WHY I DESPISE COUNTRY MUSIC

If America wanted to get back on course, the first thing we would do is eliminate
at least three genres of music. In no particular order, self-promotional (read
Luciferian) hip hop, anything produced by Disney for anyone under the age of 14
and country music. I may eventually get around to the first two, but for now, I've
got that good old American genre in my cross hairs.

Current country music is one the greatest spells cast across the face of the USA,
from sea-to-shining-sea.

It wasn't always this way.

Country at one time was roots music.

It crawled out of the Appalachians like kudzu and descended into places like
Nashville. It rose up from the pan-handle of Texas and blew like dust down to
Memphis and Muscle Shoals. It's early stars, like Hank Williams in particular
looked wane and tubercular. They were anything but flash, feathered and glitz
and they basically sang the poor white blues. It was heart achingly honest and
when it came to the likes of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison (an earlier crossover star)
it was dark and even brooding. The weight of human conscience and the battle
for the soul was waged in song. Cash knew he was dealing with dark forces,
doing his best to keep one foot the gospel camp just in case he needed a shot of
redemption.

As the genre evolved, so did the personalities and where they came from. You
had stuttering Mel Tillis, slick Marty Robbins, Charlie "The Silver Fox" Rich, big
Faron Young, the western twang of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Most of
these cats were not very telegenic, but they sang with real heart and soul. Hell,
you even had brothers like Charlie Pride and Ray Charles chiming in with country
tunes. It was a genre that was mostly local in nature and didn't really stand for
the sound of America, country got drowned out by FM signals and feedback from
fender strats and marshall stacks. Rock was America's anthem, even if at times
it was an anti-anthemic or anti-American.

Somewhere along the way, country became the new rock, but with all the danger
and rebellion ironed out of it, like a stiff pair blue jeans, forming a perfect circle
around the backside of Faith Hill.

Country music used to be about people that drank and smoked too much,
wrestled with demons, lost loves due to those demons and somehow always
circled back towards some form of forgiveness. If you really look at it, the
formula was a toxic snapshot of life gone wrong. Just look at George Jones'
career, revived at least two times over, literally languishing on the rocks.
I think country made a continental shift when Carrie Underwood warbled the first
strains of the genre on American Idol. I'm sure that at the time Simon Lythgoe
and company were busy trying to unearth the next Justin Timberlake or the next
Mariah, but Carrie Underwood, the cute little farm gal who just loved them critters
grew in popularity exponentially with each and every show. In the end, it was
between her and swamp rocker Bo Bice and it wasn't even close. Country was
King or in this case, Queen. From that point forward Idol has been a gold mine
for the genre and vice versa. In fact, old glam rockers like Brett Michaels have
crossed over for the loyalty and the cash. Kid Rock figured it out a long time ago.
He didn't have a huge future as a rappin' white boy, but country, now there's a
place for devil without applause. Just twang it up Bob!

Country is the new rock and we're worse off for it.

Let's examine why.

The old stars of country, the Louisiana Hay Riders and the Grand Ole Opry gang
were not the most beautiful people in the world. Country was for castoffs,
populated by people that most of America had forgotten about and left behind.
The genre had regional clout, but outside of a few short-lived attempts on
network TV to bust out people like Johnny Cash and Mac Davis with their own
shows, it was Sonny and Cher, and the Broadway musical Hair. Country was
corny and for squares. Hee Haw. They were defiantly proud to be from
Muskogee. Not any more. Country stars are handsome (Tim McGraw) and hot
(Shania Twain). And guess what? They preach the gospel of conformity. Not a
shred of doubt or suspicion (unless it's a lover). Don't question the party line.
Support the troops; God and country or Country and God in that order. It's
become part of an entrenched cultural belief system that is usually conjoined with
end times theologies and dispensationalist politics. Lee Greenwood croons for
Sarah Palin, who says she'd nuke anyone that got outta line anywhere, but
especially the Middle East. Now that's country goddammit!

It espouses the most flaccid, mind-numbing and two-dimensional off-the-shelf

values. It's as a flat as a Miller Lite and about as filling as well. It's music for
marching orders, while giving people just the slightest permission to be some sort
of rebel, but what that rebel is, isn't quite clear. Is it Toby Keith's version where
he stands proud and tall against those traitorous Dixie Chicks? Is it Kenny
Chesney's covertly queer Caribbean cowboy version? Keith Urban's amplified
down under version?

There used to be a an old country gang known as The Outlaws, comprised of

Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Jesse Coulter. While no
one would confuse them with The Sex Pistols, they sang and lived life on their
own terms and in Jennings case, it was hard. Haggard did time in San Quentin--
where he first met Johnny Cash. Haggard's even been on Coast-to-Coast AM
with Art Bell and cracking open a fifth of conspiracy theory.
Willie plays tax tag with the IRS every few years.

Ironically, country music is dangerous, but not in any threatening way.

No siree Bob Wills.

Country music, the current version is pure mind control, a sanitized rock, pseudo-
secretly ethnic music for lily-white consumers. Buy a Ford truck, go to church on
Sunday, follow The Cowboys, listen to some country, support the troops and
don't question a damn thing, unless of course Glen Beck or Rush tells you to,
then by God, you'd better make sure your powder is dry.

In short, it's dangerous music, swiftly tailor made. It is one size fits all, uniformity.

It's lock-step-party-line dancing music that is nothing more than the worst
components of conformity and group think wrapped in a covert ideology.

Think I'm wrong?

Name me just one country artist not named Steve Earle that is in any way, shape
or form questioning the big picture?

Now that's not to say that there aren't good people that listen to this particular
form of popaganda--there are--many of them have kids, families, economic
stress, fears, you name it. They'll probably pull your ass out of a fire without
thinking about it as well. This is not an indictment on the people, but the music
and the entrainment that it engenders, casting a populist spell across a nation
dying for real values and true love.

Country is a spiritual soporific that can get you through the night, especially when
Jesus takes the wheel, but at the end of the day, it's a circular, closed loop that
doesn't engage the intellect or demand that YOU look for answers. It does
however inspire some sort of nostalgic faith in a dream that died long ago but
manages to keep boots, jeans and truck sales alive and well.