In Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs – A Low Culture Manifesto, Chuck Klosterman posits that music taste is used by the music snob to gauge coolness. In particular, most people who say “I like all kinds of music, except country” only say so to appear cool. I agree with Chuck; people judge other people’s cool factor by what they listen to. This is increasing measured by what’s on their Ipod (heaven fordid you have a Zune).
These folks always pick out country. You never hear anyone say “I like all kinds of music except show tunes” or “I like all kinds of music, except chamber music” or how about “I like all kinds of music, except Gregorian chants.” No, people love to pick on country music.
Well reader, I love country music. I grew up listening to it and I hear it in a lot of music that all the hipsters listen to, like:
- Wilco (big Ernest Tubbs fans)
- Neko Case
- Okkervil River
- Avett Brothers (these guys are as country as they come)
- Tallest Man on Earth
- Fleet Foxes
- X
- Lykke Li (ok, kidding here)
4 comments:
fleet foxes are incredible. i try and make everyone listen to them. some people just don't get it!
1) Hooray for spambots!
2) You may not hear people say "show tunes" in place of "country", but I'm sure you've heard people put "rap", "classical", or "metal" all into that spot. Now, I wouldn't say that some folk are just putting that out there to be cool. Lots of tools say lots of things to try and be something they're not.
But I would argue that anyone who says "I like all music except [genre]" is more lazy, than anything. Maybe this is the cynic in me, but I don't think I've met anyone that open minded to like everything but one. (Or that "non-picky".) You may really a song, or hell, even a band that falls into a certain genre, but not like the whole genre. And some people are less picky than others, but everyone's particular to some point. And I call bullshit on anyone who tells me otherwise. It's just a matter of find the thing/genre/whatever they're picky about.
But who asked me, anyway? :)
PS: I don't like country, although I am a little swept up with this Taylor Swift craze. She's adorable.
1) Zwan! Damn, I crack me up!
2) Klosterman is still on my punch list.
3) I actually got into a discussion like this with a co-worker of my wife's the other night when we were seeing a jam band. She was kinda amazed at some of the stuff I pulled out, and we got into the country thing. I think what we were able to get it to was this:
i) Country music is American music, and shares all the influences and history of American music (rock, blues, show tunes, etc)
ii) What most people really don't like is MAINSTREAM country music.
iii) What most people say when they say this is that they don't like manufactured pop, which is essentially what a lot of mainstream country music is only clothed with a level of mock earnestness and appeals to authenticity.
iv) What most music snobs REALLY hate is mock earnestness and appeals to authenticity.
I listen to a little bit of everything, rock, punk, hardcore, rap, showtunes, classical, britpop, WhateverItIsTheArcadeFireDoesIWannaCallItProgressiveButItReallyIsn't. The only rule I have is don't be boring. Once it's boring, I'm out like the gout.
There's a line in a Hank Williams III song and a similar line in a Divorcees song that basically says what you say G. To paraphrase, "you can put a fiddle in a pop song, but that doesn't make it country."
James, I have heard it said of rap (in particular by an Allman and Perry Farrell) but never of metal. I'm shocked.
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