And just a reminder, Luke Bryan doesn't even have to suck.



I liked this song so much when it came out in 2009. It's funny, listening to it now you could lump it in with all the laundry list, country trope truck songs. But this one still resonates with me. It's a nice-sounding song, and all that stuff wasn't as cliché 6 years ago. I put it together with Jason Aldean's "Amarillo Sky."

Come back, Luke. You too, Jason.

What is THIS mess?! ~ Women in Music Edition

Well, it definitely isn't truly outrageous.

It's probably no surprise I watched the hell out of Jem and the Holograms growing up. I loved girly pop music, and there was even an edgier, "bad girl" band, the Misfits. (Well, edgy by 80s cartoon standards, anyway. I thought they might be loosely based on the Runaways.) This show was tailor made for me, and it ran constantly in syndication after school so I saw every episode probably 5+ times. It was kinda stupid, but it was a fun kinda stupid. Y'know, like the 80s.

So... does this trailer look fun? In any way, shape or form? It looks like your standard, generic teen melodrama crap with Jem's makeup slapped on.

The world doesn't need a Jem movie. Fans who grew up on the original show don't want a boring teen movie, and teens won't even know or care about the source material. So who is this FOR? It's the same problem I have with all the nostalgic crap they've been putting out. Either make it really fun and campy like the Brady Bunch movie back in the 90s, or just, I dunno, COME UP WITH NEW IDEAS!

Speaking of girly stuff... apparently the country music industry runs entirely on women's hormones. I did not know this. Perhaps we should alert the Department of Energy about this wonderful alternative energy source. We could save the world, Captain Planet style!

Oy. So yeah, I had the misfortune of reading this: http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/country-radio-consultant-if-you-want-to-make-ratings-in-country-radio-take-females-out-aka-saladgate Oh goody, another "gate." From now on ima turn all the Watergate shit into Motel 6, so we'll just call this #salad6. Okay? Okay.

So seriously, WTF is all I have to say about this. Because this is not about music. This is about image. This is about people living sad lives, and selling a fantasy to them. And apparently, the fantasy business pays well. Look, this is something that's always existed. The Beatles sold sex appeal. So did Elvis. But they were also really talented musicians. Hell, it used to be that playing good music actually made you sexy, not the other way around! I mean, does anyone actually find Mick Jagger attractive when you take music out of the equation? Luke Bryan is like, the anti-Jagger. He's a mediocre, should-be middle tier singer who got rocketed to the top by hormones. (Seriously, someone should consult NASA about this shit.)

I only skimmed the article because it made me angry and sad, but I didn't see anything in there about women not liking the sound of women's voices, or even preferring the sound of men's voices. So is the bottom line even about music anymore, or is it really all about Luke Bryan's tight-jeaned ass? (Get it, "bottom" line? GET IT???)

I'm only one person, but I'm a female music fan, emphasis on MUSIC, so I'll try to speak for other actual fans who share my gender. I LOVE good male country voices, I'm not gonna lie. Many of my favorite artists are male, and it's entirely based on their music. Nothing soothes me quite like Alan Jackson singing. But I'm also a fan of female artists from way back. From Madonna, Dolly Parton and Cyndi Lauper in the 80s, to 90s alt-power pop like Letters to Cleo and Veruca Salt and country artists like Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, to Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, and Brandi Carlile today.

A true music fan isn't gonna care if a man or a woman is singing, as long as the song is good. If it speaks to them. Image has always been a part of music, though more in pop music than country, traditionally. But when image becomes interchangeable with music, which is what appears to be happening now in country, we get crap like FGL and Luke Bryan shoved down our throats. They're the Twilight and 50 Shades of music. Calculated, disposable garbage.

Fellow women... WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS! We are better than this. There's nothing wrong, in itself, with hormones or fun or guilty pleasures. If buying a Luke Bryan record brings you genuine joy, go for it. Listen to it, feel good, run free! I'm not the music police. I've admitted my love for "Timber" and some other pretty sketchy crap. All I'm asking is, if music gives you that good happy feeling in your soul, if it's more to you than wallpaper, don't let people like this salad guy dictate what you listen to. If you enjoy some of what's played on the radio, awesome. BUT, when I see a song shoot up the charts that even fans are scratching their heads over, that to me signals a breaking point. It's basically, "I don't like this, but I'm gonna buy it anyway." Is this from misguided loyalty? Perceived lack of choice? Laziness? Some of each?

