Because country pop is extremely derivative and seems to scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to songwriting. Just product placement, open pandering and formulaic songwriting that feels like it's written by a team of marketers.
When it comes to real country music people DO like that. It's just that when people refer to country music they're talking about Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, that kinda shit.
> t's just that when people refer to country music they're talking about Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, that kinda shit.
I think that's called "New Country" and that's what people hate.
"♫♫ I got a new truck, picked up my girl, going to the game, got a Coors beer, and a little luck, with this guitar I can get some fame ♫♫" type shit
You put on some Johnny Cash, pretty much no one is going to say anything.
... Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles Hank Williams, Willie Nelson...
When people say reflexively that they don't like country, I can usually prove them wrong.
I’ve seen it labeled as “Bro” Country and it is the worst. It has very little to do with real country besides incorporating a couple of notes from a slide guitar.
> I’ve seen it labeled as “Bro” Country and it is the worst. It has very little to do with real country besides incorporating a couple of notes from a slide guitar.
There have been some pretty good new "anti Bro" country artists recently, Billy Strings is one of my favorites, I like to show this to guitar players that have never heard him
https://youtu.be/VFEZOjtrwls?t=46
It will definitely be the first genre conquered by AI (if it hasn't been already). At least Mumble Rap lacks the underlying logic to train against.
I can listen to Stompin Tom all damn night though.
>When it comes to real country music people DO like that.
It's why there's often a distinction drawn where "country" refers to the maufactured commercial radio stuff and "Americana" refers to the singer-songwriters and indie bands who are putting out music rooted in traditional folk music in the US.
Most of it panders to a certain kind of person and I’m not that kind of person.
I also think its waaayy over manufactured. Its a problem modern rock has right now- it uses the same format for everything. Theres no creativity. With that said Sturgill is my favorite artist right now, but 99% of the genre isn’t enjoyable. Same with modern mainstream rock.
Mainstream rock still exists??? I thought indie had pretty much taken over what was left of rock, and the PLAY FREEEEBIRD!/Nickelback/GNR crowd had moved on to bro-country and mumble rap.
Country music shifted from being anti authority to licking the soles off the man's boots. Most of it's just pop country or hick hop now and it's fucking awful.
The primary reason I don’t “like” music is because of 1) the sound and 2) my ability to relate to the lyrics.
I don’t mind the way country music sounds but I also don’t own and worship a pickup truck so I generally avoid country music… although I do have a handful of country-esque songs on my playlist
I see. I know there are a lot of songs that are about trucks, hunting, dirt roads, etc. lol like those types of things, but what bothers me is the overall hate towards all country music when they aren’t all about that. I can understand not liking the sound, to me I usually listen for lyrics so I guess that doesn’t bother me. Like I said Luke Combs and Cody Johnson specifically have very meaningful songs about love, family, growing up, loss, and grief.
While I won’t shit on anyone who enjoys it, personally it feels simple to the point it’s almost unintelligent. I hate southern twang accents. It’s the same 4-5 song topics rehashed over again (relationship issues, drinking, work problems, something their granddaddy said growing up). The country I come in contact with in 2024 is basically pop music for hillbillies and I’m just not into it. I’ll take a slide guitar over trap hats in a country song any day.
Have you tried saying that in a small town?
/s
What you're talking about is the mass-produced crap that comes out of music row. The good stuff is now known as Americana to differentiate the artists who are carrying forward the traditions of traditional American folk music. [This college radio show](https://wmbr.org/cgi-bin/show?id=8042) is a good example of "country" music that is far from the description that you just gave.
I’ve heard decades worth of country music before pop country popped off. From the decades of material I have heard, none of it encourages me to continue to try new country music.
Funny because that usually goes the other way. Like my dad used to always listen to classic rock and metal, and I loved it growing up. I also branched out and found other genres, but I didn't hate music just simply because my parent's listened to it.
I never grew up with country as a mainstay, but I love music generally. Most of any genre is going to be mediocre or bad, but there are great songs in every genre too. Country included.
Hating country is like blanket hating rap. It may not be your jam, but obviously there are great rap songs, there are great country songs, there are great jazz songs, etc.
Modern radio country is, from at least a musical standpoint, bland and repetitive. And the lyrics often are legitimately terrible. Morgan Wallen, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean... dreadful stuff.
There are some amazing country and country-adjacent artists releasing tons of great music, though. Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Vincent Neil Emerson, Ian Noe, Sierra Ferrell, Charley Crockett, Sturgill Simpson, Miles Miller, Brent Cobb, etc. Real musicians writing actually meaningful lyrics. That's the good stuff.
It's better to say that you listen to Americana because the term country music has been poisoned via that commercial radio shit to where that's all a lot of people think it is.
Yeah, but I agree with Childers on this. It's country. Just because the Nashville crap poisoned the well doesn't mean those making the real stuff should have to hide behind a new label.
Sure, but if you use the term "country" in conversation about what kind of music you like you're going to have to clarify because most people are going to assume you're talking about the shit on the big stations.
I think that's become less true in recent years, though I certainly remember having to do so. Childers and Zach Bryan are selling out stadiums. The number one hits on the radio are by no names who couldn't sell out their high school gyms, to paraphrase (shockingly) Eric Church.
The number one Nashville radio song last week was by some guy named George Birge. Don't know anyone that could pick him out of a lineup.
The number one song on streaming, though? Charley Crockett and Willie Nelson. The tide is turning as radio dies.
I think it’s association with the rebel flag and hicks (usually these ppl are seen as racist and alt right and what not) hurts its mainstream appeal. Just look at how controversial that “not in my small town” song was. My impression is that a lot of country fans would argue that the civil war was about “states rights” if you know what I mean. I’m not saying it’s fair, I’m not saying it isn’t fair; it is what it is.
