"When they're runnin' down my country [music], man, they're walkin' on the fightin' side of me."
Merle Haggard's most famous lyric could well be adapted to express the reaction country music fans may have upon reading Joe Heim's latest review in the June 30 Washington Post.
Heim's lead paragraph begins with a drive-by attack on the genre as a whole:
Country music has always had something of an image problem, particularly among people who fancy themselves as progressives. Immigrant-trashing, gay-bashing, race-baiting, women-hating songs aren't hard to find in the country catalogue. Heck, sometimes you can find them all on a single album.
Heim set forward this straw man in order to more effusively praise country artist Brad Paisley as a "forward-thinking" artist in the vein of say the Bush-bashing "Dixie Chicks" for his latest album, "American Saturday Night" which "celebrates cultural diversity, lionizes women, stirringly welcomes a black president and, for good measure, whoops it up about drinkin' and fishin.'"
Heim is pleased with his perception of Paisley's politics, heralding how the track "Welcome to the Future" has an allusion to "the momentousness of Barack Obama's election." While the music reviewer did laud Paisley on the artistic merits of his music, the Post reviewer doe have a habit of letting politics color his perception of country artists.
As I noted in a June 2007 NewsBusters item, Heim offered readers a take of Toby Keith that was decidedly kinder and gentler than earlier, rougher treatments the Post had given the artist, in part because the musician was critical of the prosecution of the Iraq War:
The reviewer jumps in with two feet celebrating how Keith has moved from the "bellicose" "Courtesy..." to fare "that considerably ratchets down the confrontational rhetoric."
Heim goes on to celebrate Keith as a vocalist with "the finest voice among his country music contemporaries," a consummate music producer who "knows a good hook when he hears one," and a dazzling artist who "peppered" his latest album's songs "with clever choruses, devilish double-entendres and heavy doses of twang."
So why the sacchariney view of Keith now? Could it be Keith has mellowed a bit, and even has expressed some displeasure with how Iraq was handled? Heim seems to think so:
Those looking for writing that reveals Keith's ornery streak, though, will have to look elsewhere -- his Web site, for instance. There he makes it clear that he's annoyed with how he's been portrayed by other celebrities and how he feels his political views have been misrepresented. He even calls out actor Sean Penn for suggesting that Keith bears some responsibility (along with Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly) for the war in Iraq.
"Now the difference between me and Sean Penn is that I've talked to 50 generals," Keith writes. "I doubt he's even talked to one. I didn't support the war in Iraq and still don't, but I'm sure I know more about it than he does."
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
tone deaf
June 30, 2009 - 13:10 ET by Kekela WardEvidently this clown has never listened to a gansta rap album.
Sam: "I hurt somebody's feelings once"
"Immigrant-trashing,
June 30, 2009 - 21:05 ET by TruthMonger"Immigrant-trashing, gay-bashing, race-baiting, women-hating songs...Heck, sometimes you can find them all on a single album."
even grammy approved of course:)
http://rap.about.com/b/2009/02/06/grammys-best-rap-album-winners-1996-2007.htm
Palin/Prejean 2012
Dixie who?....
June 30, 2009 - 13:13 ET by pvoceDone forgot about them....
Of course, there's all those songs about Jesus, chruches, families, babies....can't have them either.
the burka
June 30, 2009 - 21:09 ET by TruthMongerthe burka chicks
Palin/Prejean 2012
I can just see the ad
June 30, 2009 - 13:20 ET by Jack BauerI can just see the liberal outreach ad campaign aimed at people who hate country music on a genetic level --
BRAD PAISLEY -- HE'S THE ED SHULTZ OF COUNTRY
And if Heim thinks "country music" is full of hate, God knows what he must think of rap.
To me Tobey Keith's star
June 30, 2009 - 13:35 ET by ricklailTo me Tobey Keith's star fell a lot when he endorsed Obama. My wife will not buy anymore of his music. (She is the country fan in the family-give me my rock and roll.)