This is why, for all their greedy short-sightedness, I can't totally blame the People in Charge. Cause so-called music fans are buying music they don't actually like, instead of finding something new to like. Maybe even *gasp* a female artist! But everyone who is responsible for this clusterfuck, YOU SUCK. Some of us want to hear the many overlooked female artists (as well as the overlooked males like Aaron Watson and Chris Stapleton!) A reeeeally good first step would be, y'know, NOT BUYING SOMETHING YOU DON'T ACTUALLY LIKE AJDHDHFDJDJVFVKVK!!11GAWD! I mean, would you buy an ugly shirt just because it was in your favorite store? Or an ill-fitting pair of jeans?

No, no, these are comfortable, really... *passes out*

Even if the People in Charge systematically remove females from radio for some he-man woman hater's club bullshit, you don't have to go along with it. Female artists are NOT hard to find. Kacey Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, Brandi Carlile (not country per se but a good, rock-edged singer-songwriter), hell, go back and buy some of the old 90s country too. If I can find this stuff, anyone can. I'm lazy as hell and I hate that I can't turn on the radio and hear music I like anymore. But the internet makes it pretty easy, so there's no excuse for BUYING MUSIC YOU DON'T LIKE JUST BECAUSE IT'S THERE. That's right, allcaps AND italics. I'm serious about this shit.

And why the hell is country so different from pop? I'm gonna guess it's majority women buying Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor records. And Taylor Swift. Imagine if pop radio never played any of them because "women just want to hear Justin Bieber and One Direction." Pop music, which has generally been dumber than country (though not so much anymore), seems to be a lot smarter on the industry side.

Also? Lettuce is the most boring part of a salad. You've gotta drench that stuff in salad dressing to make it palatable. (I guess tight jeans are the salad dressing in this metaphor? Yeeeah, I can't possibly make that metaphor even dumber than it already is.) Comparing something to lettuce is like comparing it to tofu. And I'd point out that tomatoes are juicier, but I'm not onea them girl crush lesbians. *snerk*

IN SHORT: I think happier people buy better music. They don't need the image and the fantasy, just the songs. So who do you want to market to? Never mind, I know the answer. Whatever makes money. So a better question... who do you want to be?

Okay, two things about *groan* "deflate-gate."

1. Maybe this is too logical or something, but if deflated balls* make for more... winner-y football games, why not just change the rule so everyone can do it if they want? Then it's even and there's no cheating. Problem solved!

2. So this "gate" business, this all springs from the Nixon "Watergate" scandal, right? Okay. So, you realize Watergate is the name of a hotel, right? Adding -gate to something doesn't make it mean "scandal." It doesn't mean anything at all. It's a hotel. What would have happened if the Nixon thing went down at the Ramada, or a Motel 6?

*I have, at least, learned to type "deflated balls" without sniggering softly to myself. It's the small victories, folks.

Feel Good Friday

Because good music is timeless. Really, it is. It's one of the few things that actually is timeless.

So why has mainstream music become more disposable than ever? Why, when most of us care about the quality of our clothing, electronics, and even food (which is literally disposable lol), do we care so little about the quality of our music? Something created to nourish our souls? While it's easy to blame the big, soulless music labels, and I certainly do blame their short-sighted idiocy, I think it comes down to the consumer. If you buy crap, they'll keep making crap. Cause all they care about is money.

Is the problem more that the music industry ONLY cares about money now, where in the past there was at least some concern for quality? Is this what the download age has brought upon us, this desperate scramble to recoup money lost from album sales by beating ever-fleeting trends like dead farm animals? Or is the bigger problem that consumers have lowered their standards so much that crap has become the status quo? It's a chicken and egg thing. Which came first? And how do we break the cycle?

I don't have any answers. What I do have, on this lovely Friday, are some timeless tunes.

70s - my go-to song to just relax and forget the world:



80s - 1989, the start of my favorite time in music, ever:



(watching that made me tear up. can we ever have that kind of excitement back in country music again? I even miss those shirts lol)

90s - anyone remember this one? One of my favorite feel-good songs:



2000s - the song that brought me back to country music:



2010s - two songs from this year, because I want to focus on the fact that timeless music is still being made:





I am really digging this track from ZBB's new album. I had no idea I even missed country music from the early 80s, but he captured the sound quite well. This is gonna be one of my top summer songs, and not just this summer. This is a sit out on the porch with a glass of lemonade (hard or not :)) and feel nothing but the music and the breeze kinda song.

Bates Motel

This show has become one of my favorites. Vera Farmiga better win ALL the TV award thingies.