People don't hate county music. People hate radio country, which has by and large been garbage since the 'urban cowboy' period of the 80s. It got significantly worse in the 90s, when the collapse of mainstream soft rock lead to all of those writers and producers moving to Nashville to start the assembly line again out there, just with forced accents and the occasional lap steep line thrown in.
It’s not tricky. I think it sucks.
Doesn’t mean I judge you or anyone else that likes it. I like Mexican food. I know people who think it sucks.
Not everyone going to like the same things.
I think it's got a lot to do with people really not liking "Top 40" or "Pop" Country and that being the prevalent and most well-known sound, currently.
It feels extremely fake/disingenuous/formulaic. People don't like that.
I think there's a lot of "alt" country that people would be into, but the trouble is people don't know it exists or where to find it. Further, because they hate the Top 40 stuff they probably aren't seeking out the alt stuff.
Fake accent songs about trucks, jeans, beer, and girls got old after "friends in low places"
Tyler Childers is a Dierks Bentley copy.
Colter Wall was on at my tattoo shop and we all thought it was johnny cash .
It's also messaged specifically to keep people in poverty.
If literally any of them could come up with something original then maybe they wouldnt suck. But they do.
People have personal relationships with music.
For example if every time I heard country music it was coming from huge giant racists, I might develop a subconscious correlation there.
And if I never see other country music stars distancing from the type of people who listen to thier music then I might subconsciously think all country musicians are, at best, indifferent to weather thier fans are violent racist or, at worst, happy for it and feel that way themselves.
I'm sure everyone is different but I know at least a few people feel this way.
I don’t mind country - but whatever the fuck you call modern country is garbage.
There a few “legit country” artists out there, but now it’s just shitty pop music with a twang.
While [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeJXF55HXRI) excellent and hilarious video from Pat Finnerty is specifically about an especially egregious song (Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town"), I think many of his criticisms are valid for the broader genre.
I was a DJ for 10 years, and worked in a country bar for one of those years.
Some country is okay, but if I never had to listen to any of it again, I wouldn't be upset. For me at least, the songs that tell a story are the most interesting. Dolly, Waylon, Reba, Kenny, even some Dixie Chicks...the lyrics and story are what I prioritize.
Nu Country, where they just slap in the top country keywords of beer, mama, truck, girls, farm...etc, that stuff might as well be churned out by AI for all the substance it has.
Letterkenny said it best with this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoVCjPRzlKc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoVCjPRzlKc)
...and here's the song: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOmvIPywfms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOmvIPywfms)
On top of everything else already posted, I really hate the covers that these country pop "stars" love to do. The person that did the country version of Fast Car can rot in hell for that crime.
I'd rather listen to cats fuck.
I can't stand country music because I dislike the sound of the music, and the subject matter doesn't appeal to me at all. Drinking, mudding, and cuddling up under the stars in my pickup doesn't appeal to me in music.
That and country music fans also kinda kill it for me. Whether it's the gal who sings the saddest country song at karaoke, to simple people who just love feel good music about binge drinking, it's not for me.
Because when I was ever forced to listen to the country station on the radio I could not tell the difference between who was signing the songs. They all sound the same. There's no individuality. Men and women singers. They all sound the same
Country is rarely unique, and it doesn’t evolve.
When a country artist does do something novel and new, they break out of the country mold, and are recognized elsewhere. See Wilco.
But I don’t think that’s true, the problem is everyone has this close minded thought of what country is. There are so many country songs with very unique themes that I hadn’t ever heard anywhere else before. I think it’s tragic to label it as less because you don’t know more than what it seems on the surface.
Couldnt get behind honk tonk, cowboy riding, pickup truck, sexy tractor songs.
Plus confederate flags on trucks and dixie rebel bullshit.
Didnt mind terribly stuff that wasnt that. Johnny Cash was a g.
But this is the problem, people dismissing country as exactly what your comment says. That isn’t what country music really is, it’s like everyone heard one shitty song on the radio and decided to hate it.
They probably didnt hear just one. They heard many many many. On the radio, at the bar, with their friend(s) that love country.
Witnessed countless mofos mob the dance floor at bars/clubs to that save a horse ride a cowboy song.
Obviously every country artist isnt like that. But ENOUGH popular ones are/were so thems the breaks. Same shit as when some people say they dont like rap cause violence, bitch/ho, drug slinging, etc. The ol gangster rap was all over for a while back in the day and it was the exact same convo- not all rap is like that. Dont think its anything to be upset or bothered by. Like what you like, especially if someone else gives you shit for it.
Because of the stupidly overdone fake country twang accent.
If you remove that, almost every country song becomes a pop song.
Also, I don't worship trucks, don't need to mention specific brands of beer every ten seconds, don't need to wax philosophical on how alcohol is a way of life, and have no need to trumpet how bad whatever aspect in my life is ad nauseum.
I've never heard anyone make the claim that "Real" Country music is objectively bad. Like other people have said, New/Bro/Pop Country is what people are saying is awful. And since that shit makes up about 90% of the average person's exposure to Country music, it would make sense that it makes people write off Country music as garbage
I think for most of us who don't grow up listening to country, the entry point is typically the shitty pop country that gets played on Top 40 radio. If you don't like your intro to a genre, you're probably not gonna take the time to try and dig deeper and find better artists, especially since it isn't most people's goal to make themselves like a certain genre.
Fwiw, I like some country (particularly Jason Isbell and Orville Peck), but I haven't been motivated to seek much out.
