Jason Aldean - "Try That In A Small Town"

[collinkottke]

Aug 4, 2023 12:37:11 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

Aug 4, 2023 12:22:46 GMT -5 collinkottke said:

Yes, it is pretty obvious why... BBR hasn't paid to have it playlisted.   

Lainey Wilson & Dustin Lynch are on the playlist. Try again.

Hmm... it's almost like they know the song isn't actually that popular and is being propped up by fake outrage... but that can't be it. I'll think on it. 

[countryfan43]

Whatever the case is with it they should be promoting it strong right now so it doesn’t drop too much.

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2023 13:14:10 GMT -5 collinkottke said:

Aug 4, 2023 12:37:11 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

Lainey Wilson & Dustin Lynch are on the playlist. Try again.

Hmm... it's almost like they know the song isn't actually that popular and is being propped up by fake outrage... but that can't be it. I'll think on it. 

 Regardless of how this got to be # 1 on the hot 100 and is now flying up the chart on country radio it did those things and is still doing those things. It's a fact that the vast majority of country music fans support this song and want to hear it and yes I agree that they didn't care about this song before the controversy but that doesn't matter now. I'll take your word that record labels pay for artist to be put on playlist....I  don't know if that is true or not but let's say it is. BBR right has Lainey Wilson, Dustin Lynch & John Morgan songs on Spotify's Hot Country List. So BBR will pay to promote them but they won't pay to promote the biggest star on their roster who just got his first #1 ever on Hot 100? Does BBR not want to cash in as much as they can on this fluke of a hit? 

This is the most talked about country song over the last month
#1 On Hot 100
#1 On iTunes

I hope you're right and it's just something as simple as them not paying to put it on a playlist. I would hate to think a company is suppressing art because it's scared of offending some or because they don't like the message.

And just so were clear you can look back at my pervious post when this song came out. I didn't think it was a good song then and I still don't think it's a good song. 

[thewp]

Aug 4, 2023 13:14:10 GMT -5 collinkottke said:

Aug 4, 2023 12:37:11 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

Lainey Wilson & Dustin Lynch are on the playlist. Try again.

Hmm... it's almost like they know the song isn't actually that popular and is being propped up by fake outrage... but that can't be it. I'll think on it. 

There are plenty of songs on these playlists that “aren’t that popular” and aren’t even current singles and they don’t remove them.

If it’s all label payment, that’s annoying, but it is surprising since this song is a single.

And, It’s not like Apple prevented people from buying it on iTunes so acting like they’re gatekeeping is dumb, regardless.

Anyway, happy for them to keep this one off playlists going forward.

[gardyfan]

Aug 4, 2023 13:49:05 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

Aug 4, 2023 13:14:10 GMT -5 collinkottke said:

Hmm... it's almost like they know the song isn't actually that popular and is being propped up by fake outrage... but that can't be it. I'll think on it. 

 Regardless of how this got to be # 1 on the hot 100 and is now flying up the chart on country radio it did those things and is still doing those things. It's a fact that the vast majority of country music fans support this song and want to hear it and yes I agree that they didn't care about this song before the controversy but that doesn't matter now. I'll take your word that record labels pay for artist to be put on playlist....I  don't know if that is true or not but let's say it is. BBR right has Lainey Wilson, Dustin Lynch & John Morgan songs on Spotify's Hot Country List. So BBR will pay to promote them but they won't pay to promote the biggest star on their roster who just got his first #1 ever on Hot 100? Does BBR not want to cash in as much as they can on this fluke of a hit? 

This is the most talked about country song over the last month
#1 On Hot 100
#1 On iTunes

I hope you're right and it's just something as simple as them not paying to put it on a playlist. I would hate to think a company is suppressing art because it's scared of offending some or because they don't like the message.

And just so were clear you can look back at my pervious post when this song came out. I didn't think it was a good song then and I still don't think it's a good song. 

If it was a fact then it would be #1 on the airplay chart, which it is not close to.

