A good song goes a long way. There aren't many good songs. Turn on the radio and chances are the song is complete crap.

I hate when I get in the car and it goes a bit like this: Bro country, bro country, bro country, Something in the Water.

At least three crap songs until you get to a nice uplifting song.

George Strait

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All the bro country songs on the radio sound the same. Some combo of "Hey, girl, get up in my truck, in those cutoff jeans, I'll take you to the county line on a Friday night, we'll drink beer". When someone tells me they listen to that ****, I register it the same way as if someone tells me their favorite band is Nickleback or Three Doors Down.

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But I really did those things, which I imagine most of you guys from Plano didn't. So can I sing about it?

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It's not that it's a problem to sing about simple things and 'country living'. That's always been a running theme within country music.

The issue is that there should be some sort of unique or artistic means of expressing those simple things. Girl hop on my tailgate and drink a beer under the moonlight is literally the main story line with damn near everyone of these songs.

Is this a parody or is it simply a sample of reality.



A good example is the song "Country Boy" by Johnny Cash. That song talks about the simple things like fishing and hunting, but it does it in a unique and genuine way.

I think I have gone back to that word several times in this thread - Genuine.

There is nothing about this bro country crap that has any sense of being genuine.

My friends have a running joke "Have you heard that new country song? It's called Cliche Play on Words"

Hilarious I know.

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I apologize for all the wallet chains in this video.

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This one is even more damning than the 2013 version

http://m.hitfix.com/comedy/mash-up-proves-bro-country-is-literally-all-the-same-song-is-a-menace-that-must-stop

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This one is even more damning than the 2013 version

http://m.hitfix.com/comedy/mash-up-proves-bro-country-is-literally-all-the-same-song-is-a-menace-that-must-stop

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I was just about to post that link... what a joke

'Hey girl, climb on up, grab a cold one- we'll crank Johnny Cash till the sun comes up'

Did I just write Luke Bryan's next hit?

That latest mash up is insane, and the exact reason I stopped listening to mainstream country stations period.

Here's the problem, from my limited knowledge of the situation. Radio stations play this stuff based on what's ranked high on the billboard charts (I assume). The billboard charts are based on airplay, downloads, and video plays on Youtube. I would say most people dont search out new music, they simply listen to what's put in front of them on the radio. So, if all they are hearing on the radio is this crap, then that's all they seek out to download, which in turn is reflected on the charts, leading to a high billboard ranking, meaning the radio stations are going to play it thirty times a day.

It seems to be one vicious, never ending cycle that doesn't change until the record labels decide to start promoting someone/something else. I can't see a way for an artist to break into that cycle independently of heavy promotion by a major label.

Maybe I'm wrong, or just stating the obvious, but really just exasperated at the situation. My favorite music genre growing up is going extinct.

Ten Biggest ******s in County Music

Hilarious and rather accurate, except for my boy Kenny C. Unlike the reviewer, I see no problem with being the new Jimmy Buffett.

Country needs a Steely Dan.

its like someone put the lyrics to every hit song of the 60s-90s into a database and queried the most-used words and put them all in one song. the problem isn't necessarily the tropes, but that they cram all of them into one song.

someone needs to redo "you never even called me by my name."

My good friend Luke Bryan wrote that song,
and after sending it to me,
i told him it was not the perfect bro country song
b/c he hadn't said anything at about the river
or tailgates, or money makers
or jacked up trucks
well, he sat down and wrote another verse to this song
and he sent it to me
and i realize, that my friend had written the perfect bro country song
and i felt abliged to include it on this album
the last verse goes like this here

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its like someone put the lyrics to every hit song of the 60s-90s into a database and queried the most-used words and put them all in one song. the problem isn't necessarily the tropes, but that they cram all of them into one song.

someone needs to redo "you never even called me by my name."

My good friend Luke Bryan wrote that song,
and after sending it to me,
i told him it was not the perfect bro country song
b/c he hadn't said anything at about the river
or tailgates, or money makers
or jacked up trucks
well, he sat down and wrote another verse to this song
and he sent it to me
and i realize, that my friend had written the perfect bro country song
and i felt abliged to include it on this album
the last verse goes like this here

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VERY nicely played!!!

