Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 19, 2022 0:17:08 GMT -5
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 19, 2022 0:29:34 GMT -5
How About You is about the type of person Eric is and he asks you if you are too. It's a country rock number with steel guitar flourishes. Also his brother Brandon Church (who passed away due to alcohol-related seizure in 2018) co-wrote this song. I think it's energetic that may sound better in concerts, but there are better songs in this album. ClevelandRox loses a top 2 while gardyfan loses a top 3. Meanwhile the #12 from someguy is gone. castleoblivion26 and zack97 got perfect ranking.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 19, 2022 0:32:23 GMT -5
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 19, 2022 0:39:54 GMT -5
Livin' Part of Life is the last song in the album and the last song revealed in this set. This is about a needed R&R in a hectic life. Liz Rose co-wrote this. I think the bluegrass instrumentation fit him well. If I were asked the essence of early Eric Church, I'd say the carefree attitude that is shown in this song. someguy becomes the highest rank loser after the last reveal. This reveal takes the last place rank from tim, kw9461 and castleoblivion26. George Strait Junkie got a perfect ranking.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 19, 2022 0:41:43 GMT -5
Top 8 (including the five songs that will be in non-singles rankdown):
Sinners Like Me These Boots What I Almost Was The Hard Way Guys Like Me Lightning Pledge Allegiance to the Hag (featuring Merle Haggard) Two Pink Lines
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Feb 19, 2022 5:43:30 GMT -5
Nice, my bottom 4 went out in the first 4 reveals! But this is where things get much harder because I thought the top 8 was really strong. I'm hoping "Lightning" can make it into the top 5!
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bboat11
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Post by bboat11 on Feb 20, 2022 4:18:44 GMT -5
"Before She Does" was, like, aggressively ignorant, lol. "I believe Jesus is coming back before she does" is a clever hook, and a really good song could have been written around it.....but instead we get a bunch of whiny stereotypical hick crap about dogs being better than cats, gas prices being too damn high, the tax collectors and and the devil sharing the same address, real men work their ass off at all times, you should only pay in cash, etc. Which is already catering to the lowest common denominators in society, mind you... And then it goes even further as to actively push unfounded conspiracies such as the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald didn't assassinate JFK Like, if anyone can relate to this song, they definitely belong in the proverbial Basket that Hillary Clinton so graciously chucked them into. And it's not like it had a particularly unique melody to counteract the horrible lyrics, as it is basically every bit as in-your-face bro-country as you would expect based on the lyrics. I'm shocked to see it be your #1, tim !
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:12:24 GMT -5
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:18:40 GMT -5
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HeyHeyHey
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Post by HeyHeyHey on Feb 20, 2022 22:23:52 GMT -5
The fact that Merle Haggard sang on an Eric Church song that appears on Eric’s debut album is super cool! I love that song - I almost put it in my top 2.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:30:25 GMT -5
Pledge Allegiance to the Hag acts as a tribute to Merle Haggard (with even an appearance by Merle himself), and is about small town American values. The fact that Eric got Merle in his debut album is cool, but i should have been a better song lyrically as I feel it's a bit pandering. Unfortunately gardyfan becomes the second person to lose his #1. Meanwhile austin , .indulgecountry , and ClevelandRox lose their last place ranking. Kanenrá:ke and I got perfect ranking. It spent some time at the last place but eventually bounced back to #8, where it fluctuates but not much.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:31:57 GMT -5
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:37:53 GMT -5
The Hard Way is about a guy who wishes he would have learned life lessons without having to endure the pain to learn them. Imo it's a decent acoustic-like song, but the themes are so typical (teenage/marriage/death of family member) that it's a bit difficult to like much. .indulgecountry loses his #1 right after losing the last place, while gardyfan has a reverse experience. HeyHeyHey also loses his last place. Kanenrá:ke got a perfect ranking again. Like Pledge Allegiance to the Hag, it fluctuates but ends up at the highest movement.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:40:23 GMT -5
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:46:49 GMT -5
What I Almost Was is a song about a guy who is in a drastically different place than where he originally planned on being. He's glad he took the turns he did nowadays. I am not sure whether this song is autobiographical, but the optimistic outlook on life is infectious. I also like the pun of "ran out of" in the second chorus. This is the only song in the rankdown that doesn't have a #1 or #12, good for being 2nd lowest divisive. The #2 rank from someguy and #11 rank from gardyfan come close though.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:48:04 GMT -5
Three people's #1 will be lost in the next reveal...
