When did country music go from the music of oppressed and poor people to flag-waving republican

[Rabrrrrrr]

supporting jingoistic racist assholery?

I'm sitting here trying to think of a year or a decade when a good music, a folk music that came from the roots of a people long oppressed by their corporate overseers and others, living in poverty, existing as an underclass within a group of people who were also an underclass, in a country that allowed their oppression and, quite often, even used its military to keep them an underclass....

when did that music become the corporation-supporting flag-waving republican-lovin' bullshit that it is now?

All I can figure is that it happened during Reagan's years, when he pretended to be Christian and was able to play up to the xenophobia and hate-based-theology of the country western people. "Reagan might be forcing us out of jobs, but at least the niggers and the homos and the spics and the nips and the intellectuals are getting fucked more."

Or did it happen earlier? Was it a result of a change in politics in the country, or was it merely the result of the change in easy production and distribution of music in, say, the 70s, and the corporatization of the music industry that began distributing music based on demographics than on actual quality?

Could a Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Mel Tillis, Roy Clark, etc., even get a start today?

[underpants]

1. Merle Haggard

That started it and the Reagan 80's made it complete well actually the 90's cemented it.

[taterguy]

2. It's Willie and Waylon's fault

Once people realized that there was a lot of money to be made in country music then everything went to shit. Money turns everything to shit, except when people give it to me.

[Shakespeare]

3. Oh, man, don't EVEN blame the outlaws.

Willie and Weylon (R.I.P.) are and were one of the few genuine aspects of that business (along with Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and a handful of others).

I peg the decline with the advance of country supergroups like the Oakridge Boys and Alabama, and that godawful Lee Greenwood song "God Bless the USA." That's when patriotism became a C&W commodity.

[asthmaticeog]

20. Dude, no, just no.

First, PLENTY of money was being made off of C&W well before Willie & Waylon's '70s work - Grand Ol' Opry ring a bell? Hell, Willie Nelson rejected that system and its structure - he was a Nashville songwriter before he said fuck it, moved back to Texas and became pretty much a freak. And when he became successful anyway, Nashville regarded him as a threat to their hegemon, just as they did with Buck Owens 10 years earlier. Anyway, point is there was a huge money-structure in C&W long before the '70s, and Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings are absolutely the wrong people to blame for it.

[NoGOPZone]

4. About the time Charlie Daniels went from

"Uneasy Rider" to "In America"

[johnnie]

5. The day..

My mama socked it to, the Harper Valley PTA.

[ohiosmith]

6. 1969

This piece of shit:

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take our trips on LSD
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, and bein' free.

I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all

We don't make a party out of lovin';
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo;
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.

And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all.

Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.
Football's still the roughest thing on campus,
And the kids here still respect the college dean.

We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.

[blitzen]

7. What you're calling "Country Music" is Corporate Music...Real country

is alive and well...I could list scores if not hundreds of damn good current artists who are not only left-leaning but who are infinitely better musically than the mainstream Nashville crap.

By the way, all you Merle bashers: Back off! The dude has some decent progressive bona fides, and had them even back in the Okie days.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Yup

You can hear it at www.kpig.com.

[El Fuego]

8. Brilliant strategerizin' by the repubs to make people vote against their own interests.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

9. I pin it on the rise of hip-hop

Think about it...

Hip-hop/rap became very successful and rapidly became the music of choice for the truly poor and oppressed people in this country.

Country music (and its fans) responded by supporting and producing music that no longer spoke to this issue -- and, in fact, started pushing the exact opposite idea: how great America is and how great it is to live here.

I hate to say it, but I think there was a lot of racism involved here. Once the blacks had a real voice in the media that spoke to their oppression, the oppressed whites ran as far away from that message possible in an attempt to distance themselves.

Just my theory, of course...