[countryfan43]

Aug 4, 2023 16:16:37 GMT -5 gardyfan said:

Aug 4, 2023 13:49:05 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

 Regardless of how this got to be # 1 on the hot 100 and is now flying up the chart on country radio it did those things and is still doing those things. It's a fact that the vast majority of country music fans support this song and want to hear it and yes I agree that they didn't care about this song before the controversy but that doesn't matter now. I'll take your word that record labels pay for artist to be put on playlist....I  don't know if that is true or not but let's say it is. BBR right has Lainey Wilson, Dustin Lynch & John Morgan songs on Spotify's Hot Country List. So BBR will pay to promote them but they won't pay to promote the biggest star on their roster who just got his first #1 ever on Hot 100? Does BBR not want to cash in as much as they can on this fluke of a hit? 

This is the most talked about country song over the last month
#1 On Hot 100
#1 On iTunes

I hope you're right and it's just something as simple as them not paying to put it on a playlist. I would hate to think a company is suppressing art because it's scared of offending some or because they don't like the message.

And just so were clear you can look back at my pervious post when this song came out. I didn't think it was a good song then and I still don't think it's a good song. 

If it was a fact then it would be #1 on the airplay chart, which it is not close to.

I get your point and agree with you that this isn’t liked by the vast majority but we see lots of very well streaming and connecting songs not make number one on airplay.

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2023 16:16:37 GMT -5 gardyfan said:

Aug 4, 2023 13:49:05 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

 Regardless of how this got to be # 1 on the hot 100 and is now flying up the chart on country radio it did those things and is still doing those things. It's a fact that the vast majority of country music fans support this song and want to hear it and yes I agree that they didn't care about this song before the controversy but that doesn't matter now. I'll take your word that record labels pay for artist to be put on playlist....I  don't know if that is true or not but let's say it is. BBR right has Lainey Wilson, Dustin Lynch & John Morgan songs on Spotify's Hot Country List. So BBR will pay to promote them but they won't pay to promote the biggest star on their roster who just got his first #1 ever on Hot 100? Does BBR not want to cash in as much as they can on this fluke of a hit? 

This is the most talked about country song over the last month
#1 On Hot 100
#1 On iTunes

I hope you're right and it's just something as simple as them not paying to put it on a playlist. I would hate to think a company is suppressing art because it's scared of offending some or because they don't like the message.

And just so were clear you can look back at my pervious post when this song came out. I didn't think it was a good song then and I still don't think it's a good song. 

If it was a fact then it would be #1 on the airplay chart, which it is not close to.

It’s gained more spins than any other song on the country charts this week and moved up 5 spots. It’s very possible this makes it to #1 on the airplay charts.

[gardyfan]

Aug 4, 2023 16:29:56 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

Aug 4, 2023 16:16:37 GMT -5 gardyfan said:

If it was a fact then it would be #1 on the airplay chart, which it is not close to.

It’s gained more spins than any other song on the country charts this week and moved up 5 spots. It’s very possible this makes it to #1 on the airplay charts.

But it's still not close. It's not at the top of the Hot 100 because of country fans. It's at the top because it is controversial.

[.indulgecountry]

It also got to the top because buying a song outright on iTunes is weighted heavier for the Hot 100 formula than merely streaming it on Spotify, so it was easier to manipulate in that sense, which is why it's also now projected to crash from its #1 high to outside the top 20, making it the biggest fall from the top in the history of the chart for a song that didn't debut at the pole position (as posted earlier in-thread). A bunch of people rushed to buy the song and now that they have, it's going to settle back down to being a much smaller-impact hit unless it continues to sell new copies and holds up on streaming, but it was an unsustainable high that it reached (totally in contrast to what Morgan and Luke are currently experiencing).

And yes, Spotify playlisting frequently has to do with promotional efforts by record labels. It's why it usually is stacked with songs by non-radio artists and also often randomly rotates through different album cuts. Sometimes they differ depending on the platform, too, as it's not uncommon for Spotify and Apple Music to have different songs by the same artist in their playlists. For instance, I think like 3 or 4 cuts from Megan Moroney's debut record spent time on the major playlists already and they weren't always the same across all platforms at the same time.

