Ha! Good point. Sorry, when I think of anyone having any opinion on country and the topic coming up in conversation my mind went straight to the US, but of course it's huge all over the place so that was dumb.
I do agree that knee-jerk dislike of country may be rooted in ignorance—but as far as social influence, I'd class that as being good at determining which bad music people like (I like plenty, and it's mostly for those reasons) or dislike, and the country on the radio in the US is, for the most part, firmly of the "you'll only like it if it's part of your scene" sort, so people with a blanket "I don't like country" opinion have very likely only been exposed to the equivalent of its Tenacious D or, at best, Styx (to expose some of my own sub-par likes). It's not their fault they assumed the genre was putting its best foot forward.
And hey, Elton John made Tumbleweed Connection, so there's that. :-)
My comment was meant to be broad and a bit hyperbolic. I hate the historical country more than the modern stuff (which is thinly veiled pop music). I found it a formulaic kind of boring, uninspiring, and moaning about the writer's current state of affairs or others not like them. What causes the hate is having grown up in the country, I was forced to listen to it for a solid chunk of my childhood.
That being said, there are always exceptions to the rule. If we were in a car together, you'd not see me protesting if you put on Johny Cash or Gordon Lightfoot (though they're arguably more early fusion styles). And I'll admit I enjoy the sound of the Eagles, which I grew up listening to in the car from my mom and their sound is heavily influenced by country style that I loathe.
In my social circles, I rarely hear anyone say anything critical about rap music, but it is quite common for people to make disparaging remarks about country music. "I like all kinds of music, except country" is a commonly expressed preference, for example. I have found the lyrics in country music to almost always be positive and optimistic, often imbued with values recognizing the importance of family and hard work. Perhaps there is something deeply wrong with our culture if we continue to have this negative association with an art form that is meant to encourage people to be better to each other.
I hate the historical country more than the modern stuff (which is thinly veiled pop music). I found it a formulaic kind of boring, uninspiring, and moaning about the writer's current state of affairs or others not like them. What causes the hate is having grown up in the country, I was forced to listen to it for a solid chunk of my childhood.
The whole point here is that country music is strongly associated with a particular class background. Saying you wouldn't hire someone who liked it "regardless of class background" rings rather hollow in almost the same way saying you'd never hire someone with an afro regardless of their race rings hollow.
Incidentally, I rather like country music, but even if I hated it I think choosing not to hire someone because of the music they like is idiotic.
The decision what is good art and what is not is a decision indivdiuals and/or groups within society take. Those indivdiuals/groups might not necessarily be in total overlap with each other. You might e.g. have particular sub-groups who enjoy noise music, something the majority of people wouldn't even call music. That sub group might consider a overwhelming fraction of popular music bad music. Similar a particular country fan might consider rap and techno not music at all, or bad music while they like their own thing very much.
Sometimes (often?) these critiques contain an element of social or cultural connotation as well. Techno definitly is hedonistic, rap and hiphop are connected to certain demographics and classes within society, as where the Beatles. That means a criticism should always also be seen in that light: Who criticizes whom from what standpoint? If that country fan dislikes the latest and harshest noise rock release that might be a good guide for fellow country music afficionados, but someone who likes noise rock might rather take that negative review as a compliment. Both sides could try to use the border they draw towards the other as cultural capital within their own ingroups.
That means when the Beatles became popular a lot of the criticism they got was also criticism the old generations had towards the younger generations. It was not only about the music, it was also about who decides what good music is.
Today (thankfully) we live in times where objectively good art is revealed as the delussional idea it always was.
Pretty predicible - modern country music is pretty much pandering to right-wing values. It's not really any different than rap - it's just a matter of who your demo is; inner city black youth with baseball hats or middle-American farm boys with cowboy hats. Either way, it's music marketed toward marginalized, uneducated people that need to cling to some sort of social identity to feel empowered.
...why do YOU know so many people that "like all music but rap and country"? We're well-to-do, educated, white boys.
Pretty predicible - modern country music is pretty much pandering to right-wing values. It's not really any different than rap - it's just a matter of who your demo is; inner city black youth with baseball hats or middle-American farm boys with cowboy hats. Either way, it's music marketed toward marginalized, uneducated people that need to cling to some sort of social identity to feel empowered.
...why do YOU know so many people that "like all music but rap and country"? We're well-to-do, educated, white boys.
Apologies if you felt shitted on, but I do believe that you are inventing straw men pressure groups and ignoring the fact that there might be a legitimate organic movement. So I am, in fact, making my case.
> It's a few [...] musicians making a negative publicity fuss
One thing I'd like to add on this point is that this kind of negative publicity fuss, raised by musicians, can be incredibly powerful. If you aren't familiar with the work and impact of Neil Young, especially songs like "Southern Man" and "Alabama," I encourage you to consider his work.