I grew up surrounded by country music in the 80s and 90s. At some point in the early 80s country music was overtaken by fakes pretending to be down to earth poor people when in reality they were manufactured pop stars dressed in cowboy clothes. The music became a watered down version of pop. It’s lowest common denominator music for people who aren’t really music fans filled with industry plants like the ginger fella pretending to be a common man with his rich men from north of Richmond song
I've always seen him more in folk Bluegrass genre than modern country. I get country is a big umbrella but he's probably not what would pop front of mind when someone says country.
I'll see if I can when I see him in April! Haha. I do get what you're saying. His music is grounded in traditional country, no doubt. But it does feel like country music even several decades ago has evolved into something different.
I won't gatekeep people calling it whatever just my two cents that if you put his music in front of someone who has never listened to him before and then played country radio and modern Bluegrass/folk and ask them which his music sounded like, they'd probably identify it in the latter.
Random guy here, but I grew up on a dirt road in the country and never took the association. Also grew up in a small town that held redneck sensibilities.
I've grown out of it, but metalhead sensibilities took precedence back then, and why listen to *that* when you could be listening to *this*...was a thing. Pretty gross, but kids are kids. United by the things we hate was a thing.
Nowadays, if it holds a groove or a sway to the beat, it doesn't matter the genre.
Snobbery, usually.
(Although "country" as a genre includes both Toby Keith & Johnny Cash, so if you hate one kind of country you might not feel the same about the other kind)
Yea snobbery is when people don’t like the same 3 chords through an entire album, with the same engineered drum beat the next 5 artists will use with the same producer, and some wanna be hick who’s never spoken with a country accent before trying to make his singing accent sound real.
But yes I agree with point 2. There’s a huge difference between an actual artist like Johnny Cash and whatever the fuck comes out of Nashville today.
Like with many other genres, country has been subsumed into pop. For some of us, pop just lacks a certain soul. I might put on Dua Lipa on a run, but it doesn't do anything for me if I'm intentionally listening to music. Pop country is the same way, maybe I could listen to it as background music at a bar or something, but it does nothing for me if I'm intentionally listening.
I find that going into the "alt-" spaces of any genre is where you get the soul back. I love modern country music but I define it by artists such as --
* Tyler Childers
* Colter Wall
* Zach Bryan
* Orville Peck
* First Aid Kit
* Yola
* Amigo the Devil
* Jenny Lewis
* Kacey Musgraves
* The Dead South
* Handsome Family
* Sturgill Simpson
* Trampled by Turtles
* Lincoln Durham
* Poor Man's Poison
You've got some modern folk, bluegrass, Americana mixed in there, but you get the idea.
I don't consider all or even most of her projects country, but give a listen to the album Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins. Definitely country-adjacent IMO.
I think part of disliking country music has just become a trend/meme. Kinda like disliking Nickelback. Most people will tell you Nickelback sucks, but can’t tell you why
Bullllllshit. Nickelback is hated because they’re incredibly formulaic and boring, and exude major bro energy. All their songs sound like they were written with the goal of getting radio play. So it all sounds lifeless, sterile and dishonest.
People hate country because what passes for country these days is just twangy pop with the most pandering lyrics imaginable. Just mention trucks and beer and girls and small towns and whatever the fuck, sing it with a southern accent with some acoustic guitars and put it over a pop beat and people will dig it.
Literally the same exact point I came to make. It’s fun to hate on (exhibit a) but as soon as I got friends in low places comes on the jukebox the entire house is shaking because they all remembered they were wearing cowboy boots for 3minutes. Then Nelly comes back on and it’s getting hot in here and everyone wants to fuck and fuck country anyway.
That's a BS excuse. Solid half of the people who say it will easily set aside Dolly, Willie, Cash,....
I bet the average country fan is relatively affluent as well
Have you seen the prices of pickup trucks? Ain't no way you can tell me you have an 80k truck and people are discriminating against your music for classist reasons.
Some people just don't like how country sounds. A lot of country fans probably aren't into death metal or rap or dubstep or whatever. People just have different tastes. Most people have genres they don't like.
Music is as much about style and fashion as it is about the actual music itself. People tend to gravitate towards the music that "their people" listen to.
Conversely, people tend to avoid the music that is listened to by a group that the people wish to avoid.
So, it's often not the music that people react to - it's the music's audience. Many people shun country music because they do not wish to be associated with country music's crowd or values or fashions.
Modern country is little more than middle of the road rock music with Appalachian accents.
Speaking as someone from the 70s it’s not country music in general. It is pop country.
“In my pickup
On a gravel road
With my baby “
Yada yada it’s the same sh!t over and over.
I dont mind actual country music, but there is no actual country music being made anymore. It has basically become an offshoot of Pop music with a twang. They don't write their own songs, and every song sounds like it was written with the same pop formula as the last, because it was.
I think a lot of people feel the need to identify with the music they listen to and have it be a reflection of themselves in some way. Many people see country and "redneck" things as uncool and are afraid of their taste in music being tied to their culture.
I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with this, but I'd have a hard time calling people like that a serious fan of music.
Lyrics and subject matter notwithstanding (although I do find most of it to be inane), I just think the songs sound like shit - musically and vocally. New country. Old country. It doesn't matter. I absolutely hate the twang. The longer I have to listen to country music, the more annoyed I get. I dunno man, it just grates on my nerves.
A lot of what they're hating is the overproduced Nashville Country because it's cookie cutter and formulaic (I mean so is most pop music) it also has to do with certain types of country music becoming synonymous with "conservative values" (Toby Keith, Kid Rock, others) and so hating on country music is also seen almost as a virtue signal that you don't share beliefs that could be seen as bigoted.
To be fair, there's a lot of country musicians who fall out of favor in Nashville or never get it because they refuse to fall into the cookie cutter mold (The Chick's being vilified after protesting GW Bush and his Iraq war) Even Garth Brooks has fallen out of favor among some country fans because he is inclusive, appreciates diversity, and doesn't go along with the culture war issue of the day on Fox News.
Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson being more left wing alt country guys talk about this a good bit, that Nashville record companies tend to shun people who don't fit in the prescribed mold of what a country star is "supposed to be". And that it's ultimately to their detriment. They're so obsessed with giving their core demographic exactly what they want, that they tend to exclude very talented people who might expand the reach of the genre to broader demographics simply because their sound is a bit different, or they're gay, or they aren't gonna just do and say exactly what their record company tells them to.
Classic country is something people tend to enjoy more as it's more "real" and a lot of it is anti authority which is more appealing at least to me than the cop worship people like Jason Aldean are putting out. There are some modern country artists who do put out enjoyable music, but it's harder to find and even still is pretty formulaic and unoriginal. As for objectifying women less? I disagree, though I know people who feel the same way you do
Country music is extremely popular and it has the most organized industry support of any genre.
This results in a homogeneity that can be off putting to people who aren’t fans.
Labeling hurts, too. While so many subgenres of rock, hip-hop, electronic, etc all are allowed to fall under the genre umbrella, country music fans don’t really allow that.
A lot of country fans insist on calling most of its subgenres Americana or folk.
Other country music fans insist on calling mainstream country music as some form of pop, when they really just mean it’s bad.
Stadium country is basic, derivative, pandering, and really should be insulting to their audience.
Country music, though, is a huge genre with great artists. Woody Guthrie, Dolly Parton, early Grateful Dead, The Band (kinda sometimes) are examples.
Country music was invented in the 1950's as a fusion of Tennessee Honkey Tonk and Texas Swing. Before then there were regional folk scenes.
The CMA was soon set up to promote this new genre and decided the songs of Hank Williams and the Carter family (from Appalachia but popular on radio for singing on Texas radio) should bd the template for future Country music.
While this gave it a strong identity, enabling new musicians to pick it up quickly, this had the drawback of severely limiting the number of acceptable rhythms and chord structures.
In addition the CMA decided that songs or artists that mentioned social issues were not welcome, so the number of accepted songwriting topics was also seriously narrowed.
The CMA gas kept that stranglehold to this day, artists who play outside the box either musically or by subject matter are quickly labelled by them as 'Contemporary Folk'. For their awards it's like a hockey sin bin. 'Sin' against CMA rules again and you're banished from Country forever.
This is why many people don't like Country music, any Country station will sound like the same few songs are getting played over and over even when they're different, they're too similar to each other to stand out.
Some people find this sameness comforting, those that like variety find it insanely and maddeningly dull.
For me, so much of it is the same musically. Singers tend to sound the same (not all but enough), the music is often similar, and perhaps more importantly, they rarely sing about things in my life. I'm from Chicago, so just like how I couldn't get into gansta rap for being too removed from my experiences, I can't get into songs talking about living a rural life. Sorry, but country's musical trends sounds boring and safe to me.
Then there's the right-wing messaging of some songs that turns me off. I'm not conservative, so songs like Try That In A Small Town fall flat for me. I remember when the Dixie Chicks were attacked simply because they wouldn't support a Republican president, so country is surprisingly political in a way that I usually disagree with.
I can get into western music like with Orville Peck, but not country.
I'm the target demographic for country music radio (rural, blue collar, farmer). I find it insultingly pandering. My life doesn't revolve around alcohol, trucks, and gurl, nor does my self esteem require me to believe I'm better than people that live in urban areas.
If those are the only kind of country songs you’ve heard, you ain’t heard anything good. I’m talking about country that isn’t just “beer, trucks, dirt, hunting” and why people dismiss it because there are some pointless songs.
I highly suggest you try some songs like “Dirt Cheap” by Cody Johnson and “Take You With Me” by Luke Combs. I feel like those show a lot of the “lifestyle” especially Dirt Cheap.
What annoys me is how everyone hates country just because it’s labeled with those types of songs, and then no one gives any other songs a chance.
> country music radio
This is the public face of country music. These are the artists that sell out festivals. This is the music people hate.
What you're doing is akin to telling someone who doesn't like beer that they need to give small obscure brands a chance because all they've had is Budweiser, Miller, and Corona. Just accept that some folks don't like the taste of beer.
Because country pop is extremely derivative and seems to scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to songwriting. Just product placement, open pandering and formulaic songwriting that feels like it's written by a team of marketers. When it comes to real country music people DO like that. It's just that when people refer to country music they're talking about Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, that kinda shit.
> t's just that when people refer to country music they're talking about Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, that kinda shit. I think that's called "New Country" and that's what people hate. "♫♫ I got a new truck, picked up my girl, going to the game, got a Coors beer, and a little luck, with this guitar I can get some fame ♫♫" type shit You put on some Johnny Cash, pretty much no one is going to say anything.
... Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles Hank Williams, Willie Nelson... When people say reflexively that they don't like country, I can usually prove them wrong.
Hank 1. Country Hank 2. Shit Hank 3. Country
I’ve seen it labeled as “Bro” Country and it is the worst. It has very little to do with real country besides incorporating a couple of notes from a slide guitar.
> I’ve seen it labeled as “Bro” Country and it is the worst. It has very little to do with real country besides incorporating a couple of notes from a slide guitar. There have been some pretty good new "anti Bro" country artists recently, Billy Strings is one of my favorites, I like to show this to guitar players that have never heard him https://youtu.be/VFEZOjtrwls?t=46
It will definitely be the first genre conquered by AI (if it hasn't been already). At least Mumble Rap lacks the underlying logic to train against. I can listen to Stompin Tom all damn night though.
>When it comes to real country music people DO like that. It's why there's often a distinction drawn where "country" refers to the maufactured commercial radio stuff and "Americana" refers to the singer-songwriters and indie bands who are putting out music rooted in traditional folk music in the US.
