More on the state of music... ugggh

I used to enjoy making snarky posts about bad music, I really did. Now I kind of dread it (hence my lack of posts).

Take MST3K: it wouldn't be as much fun if every movie made was like Manos: the Hands of Fate. It would just be like, oh God, another one? You need to have some contrast between the good and the bad. There's little to no contrast in mainstream country anymore, unless you count bad to worse. And much of the bad isn't even outrageously bad or funny, it's just samey. Boring trend jumping. All I can see is the calculator that wrote it.

I think what's really brought me here, from the much-more-fun denial and anger stages of musical grief to this wasteland between depression and acceptance*, is how many artists I like are jumping on dumb trends like it's nothing. Like good music is suddenly meaningless to them. My post here about Eli Young Band's sudden nosedive was probably my last vestige of surprise. And that's the worst part. Nothing shocks me anymore. I've become numb.

*acceptance not of the music, but of the fact the music is gonna suck

Since then I've heard complete dreck from Brett Eldredge, whose debut album was really solid and promising (or so I thought, before he hopped the $-train to Crapville); Jake Owen, who was never a fave but did enough stuff I like that this latest mess is a severe decline; Zac Brown Band, who I'll forgive for making a generally good album and at least releasing actual country songs to country radio; RANDY HOUSER *sob* my favorite voice in country music, I still love you Randy but OMG THIS SONG IS A PILE OF DRIED UP BRO COUNTRY FIREBALL VOMIT. It's not even fresh enough to stink anymore. That's right, it's gone past stink into some colorless, odorless brain-numbing gas. I mean, seriously.



PICK UP TRUCKS STUCK IN THE MUD DON'T KICK UP DUST THEY KICK UP MUD, YOU IDIOT! OR MAYBE WHATEVER THIS SONG IS.

I'm not over Randy yet, his voice is so knee-bucklingly good I'll give him another chance. But I'm sure as HELL not buying this dreck just because I'm a fan. Take note, Luke Bryan fans. You can take the goggles off sometimes.

I might be forgetting some, it seems like another once-respected artist bites the dust every day, but let's bring it to today and my first listen to Keith Urban's new "masterpiece." It's got a really dumb title, which I'd forgive if the song was any good. Spoiler: it isn't.



"Welp, Eric Church had a big hit with Springsteen, so let's name-drop another 80s heartland rocker and see how much money it makes!" I'm pretty sure that's all the thought that went into this song. I've never been a huge Keith Urban fan, but he's a talented guy and he's put out some good music. I also admire how he's always done his own thing and kept to his own sound. But here he sounds like he's just going through the motions, which he probably is. There's no passion to this or any of these songs.

If Randy Houser doesn't even sound passionate, you know the music is lifeless. Hell, he made "Runnin' Outta Moonlight," a Dallas Davidson, etc - penned song that would have been mediocre in the hands of Luke Bryan or one of his clones, into a song I thoroughly enjoy. Just through his voice and charisma. A good artist can do that. But his latest song is unsalvageable, even by him. And even for this unabashed fangirl.

Oh, there is one exception to all this. I haven't heard a lot about this song, but I did see it lumped in with the sellout crap and I understand why. Boy, do I. The lyrics are laughably trite, tired and cliché. They would have been cliché two years ago and sound downright ridiculous now. BUT - I've always cared much more about the sound of the music than the lyrics, and this one actually sounds really good. The production is nice and simple, polished but without any autotune or other over-produced, machiney sounding crap. The vocals are wonderful. He's singin' stupid words but by God, at least he doesn't sound like he's going through the motions. There's warmth and passion put into this, at least by Easton Corbin himself. "Buzz in my dixie cup" aside, this song is totally on my summer playlist.



But ummm, if your Dixie cup is buzzin', you might wanna be careful because there's probably a wasp in it.

I'll end this by remembering how I felt about Tim McGraw not too long ago ("YOU'RE DEAD TO ME, TIM! DEAD TO ME!!!!"), and how I feel about Tim now. He's one of my most-played artists the past few months, and not even his 90s stuff, his latest album. So I'm gonna add on one more stage to musical grief, thanks to Tim. Maybe after acceptance, comes hope. If a 45-year old who sang the lines, "That girl, she's a party all-nighter, A little "Funky Cold Medina," little "Strawberry Wine"-er, That girl, she's a love gunslinger, neon jägerbomb country-okie singer" can return to relevance, ANY of these guys can.

Okay, this post was actually a little therapeutic. Thanks, blog! I'm gonna write out my feel good Friday now while I'm rarin to go, in case I get too busy tomorrow.