Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 08:55:18 -0400
From: Unka Bart <mendicant-AT-buddhist.com>
Subject: Shitkickin' music (was Re: scrubs...)


>>Ben wrote:
>>
>>>Living where I do, it's actually a nice experience to hit the limits of
>>>city radio and here something that isn't fucking country.
>>
>>Do you not like country because you have actually listened to all the
>>various types of country and have made an informed decision that it has
>>nothing to offer you, or are you just being somewhat elitist.
>
>I like country music.  I just thinks its better with the TV on, and the
>volume muted.  Then i can try and decide which one I'd like to fuck the
>most.
>
>so, uh, yes, I am being elitist.  It's also a conditioned response.  Most of
>what I've heard is about as pleasant as being kicked in the groin, so I've
>tended to try and avoid the rest at all costs.  I also seek to avoid being
>kicked in the groin.  Mostly I just get spat on now.

Some of it's not bad, but most of it suffers from two fatal flaws:  it's so
goddamn retetitious, every song sounds exactly like every other one; and
worse yet, most of it is just plain whining.  Jesus H. Christ (call me
"Mac" for short), I *hate* hearing a grown man whine!!!

But some of it is simply wonderful; especially, but not exclusively the
older stuff.  There was a golden age of revival of this form of American
Folk Music (in the US at least) during the late 50s and early 60s, when all
"folk music" was a popular craze; but with the advent of the war in Viet
Nam, "Protest Rock" drowned out folk in nearly all its forms, to our
universal loss.

Much of what was called "hillbilly music" when I was a lad, is based upon
the folk ballads that the Scotts brought when they came and settled the
hills and mountains of Applachia, and much of it hasn't changed since
Elizabethan times.

Then there's the music of a special group like Marty Robbins (a real cowboy
and a rodeo rider in his youth), The Son's of the Pioneers (where Roy
Rogers got his start in show biz), Gene Autry, Patsy Montana and others who
sang the music of the west and/or wrote and sang in that genre.  I
especially love hearing Patsy Montana singing "I want to be a cowboy's
sweetheat;" but this wonderful music has fallen so far from favor that I
doubt that anyone here (except probably the Old Goat) has ever heard Patsy,
or even heard *of* her...

And how about the original Jimmy Rogers, ("The Singing Brakeman") who wrote
and sang original music about his experiences as a poor okie during the
depression?  Great stuff, and definitely "country music!"

But most of it is just pure whining, either that or shit that's so bland it
makes the average elevator music sound good...

Yer Kindly Ol' Unka Bart