillbilly. He was beaten by his father for having the temerity to learn to read. He nearly lost his foot in an accident with an ax. He shot at people during prohibiton days under circumstances I'd rather not discuss. Later, on the farm, he drove a John Deere tractor because that's what he considered a success. He was the real deal when it came to being "country."

And he fucking LOVED Charley Pride.
 
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the G-man said:
My grandfather was an Appalachian hillbilly. He was beaten by his father for having the temerity to learn to read. He nearly lost his foot in an accident with an ax. He shot at people during prohibiton days under circumstances I'd rather not discuss. Later, on the farm, he drove a John Deere tractor because that's what he considered a success. He was the real deal when it came to being "country."

And he fucking LOVED Charley Pride.
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Half of my family lived in the mountains of West Virginia during the depression. My family history is full of moonshiners, gun runners, and hillbilly shotgun weddings. My great-great grandmother used to slaughter hogs and sell the meat in her store. She had no refrigeration, there was no electricity.

One of my great uncles shot a revenuer and tossed his body off a Kentucky hillside while he was still in his car, and if he would have seen Charley Pride, he'd have shot him too, and hanged him just to be sure he was dead.

Now that we've got our totally useless and pointless family bonafides out of the way, like I said, it depends upon who is listening. It doesn't matter if you love Charley Pride so much you want to have his babies, the fact of the matter is that your opinion doesn't mean squat when it comes to saying who is or isn't "real."

It's so silly. "This isn't 'real' Star Trek. That isn't a 'real' country singer." Just say what you really mean: "This is new and different, and it's not what I liked growing up, which makes me insecure. Therefore it's fake."

Now get off'n my property 'fore I call on the dogs to daddamn drag ya off.
 
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