Saturday, November 5, 2011

Music Wars



Although I try to play Pink Floyd at home and in the car as much as possible, I don't think I've done my job at brainwashing Sara into liking them. She's starting to have her own, independent taste in music (which is fine). What does she like?

Taylor Swift, especially the song "You Belong With Me"
Lady Antebellum, and the song "Need You Now"
The Black Eyed Peas
Lady Gaga
Katy Perry, especially the songs "Firework" and "E.T."
Adele, and "Rolling in the Deep"

Yes, who would have thought, she likes to listen to current music, not stuff from the 70's. Oh well, I tried.

Some of the songs above are okay, but country music? Please, say it isn't so! I'm going to go out on a limb here, and possibly offend half the state of Texas, but country music simply sucks! I'd rate it about as highly as I do rap music. How can I take any music seriously that sings about having a "bar b que stain on my white t-shirt." This is just lame, pedestrian writing. I could easily write the lyrics to a country music song within 10 minutes if I wanted to. I would just have to write about my girlfriend dumping me for losing my job, and how I'm going to get drunk and watch football. Piece of cake.

I don't think all country music is bad. I just so happen to own (well, used to own) CD's by Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. I also like some songs by John Denver, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn. But, they're old school country. I saw one country act at Austin City Limits this year (Jack Ingram), and at one point he took off his cowboy boots and started singing to them. Sigh.

Black Eyed Peas and Katy Perry are just a flash in the pan. Listen to their music and you can clearly hear that it is all "auto-tuned." They can't really sing. They need a computer to get in tune. The only singer that Sara likes that seems to have some talent is Adele. At least she's got a good singing voice.

I think Sara might have inherited Christy's "bad music gene." When I met Christy, she was listening to boy band crap. I have since opened her mind to better music, but I'll still occasionally hear her listening to Blue, Wet Wet Wet, and Sugababes.

I think Kyle might have got my music gene, though. The other day I heard him singing "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!"

7 comments:

  1. I never could get any of my children to enjoy my music. I now have a song in common with at least one of them, maybe all four. It's an Ozzy song! Dreamer. Or is it Dreaming? No, It's Dream. No Dreamer I think. Anyway, I actually have that on my Itunes and am proud of it!

    I don't know if any of my kids like Leonard Cohen, my current fav.

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  2. Kids today. I can never get mine to listen to anything I say.

    The only people I know that you named are the country singers. I have heard of that Gaga but I could not identify any song.

    But I can name several Super Junior, SHE, C-ute, School Food Punishment, 5566, Funky Monkey Babys songs.

    Rock and roll will never die.

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  3. Ken, you are calling Taylor Swift a "country" singer? I think you need to work on your definitions.

    Thank you for pointing out that you don't think all country music is bad. However, you picked out one "fun" song by Tim McGraw that mentions the BBQ stain...

    How about other songs that he has sung, including "Grown Men Don't Cry", "Live like you were Dying" and "Angry All the Time." PLEASE take time and listen to the words & melodies of those songs.

    What about Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" or Alan Jackson's "Where were you when the World Stoppped Turning?" (I presume you know that it's a tribute to 911.)

    By the way, I've been listening to the Rolling Stones (Rewind), Beatles (Abbey Road) and Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits lately.

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  4. There are many sub-categories of "country music". Some of the mainstream stuff is pretty bad. However, there are many country artists that make pretty nice music. Nancy Griffith, Todd Snider or Lyle Lovett are just three of them and they are all Texans. Another is Townes Van Zandt (now deceased), who wrote some incredibly moving songs. You might be surprised at how many you know because they were covered by many other good artists.

    Anyway, their music may not be your cup of tea, but if you gave it all an honest listen, you would certainly agree that it is not garbage.

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  5. This is what baby Jesus listens to:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CHryIOGdik

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  6. Janet,

    That song by Ozzy is called "Dreamer", from the "Down to Earth" CD. One of his better songs.

    I like some Leonard Cohen songs, but mostly the older ones like "Suzanne" and "Bird on a Wire." His newer stuff isn't really singing, he's just talking over music. Roger Waters is doing the same thing as well with his recent stuff.

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  7. Way to go Kyle...Ken, I'm sure that you and the young Mr. Berglund will be hitting some rock concerts sooner than later..I'm sure he would enjoy a KISS concert with all the pyros..Sarah is female so her taste will range to well...everything..LOL

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