His music likely opened some eyes in the 70s while the American South was still gripped in racist fervor (as someone who grew up in the south, I too was impacted by these songs when I encountered them in the early 2000s). Musicians have the power to influence public opinion. That public opinion is influenced by them does not imply that all influence is the result of a greater agenda.
> "Born in the USA" was popular because few people actually listened to the lyrics
I hear this repeated often, but is it even true? Couldn’t also be true that the song is popular because people can relate it to their negative feelings about “the system” and a weird sense of patriotism they feel regardless? It’s pretty common to have mixed feelings about one’s country.
Assuming the song is only popular because of ignorance seems far fetched.
Frankly it’s bizarre. He was a fantastic rock musician who seemed to forget where delta blues, jazz, bluegrass comes from. They drew on older traditions but were distinctly American culture. Maybe his point was really that it’s not popular culture but you can criticize any country’s pop culture.
I also think that, in context, this is not exactly surprising. Country has been political for a while, a fair amount of people have been blackballed from country like the Chicks (nee. the Dixie chicks), and performers who don’t align with conservative values in country get a lot of heat (e.g. Kacey Musgraves, Beyonce performing at the CMAs): https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/2016/11/4/13521928/...
And the entire notion of ‘equity’ is the current notion of ‘woke’ for others.
" I don't think liking country music in the Bay Area will cause any sane, reasonable person to treat you differently or not be your friend."
It absolutely will.
If you hunt, or own a gun or into 'gun sports' it will 100% affect who your friends are. Did you hear about the employee outrage when Zuck killed is own lamb for passover (or whichever festival it was, I'm not knowledgable). Do you really think that being a 'hunter' won't affect your status at 'WeWork' - a company that enforces vegetarianism? Among a whole bunch of other values?
Listening to Country Music and driving a pickup? Not cool in the Bay - unless it's hipster/ironic. If you are 'openly' Christian, it will likely affect who your friends are as well.
These are not so much conscious thoughts people make, or outright judgements (in some cases they are) - but it will lose you a lot of points on the spectrum of social hierarchy.
I interviewed at a FANG once and the interviewer was interested in the band that I played in and asked what kind of music we played. It was a very long time ago ... and I suppose my answers were not hip enough for him because he obviously was not impressed.
Social circles, companies/startups, clubs, interests - these are all very intermixed as sad as it may be, we make judgements on these thing in life and in business.
""the Bay Area is not very liberal" may be changing slowly from an attitudinal perspective, but certainly that statement does not bear out in the polls""
I mean liberal by classical definition. You seem to be referring to the American pop-culture political definition of 'Liberal' - which frankly has very little meaning, or more like 'left wing'.
So yes, of course the Valley and Cali are fairly 'Liberal' in the pop-culture political sense and will be forever, but they are not very 'liberal' in the classical sense (though the valley has a history of being a little libertarian, which is a little more like classical liberalism, but still different).
In Texas, they really don't care who you are overall. But if you are gay, or effete, or a little weird, you might not be in the cool club. If you were the QB on your high school team, you get bonus points. If you 'never miss Church' it might get you a few bonus points in some places.
In Cali, sure, you can do or be as you please, pretty much. If you drive a big truck, speak with a twang, talk about football or fishing a lot ... you're not going to be in the cool club. Being a vegan, or having a really humbling 'rags-to-riches ethnic minority from another country story' ... will give you big empathetic bonus points. If you belong to a 'Social Justice Cause', or 'attend burning man' - it might get you some bonus points.
In both Cali and Texas - people feel a weird need to push those behaviours on others, maybe as a function of virtue signalling, and to also shame a little bit people that don't follow suit, i.e. 'if you don't support my SJW cause/attend Church you must be immoral'.
Everywhere in the world is like this to some extent, but this is slightly more common in America I think than the rest of the world, particularly bolder, more aspirational regions that are a little 'newer' and have a stronger sense of ideological identity - like Texas and Cali!
Excellent article (personal opinion).
..."The controversy surrounding these two country songs did not teach us anything new about contemporary American culture. It was yet another example of the ideological capture of our elite institutions of cultural production and dissemination. The same double standard that was observed in this debate is applied on a regular basis to academic research, news reporting, and other forms of public speech whenever the content contradicts the liberal progress narrative..."
Boom
I do agree that knee-jerk dislike of country may be rooted in ignorance—but as far as social influence, I'd class that as being good at determining which bad music people like (I like plenty, and it's mostly for those reasons) or dislike, and the country on the radio in the US is, for the most part, firmly of the "you'll only like it if it's part of your scene" sort, so people with a blanket "I don't like country" opinion have very likely only been exposed to the equivalent of its Tenacious D or, at best, Styx (to expose some of my own sub-par likes). It's not their fault they assumed the genre was putting its best foot forward.
And hey, Elton John made Tumbleweed Connection, so there's that. :-)
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