...So, yes, it not being properly playlisted may have to do with the label, but it may also just be a choice by Spotify to not feature it prominently. We don't know which it is, but the song despite having a consumer uptick in interest after the controversy, is still controversial so there's probably just as many people out there that would skip the song on Spotify's playlist as those missing its inclusion. A big chunk of the people who made it "a hit" are not on streaming anyway, as evidenced by its success being heavily driven by a temporary spike in digital sales.

[onebuffalo]

#21 on the Hot 100.

[Crimsonio]

Praying this drops a lot. This song is a disgrace to the Country music genre.

[aldo01]

Hopefully Taylor Swift will knock this idiot off of iTunes #1, as her fanbase is aiming at sending Cruel Summer to #1 on the BB Hot 100. Once Aldean loses the #1 slot, sales will likely drop even further: we'll have less people seeing it on top, talking and generating buzz around it.

[gcizvolsfan]

Aug 8, 2023 15:21:01 GMT -5 aldo01 said:

Hopefully Taylor Swift will knock this idiot off of iTunes #1, as her fanbase is aiming at sending Cruel Summer to #1 on the BB Hot 100. Once Aldean loses the #1 slot, sales will likely drop even further: we'll have less people seeing it on top, talking and generating buzz around it.

Ugh, Taylor Swift

[krissirge]

12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fculture%2Farchive%2F2023%2F08%2Fjason-aldean-country-music-luke-combs%2F674952%2F
The Atlantic has an article about this and other popular country songs...idk if this song has a riff ripped from 'Everlong'

[aldo01]

Aug 9, 2023 23:26:56 GMT -5 gcizvolsfan said:

Aug 8, 2023 15:21:01 GMT -5 aldo01 said:

Hopefully Taylor Swift will knock this idiot off of iTunes #1, as her fanbase is aiming at sending Cruel Summer to #1 on the BB Hot 100. Once Aldean loses the #1 slot, sales will likely drop even further: we'll have less people seeing it on top, talking and generating buzz around it.

Ugh, Taylor Swift

I listen to real country music: Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack, Charley Crockett and more. And I'll take Taylor Swift over these fake country acts such as Aldean and Gilbert any day.

Let me remind you that Aldean is the guy who broke the doors open for rap (Dirt Road Anthem, 1994), hard rock (My Kinda Party, She's Country) and electronic R&B with drum loops (Burning it Down) in country music. He's one of the godfathers of bro country, the reason why have had around 100 #1 radio hits between 2012 and 2016 featuring the words "truck beer girl drunk dirt road truck drink". Aldean is nothing but cheap hip hop beats with overdubbed steel guitar.

Taylor Swift is the one who stood up against her label and told them to stop marketing her music as country. She has not released a single song that she didn't write or co-write on any of her albums, and she's one of the most influential women of all time.
Her albums "Folklore" and "Evermore" blow the best Jason Aldean music out of the water.

And don't even get me started on what I think of them as individuals.

[krissirge]

Let me remind you that Aldean is the guy who broke the doors open for rap (Dirt Road Anthem, 1994), hard rock (My Kinda Party, She's Country) and electronic R&B with drum loops (Burning it Down) in country music. He's one of the godfathers of bro country, the reason why have had around 100 #1 radio hits between 2012 and 2016 featuring the words "truck beer girl drunk dirt road truck drink".

Stop it, don't make me more inclined to check out his hits.

[Kanenrá:ke]

We're going to go back on topic please 🙏🏽

[mag]

Aug 10, 2023 2:32:10 GMT -5 aldo01 said:

Aug 9, 2023 23:26:56 GMT -5 gcizvolsfan said:

Ugh, Taylor Swift

I listen to real country music: Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack, Charley Crockett and more. And I'll take Taylor Swift over these fake country acts such as Aldean and Gilbert any day.

Let me remind you that Aldean is the guy who broke the doors open for rap (Dirt Road Anthem, 1994), hard rock (My Kinda Party, She's Country) and electronic R&B with drum loops (Burning it Down) in country music. He's one of the godfathers of bro country, the reason why have had around 100 #1 radio hits between 2012 and 2016 featuring the words "truck beer girl drunk dirt road truck drink". Aldean is nothing but cheap hip hop beats with overdubbed steel guitar.