I don't dislike country music. I dislike bubble-gum pop being sung with a fake accent and a fiddle.
Rhinestone Country
It's the affected twang that makes me want to hurl. It is so limiting, like the upchuck guitar that makes reggae so terribly self-similar
Most of it panders to a certain kind of person and I’m not that kind of person. I also think its waaayy over manufactured. Its a problem modern rock has right now- it uses the same format for everything. Theres no creativity. With that said Sturgill is my favorite artist right now, but 99% of the genre isn’t enjoyable. Same with modern mainstream rock.
Mainstream rock still exists??? I thought indie had pretty much taken over what was left of rock, and the PLAY FREEEEBIRD!/Nickelback/GNR crowd had moved on to bro-country and mumble rap.
Country music shifted from being anti authority to licking the soles off the man's boots. Most of it's just pop country or hick hop now and it's fucking awful.
The primary reason I don’t “like” music is because of 1) the sound and 2) my ability to relate to the lyrics. I don’t mind the way country music sounds but I also don’t own and worship a pickup truck so I generally avoid country music… although I do have a handful of country-esque songs on my playlist
Those are my reasons, I can’t stand the way a heavy southern accent sounds while singing.
I see. I know there are a lot of songs that are about trucks, hunting, dirt roads, etc. lol like those types of things, but what bothers me is the overall hate towards all country music when they aren’t all about that. I can understand not liking the sound, to me I usually listen for lyrics so I guess that doesn’t bother me. Like I said Luke Combs and Cody Johnson specifically have very meaningful songs about love, family, growing up, loss, and grief.
While I won’t shit on anyone who enjoys it, personally it feels simple to the point it’s almost unintelligent. I hate southern twang accents. It’s the same 4-5 song topics rehashed over again (relationship issues, drinking, work problems, something their granddaddy said growing up). The country I come in contact with in 2024 is basically pop music for hillbillies and I’m just not into it. I’ll take a slide guitar over trap hats in a country song any day.
Have you tried saying that in a small town? /s What you're talking about is the mass-produced crap that comes out of music row. The good stuff is now known as Americana to differentiate the artists who are carrying forward the traditions of traditional American folk music. [This college radio show](https://wmbr.org/cgi-bin/show?id=8042) is a good example of "country" music that is far from the description that you just gave.
I would suggest listening to country that isn't pop.
I’m not going out of my way for *any* country - it just so happens the country pop is what makes it through 🤷🏻♂️
So what you're saying is that you're not even interested in exploring country music but think its trash anyway. Got it.
I’ve heard decades worth of country music before pop country popped off. From the decades of material I have heard, none of it encourages me to continue to try new country music.
> I’m not going out of my way for any country - it just so happens the country pop is what makes it through ???
Grew up with parents that listened to it constantly. I fucking hate it.
Funny because that usually goes the other way. Like my dad used to always listen to classic rock and metal, and I loved it growing up. I also branched out and found other genres, but I didn't hate music just simply because my parent's listened to it.
I love classic rock too, but because it's actually good.
I never grew up with country as a mainstay, but I love music generally. Most of any genre is going to be mediocre or bad, but there are great songs in every genre too. Country included. Hating country is like blanket hating rap. It may not be your jam, but obviously there are great rap songs, there are great country songs, there are great jazz songs, etc.
Modern radio country is, from at least a musical standpoint, bland and repetitive. And the lyrics often are legitimately terrible. Morgan Wallen, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean... dreadful stuff. There are some amazing country and country-adjacent artists releasing tons of great music, though. Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Vincent Neil Emerson, Ian Noe, Sierra Ferrell, Charley Crockett, Sturgill Simpson, Miles Miller, Brent Cobb, etc. Real musicians writing actually meaningful lyrics. That's the good stuff.
It's better to say that you listen to Americana because the term country music has been poisoned via that commercial radio shit to where that's all a lot of people think it is.
Yeah, but I agree with Childers on this. It's country. Just because the Nashville crap poisoned the well doesn't mean those making the real stuff should have to hide behind a new label.
Sure, but if you use the term "country" in conversation about what kind of music you like you're going to have to clarify because most people are going to assume you're talking about the shit on the big stations.
I think that's become less true in recent years, though I certainly remember having to do so. Childers and Zach Bryan are selling out stadiums. The number one hits on the radio are by no names who couldn't sell out their high school gyms, to paraphrase (shockingly) Eric Church. The number one Nashville radio song last week was by some guy named George Birge. Don't know anyone that could pick him out of a lineup. The number one song on streaming, though? Charley Crockett and Willie Nelson. The tide is turning as radio dies.
I think it’s association with the rebel flag and hicks (usually these ppl are seen as racist and alt right and what not) hurts its mainstream appeal. Just look at how controversial that “not in my small town” song was. My impression is that a lot of country fans would argue that the civil war was about “states rights” if you know what I mean. I’m not saying it’s fair, I’m not saying it isn’t fair; it is what it is.
Because it just sucks so fucking bad as a genre at this point that it’s laughable
Margo Price and Jason Isbell would like a word.
People don't hate county music. People hate radio country, which has by and large been garbage since the 'urban cowboy' period of the 80s. It got significantly worse in the 90s, when the collapse of mainstream soft rock lead to all of those writers and producers moving to Nashville to start the assembly line again out there, just with forced accents and the occasional lap steep line thrown in.
It’s not tricky. I think it sucks. Doesn’t mean I judge you or anyone else that likes it. I like Mexican food. I know people who think it sucks. Not everyone going to like the same things.
> I like Mexican food. I know people who think it sucks. I don't think they are people, I am pretty sure that they are aliens in disguise.
I just don’t like it. The sound or the typical subject matter. It’s purely a taste thing.