Now do yourself a favor and figure out how to listen to The Ticket's (guy station out of Dallas) segment called Country Music Friday (or fun with Country Music) and you'll see your idea played out rather clearly on main stream radio. They make fun of songs that put all of those topics/words in them and have a blast doing it!

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This one is even more damning than the 2013 version

http://m.hitfix.com/comedy/mash-up-proves-bro-country-is-literally-all-the-same-song-is-a-menace-that-must-stop

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Wow

Marshall Tucker Band is the country version of Steely Dan.

Here's a classic country that's gets forgot about sometimes.

I told my wife about this thread and she reminded me of Alan Jackson's "Gone Country". Sounds like it's always happened and we, I, just realized it.



http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Country_(song)

When I think of classic Allan Jackson you have to go back further than Gone Country.

This is classic Alan

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This one is even more damning than the 2013 version

http://m.hitfix.com/comedy/mash-up-proves-bro-country-is-literally-all-the-same-song-is-a-menace-that-must-stop

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I actually find this oddly comforting and it makes me understand this phenomenon a little better. It's not that people who enjoy this music keep liking crappy songs. It's that they like the SAME crappy song a bunch of different times. It's literally the Creed/Nickleback effect. Find a formula that tests well in controlled audiences and then just pound that formula into the ground, just changing a few small variables here and there.

It also reinforces my theory that this is a fad. Similar to grunge or the hair ballads of the 80's. It will run its course and fade away when something new comes along. There are probably already record execs trying to figure out the next craze that will replace this one. I figure it's a 3-5 year cycle and we're 2-3 years in already.

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I don't like country bands/singers, I like individual songs. There isn't one band that bats anything over 60/40 with me... and most bat about 20/80. Every single mainstream country artist has songs I like, and songs I absolutely despise, with very little middle ground.

Examples:

FGL - Like: Here's to the Good Times; Despise: Sun Daze
Keith Urban - Like: Somewhere In My Car; Despise: Making Memories of Us
Tim McGraw - Like: Shotgun Rider; Despise: Back at Mama's (a lot)

And for the "widest gap" award....

Zac Brown Band - Colder Weather is one of my favorite country songs. It's a great piece of music, start to finish. Chicken Fried personifies every single thing I despise and it sends me into a blind rage just hearing it.

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I completely agree about Zac Brown. I can't listen to his "good songs" because I hate chicken fried so very, very much. But, I'm surprised you don't like Urban's "making memories of us". That's a Rodney Crowell song that I think Urban does a good job with. And by "does a good job", I mean he doesn't deviate much from the original.

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This one is even more damning than the 2013 version

http://m.hitfix.com/comedy/mash-up-proves-bro-country-is-literally-all-the-same-song-is-a-menace-that-must-stop

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I actually find this oddly comforting and it makes me understand this phenomenon a little better. It's not that people who enjoy this music keep liking crappy songs. It's that they like the SAME crappy song a bunch of different times. It's literally the Creed/Nickleback effect. Find a formula that tests well in controlled audiences and then just pound that formula into the ground, just changing a few small variables here and there.

It also reinforces my theory that this is a fad. Similar to grunge or the hair ballads of the 80's. It will run its course and fade away when something new comes along. There are probably already record execs trying to figure out the next craze that will replace this one. I figure it's a 3-5 year cycle and we're 2-3 years in already.

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One thing I would comment about is "grunge".

I guess things have to have labels but pearl jam, nirvana and sound garden are not fads. They made fantastic music that my 14 year old still finds fantastic. I would not lump the fad of "grunge" in with this garbage that this thread is referencing.

Ok, but those were also followed by a string of one hit, flash in the pans that merely tried to copy the formula that was popular at the time.

More of a parody of traditional country music, but I thought Wishing Boot was hilarious

Yeah, that parody is a little out of date. It would be impossible to create a parody of today's bro country. There have been several times lately I thought I was listening to a parody song, then I found out it was the current Billboard #1.