Taylor Swift is the one who stood up against her label and told them to stop marketing her music as country. She has not released a single song that she didn't write or co-write on any of her albums, and she's one of the most influential women of all time.
Her albums "Folklore" and "Evermore" blow the best Jason Aldean music out of the water.

And don't even get me started on what I think of them as individuals.

Show your credentials that qualify you to determine X or Y album or music is better tan Z. I love rock so the blend of rock and country is perfect for me. Taylor Swift has released some great music and some have been awful as hell. Her new are really great.

And let me remind you that Bro country is popular because there is enough room for that and people that are into it. I don’t particularly like it but I don’t hate it either.
There are always options to listen to, you don’t have to go with the crowd, there’s a lot of great musicians I have discovered thanks to streaming and will never be heard on the radio.

Also, let me remind you that some of the all time greatest never wrote or co-wrote their music as well.

[bboat11]

Aug 10, 2023 23:09:39 GMT -5 mag said:

Aug 10, 2023 2:32:10 GMT -5 aldo01 said:

I listen to real country music: Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack, Charley Crockett and more. And I'll take Taylor Swift over these fake country acts such as Aldean and Gilbert any day.

Let me remind you that Aldean is the guy who broke the doors open for rap (Dirt Road Anthem, 1994), hard rock (My Kinda Party, She's Country) and electronic R&B with drum loops (Burning it Down) in country music. He's one of the godfathers of bro country, the reason why have had around 100 #1 radio hits between 2012 and 2016 featuring the words "truck beer girl drunk dirt road truck drink". Aldean is nothing but cheap hip hop beats with overdubbed steel guitar.

Taylor Swift is the one who stood up against her label and told them to stop marketing her music as country. She has not released a single song that she didn't write or co-write on any of her albums, and she's one of the most influential women of all time.
Her albums "Folklore" and "Evermore" blow the best Jason Aldean music out of the water.

And don't even get me started on what I think of them as individuals.

Show your credentials that qualify you to determine X or Y album or music is better tan Z. I love rock so the blend of rock and country is perfect for me. Taylor Swift has released some great music and some have been awful as hell. Her new are really great.

And let me remind you that Bro country is popular because there is enough room for that and people that are into it. I don’t particularly like it but I don’t hate it either.
There are always options to listen to, you don’t have to go with the crowd, there’s a lot of great musicians I have discovered thanks to streaming and will never be heard on the radio.

Also, let me remind you that some of the all time greatest never wrote or co-wrote their music as well.

Maybe none of us have the ability to just issue a blanket statement that says "x is better than y" and have everybody agree with it. But I think aldo's point is a lot bigger than that. There is a rich history of songwriting quality in country music. While "quality" is a subjective thing, there was a noticeable narrowing of topics around like 2012-2016 thanks to people like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, FGL, etc., and that is NOT an opinion.

If you listen to 10 random songs from the career of George Strait, you will hear a much wider variety of topics, emotions, tempos, and melodies than you will hear if you pick 10 random songs from Jason Aldean's career. And that is just simply a fact. The general topics of beer, trucks, girls, small towns, etc. took over, and gone were the nuanced rodeo stories like "I Can Still Make Cheyenne", the clever witticism of songs like "Ocean Front Property", the feel-good coming-of-age stories like "Love Without End, Amen", the humorous "bad boy" personas of songs like "All My Exes Live In Texas", the sweet non-objectifying love songs like "Carrying Your Love With Me", etc....

Even if nobody is an authority on what is "better", there are still a LOT of people who mourn the loss of that topical and lyrical diversity in the genre as a whole.

And another layer to all of this is, the consumers cannot necessarily be expected to know what they are missing. So if Jason Aldean brings a new fan to the genre thanks to "Dirt Road Anthem", that new fan might love a song like "Heartland" just as much, but they don't necessarily know that because songs that sound like "Burnin' It Down" are what the executives decide to push next, and so they blindly become a fan of that sound just because that's what the leading artists are putting out at the time. Not to mention the whole "people don't want to hear female voices on the radio because they're not used to it" sentiment, when the only reason people aren't used to it is because the executives stopped supporting them to begin with... 