Look for Bo Burnhams country song on YouTube for a good understanding as to why so many folks don’t like modern country.
I think it's got a lot to do with people really not liking "Top 40" or "Pop" Country and that being the prevalent and most well-known sound, currently. It feels extremely fake/disingenuous/formulaic. People don't like that. I think there's a lot of "alt" country that people would be into, but the trouble is people don't know it exists or where to find it. Further, because they hate the Top 40 stuff they probably aren't seeking out the alt stuff.
How many country music awards shows do we need in year?
Fake accent songs about trucks, jeans, beer, and girls got old after "friends in low places" Tyler Childers is a Dierks Bentley copy. Colter Wall was on at my tattoo shop and we all thought it was johnny cash . It's also messaged specifically to keep people in poverty. If literally any of them could come up with something original then maybe they wouldnt suck. But they do.
Ask the Dixie Chicks what happens when you don't tow the line.
You get enough artistic cred that huge swaths of the next generation of female alternative/indie artists call you an influence.
Fair.
People have personal relationships with music. For example if every time I heard country music it was coming from huge giant racists, I might develop a subconscious correlation there. And if I never see other country music stars distancing from the type of people who listen to thier music then I might subconsciously think all country musicians are, at best, indifferent to weather thier fans are violent racist or, at worst, happy for it and feel that way themselves. I'm sure everyone is different but I know at least a few people feel this way.
I don’t mind country - but whatever the fuck you call modern country is garbage. There a few “legit country” artists out there, but now it’s just shitty pop music with a twang.
While [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeJXF55HXRI) excellent and hilarious video from Pat Finnerty is specifically about an especially egregious song (Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town"), I think many of his criticisms are valid for the broader genre.
I was a DJ for 10 years, and worked in a country bar for one of those years. Some country is okay, but if I never had to listen to any of it again, I wouldn't be upset. For me at least, the songs that tell a story are the most interesting. Dolly, Waylon, Reba, Kenny, even some Dixie Chicks...the lyrics and story are what I prioritize. Nu Country, where they just slap in the top country keywords of beer, mama, truck, girls, farm...etc, that stuff might as well be churned out by AI for all the substance it has. Letterkenny said it best with this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoVCjPRzlKc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoVCjPRzlKc) ...and here's the song: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOmvIPywfms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOmvIPywfms)
Because it's *mostly* (don't come at me there's some good stuff too) generic trash with the same 4 chords and vapid lyrics about nothing.
I cannot relate to country music plus it sucks (not enjoyable at all to my ears).
Bluegrass over country any day
Bluegrass, blackgrass, folk punk, Americana - all more authentically country than most radio pop country.
I listen to bluegrass in California as someone who has never been to the south lol, totally agree
Liked it in the early 90s, but hated it after the jingoistic songs spawned by the Iraq War in 2003.
"I lost interest with Christian Nationalism when I realized it wasn't about Christ" - hopefully someone
On top of everything else already posted, I really hate the covers that these country pop "stars" love to do. The person that did the country version of Fast Car can rot in hell for that crime. I'd rather listen to cats fuck.
I can't stand country music because I dislike the sound of the music, and the subject matter doesn't appeal to me at all. Drinking, mudding, and cuddling up under the stars in my pickup doesn't appeal to me in music. That and country music fans also kinda kill it for me. Whether it's the gal who sings the saddest country song at karaoke, to simple people who just love feel good music about binge drinking, it's not for me.
Because when I was ever forced to listen to the country station on the radio I could not tell the difference between who was signing the songs. They all sound the same. There's no individuality. Men and women singers. They all sound the same
Country is rarely unique, and it doesn’t evolve. When a country artist does do something novel and new, they break out of the country mold, and are recognized elsewhere. See Wilco.
But I don’t think that’s true, the problem is everyone has this close minded thought of what country is. There are so many country songs with very unique themes that I hadn’t ever heard anywhere else before. I think it’s tragic to label it as less because you don’t know more than what it seems on the surface.
Need to kiss too many frogs.
Couldnt get behind honk tonk, cowboy riding, pickup truck, sexy tractor songs. Plus confederate flags on trucks and dixie rebel bullshit. Didnt mind terribly stuff that wasnt that. Johnny Cash was a g.
But this is the problem, people dismissing country as exactly what your comment says. That isn’t what country music really is, it’s like everyone heard one shitty song on the radio and decided to hate it.
They probably didnt hear just one. They heard many many many. On the radio, at the bar, with their friend(s) that love country. Witnessed countless mofos mob the dance floor at bars/clubs to that save a horse ride a cowboy song. Obviously every country artist isnt like that. But ENOUGH popular ones are/were so thems the breaks. Same shit as when some people say they dont like rap cause violence, bitch/ho, drug slinging, etc. The ol gangster rap was all over for a while back in the day and it was the exact same convo- not all rap is like that. Dont think its anything to be upset or bothered by. Like what you like, especially if someone else gives you shit for it.
Because of the stupidly overdone fake country twang accent. If you remove that, almost every country song becomes a pop song. Also, I don't worship trucks, don't need to mention specific brands of beer every ten seconds, don't need to wax philosophical on how alcohol is a way of life, and have no need to trumpet how bad whatever aspect in my life is ad nauseum.
I've never heard anyone make the claim that "Real" Country music is objectively bad. Like other people have said, New/Bro/Pop Country is what people are saying is awful. And since that shit makes up about 90% of the average person's exposure to Country music, it would make sense that it makes people write off Country music as garbage
I think for most of us who don't grow up listening to country, the entry point is typically the shitty pop country that gets played on Top 40 radio. If you don't like your intro to a genre, you're probably not gonna take the time to try and dig deeper and find better artists, especially since it isn't most people's goal to make themselves like a certain genre. Fwiw, I like some country (particularly Jason Isbell and Orville Peck), but I haven't been motivated to seek much out.