I'm finding the Dylan/Caleb storyline every bit as compelling as the Norman/Norma one (especially now that Dylan/Emma is part of it). Dylan is my new Jesse Pinkman. I seem to like the "criminal with a heart" characters lol. Here's what I'm puzzling over: what did Chick have to gain by sending Dylan and Caleb into certain doom? He wasn't going to get paid. Did he think serving up two strangers would pay off his debt to those people? Not only is that cold, it doesn't make much sense either. And there's no way Chick didn't know. Chick strikes me as someone who knows everything, including government documents, the Colonel's secret recipe, and what the fox says.

I'm glad to have an exciting show like this now that Breaking Bad is over. I'll be starting Better Call Saul soon, as well. Always need more shows. :)

I've said it before, but as gawdawful as the last 5 years of mainstream music have been, TV has been mind-blowingly good. Music needs outlets like AMC or HBO that care about actual artistic freedom and integrity, not just these big labels running everything for their bottom line. Yes, there are independent labels, but that music doesn't get nearly the exposure that these TV shows do. Music is broken.

re: Tim McGraw is "unamurrican" because he cares about gun safety and y'know, kids not dying and shit*:

Oh country music, don't ever change. Wait, please do change. Immediately.

Extreme gun nuts remind me of outspoken homophobes. If you're not a criminal or mentally unstable, why are you so worried about losing your guns? Is there something you're not telling us? Do you keep your guns in the closet, too? ;)

This is why I ignore politics as much as humanly possible. "Let's skew everything to its least rational extreme to make some political point! Logic? Reading comprehension? Those have no place here, we've got fearmongerin' to do!" Both sides do it. People fall for it. It's a crazy train to nowhere. If you don't wanna be "controlled," stop thinking with your knee and start using your brain. It saddens me that people are still this stupid. If you really wanna boycott Tim McGraw, here's a justifiable reason for doing so:



(but you'll miss some good tunes if you do)

*obligatory footnote where I say I have no problem with responsible gun ownership, blah blah blah, herp de doo. Cause I don't. Why the hell would I have a problem with someone who isn't going to shoot me owning guns? I just think it's something people should be educated about, because education is the enemy of fearmongering.

And I love Travis Tritt's music and will still be listening to it and not burning anything, even though I disagree with him. Because sanity.

Headline that made me straight up giggle today:

"Madonna's Cone Bra Turns 25"

hoo...raay...?

We have weird priorities as a people, is what I'm saying.

No nostalgia, no problem

You always end up missing everything - Holden Caulfield

You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back - Trace Adkins*

I feel that way a lot. Hell, I've felt nostalgic listening to Ice Ice Baby, and that's a horrible song. But it reminds me of all the other, good things about the early 90s.

But one thing I can safely say I'll never be nostalgic for is bro country (and the early 2010s in general), which just makes this all the funnier:



Truly, the tribute bro country deserves. Bon voyage, and don't come back! Oh and please take Cole Swindle with you, he seems to be lost.

*This is pretty much guaranteed the only blog you'll get a JD Salinger and Trace Adkins reference in the same post, so soak it up.

I've missed Feel Good Friday 2 weeks in a row due to being busy. Hmm, perhaps I should change it to Wow This Doesn't Suck! Wednesday.

Which brings us to... the 2010s. The first half of this decade has been an absolute blight upon music in every way. The complete lack of rock in the mainstream. Country and pop sinking to the lowest common denominator, both musically and lyrically. As always, there were/are exceptions. Popwise, I like Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. Countrywise, we have two of the best voices I've ever heard, Chris Young and Randy Houser. Taylor Swift's Speak Now gave me great hope, only to be followed by the disappointment of her next two albums.* Exceptions don't make a good music era; if anything they just get lost in all the crap. Of course they're also the best candidates to survive once the crap blows over, which I think it will. I don't think FGL will still be on the charts in 3-5 years, but I bet Chris Young will be.

*MANY positive thoughts go out to Taylor and her mom today. And Speak Now is a really good album.

Cause, I think this decade is gonna be backwards. I don't know if the second half of the 2010s is gonna be great, but it sure as hell has to be better. I think we've reached a breaking point. I'm already seeing positive changes, both in pop and country. Uptown Funk is an Awesome Mix song for our time, and I hope its success will be influential on the pop charts. For the love of God, let's make pop music FUN again! Country is a bit trickier. I don't know where it's going exactly, but here are some positives.