I'm rambling now, lol, but the point is, there is absolutely a difference between the output of somebody like Jason Aldean and the artists who came before him, and people are free to perceive that difference as a deficit if they want to, seeing as it mostly coincided with the loss of all the "real life" elements that have always made country music so relatable. And also, the fact that people are "into" bro country is absolutely meaningless when the only reason they are listening to things is because that's what the executives are choosing to promote to them.

[gcizvolsfan]

Aug 10, 2023 23:53:45 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Aug 10, 2023 23:09:39 GMT -5 mag said:

Show your credentials that qualify you to determine X or Y album or music is better tan Z. I love rock so the blend of rock and country is perfect for me. Taylor Swift has released some great music and some have been awful as hell. Her new are really great.

And let me remind you that Bro country is popular because there is enough room for that and people that are into it. I don’t particularly like it but I don’t hate it either.
There are always options to listen to, you don’t have to go with the crowd, there’s a lot of great musicians I have discovered thanks to streaming and will never be heard on the radio.

Also, let me remind you that some of the all time greatest never wrote or co-wrote their music as well.

Maybe none of us have the ability to just issue a blanket statement that says "x is better than y" and have everybody agree with it. But I think aldo's point is a lot bigger than that. There is a rich history of songwriting quality in country music. While "quality" is a subjective thing, there was a noticeable narrowing of topics around like 2012-2016 thanks to people like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, FGL, etc., and that is NOT an opinion.

If you listen to 10 random songs from the career of George Strait, you will hear a much wider variety of topics, emotions, tempos, and melodies than you will hear if you pick 10 random songs from Jason Aldean's career. And that is just simply a fact. The general topics of beer, trucks, girls, small towns, etc. took over, and gone were the nuanced rodeo stories like "I Can Still Make Cheyenne", the clever witticism of songs like "Ocean Front Property", the feel-good coming-of-age stories like "Love Without End, Amen", the humorous "bad boy" personas of songs like "All My Exes Live In Texas", the sweet non-objectifying love songs like "Carrying Your Love With Me", etc....

Even if nobody is an authority on what is "better", there are still a LOT of people who mourn the loss of that topical and lyrical diversity in the genre as a whole.

And another layer to all of this is, the consumers cannot necessarily be expected to know what they are missing. So if Jason Aldean brings a new fan to the genre thanks to "Dirt Road Anthem", that new fan might love a song like "Heartland" just as much, but they don't necessarily know that because songs that sound like "Burnin' It Down" are what the executives decide to push next, and so they blindly become a fan of that sound just because that's what the leading artists are putting out at the time. Not to mention the whole "people don't want to hear female voices on the radio because they're not used to it" sentiment, when the only reason people aren't used to it is because the executives stopped supporting them to begin with... 

I'm rambling now, lol, but the point is, there is absolutely a difference between the output of somebody like Jason Aldean and the artists who came before him, and people are free to perceive that difference as a deficit if they want to, seeing as it mostly coincided with the loss of all the "real life" elements that have always made country music so relatable. And also, the fact that people are "into" bro country is absolutely meaningless when the only reason they are listening to things is because that's what the executives are choosing to promote to them.

Jeez, all of this because I said "Ugh, Taylor Swift" in a comment yesterday....lol.

[Deleted]

Aug 10, 2023 23:53:45 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Aug 10, 2023 23:09:39 GMT -5 mag said:

Show your credentials that qualify you to determine X or Y album or music is better tan Z. I love rock so the blend of rock and country is perfect for me. Taylor Swift has released some great music and some have been awful as hell. Her new are really great.

And let me remind you that Bro country is popular because there is enough room for that and people that are into it. I don’t particularly like it but I don’t hate it either.
There are always options to listen to, you don’t have to go with the crowd, there’s a lot of great musicians I have discovered thanks to streaming and will never be heard on the radio.

Also, let me remind you that some of the all time greatest never wrote or co-wrote their music as well.

Maybe none of us have the ability to just issue a blanket statement that says "x is better than y" and have everybody agree with it. But I think aldo's point is a lot bigger than that. There is a rich history of songwriting quality in country music. While "quality" is a subjective thing, there was a noticeable narrowing of topics around like 2012-2016 thanks to people like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, FGL, etc., and that is NOT an opinion.

