Nuthin Says Fraud Like 'genre'

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Its my experience that people who use words like GENRE are 24 karat frauds.

On tv today a new country music wonderkind says Country has always been her favorite genre. Hank Williams prolly never heard the word in his life.

Country in 2013 translates to an apartment in a gated complex by the interstate.

 

[autoplot]

It's another word for "category." I wonder if Hank Williams had that one in his vocabulary.

 

[sr71plt]

You've posted this idiocy before, JBJ. "Genre" first appeared in 1770 and has had a specific, continuous, useful meaning. I don't think you'd even recognize anything that was 24 karat.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

It's another word for "category." I wonder if Hank Williams had that one in his vocabulary.

It sticks out like a crack whore with good teeth.

 

[TE999]

There's a world of difference between the old C&W tunes and today's Country Pop offerings. Listen to some Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Patsy Cline or The Carter Family recordings to get the flavor of what Country once was.

A good C&W song primer is the soundtrack album from the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' The movie ain't bad either.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There's a world of difference between the old C&W tunes and today's Country Pop offerings. Listen to some Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Patsy Cline or The Carter Family recordings to get the flavor of what Country once was.

A good C&W song primer is the soundtrack album from the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' The movie ain't bad either.

Yep. I know Mother Maybelle never heard genre.

I'm not sure when C&W ran off the tracks and became the music of America's fake cowboys and faux saloon queens.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYOB8tDGi5g
LONG TALL MAMA

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJXfIoDrAZ0
HANK WILLIAMS

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OVtpnpCOKM
PATSY CLINE

Willie Nelson wrote all her best songs.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6KzYUoYzUY
WILF CARTER 'Montana Slim;

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffhqOy_A8KM
BILL MONROE

 

[TE999]

Yep. I know Mother Maybelle never heard genre.

I'm not sure when C&W ran off the tracks and became the music of America's fake cowboys and faux saloon queens.

Country Pop began to be popular in the late '70's (think Glenn Campbell and Bobbie Gentry) and by the 1990's Country had become more contemporary Rock than authentic Country (Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton). It's both a loss and an evolution in the music style.

Old time Country Gospel music still flourishes among Evangelicals and there are any number of touring groups who do gigs exclusively in churches and at revival meetings.

 

[sr71plt]

Happily, it doesn't seem to take much effort to divert you from your own thread topic, JBJ.

 

[MSTarot]

I'm not sure when C&W ran off the tracks and became the music of America's fake cowboys and faux saloon queens.

I think Johnny Cash brought in a little of it. Then a mixture of the 70's pop/disco sound seemed to seep it's way in.

Examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsuVuw5JO4 (it has more of the rhythm and blues sound, that was the heart of early rock songs, than the mandolin/ banjo twang of country)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aU5gafxI84 ( there is that hint of the pop sound creeping into the vocals)

My opinion worth what it's worth

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I'm not sure exactly when "Country & Western" became just plain ol' Cuntree, but something was lost in the transition. Johnny Cash would not recognize a country radio station today.

Except for JC, I was never a fan of any type of country music, but it seems to me the exponential growth in the genre coincided with the growth of hip hop and the concomitant death of Rock n Roll. Country scooped up the casual rock fans who were left homeless when rock went on life support. Now, country seems to be all about pick up trucks and cowboy hats, and has very little of the rural soul sound that Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash made popular.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think Johnny Cash brought in a little of it. Then a mixture of the 70's pop/disco sound seemed to seep it's way in.

Examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsuVuw5JO4 (it has more of the rhythm and blues sound, that was the heart of early rock songs, than the mandolin/ banjo twang of country)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aU5gafxI84 ( there is that hint of the pop sound creeping into the vocals)

My opinion worth what it's worth

I think you're right.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm not sure exactly when "Country & Western" became just plain ol' Cuntree, but something was lost in the transition. Johnny Cash would not recognize a country radio station today.

Except for JC, I was never a fan of any type of country music, but it seems to me the exponential growth in the genre coincided with the growth of hip hop and the concomitant death of Rock n Roll. Country scooped up the casual rock fans who were left homeless when rock went on life support. Now, country seems to be all about pick up trucks and cowboy hats, and has very little of the rural soul sound that Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash made popular.

Do yuh think Grateful Dead had anything to do with it?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Happily, it doesn't seem to take much effort to divert you from your own thread topic, JBJ.

ADD, Pilot, ADD.

 

[SecondCircle]

I don't really agree with the idea that just because someone has a larger vocabulary than old country singers makes them "less country". And I hate when people where I live turn their noses up when you use a "big word", like it's some sorta sin to be the slightest bit educated.

