I know we’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead but someone like Toby Keith basically brought it upon himself. I never cared for country-western music. I watched Hee Haw and my grandfather and uncle both played in bands and enjoyed the music. But it never was something I really liked.
However, the greats (Johnny Cash, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Waylon Jennings, David Allan Coe and Kris Kristofferson, as well as others) helped to define it and make it mainstream. Despite being a recurring joke on Family Guy, Conway Twitty actually had a great singing voice and his songs were wonderful.
Yet when Garth Brooks came on the scene, country-western changed. Brooks wasn’t to blame. Cable TV had given us The Nashville Network and CMT. And even some country acts like Brooks & Dunn had more mainstream success and there’s no surprise Darius Rucker sings country-western because Hootie and the Blowfish has a little southern country sound to it. Juice Newton, Dolly Parton and The Judds were getting a lot of air time. CW had to blend in with what the mainstream wanted.
There were a few mistakes and hiccups. It’s the 30th anniversary this year since the disastrous Super Bowl half-time in Atlanta that had a huge country-western presence. You know, because nothing says country-western like Atlanta, a rap/hip-hop mecca. I mean, down the road in Athens, Ga., was the birth of Alternative music where R.E.M. formed. It got bad reviews but it brought the big names (Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Tanya Tucker, Wynona and Naomi Judd).
During this time, a young musician named Toby Keith was making a name for himself in the scene. But there was so many people, it was easy for him to get lost. The Man in Black himself would go through a career Renaissance most performers dream of as Cash signed on with American Recordings and released several albums up until his death in 2003. Cash had won over the Gen X crowd. The death of Kurt Cobain followed the following year by the death of Jerry Garcia signaled the end of two genres. Something had to fill the void.
The 1990s were a crazy time as gangsta rap become more popular. But there was also ska and swing revival. Nu Metal was starting to make some noise. And then you had the Boy Band movement which ran parallel with the pop singer rivalries of Britney Spears, Christina Aguillera, Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson.
And there was the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou. The comedy by the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan) had cleverly kept it quiet and subtle about actually being a musical retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey. The movie became a modest success but the soundtrack featuring bluegrass and old-time country-western was also successful. And the soundtrack won Album of the Year at the Grammy’s in 2002.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of 9/11 a few months earlier. People were afraid that a huge war was looming. And Keith was churning out music like “Compliments of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” and “American Soldier” as well as others. Suddenly, country-western music was now about pro-American patriotism and nationalism. “Compliments” was heavily criticized and is considered by many as one of the worst songs ever made. Keith, who never served in the Armed Services was being criticized for stolen valor.
It also helped create the divide in America as conservative leaders and news pundits decided that any criticism of President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, their policies or anything bad about Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was now considered “anti-American.” Keith may have claimed he was a registered Democrat but a lot of his music seemed to be pushing the old music away.
Keith may have been born and raised in Oklahoma and wore a cowboy hat everywhere he went, but he was obviously just playing a cowboy. And now, he was wanting to play a soldier. He openly criticized The Chicks (then called The Dixie Chicks) and especially Natalie Maines for her criticism of Bush. All Maines said was as a native of Texas herself, she was embarrassed W. was from Texas. (Actually, he’s a Yankee because he was born in Conneticut.)
But it was apparent what Keith was telling the Chicks – “Sing music men want to hear or get back in the kitchen!” Maines had said that “Compliments” was ignorant and “it makes country music sound ignorant.” And arrogant as well, as Keith often had this pompous cocky attitude of him.
I remember the Tulsa World ran a story on a press release he had in 2009 about going to perform as part of a USO tour. He was decked out in some psuedo-military uniform and this smarmy look on his face. He wanted the attention that he was going overseas. He wanted the attention. “Look at me. I love our troops. Democrats and the Dixie Chicks don’t love America!”
And from Keith’s foolishness and whatever that forgettable movie Beer for my Horses birthed Bro-Country which made Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean famous. It wasn’t like the Outlaw Country from the latter part of the 20th Century. It was imitation country. As Bo Burnam sings in his parody song “Pandering,” it’s millionaire metrosexuals writing songs from the privacy of their own jet airplanes about towns where they’d never live nor work.
Along with “Compliments,” he released “Who’s Your Daddy?” the quintessential Bro-Country song. Let’s not forget by the summer of 2002, no one was really saying “Who’s your daddy?” seriously. As a matter of fact, by the mid-1990s, this phrase had become synonymous with dumb jocks, date-rape preppies and basic dudebros who are walking advertisements for Oakley. He might as well made a song called “Get In My Belly!” In only a couple of years, the next phrase “Git ‘er done!” would circulate along all the people who enjoyed Bro-Country. The exception was that Larry the Cable Guy was laughing with the people with his catchphrase spoken by John Travolta in Carrie decades before.
Alongside Bro-Country there’s Hick Hop, or Country Rap. The problem with these subgenres is they uphold a stereotype that people who live in small towns and/or have been raised in the South or still live there hate. We’re not all pro-conservative, pro-Christian, pro-flag waving, pro-Second Amendment people who share not-so-subtle racist, sexist and misogynistic views. Keith said he was sometimes embarrassed by the Democrat Party and I am to. But in October of 2008, a month before Barack Obama was elected President, he told CMT “My party that I’ve been affiliated with all these years doesn’t stand for anything that I stand for anymore.”
Hmmmm, everyone knows what he meant. The Democrat Party wasn’t the party of the straight white men anymore. A lot of registered Democrats showed their true colors in 2008. I wouldn’t call Keith a flat-out racist but he obviously told people his views on women and non-whites in his music. And I think he capitalized on the rise of post-9/11 propaganda as well as contributing to it. Randy Travis may have sang music, like “Point of Life” in favor of President George H.W. Bush but he never acted like anyone who had other political beliefs were soft and weak. Also, Travis had a better singing voice by far than Keith.
Keith’s not all responsible. People had to listen to his music and make it popular. And country-western music is full of many “windshield cowboys” who dress the part but have never rode a horse even as it was being pulled by another person. As George Carlin once said, “Closest they’ve ever gotten to a cow is when they stopped to take a piss at an Arby’s.” I’ve rode a horse as a child as it was pulled by a wrangler and honestly don’t know what the big deal is. I’ve also helped my uncle and aunt herd cattle as they moved them from one pasture to another.
The whole “cowboy” thing is based on the circus-life performances of Buffalo Bill Cody and the ignorance of early filmmakers not realizing they could make movies on topics other than that of Edwin Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery.” Being a rancher/farmer is hard work. The older musicians understood that. The joke that CW is always about losing things is a reflection of the hardships of life.
Keith was too young for the Vietnam War and was too old for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Yet he had time in between to serve his country He didn’t. He wanted to dress as a mythical figure and sing. It’s all razzle dazzle. No one really thought David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust era, KISS and Elton John were the same on stage as they are in their private lives.
Yet, Keith and others basically drew a line the sand and said they were on the right side and everyone else was on the wrong.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 