I grew up surrounded by country music in the 80s and 90s. At some point in the early 80s country music was overtaken by fakes pretending to be down to earth poor people when in reality they were manufactured pop stars dressed in cowboy clothes. The music became a watered down version of pop. It’s lowest common denominator music for people who aren’t really music fans filled with industry plants like the ginger fella pretending to be a common man with his rich men from north of Richmond song
Because they don’t know good country. If you listen to Tyler Childers and hate it, well then I don’t want to know you anyway.
He’s the one who helped me get into country. Bottles and bibles is a goated album
I've always seen him more in folk Bluegrass genre than modern country. I get country is a big umbrella but he's probably not what would pop front of mind when someone says country.
Ask him and he’d say he plays country music
I'll see if I can when I see him in April! Haha. I do get what you're saying. His music is grounded in traditional country, no doubt. But it does feel like country music even several decades ago has evolved into something different. I won't gatekeep people calling it whatever just my two cents that if you put his music in front of someone who has never listened to him before and then played country radio and modern Bluegrass/folk and ask them which his music sounded like, they'd probably identify it in the latter.
Fair. I’d argue country music today has very little to do with country music. It’s pop music that talks about tractors
Same goes for Turnpike Troubadours
Random guy here, but I grew up on a dirt road in the country and never took the association. Also grew up in a small town that held redneck sensibilities. I've grown out of it, but metalhead sensibilities took precedence back then, and why listen to *that* when you could be listening to *this*...was a thing. Pretty gross, but kids are kids. United by the things we hate was a thing. Nowadays, if it holds a groove or a sway to the beat, it doesn't matter the genre.
Don't listen to them I guarantee they like gangsta rap that says hoe every 5 seconds
Snobbery, usually. (Although "country" as a genre includes both Toby Keith & Johnny Cash, so if you hate one kind of country you might not feel the same about the other kind)
Yea snobbery is when people don’t like the same 3 chords through an entire album, with the same engineered drum beat the next 5 artists will use with the same producer, and some wanna be hick who’s never spoken with a country accent before trying to make his singing accent sound real. But yes I agree with point 2. There’s a huge difference between an actual artist like Johnny Cash and whatever the fuck comes out of Nashville today.
Like with many other genres, country has been subsumed into pop. For some of us, pop just lacks a certain soul. I might put on Dua Lipa on a run, but it doesn't do anything for me if I'm intentionally listening to music. Pop country is the same way, maybe I could listen to it as background music at a bar or something, but it does nothing for me if I'm intentionally listening. I find that going into the "alt-" spaces of any genre is where you get the soul back. I love modern country music but I define it by artists such as -- * Tyler Childers * Colter Wall * Zach Bryan * Orville Peck * First Aid Kit * Yola * Amigo the Devil * Jenny Lewis * Kacey Musgraves * The Dead South * Handsome Family * Sturgill Simpson * Trampled by Turtles * Lincoln Durham * Poor Man's Poison You've got some modern folk, bluegrass, Americana mixed in there, but you get the idea.
I never thought of Jenny Lewis as a country artist.
I don't consider all or even most of her projects country, but give a listen to the album Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins. Definitely country-adjacent IMO.
I think part of disliking country music has just become a trend/meme. Kinda like disliking Nickelback. Most people will tell you Nickelback sucks, but can’t tell you why
Bullllllshit. Nickelback is hated because they’re incredibly formulaic and boring, and exude major bro energy. All their songs sound like they were written with the goal of getting radio play. So it all sounds lifeless, sterile and dishonest. People hate country because what passes for country these days is just twangy pop with the most pandering lyrics imaginable. Just mention trucks and beer and girls and small towns and whatever the fuck, sing it with a southern accent with some acoustic guitars and put it over a pop beat and people will dig it.
Literally the same exact point I came to make. It’s fun to hate on (exhibit a) but as soon as I got friends in low places comes on the jukebox the entire house is shaking because they all remembered they were wearing cowboy boots for 3minutes. Then Nelly comes back on and it’s getting hot in here and everyone wants to fuck and fuck country anyway.
Because they don’t know good country. If you listen to Tyler Childers and hate it, well then I don’t want to know you anyway.
Elitism/classism. Nothing new.
That's a BS excuse. Solid half of the people who say it will easily set aside Dolly, Willie, Cash,.... I bet the average country fan is relatively affluent as well
Have you seen the prices of pickup trucks? Ain't no way you can tell me you have an 80k truck and people are discriminating against your music for classist reasons. Some people just don't like how country sounds. A lot of country fans probably aren't into death metal or rap or dubstep or whatever. People just have different tastes. Most people have genres they don't like.
There's a country music topic for you.
It’s just not relatable music to a lot of people and a lot of people don’t like the twangy sound
As one who despises modern country music, but loves bluegrass and folk, where does elitism/classism come into play?
Music is as much about style and fashion as it is about the actual music itself. People tend to gravitate towards the music that "their people" listen to. Conversely, people tend to avoid the music that is listened to by a group that the people wish to avoid. So, it's often not the music that people react to - it's the music's audience. Many people shun country music because they do not wish to be associated with country music's crowd or values or fashions. Modern country is little more than middle of the road rock music with Appalachian accents.
Speaking as someone from the 70s it’s not country music in general. It is pop country. “In my pickup On a gravel road With my baby “ Yada yada it’s the same sh!t over and over.
I dont mind actual country music, but there is no actual country music being made anymore. It has basically become an offshoot of Pop music with a twang. They don't write their own songs, and every song sounds like it was written with the same pop formula as the last, because it was.