These major publications wonder why they are going down hill like a snow headed to hell. (Thanks Merle Haggard.) They are making fun of small town values.
Overall I think today's country has gotten crappy. Give me George Jones any day over Brad Paisley.
Semper suprene nitens
I agree
June 30, 2009 - 15:23 ET by jdlybrandThey are indeed making fun of small town values. It burns my hide the way Sarah Palin is treated. Every insult and slur thrown at her is thrown at my Mother, my Wife, my Sister, and my Daughter. As far as I'm concerned, they can keep their big city along with their small minds. I like real people!
I will guarantee you that
June 30, 2009 - 13:43 ET by Gat New YorkI will guarantee you that Heim never went to a country music concert because he certainly does understand the music at all.
I will guarantee you that
June 30, 2009 - 14:07 ET by JasonCI will guarantee you that Heim never went to a country music concert because he certainly does understand the music at all.
Quite likely, but I'd say the same regarding those who don't know Eazy-E from Tribe Called Quest and make the same ignorant claims about rap.
I love country music that's not of the over-produced sort which is basically just emo-pop with a cowboy hat. And you're right, only a person who hasn't really listened to it could read racism and hatred into a typical country song.
Hey, let's all link our favorite country songs!
Old Crow Medicine Show - I Hear Them All
Gillian Welch - Caleb meyer
Townes Van Zandt - Tecumseh Valley
ATCQ and rap in general
June 30, 2009 - 16:17 ET by UnsaneJason - I don't know if I'd bring up A Tribe Called Quest here. They are nowhere near the mainstream of hip-hop/rap. I would dare say those guys are to hip-hop/rap what Dream Theater is to heavy metal. And like DT, hip-hop acts like ATCQ are a tiny, tiny minority.
When people attack rap for the usual litany of offenses (to me, hip-hop/rap's biggest offense was to go from something fresh and exciting to a genre where songs are couplet rhymes over tracks of other people's work), they are most likely going after the mainstream rap you hear on "urban contemporary" radio stations. Just my 0.02.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
That's exactly my point,
June 30, 2009 - 16:23 ET by JasonCThat's exactly my point, that a lot of people who go out of there way to decry rap lump it all together without noticing that there is a lot of rap out there that a) Takes a lot of talent and b) Is also disgusted by the dumbasses who produce the "bitches 'n bling" variety of rap. Though I wouldn't concede that all gangster rap falls into this category..,. Straight Outta Compton and The Chronic, for instance, although filled with violent imagery, are pretty visionary albums.
My usual point of comparison for not taking such albums 100% literally is that just because Scorsese makes films about gangsters killing cops (and glorifies the gangsters) doesn't mean we should assume Scorsese himself wants to kill cops.
Sifting is needed
July 2, 2009 - 08:56 ET by UnsaneThough I wouldn't concede that all gangster rap falls into this category..,. Straight Outta Compton and The Chronic, for instance, although filled with violent imagery, are pretty visionary albums. This is how I feel about the Hell Awaits album I reference below by Slayer. Sure, it features lyrics you can't read as fast as Tom Araya is yelling and screaming them (h/t to a review I once read on amazon.com), and the imagery is brutal ("Kill Again", a favorite of mine, is simply about killing people for no reason whatsoever) and in some areas, like with "Necrophiliac", downright sick...but this is an album I would argue was Slayer's most musically technical.
Rap to me was once fresh and exciting. But now, IMHO, it simply doesn't exhibit a whole lot of talent. Not to mention it doesn't have a great lifespan (the rhymes of today will be totally forgotten by 2011). Outside of the godfathers of the genre, like Run DMC, and more techincal, innovative artists like A Tribe Called Quest...MUCH sifting is required.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
hey man, I hear you about
July 2, 2009 - 12:05 ET by JasonChey man, I hear you about contemporary rap, but trust me it's out there and some of it's definitely worth sifting for. Lately I've been really into Big L (not exactly contemporary, he's been dead almost 10 years, but definitely in the Tribe vein). Check out this video of him battling (and whupping) Jay-Z. In particular, skip to 4:10, Big L's second turn, to hear some seriously amazing rapping.
http://www.youtube.c...