Tim McGraw seems to have recovered from whatever horrible brain-eating disease he had and is making good music again. I only wish they'd re-release Sundown Heaven Town without "Lookin for that Ho."

Kenny Chesney came back in a big way. He gets a bad rap sometimes and I don't know why. I like his music. Yes, it's poppy and he hasn't been a traditional country artist since about 1995, but that doesn't always mean it's bad. Anyway, I think a lot of people predicted the demise of his career since he's neither a bro nor a critical darling, but The Big Revival just hit that sweet spot. I couldn't be happier. (I saw him at the Hickory State Fair in either '98 or '99. I was in the front row and he touched my hand. I bought a t-shirt. It was a wonderful night. He was already well known in country, but he got HUGE not too long after that.)

Aaron Watson's AMAZING album hit #1 despite "not existing." He must be a wizard! ;) Proof: country fans still want to hear actual country music.

Zac Brown Band has a new album coming out, which might be their best yet judging by what I've heard so far.

Blackberry Smoke, while definitely more southern rock than country, released an album with the kind of widespread appeal that transcends genres. In a good way. Holding All the Roses is one of those classic albums that music fans will still be talking about in 30 years. It's that good.

Pretty much everything I just said also relates to Brandi Carlile's The Firewatcher's Daughter. I had a similar response to when I first heard Lucinda Williams. It's not really a country album, but it's authentic in the way country is supposed to be authentic. She's not on country radio, but she sure as hell is a living, breathing force of music.

Which brings us to the #1 negative: the woeful lack of women on the country charts. I'm not a big fan of most of today's female pop stars, but at least they're out there. Like, there's more than two of 'em. There are precisely three solo women in the sausage fest that is the top 25 right now: Miranda, Carrie, and someone called Kelsea Ballerini. Wow. Could her song possibly be anymore bland, generic, and poppy? In other words, it's perfect for the country charts. Sigh. Of all the women who are looking for that breakthrough hit, this is what makes it? It's like Taylor Light, and she was pretty light to begin with. It's discouraging. It's forgettable. Wait, what was I talking about?

Positives: Girl Crush gets some girl power points, it's wonderful hearing Grace Potter with Kenny again, and I'm hoping Lonely Tonight has really put Ashley Monroe on the map. But it's so not even close to enough. Not til we have more solo women on the charts than Carrie, Miranda, and Pop Princess #47.

The 2010s are pretty much a mess and I'm not sure they can be salvaged in time to be remembered as a great decade, but there's still time to at least go out with a bang. I'm looking forward to a better second half that will bleed into the early 2020s... then the last half of that decade will suck. ;p We'll have like, 60 year old Tim McGraw wearing his daughter's jeans and singing about partying, and it will be a mix of autotune and canned beats and whatever fresh hell exists then that we don't even know about yet. Music that sounds like somebody being slapped across the face with a fish. Hey, it could happen. So enjoy the good while we can!

Tomorrow: the return of feel good Friday, with an assortment of new music.

I will have an actual music post up in the not too distant future. I'm working through my thoughts. They're mostly good thoughts, which is such a foreign concept I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it.

Also, I was all excited about my theory that Charles DiLaurentis = Cece Drake. Same initials! That's why she resembles Alison so much, she's her sister/former brother! That would explain the two dresses child-Alison caught her mother hiding, as well as the bag of women's clothes Jessica delivered to someone who wasn't Alison last season. Cece's one of the few characters left from season one who even remotely fits the bill, and isn't dead. Maybe she even has a split personality - Cece genuinely cares for Alison, but Charles is jealous and resents her (and her friends, for some reason).

But of course, I wasn't the first to come up with this scenario. I bet everyone felt much more original before the internet.

THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD RIGHT NOW I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START

pll finale

Well, I was way off haha.

Mona looked pretty damn dead to me but whatever, I'll take it. Having her back is worth a little suspended belief.

So here's what we can infer about Charles. He's related to Alison, and he's older than the girls. Likely Jason's (fraternal?) twin. I still don't know how Andrew fits in - maybe he's listening in on phone calls so he can save the girls, for all I know - but he clearly isn't A because he's the wrong age. (Yeah I know everyone's a 27-year old high schooler on this show, but he's in school with the girls so he can't be 7 years older than they are.)

Somehow this all ties back to the first season. So I'm going with Wren, partly by process of elimination and partly because I always found him suspicious. How Jason's twin would have ended up with a British accent, I have no idea. But that would make Wren and Melissa half siblings. Yep, that's pretty dark. But I think Spencer's line about it being "Ian and Melissa's prom" was important, and Andrew just happens to be listening in on a call between Melissa and her mother. How any of this ties in with Alison and the girls, I also have no idea. But A seems to have a weird love/hate relationship with his sister.