But while this reason alone isn't an indicator of authenticity or whatever the argument is, modern country is crap compared to what country was in the old days. In my opinion, artists nowadays just try to hard to BE country. Merle never had to TRY to do anything, he just did it the way he did it. Willie or hank or nobody talked about the things they sang about because it fit a category of music. They just sang what they loved and it WAS country.

Nowadays, country seems too strained, and the content is just sorta goofy and shallow, with some exceptions. But things change and what is popular becomes the new thing.

But I certainly don't think less of someone because they know the word "genre". My wife's grampa is about as backwoods as they come, prolly has never used the word "genre", but I know his granddaughter uses it, and he doesn't shake his head at the fact that she uses it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I don't really agree with the idea that just because someone has a larger vocabulary than old country singers makes them "less country". And I hate when people where I live turn their noses up when you use a "big word", like it's some sorta sin to be the slightest bit educated.

But while this reason alone isn't an indicator of authenticity or whatever the argument is, modern country is crap compared to what country was in the old days. In my opinion, artists nowadays just try to hard to BE country. Merle never had to TRY to do anything, he just did it the way he did it. Willie or hank or nobody talked about the things they sang about because it fit a category of music. They just sang what they loved and it WAS country.

Nowadays, country seems too strained, and the content is just sorta goofy and shallow, with some exceptions. But things change and what is popular becomes the new thing.

But I certainly don't think less of someone because they know the word "genre". My wife's grampa is about as backwoods as they come, prolly has never used the word "genre", but I know his granddaughter uses it, and he doesn't shake his head at the fact that she uses it.

Are you joking? I looked up CONFOUND this morning, and it has maybe 25 definitions. We're not far from the time when one word will suffice to write a whole effing book. There oughta be a contest to do it. CONFOUND, btw, means multiple definitions.

If someone says they LOVE you, you really don't know what the fuck they mean.

GENRE is like the old lady in 9-5 saying MERDE in place of shit.

 

[SecondCircle]

Are you joking? I looked up CONFOUND this morning, and it has maybe 25 definitions. We're not far from the time when one word will suffice to write a whole effing book. There oughta be a contest to do it. CONFOUND, btw, means multiple definitions.

If someone says they LOVE you, you really don't know what the fuck they mean.

GENRE is like the old lady in 9-5 saying MERDE in place of shit.

OR... times just change and the language changes with it.

Otherwise we would still talk like they did in ancient times. There's no doubt that our language has become extremely diverse, but I don't really think that's such a terrible ass thing really. Otherwise most stories here would consist of, "Jake liked that girl. He bought her a drink. They went to his house and fucked."

Words carry different meanings and connotations because we use them so differently and uniquely for so many situations.

Genre. Big deal. Shit, crap, bull, poop, turd, Stanley Steamer... I'm gonna use em all and whoever can't understand me doesn't have to listen.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

OR... times just change and the language changes with it.

Otherwise we would still talk like they did in ancient times. There's no doubt that our language has become extremely diverse, but I don't really think that's such a terrible ass thing really. Otherwise most stories here would consist of, "Jake liked that girl. He bought her a drink. They went to his house and fucked."

Words carry different meanings and connotations because we use them so differently and uniquely for so many situations.

Genre. Big deal. Shit, crap, bull, poop, turd, Stanley Steamer... I'm gonna use em all and whoever can't understand me doesn't have to listen.

Here's a word for you, INCONGRUENT.

 

[sr71plt]

Here's a word for you, INCONGRUENT.

Speaking of which, you'd say someone using a word like that (you, in this instance) is being a 24-karat fraud, right?

 

[slyc_willie]

My wife and I have both noticed that at least some of the songs played on our local country stations (and this is Texas, mind you, so there are as many country radio stations as there are strip clubs near a military base) are resembling, more and more, the glam rock sound of the mid-late eighties. Either that, or they're becoming more eighties "pop" in sound.

Take Brantley Gilbert and Taylor Swift. The former I like, mainly because he doesn't sing with an exaggerated twang, the latter I don't because she's singing the anthem songs of jilted eighteen-year-olds I can't (and don't care to) relate with. They're both popular because, I feel, most of the fans out there aren't just fans of a single GENRE (there, I used the word), but have a more diverse appreciation for different styles of music.

The country music backdrop, the social basis for it, is no longer the same as it was for ol' Hank, or Merle Haggard, or Waylon Jennings, or David Alan Cole. Modern country listeners aren't just working-class alcoholics who drive trucks, own shotguns, and get their dogs run over. Some of them *gasp* drive sports cars and family sedans, wear suits, and don't even have a dog.

 

[slyc_willie]

Here's a word for you, INCONGRUENT.

And one for you: ANACHRONISTIC