If you listen to 10 random songs from the career of George Strait, you will hear a much wider variety of topics, emotions, tempos, and melodies than you will hear if you pick 10 random songs from Jason Aldean's career. And that is just simply a fact. The general topics of beer, trucks, girls, small towns, etc. took over, and gone were the nuanced rodeo stories like "I Can Still Make Cheyenne", the clever witticism of songs like "Ocean Front Property", the feel-good coming-of-age stories like "Love Without End, Amen", the humorous "bad boy" personas of songs like "All My Exes Live In Texas", the sweet non-objectifying love songs like "Carrying Your Love With Me", etc....

Even if nobody is an authority on what is "better", there are still a LOT of people who mourn the loss of that topical and lyrical diversity in the genre as a whole.

And another layer to all of this is, the consumers cannot necessarily be expected to know what they are missing. So if Jason Aldean brings a new fan to the genre thanks to "Dirt Road Anthem", that new fan might love a song like "Heartland" just as much, but they don't necessarily know that because songs that sound like "Burnin' It Down" are what the executives decide to push next, and so they blindly become a fan of that sound just because that's what the leading artists are putting out at the time. Not to mention the whole "people don't want to hear female voices on the radio because they're not used to it" sentiment, when the only reason people aren't used to it is because the executives stopped supporting them to begin with... 

I'm rambling now, lol, but the point is, there is absolutely a difference between the output of somebody like Jason Aldean and the artists who came before him, and people are free to perceive that difference as a deficit if they want to, seeing as it mostly coincided with the loss of all the "real life" elements that have always made country music so relatable. And also, the fact that people are "into" bro country is absolutely meaningless when the only reason they are listening to things is because that's what the executives are choosing to promote to them.

The evolution of country music is always changing thou. Sure George Strait made better country music than Jason Aldean….But Jason Aldean makes better country sounding music than Walker Hayes, Sam Hunt and Morgan Wallen.

I’m sure if you went back to the early 1980’s ppl crapped on Strait because he wasn’t Jones, Haggard or Cash.

[HamedM1 💔]

Pretty sure bboat's point wasn't to say Aldean is better than x, y, or z artist but rather a commentary on the evolution of the mainstream market surrounding country music which cannot be denied. Whatever you prefer is of course subjective and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, even if I or others may think they are questionable to say the least. 

So let's not do these whole investigations as to why "person A thinks this artist is better than so and so", keep it formal and agree to disagree in a respectful manner and tone folks.

[bboat11]

Aug 11, 2023 0:55:31 GMT -5 @jacobl18 said:

Aug 10, 2023 23:53:45 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Maybe none of us have the ability to just issue a blanket statement that says "x is better than y" and have everybody agree with it. But I think aldo's point is a lot bigger than that. There is a rich history of songwriting quality in country music. While "quality" is a subjective thing, there was a noticeable narrowing of topics around like 2012-2016 thanks to people like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, FGL, etc., and that is NOT an opinion.

If you listen to 10 random songs from the career of George Strait, you will hear a much wider variety of topics, emotions, tempos, and melodies than you will hear if you pick 10 random songs from Jason Aldean's career. And that is just simply a fact. The general topics of beer, trucks, girls, small towns, etc. took over, and gone were the nuanced rodeo stories like "I Can Still Make Cheyenne", the clever witticism of songs like "Ocean Front Property", the feel-good coming-of-age stories like "Love Without End, Amen", the humorous "bad boy" personas of songs like "All My Exes Live In Texas", the sweet non-objectifying love songs like "Carrying Your Love With Me", etc....

Even if nobody is an authority on what is "better", there are still a LOT of people who mourn the loss of that topical and lyrical diversity in the genre as a whole.