What I like is now we clearly know who A isn't: any of the girls - including Alison and Mona - Toby, Caleb and Ezra. It could still be Jason, I guess. I also like how the next season is going to focus on the why as well as the who. Cause seriously, why would anyone do this? It's gonna be twisted, so I'm happy. :)

Good, creepy, suspenseful episode. It left more questions than answers, but of course it did.

I'm actually nervous about next week's supposed "big A reveal" on PLL. I am NERVOUS. About a damn tv show. This is embarrassing, people!

My one PLL theory (putting it down here just in case it's right, har har): Andrew is obviously NOT A, but he DID kill Mona. Either as muscle for team A, or for unrelated personal reasons (blackmail?) Or, he obviously didn't like Mona, so maybe she did something that just pushed him over the edge. He seems very... edgy. If Aria wasn't so self-involved and still thinking about Ezra and buying more Giant Feather Earrings or whatever, maybe she'd actually notice this. He obviously had the strength to do it, and the last look we saw on Mona's (alive) face was one of surprise, like whoever was there was someone she didn't expect to see. He was using Aria to get close to Mike, Mona's boyfriend, and keep him from talking. But he did end up developing feelings for Aria - possessivey, stalkery type feelings, but feelings.

OR, Andrew is just an innocent possessive stalker, and Mona is somehow still pulling the A strings from beyond the grave. Maybe through Random Leslie and God who knows who else. (I'd be all over the "Mona is still alive" thing, if we hadn't seen her very cold, very lifeless corpse packed into someone's trunk.) I have no idea who "A" is, but I feel like nothing will ever top the Ezra thing, which turned out to be a LIE. I HAVE TRUST ISSUES WITH YOU NOW, PLL.

I can't wait.

So remember last summer when I compared Blake Shelton to Taio Cruz?*

http://mrsrowsdower.blogspot.ca/2014_08_01_archive.html#5108279802716986722

It seems the rising fear I felt while writing that post is coming to fruition. Eli Young Band, one of the few mainstream acts whose hits I've consistently enjoyed, has released an overproduced, lyric-repeating monstrosity. It's called Turn it Up or Turn Me On or some generic pop wannabe crap. As Todd in the Shadows calls it, "club shit." Yeah, we'll just go with that. Eli Young Band has released club shit. I guess another one bites the "dust," eh? EH? Ha! ha! I laugh because I'm crying inside.

I still say "Neon Light" is actually redeemable. Just replace the repeated lines with actual lyrics and bring back the band he apparently fired to buy bigger truck tires. Giant, gold-plated truck tires. Anyway, do that and you've got a solid 90s hit. But all this latest watered-down dreck is absolutely useless, including Take it off or whatever this thing is called. Oh wait, that's a Kesha song about having an orgy in a filthy club, I think. Actually, never mind, perfect analogy.

*and does anyone actually remember Taio Cruz?

Hilarious parody!

Sssh... it's a parody. I refuse to believe otherwise. Cause, this makes Florida Georgia Line sound like Alabama. This is the worst "song" I've ever heard. Or it would be, if it wasn't a brilliant parody of bad music. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

My favorite movie is Ghostbusters. I will probably not see any Ghostbusters remake. I don't care if it's women or men; I'd be more likely to see one with women just because it's different, and I appreciate the effort to showcase women in comedy. Boy, do I. But that doesn't change my feeling of... DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. This is when I hate nostalgia. Don't freaking remake stuff from our childhoods, make new stuff that will be iconic in 30 years. We already have the original for nostalgia purposes, we don't need a new one!

Also, they seem to fail at making movie characters likable anymore. Especially in comedies and horror. I feel like things are done just to get a reaction, instead of earning that reaction. It's all so cynical.

It doesn't help that I don't know who half of the new cast is, and the other half I don't find funny or likable. If they made Ghostbusters with the cast of Pretty Little Liars, I'd be so there. The acting, especially the comic timing, of those women is way better than it has any business being in a show called Pretty Little Liars. Somebody make this happen!

Feel Good Friday

I'm gonna have to revise my Supernatural playlist to 20 songs. I forgot some favorites! Here's one now.

a random mishmash of general things in my brain

1. Supernatural

Season 9 is worth watching just for Crowley. He's fun, and oddly compelling. Sam and Dean haven't been fun for like, 5 seasons now. I miss episodes ending with the Impala cruising down the highway and something like "All Right Now" playing. Rock n roll can still save your soul, is the message I took from that. But now every episode is "Sam and Dean have a midlife crisis. And there are angels and shit." When the bounciest part of your show is a demon, you might have some issues.