[KitchenWitch]

10. I think it may have been during the rise of the Christian "Right"

[Critters2]

11. It's still the music of the people

I listen to it often, and I'm always struck by how many of the lyrics are about not being heard, not counting, being a "number". Many of the lyrics speak to this sense of powerlessness, what sociologists might call "anomie". If the Democratic Party would acknowledge that pain, and make people feel listened to, there's some real energy to tap into. But as long as we really do look like elitists, we won't move anyone who listens to country music because it speaks to their reality.

Here's an example:

Yeah the big boss man, he likes to crack that whip
I ain't nothing but a number on his timecard slip,
I give him 40 hours and a piece of my soul,
Puts me somewhere at the bottom of his totem pole,
Hell I don't even think he knows my name...

(Chorus)
Well all week long I'm a real nobody,
But I just punched out and its paycheck Friday,
Weekends here, good God almighty,
I'm going to get drunk and be somebody
Yeah, yeah, yeah...

My baby cuts hair at a beauty boutique,
Just blowin' and goin' till she dead on her feet,
They walk right in and sit right down,
She gives them what they want and then she spins them around,
Hey I don't think they even know her name...

(Chorus)

Well just average people, in an everyday bar,
driving from work in our ordinary cars,
and I like to come here with the regular Joes,
drink all you want, be the star of the star
of the show

(Chorus)

[SecularMotion]

12. Urban Cowboy

[Critters2]

13. Yet another example

Nobody Gonna Tell Me What to Do by Van Zant



Shoulda seen the look on the face of the boss of the second shift,
When I threw my hard hat at him,
An' suggested the box where he could stick it.
I walked downstairs an told 'em I was leavin' Bethlehem,
Like I'd seen the Saviour, had tears in my eyes,
Holdin' my hands up an' shoutin': "Amen."

'Cause there ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.
I spent most of my life a-wrapped up tight,
In somebody else's hand-me-down old shoes.
Startin' today, I'm someone I'd be proud to know:
You might tell me where to go,
But there ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.

We buried Daddy just last week at the church to save his soul.
Man, he dreamed of pilot's wings:
Spent his whole life diggin' coal.
I got a guitar under my bed, but I've been too scared to fly.
But that's enough of that stuff, I'm packin' up my truck:
They can just kiss my butt goodbye.

'Cause there ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.
I spent most of my life a-wrapped up tight,
In somebody else's hand-me-down old shoes.
Startin' today, I'm someone I'd be proud to know:
You might tell me where to go,
But there ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.

Instrumental Break.

'Cause there ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.
(Ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.)
I spent most of my life wrapped up tight,
In somebody else's hand-me-down old shoes.
Startin' today, I'm someone I'd be proud to know:
You might tell me where to go,
But there ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do.

I walked downstairs an told 'em I was leavin' Bethlehem.

[Critters2]

14. And another

Boondocks by Little Big Town

I feel no shame
I'm proud of where I came from
I was born and raised in the boondocks
One thing I know
No matter where I go
I keep my heart and soul in the boondocks

And I can feel
That muddy water running through my veins
And I can hear that lullaby of a midnight train
It sings to me and it sounds familiar

(Chorus)

And I can taste
That honeysuckle and it's still so sweet
When it grows wild
On the banks down at old camp creek
Yeah, and it calls to me like a warm wind blowing

(Chorus)

It's where I learned about living
It's where I learned about love
It's where I learned about working hard
And having a little was just enough

It's where I learned about Jesus
And knowing where I stand
You can take it or leave it, this is me
This is who I am

Give me a tin roof
A front porch and a gravel road
And that's home to me
It feels like home to me

(Chorus)

I keep my heart and soul in the boondocks

You get a line, I'll get a pole
We'll go fishing in the crawfish hole
Five-card poker on a Saturday night
Church on Sunday morning

(2x)
You get a line, I'll get a pole
We'll go fishing in the crawfish hole
(Down in the boondocks)
Five-card poker on a Saturday night
Church on Sunday morning

[Critters2]