I never really got into Slayer or most other metal, but it's an aesthetic thing, certainly has nothing to do with their lyric content. It's amazing how many people still think heavy metal guitarists are just talentless meatheads...maybe that's because of late 80s glam metal...but I used to play a lot of electric guitar, and I couldn't play a Kerry King or Kirk Hammett solo to save my life.
I always thought country
June 30, 2009 - 13:45 ET by Roger the ShrubberI always thought country music was about singing about sitting alone at a bar, sad because you're hauling refrigerators up from 'Bama, missing your honey, drinking cheap beer.
Must be me.
Sometimes it's about
June 30, 2009 - 13:55 ET by Ken ShepherdSometimes it's about searching for a long-lost love in the Smoky Mountain Rain.
http://www.youtube.c...
Hey Ken...I love that
June 30, 2009 - 15:25 ET by bigtimerHey Ken...I love that song!
All I can say is thank you.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
The Perfect Country Song
June 30, 2009 - 14:01 ET by ricklailDAVID ALAN COE
Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train.
And I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain. No,
You don't have to call me darlin'...darlin'
You never even call me
Well, I wonder why you don't call me
Why don't you ever call me by my name?
Semper suprene nitens
Child's play, trust me
June 30, 2009 - 13:58 ET by UnsaneIf this clown thinks country music is hateful, I recommend to him one of my favorite albums from my high school days:
HELL AWAITS by Slayer.
The ENTIRE album is about two things: 1) Death and 2) Satan.
(When you play a country music album backwards, you get your house, your wife, and your dog back.)
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
(When you play a country
June 30, 2009 - 14:01 ET by bigtimer(When you play a country music album backwards, you get your house, your wife, and your dog back.)
ROFLMAO!
That was a good one ...true too.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
truck
July 2, 2009 - 04:00 ET by sudmufdon't forget the pickup truck
Slayer!
July 1, 2009 - 01:45 ET by chaosmongerFunny thing is "Reign in Blood" is a Christmas album for me and my friends for back in 86' we got into about December. I can't help it. When I see Santa I need Slayer. Just like some people like IHOP after midnight on Saturdays.
If these buffoons...
June 30, 2009 - 14:28 ET by sam12663spent as much time digging into this administration's policies and direction as they do tearing down things they don't understand or like, perhaps the Obamabot zombies could find out just who this man truly is.
President Obama is nothing more than a lying empty suit; a Hollywood style special effects smoke and mirrors show that has shown itself to be a total fraud.
WAKE UP AMERICA! SAVE OUR CONSTITUTION!
I think rap music might be
June 30, 2009 - 14:35 ET by Mitchell BlattI think rap music might be filled with hate, sexism and racial epitaphs.
Songs about killing, drug dealing, mistreating women, treating them as sexual objects and refering to them as b****** and h*** and refering to everyone else as n******.
Racist
June 30, 2009 - 19:42 ET by general companyHow dare you?
sarc off
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
And they wonder why they are
June 30, 2009 - 14:37 ET by d1carterAnd they wonder why they are going broke...?
[Citation needed]
June 30, 2009 - 14:44 ET by MadRatIf hate filled country music "songs aren't hard to find in the country catalogue" then where are the examples? I'd like to know what Mr. Heim is listening to (if anything at all) since most of the country songs I know are about families, civic pride, romance (or the lack thereof) and humor. If only we didn't have those women hating songs by Patsy Cline, Crystal Gayle, Emmylou Harris, Faith Hill, The Judds, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Anne Murray, Juice Newton, Marie Osmond, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Leann Rimes, Linda Ronstadt, Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette the United States would be a much better place. Then there's Shania Twain she's the worst of them all.
My response to the WaPost's, "Country Music filled with hate"
June 30, 2009 - 19:36 ET by Gary HallMy response to the WaPost's, "Country Music filled with hate"
Sometimes, if one is patient, it'll just drop in your lap:
Did ya'll feel all that "hate" in the crowd? Didn't think so! Yeee ha!