And another layer to all of this is, the consumers cannot necessarily be expected to know what they are missing. So if Jason Aldean brings a new fan to the genre thanks to "Dirt Road Anthem", that new fan might love a song like "Heartland" just as much, but they don't necessarily know that because songs that sound like "Burnin' It Down" are what the executives decide to push next, and so they blindly become a fan of that sound just because that's what the leading artists are putting out at the time. Not to mention the whole "people don't want to hear female voices on the radio because they're not used to it" sentiment, when the only reason people aren't used to it is because the executives stopped supporting them to begin with... 

I'm rambling now, lol, but the point is, there is absolutely a difference between the output of somebody like Jason Aldean and the artists who came before him, and people are free to perceive that difference as a deficit if they want to, seeing as it mostly coincided with the loss of all the "real life" elements that have always made country music so relatable. And also, the fact that people are "into" bro country is absolutely meaningless when the only reason they are listening to things is because that's what the executives are choosing to promote to them.

The evolution of country music is always changing thou. Sure George Strait made better country music than Jason Aldean….But Jason Aldean makes better country sounding music than Walker Hayes, Sam Hunt and Morgan Wallen.

I’m sure if you went back to the early 1980’s ppl crapped on Strait because he wasn’t Jones, Haggard or Cash.

I mean, the entire point of my post (and mag's) was to say that you can't just say that so-and-so makes "better" music, because quality is such a subjective concept. But what we can fairly say is that Jason helped usher in a new wave of significantly less diverse topics on country radio. A criticism which nobody of the Cash/Haggard/Jones generation could have ever leveled at George Strait, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, or any of the other neo-traditionalists of the '80s/'90s. Even as country evolved, it continued to keep its storytelling craft sharp...until about 2012-2016 when it narrowed itself down to a half dozen predictable tropes and gimmicks (the same tempo for everything, same drumbeat for everything, etc). A trend which Jason Aldean leaned into full-force and built much of his career on.

Fortunately, good songwriting is starting to come back to the mainstream again, at least a little bit! At least now songs like "Til You Can't" might become hits, unlike 5-6 years ago!

Edit to add: Of course I'm not saying that every country song was well-written back in the day. I'm just saying that more effort was put in to making sure that emotions came through. Like, even a song like "Chattahoochee", where the lyrics are obviously simple and about nothing more than partying and having a good time, still has an inherent cleverness to it that something from the bro country era simply lacks. Even "talking 'bout cars and dreamin' 'bout women" doesn't feel tropey, because the song has a much broader scope to it than just that. Maybe it's just the fact that "I was willing, but she wasn't ready. So I settled for a burger and a grape snow cone. I dropped her off early, but I didn't go home" is a LOT more realistic and relatable than someone shimmy-shaking in their cutoffs up on your tailgate down by the creek. LOL! I mean, sure, we all recognize how ideal the latter situation would be, if the stars aligned perfectly! But the former is what us little straight boys' teenage experience was actually like )

[Kanenrá:ke]

Another way to look at bboat11 's point is right in Jason's own discography. His sound and topics was much more diverse on his first two/three albums. Then came in the Bro sound he helped introduce and his focus narrowed considerably.

[1Q7]

Aug 8, 2023 12:54:33 GMT -5 Crimsonio said:

Praying this drops a lot.

From 1 to 21. Is that a lot for you?

[mag]

Aug 11, 2023 0:44:12 GMT -5 gcizvolsfan said:

Aug 10, 2023 23:53:45 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Maybe none of us have the ability to just issue a blanket statement that says "x is better than y" and have everybody agree with it. But I think aldo's point is a lot bigger than that. There is a rich history of songwriting quality in country music. While "quality" is a subjective thing, there was a noticeable narrowing of topics around like 2012-2016 thanks to people like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, FGL, etc., and that is NOT an opinion.

If you listen to 10 random songs from the career of George Strait, you will hear a much wider variety of topics, emotions, tempos, and melodies than you will hear if you pick 10 random songs from Jason Aldean's career. And that is just simply a fact. The general topics of beer, trucks, girls, small towns, etc. took over, and gone were the nuanced rodeo stories like "I Can Still Make Cheyenne", the clever witticism of songs like "Ocean Front Property", the feel-good coming-of-age stories like "Love Without End, Amen", the humorous "bad boy" personas of songs like "All My Exes Live In Texas", the sweet non-objectifying love songs like "Carrying Your Love With Me", etc....