15. And then there's this meaningful populist ditty

:)

Honky-Tonk Badonkadonk by Trace Adkins

Alright boys, this is her favorite song
You know that right
So, if we play it good and loud
She might get up and dance again
Ooh, she put her beer down
Here she comes
Here she comes
Left left left right left
Whoo

Husslers shootin' eightball
Throwin' darts at the wall
Feelin' damn near 10 ft. tall
Here she comes, Lord help us all
Ol' T.W.'s girlfriend done slapped him outta his chair
Poor ole boy, it ain't his fault
It's so hard not to stare
At that honky tonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm
Make ya wanna swing along
Got it goin' on
Like Donkey Kong
And whoo-wee
Shut my mouth, slap your grandma
There outta be a law
Get the Sheriff on the phone
Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on
That honky tonk badonkadonk
(Aww son)

Now Honey, you can't blame her
For what her mama gave her
You ain't gotta hate her
For workin' that money-maker
Band shuts down at two
But we're hangin' out till three
We hate to see her go
But love to watch her leave
With that honky tonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm
Make ya wanna swing along
Got it goin' on
Like Donkey Kong
And whoo-wee
Shut my mouth, slap your grandma
There outta be a law
Get the Sheriff on the phone
Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on
With that honky tonk badonkadonk
(Ooh, that's what I'm talkin' bout right there, honey)

We don't care bout the drinkin'
Barely listen to the band
Our hands, they start a shakin'
When she gets the urge to dance
Drivin' everybody crazy
You think you fell in love
Boys, you better keep your distance
You can look but you can't touch
That honkey tonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm
Make ya wanna swing along
Got it goin' on
Like Donkey Kong
And whoo-wee
Shut my mouth, slap your grandma
There outta be a law
Get the Sheriff on the phone
Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on
That honky tonk badonkadonk

That honky tonk badonkadonk
Yeah, that honky tonk badonkadonk

(That's it, right there boys, that's why we do what we do
It ain't for the money, it ain't for the glory, it ain't for the free whiskey
It's for the badonkadonk)

[leftofthedial]

16. The 80's and 90's.

The neocon revolution began to gain momentum in every public sphere.

Meanwhile, corporate mergers removed many of the old school leaders of the music business and replaced them with corporate drones. As with all repuke ventures, abysmal failure did nothing to discourage a wide range of hideously ineffective practices within the industry.

Radio became the tail that wagged the recording industry dog. Radio was almost exclusively owned by RW repuke wack jobs.

The transition was a key element of the creation of the "Reagan Democrat" demographic. Many of these neoconservatives have moved into politions of influence in the industry, not necessarily due to some vast conspiracy (although the vast conspiracy helped), but simply because they came of age as neoconservatism was on the rise--it's who they are, politics, aesthetics and all.

When your list of "old-school" artists were first coming out, millions of music fans wondered how Country music could have abandoned its roots (Could The Carter Family, Bill Monroe, The Stanleys, The Louvins, etc. even get a start today?) It's been a recurring cycle. Never before though has the entire industry been subjugated by a political movement as it was over the last 25 years.

[Initech]

17. That's the way I see it.

When the neocons started buying up every available radio station and making them play only THEIR music (read: non offensive, mind-numbing music) and their agenda, that's when the decline of not only radio and TV started, but the decline of everything.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. When It Become Pop Music

When it was less folk music, and more pop music, the audience acceptance began to become more important than lyrical import, and the market became stratified and niched.

The target audience in many cases, became very "southern" (sorry folks, i don't mean that as a slam), so the sentiments of the stereotypical southerner became part of the target message.

Look at how "ho's and guns" rap became when the target audience became surburban white kids!

The Professor

[mainegreen]

21. Chet Atkins n/t

[riverdeep]

22. Don't forget Iris DeMent

This was written before Bush, but it's a kind of foreshadowing too.

Living in the wasteland of the free...

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on mTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in

[LSK]

23. 2002