(;~> gary
Wow thats just great
June 30, 2009 - 20:18 ET by general companyOne of our favorite local songs too.
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
LOL-What the hell would a guy named Joe Heim...
June 30, 2009 - 19:56 ET by R D Helm...know about country music, anyway?
-Dave
"Obama's health care "reform" plan is to blow up the building in order to fix a leak in the roof" -Herman Cain
There are only two kinds
June 30, 2009 - 20:17 ET by ConservativeRexThere are only two kinds of music...
Country and Western.
pop-liberal ignorance on display
June 30, 2009 - 20:46 ET by lotrWould they be referring to lyrics like this?
But seriously folks. Country music seems to be one of the only forms of PG-rated pop music left these days.
"Let's wrap him up, alright?" -- Keith Olbermann
This one has gun play
June 30, 2009 - 20:53 ET by general companyHero dies too?
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
ooh, one of my faves!
July 1, 2009 - 08:45 ET by lotrA classic (even if the Grateful Dead weren't the original authors, they performed the best rendition).
"Let's wrap him up, alright?" -- Keith Olbermann
Hmmmmm...
June 30, 2009 - 22:11 ET by rjwest21I think the reviewer is rather ignorant of what he proposes:
**********
This idea of things that seemed impossible coming to pass is
explored throughout the song before culminating in an allusion to the
momentousness of Barack Obama's election:
I had a friend in high school
The running back on the football team
They burned a cross in his front yard
For askin' out the homecoming queen
I thought about him today
And everybody who's seen what he's seen
From a woman on a bus
To a man with a dream
****************
Do the writer's at the WaPo know that the "man with a dream" was Martin Luther King, Jr? And do they know that the dream was that his kids would be judged by the content of their character & not the color of their skin (goodbye, affirmative action) and NOT simply that a black Democrat liberal would be elected president? Or are they really and truly so in love with Barack Obama that they project him for all true American icons?
I mean, missing the premise of the contention.....how'd that get by the editors?
Hopefully, no one will tell the writer that Paisley's discography is filled with Christian standards or songs with strong lyrics about his own Christianity & one of his hits was a mockery of metrosexuals, lest he start giving Paisly bad reviews (I think Brad's quite the talent).
He Thinks "Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Wind" Is Hate-filled?
June 30, 2009 - 23:16 ET by The7SticksThat's pretty ridiculous to say the least. If this idiot thinks that all country music is hate-filled, well that would include Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and all the rock musicians that have made country albums, like the Eagles, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty...I bet if he thought "Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Wind" was country music, he would definietly take it back. If not "Ring of Fire" or "Folsom Prison Blues". I don't suppose he's heard Johnny Cash's cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt". That's a country cover of industrial metal rock.
rap
July 1, 2009 - 00:04 ET by ozarkianRap has been the single most destructive influence on America's kids. And I just can't help it -- I can't see value in music that debases me as a woman.
That being said, back to country -- I agree with those who dislike the "emo with a cowboy hat" overproduced stuff. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that twang. I'm a big Gram Parsons fan.
Dream Theater
July 1, 2009 - 01:42 ET by chaosmongerI LOVE Dream Theater!
Dream Theater's latest
July 2, 2009 - 13:27 ET by UnsaneYou do?
So, I trust you have Black Clouds and Silver Linings?
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Image Problem? What problem?
July 1, 2009 - 09:08 ET by CobraMan"Country music has always had something of an image problem, particularly among people who fancy themselves as progressives."
Country Music is the most wildly popular music in America, so where's the problem? Oh, I see, it's annoying to the people who "fancy" themselves as "Progressives."
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus.
The US Supreme Court
What a twit
July 1, 2009 - 09:13 ET by well99Since some are posting some oldies but goldies.Here is more hate filled ones./sarc off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRIRTQ_k-Sg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2VYP0FCAUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDm_ZHyYTrg