Even if nobody is an authority on what is "better", there are still a LOT of people who mourn the loss of that topical and lyrical diversity in the genre as a whole.

And another layer to all of this is, the consumers cannot necessarily be expected to know what they are missing. So if Jason Aldean brings a new fan to the genre thanks to "Dirt Road Anthem", that new fan might love a song like "Heartland" just as much, but they don't necessarily know that because songs that sound like "Burnin' It Down" are what the executives decide to push next, and so they blindly become a fan of that sound just because that's what the leading artists are putting out at the time. Not to mention the whole "people don't want to hear female voices on the radio because they're not used to it" sentiment, when the only reason people aren't used to it is because the executives stopped supporting them to begin with... 

I'm rambling now, lol, but the point is, there is absolutely a difference between the output of somebody like Jason Aldean and the artists who came before him, and people are free to perceive that difference as a deficit if they want to, seeing as it mostly coincided with the loss of all the "real life" elements that have always made country music so relatable. And also, the fact that people are "into" bro country is absolutely meaningless when the only reason they are listening to things is because that's what the executives are choosing to promote to them.

Jeez, all of this because I said "Ugh, Taylor Swift" in a comment yesterday....lol.

Doesn’t have anything to do with Taylor Swift anyway

[mag]

People didn’t understand my post. Whatever you feel/think is quality or not is an absolute truth. That’s fine, there’s a lot of music/people I can’t stand but I don’t care. My problem is, the fact that some people feel the right to call someone “idiot” just because they don’t like their music or them as individuals because you’re implying and disqualifying any person that listens/like their music.


And if we talk about music quality. Again, that’s up to you. If we start thinking about who started destroying “country music” we have to go back in time because I listen to Kenny Rogers and doesn’t sound country to me, Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 doesn’t sound country to me at all. Maren Morris’ The Bones, Gabby Barrett’s I Hope are not country to me, but that doesn’t mean those songs are trash or that they are destroying the genre. You can’t pretend the new generation will listen to George Strait or Loretta Lynn, it all has changed, they want something more modern, different taste, that’s it.

The same thing happens in Europe, people like me for example that would listen to Westlife in the early 00s don’t like the new music in todays environment; same thing for Hispanics: a big percentage of people don’t like reggaeton, regional Mexican, urban in general because they think that quality has gone down.

[mag]

Aug 11, 2023 11:29:19 GMT -5 1Q7 said:

Aug 8, 2023 12:54:33 GMT -5 Crimsonio said:

Praying this drops a lot.

From 1 to 21. Is that a lot for you?

And I think it’s predicted to bounce back to # 16, or at least the last time I checked, it was

[dajross6]

Aug 11, 2023 11:43:48 GMT -5 mag said:

Aug 11, 2023 11:29:19 GMT -5 1Q7 said:

From 1 to 21. Is that a lot for you?

And I think it’s predicted to bounce back to # 16, or at least the last time I checked, it was

Likely closer to #20 or #21 depending on how things shake out, down 20-25% in chart points. Next week (the chart week begins today) will likely be in the 35-45 range if it drops another 25% next week (not sure what the ratio of loss would be with an increase of country radio combining with further slipping in sales and streaming, but I'd expect it to lose closer to 30-35% loss in points).

[bboat11]

Aug 11, 2023 11:42:52 GMT -5 mag said:

People didn’t understand my post. Whatever you feel/think is quality or not is an absolute truth. That’s fine, there’s a lot of music/people I can’t stand but I don’t care. My problem is, the fact that some people feel the right to call someone “idiot” just because they don’t like their music or them as individuals because you’re implying and disqualifying any person that listens/like their music. 

This is a great point of course, and I don't want it to get lost in the back-and-forth. No matter what our opinions are on certain artists, let's all please be careful to avoid passing judgment on their fans! The world is WAY more complicated than the social media bubble would have us believe. To view someone as "right" or "wrong" for liking certain sounds and styles is a very narrow-minded approach to music consumption. We are all free to dislike certain artists and sounds, but that doesn't mean that everyone who feels differently is an idiot. Thank you for pointing that out, mag :)