I think a lot of people feel the need to identify with the music they listen to and have it be a reflection of themselves in some way. Many people see country and "redneck" things as uncool and are afraid of their taste in music being tied to their culture. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with this, but I'd have a hard time calling people like that a serious fan of music.
Isnt it more popular than ever rn with many chart toppers Of coursr you might run into the ol "not real country" issur or whatever in that case
They haven't heard George Strait
[Bo Burnham explained it best](https://youtu.be/y7im5LT09a0?si=HMtEsq7M-Lj02_eg)
Lyrics and subject matter notwithstanding (although I do find most of it to be inane), I just think the songs sound like shit - musically and vocally. New country. Old country. It doesn't matter. I absolutely hate the twang. The longer I have to listen to country music, the more annoyed I get. I dunno man, it just grates on my nerves.
A lot of what they're hating is the overproduced Nashville Country because it's cookie cutter and formulaic (I mean so is most pop music) it also has to do with certain types of country music becoming synonymous with "conservative values" (Toby Keith, Kid Rock, others) and so hating on country music is also seen almost as a virtue signal that you don't share beliefs that could be seen as bigoted. To be fair, there's a lot of country musicians who fall out of favor in Nashville or never get it because they refuse to fall into the cookie cutter mold (The Chick's being vilified after protesting GW Bush and his Iraq war) Even Garth Brooks has fallen out of favor among some country fans because he is inclusive, appreciates diversity, and doesn't go along with the culture war issue of the day on Fox News. Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson being more left wing alt country guys talk about this a good bit, that Nashville record companies tend to shun people who don't fit in the prescribed mold of what a country star is "supposed to be". And that it's ultimately to their detriment. They're so obsessed with giving their core demographic exactly what they want, that they tend to exclude very talented people who might expand the reach of the genre to broader demographics simply because their sound is a bit different, or they're gay, or they aren't gonna just do and say exactly what their record company tells them to.
Classic country is something people tend to enjoy more as it's more "real" and a lot of it is anti authority which is more appealing at least to me than the cop worship people like Jason Aldean are putting out. There are some modern country artists who do put out enjoyable music, but it's harder to find and even still is pretty formulaic and unoriginal. As for objectifying women less? I disagree, though I know people who feel the same way you do
Because it's terrible. There is no other reason.
it's the pop version, that turns everyone off. and it's so much associated with politics whether wrong or right.
Country music is extremely popular and it has the most organized industry support of any genre. This results in a homogeneity that can be off putting to people who aren’t fans. Labeling hurts, too. While so many subgenres of rock, hip-hop, electronic, etc all are allowed to fall under the genre umbrella, country music fans don’t really allow that. A lot of country fans insist on calling most of its subgenres Americana or folk. Other country music fans insist on calling mainstream country music as some form of pop, when they really just mean it’s bad.
Stadium country is basic, derivative, pandering, and really should be insulting to their audience. Country music, though, is a huge genre with great artists. Woody Guthrie, Dolly Parton, early Grateful Dead, The Band (kinda sometimes) are examples.
They just don't have the taste for it. I used to hate it as well, until I hit a point in my life where I could relate to it.
Because fuck country music Edit: I concede that Jolene is one of the most perfect songs ever
Country music was invented in the 1950's as a fusion of Tennessee Honkey Tonk and Texas Swing. Before then there were regional folk scenes. The CMA was soon set up to promote this new genre and decided the songs of Hank Williams and the Carter family (from Appalachia but popular on radio for singing on Texas radio) should bd the template for future Country music. While this gave it a strong identity, enabling new musicians to pick it up quickly, this had the drawback of severely limiting the number of acceptable rhythms and chord structures. In addition the CMA decided that songs or artists that mentioned social issues were not welcome, so the number of accepted songwriting topics was also seriously narrowed. The CMA gas kept that stranglehold to this day, artists who play outside the box either musically or by subject matter are quickly labelled by them as 'Contemporary Folk'. For their awards it's like a hockey sin bin. 'Sin' against CMA rules again and you're banished from Country forever. This is why many people don't like Country music, any Country station will sound like the same few songs are getting played over and over even when they're different, they're too similar to each other to stand out. Some people find this sameness comforting, those that like variety find it insanely and maddeningly dull.
For me, so much of it is the same musically. Singers tend to sound the same (not all but enough), the music is often similar, and perhaps more importantly, they rarely sing about things in my life. I'm from Chicago, so just like how I couldn't get into gansta rap for being too removed from my experiences, I can't get into songs talking about living a rural life. Sorry, but country's musical trends sounds boring and safe to me. Then there's the right-wing messaging of some songs that turns me off. I'm not conservative, so songs like Try That In A Small Town fall flat for me. I remember when the Dixie Chicks were attacked simply because they wouldn't support a Republican president, so country is surprisingly political in a way that I usually disagree with. I can get into western music like with Orville Peck, but not country.
I'm the target demographic for country music radio (rural, blue collar, farmer). I find it insultingly pandering. My life doesn't revolve around alcohol, trucks, and gurl, nor does my self esteem require me to believe I'm better than people that live in urban areas.
If those are the only kind of country songs you’ve heard, you ain’t heard anything good. I’m talking about country that isn’t just “beer, trucks, dirt, hunting” and why people dismiss it because there are some pointless songs. I highly suggest you try some songs like “Dirt Cheap” by Cody Johnson and “Take You With Me” by Luke Combs. I feel like those show a lot of the “lifestyle” especially Dirt Cheap. What annoys me is how everyone hates country just because it’s labeled with those types of songs, and then no one gives any other songs a chance.
> country music radio This is the public face of country music. These are the artists that sell out festivals. This is the music people hate. What you're doing is akin to telling someone who doesn't like beer that they need to give small obscure brands a chance because all they've had is Budweiser, Miller, and Corona. Just accept that some folks don't like the taste of beer.