FGL debuted a new single awhile back called "Dirt". No one could write a better parody than that. They even gave up on forming sentences and essentially made a song by just listing words.

I don't care for the current crop of country music, but try to recall country music at the end of the disco era (Eddie Rabbitt, etcetera) ... George Strait and Alan Jackson were dismissed as "hat acts" when they debuted.

Styles change.

Styles change, good songwriting does not. George, Alan, and even ol Eddie had great songs. There are no great songs now.

It's not even that styles change or that there are no more good songs. Every generation has claimed both of the above. It's that the current music has become a homogenized blend of sound that fits a formula that scored well with test audiences, and they continue repeating. I blame the test audiences as much as I blame the labels.

We shouldn't pretend there were never bad/cheesy/hokey country songs. There always have been. But today's music is that same bad/cheesy/hokey country song, reproduced a hundred times by a hundred different people. It has no soul or originality. Achy Breaky Heart was a terrible song, but it was original.

I havent heard more than a few good country songs in years. The songwriters bailed when the companies decided to promote looks over substance. It wont recover.

I have serious doubts as well that it will recover. I dont see the audience that enjoys "bro country" suddenly, or even slowly deciding they like well written songs with substance. Or even just non-formulaic sings, good or bad. This audience isn't of the same makeup that composed the country audience in the past. This audience WANTS more pop and rock in their country.


I know because my wife is part of this audience. She'll listen to some Shenandoah or Brooks and Dunn with me, but forget about listening to Willie, Waylon, Don Williams, or any modern acts that you might find in the "Americana" category or Honky-tonk category.

Sometimes I worry about what REPLACES bro country down the road - how awful will that stuff be?!

Just think, in 2030, we'll be hearing bro country on the 'classic country' stations.

Some fun Florida Georgia line concert reviews and critiques in the HLSR thread:

http://texags.com/forums/38/topics/2606625/8

Zac Brown Band with Chris Cornell - Heavy is the Head

Zac Brown Band doing a rock song, and it's actually pretty decent. It's a throwback to 90s rock, but does show that the band has significant talent.

Also, I first heard this song on Octane on Sirius and not a country station. I was pretty shocked when I first heard it.

I imagine this will make some people angry as well.

If you watched Sonic Highways, Zac talks about "Chicken Fried" on the Nashville episode.
If you haven't seen it, here's the quote:

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"We had this song Chicken Fried, we put it on a CD in '05. This band, The Lost Trailers had called and said "We want to record Chicken Fried."
I was like "Well, I don't have a problem with you recording the song, but this is our song. As long as you don't release it to radio, if you want to have it on your record, I'm fine with that."

Then they get a record deal through Sony with this dude Joe Galante, who like, runs Nashville, basically. He said "THAT'S the single."
So The first time I hear "Chicken Fried" on the radio, it wasn't us singing it. It was like, my worst nightmare.
So I call my lawyer and was like "Dude, the ****ing song is on the radio," and then he says ya know, "Zac, what's the deal with this?" He's like, "You could get blackballed out of Nashville forever for not letting them record the song."
I was like, ya know "**** that, the dude told me he wouldn't ****ing do it, and then he did it!" So they had to call a cease-and-desist, they pulled it off the radio.
I came to Nashville to play a show at 3rd and Lindsley and there was a dude in there, they were like "You know who that is? That's the dude that's had 40 Number 1's with Alan Jackson and he's like the dude, Keith Stegall.
Keith had come out to hear me play.
He sat down at the table, and he's like, ya know staring down at his drink and he said "I had to meet the kid that told Joe Galante to **** off." And that was the beginning (of our relationship and commercial success)."
Zac Brown

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Good story

Country fans just need to admit that turning on the radio hoping to hear good songs is a thing of the past.

Rock fans lost hope 20 years ago. It's your turn to move on country fans. Understand that you have to do your own homework now. There's a lot of great country out there. Go find it and support those bands.