2. Social media, again

I, like many people, I expect, have a love/hate relationship with social media. (Except you, Blogger. That's pure love, baby.) One thing that strikes me is how funny people are on sites like twitter vs real life. I'd love to see more people being clever and interesting in real life, instead of talking about car mileage or stocks or whatever boring shit. So yes, I'm saying real life should be more like twitter. In a sense. God help me.

The beauty of the internet shows the failings of "real life" interaction, is what I'm saying. On the internet, you'd think everyone is into the nerdy shit you're into. Because it's so easy to find like-minded people. In real life, you'd think no one is into what you're into. It's hard to find like-minded people, or maybe people are just more themselves online. For every troll or bully that hides behind anonymity to do evil, there's probably like 5 people enjoying the freedom of being themselves behind that same anonymity. Which is great, but also sad. Imagine if we could be that way all the time? I mean, if everything in the "real" world is safe and bland, everything will continue to be safe and bland. I swear, this is the same reason shitty stuff becomes popular. Everyone has to "fit in" instead of just being their damn selves. So I love the internet for at least deconstructing that in one little corner of our lives.

And why does "fitting in" usually boil down to the lowest common denominator? It's like we're programmed to dumb ourselves down for consumption. So weird.

That said - here are two things I hate about social media. One, the addicting nature of it. When I'm indoors, I'm online most of the time. And I think that's okay. What's the difference between that and any other indoor activity like watching TV, etc? But when I go outside, the only technology I take with me is my iPod to listen to some sweet tunes. (And sometimes my camera, depending.) I am not "connected" when I go outside, and I don't want to be. As much as I enjoy it the rest of the time, the break is a breath of fresh air, literally. This is something we all need, I think. But what do I see every time we go for a walk? People on their phones. People texting. While running, while walking their dogs, probably while frigging white water rafting. If you're running in a park and talking on your damn phone, I better hear the words "BLOOD IS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE DEAR GOD HELP ME," or put the goddamn thing away.

Second, there's just too damn much of it. Instagram and snapsomething and facebook and twitter and tumblr and idk, flogger, and I'm like WHY DO YOU NEED SO MANY THINGERS?? It seems so narcissistic. I quit livejournal... said most people 5 years ago, but I just did recently. Whatever. So I replaced it with the much more active twitter. I'm choosy. I also don't have the need to splash myself all over the internet like a Kardashian wannabe. The fewer of these sites you're on, the less chance you have of ever posting a butt selfie, is what I'm saying. Control the machine.

3. Music

My whole life, up to about 5 years ago, I've been a radio person. I've liked the music that's popular, not because it was popular, but because I genuinely liked it and never really had to search for alternatives. When rock died out as a popular form (it hurts me to type that) and pop became increasingly canned and sterile, there was still plenty of popular country to like. And honestly, looking at this week's country chart, I think things are getting better. There's still crap, and stuff that isn't bad but just doesn't sound like country music, but I'm definitely seeing a change. Maybe I'll become a radio person again someday, at least country radio. Pop radio sounds more and more like walking into a club, and I fucking hate clubs.

There has also been a lot of controversy about artists played on country radio vs artists that aren't. The thing that drives me more crazy than anything is when an artist that makes radio-friendly, commercial-sounding music (in the good way) can't get airplay because they're not part of some fuck club or whatever. I've been listening to Aaron Watson (I had a few of his older songs already) and geez, this guy would have been all over radio in the 90s. He's great, and well-suited to a wide country audience. God, I feel like if George Strait came out today, he'd be one of those artists that "doesn't exist." It's kind of scary. There are several more "alternative" country artists I've given a listen, and while I recognize they're good musically, it's not something I'd listen to. It doesn't grab me. I like the radio-friendly sound. Not today's radio, not FGL FM ("All turd country, all the time!"), but what used to be radio-friendly. George Strait, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, etc.

So that's my goal right now. Find as many artists like that as I can, as well as mining for gold on the radio. It's not as rare as it was 2-3 years ago, so that's something. I believe I've written this before, but what the hell. The thing that drove me off country radio for good? Repeated playings of "Country Girl Shake it for Me." I think I sensed things were gonna get a lot worse. Now, I think things can only get better. Thank you, Howard Jones.