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 22:54:24 GMT -5
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 23:32:42 GMT -5
These Boots saw the narrator blaming his stubborness on his boots for all the stupid stuff he did, especially leaving his other half. A notable feat is that Eric's fans would lift their boots and seek for his signature when this song is played during concerts. It's still a list song in parts, but the way it's written (from perspective of boots) is fresh. Gone are the #1s from George Strait Junkie, HeyHeyHey and gonecountry. bboat11 got one of his low ranks eliminated. .indulgecountry and 🌺CountryLineDancer got perfect ranking.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 20, 2022 23:33:45 GMT -5
Top 4:
Sinners Like Me Guys Like Me Lightning Two Pink Lines
Any surprises or snubs? Any predictions?
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🌺CountryLineDancer
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Post by 🌺CountryLineDancer on Feb 21, 2022 3:50:55 GMT -5
I always consider Eric Church to be hit-or-miss, but this album overall was very solid. Two misses are Before She Does and How 'Bout You, so their early eliminations were good news to me.
First sad reveal was Livin' Part of Life. I usually don't enjoy this kind of rough production, but I really liked its melody and vibe. Great closing track, but its early elimination was not too surprising, considering its production.
The elimination of Pledge Allegiance to the Hag was earlier than expected. The chorus melody becomes a bit repetitive, but overall, I really like the melody development of this tune. He sang this when I saw him last October, which also elevated my impression to this song.
Both The Hardway and These Boots have strong lyrics, but the melody was not as memorable as my fav songs from this album. Still great song writing.
Prediction: 1. Two Pink Lanes 2. Lightning 3. Guys Like Me 4. Sinners Like Me
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gonecountry
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Post by gonecountry on Feb 21, 2022 8:27:53 GMT -5
Well, this has been a surprising rankdown so far. I think what we are going to see is that everyone has their favorite Eric songs. This is going to be fascinating. Really surprised to see TPL doing so well. (Ever hear the story that Eric's mom didn't know what the song was about when it came out - she thought he was saying "two pink lions", she didn't know it was about teenage pregnancy, and he didn't correct her).
My guesses:
1. Sinners Like Me (could be wrong) 2. Guys Like Me 3. Two Pink Lines 4. Lightning
I really enjoy pretty much everything on this album. Wait til we hit Carolina, which is my second favorite album!
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Feb 21, 2022 10:54:58 GMT -5
I love this album and really don't dislike anything on it. Never really paid too much attention to the lyrics of "Before She Does" completely but I just enjoy the song itself, which is why I had it in the middle.
"The Hard Way" left way too early. That song is a great song lyrically. This was an easy #3 for me and I'm shocked it missed the top 5.
As for the final four, I'm rooting for "Lightning" as it is one of those songs that I've always really enjoyed from the production to the lyrics it is just great. That said I also think both "Two Pink Lines" and "Sinners Like Me" being in the Top 4 is correct and I'm happy to see it. Hope they are #3 (TPL) and #2 (SLM).
"Guys Like Me" is the biggest outlier in the Top 4. Do love this song but it shouldn't be higher than "The Hard Way" or "What I Almost Was"
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kw9461
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Post by kw9461 on Feb 21, 2022 12:06:02 GMT -5
Other than "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" and "The Hard Way" going out too soon, this has gone fairly well. Hag has a killer melody and I kind of expected it to make the top 5.
"These Boots" is a song that really sneaks up on you. The melody and guitar strums are a tad too repetitive, so I initially had it near the very bottom. But the lyrics are a lot stronger than at first glance, and it actually a really well executed concept with a great final bridge/verse. Glad it made it this far.
Top 4 predictions:
4. Two Pink Lines 3. Lightning 2. Guys Like Me 1. Sinners Like Me
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 23, 2022 22:17:06 GMT -5
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bboat11
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Post by bboat11 on Feb 23, 2022 22:20:15 GMT -5
I think it'll be "Sinners Like Me" out next!
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 23, 2022 22:21:37 GMT -5
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bboat11
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Post by bboat11 on Feb 23, 2022 22:26:55 GMT -5
Hmm, that's too bad. The chorus to this one is just plain catchy ear-candy. That's not Eric Church's main style, as he usually seems to try to impress with quirkiness rather than feel-good energy, but this has always remained one of my favorites from him because it's just plain catchy.
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HeyHeyHey
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Post by HeyHeyHey on Feb 23, 2022 22:30:28 GMT -5
“Guys Like Me” is such a great song! I wish he had sung it when I saw him in concert a few months ago even though I knew it was unlikely.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 23, 2022 22:34:34 GMT -5
Guys Like Me is about a hard nosed, hard headed country guy who can’t understand why a beautiful, classy city girl loves him. I don't think this song is bad melodically (after all it's the most commercially successful single from this album), but the theme is certainly one of the more basic ones and kinda pandering imo. This steadily climbed during rankdown submission. Whopping five #2s are lost. Meanwhile, zack97, Kanenrá:ke and I lose last place. George Strait Junkie and kw9461 got perfect ranking.
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Darkest Hour
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Post by Darkest Hour on Feb 23, 2022 22:37:19 GMT -5
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