By Eshaan Joshi
Author’s note: I don’t need sources, this is pillbox! (Note from the editors: this is not true.)
Man, what happened to country music? That sounds like a rhetorical question, but really, seriously, what happened to country? It was, as a genre, one of the most influential, one of the most iconic, a voice to Americana and the people forgotten by the city-dwellers. It was Nashville, it was Memphis, it was Louisville, it was partially the South and partially the voice of the unheard, it was in the flyover states, so easily counted out by the rest of us.
I forgot what country was to so many people.
Now, I’m not a country fan — I dabble in whatever sad white boy with a ponytail is the current flavor of the month. Hello Noah Kahan. Yes I know you’re folk-pop, no I don’t care — you’re getting lumped in. I’m not even really a country enjoyer, I listen to whatever’s on the radio and try my best to enjoy it, and I’ll belt “Delta Dawn” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” on the 92.9 FM, but I sort of just existed apathetic to country music for a while.
And then I heard about Jason Aldean.
I do not like Jason Aldean. Controversial opinion in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty four in college town, USA, I know, but I do not personally see the appeal.
He’s just so whiny. Like, seriously, what am I listening to? This is what charts in country these days? THIS? Like, sure, okay, Dolly is old now and maybe there’s something going on in that mulleted head of Morgan Wallen but JASON ALDEAN is charting?
It’s a genuine problem I’ve noticed in country music — when it’s good, it’s apolitical, and when it’s bad, hoo boy, it’s bad. And not only is it bad, it’s miserable.
The real kick in the rear to write this was the passing away of Toby Keith, one of my favorite artists. Not to listen to, but because he was completely and utterly unashamed. That man loved America, he loved guns, freedoms, eagles, and our G.I.s, and man oh man he was proud to tell us that. You turn that music on and you go, “hell yeah, I love America,” and that was the post-9/11 country.
Yes, I’m blaming Jason Aldean on 9/11. Shut up. It’s my article and I’m writing this after pulling an all-nighter. Seriously, country post Sept. 11, was far, far more patriotic — annoyingly so — because country at that time believed that the only way to make people remember how goddamn cool America was was to belt it as loud as humanly possible. This was a really, really annoying trick, but it was at least, well, proud. “We’ll shove a boot up your ass, it’s the American way” ain’t got a whole lotta nuance about the war in Iraq but it don’t need to. It makes my patriotic heart go warm and fuzzy, sure as shootin’.
But country music doesn’t do that anymore, and it’s partially because of conservative hate-listening or whatever conspiracy I’m sure controls the charts. Country is, at this point, either about douchebag white men with ponytails or mullets (love ya Noah), or really old men yelling at their TVs. I mean that literally, when “Am I the Only One” somehow managed to chart. And that song is literally just, “Oh no, the liberals are being mean on the television.“
Guys, country is meant to be badass. What is this? Why can’t I feel patriotic, and why am I listening to Gen X explain why I should be sadder about minorities or whatever they currently hate? “Am I The Only One” was a depressing cry about the times changing, and “Try That In A Small Town” is as close as you can get to saying the word “lynching” without saying the word “lynching.” We’re at “the crime formerly known as lynching” levels of avoidance. I mean, really,
“You cross that line, it won’t take long /
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t /
Try that in a small town /
Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right /
If you’re looking for a fight”
This isn’t dog whistling anymore, it’s literally just saying “look at us the wrong way and I’m gonna sic a posse on you.” He’s talking about mob justice. He’s talking about lynching.
It’s sad, it’s a disappointing collapse of a genre, and man, I wish country had something good to say in politics.
Rest in peace Toby Keith, at least you made me feel something — besides pity, at least.
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