A music video is making the rounds.
Jason Aldean is famous, but I had never heard of him. We are in the same country, but in different cultures.
I suppose that is my point.
The song is "Try that in a Small Town." It intersperses scenes of crime and demonstrations in urban settings, with lyrics about the rough justice meted out in small towns.
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| https://youtu.be/b1_RKu-ESCY |
Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalkCarjack an old lady at a red lightPull a gun on the owner of a liquor storeYa think it's cool, well, act a fool if ya likeCuss out a cop, spit in his faceStomp on the flag and light it upYeah, ya think you're tough
Full of good ol' boys, raised up rightIf you're looking for a fightTry that in a small townTry that in a small townTry that in a small townSee how far ya make it down the roadAround here, we take care of our ownYou cross that line, it won't take longFor you to find out, I recommend you don'tTry that in a small town
The video drew controversy. The setting is the courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee where a Black teenager was attacked by a mob and lynched in 1927. The film uses stock footage from around the world. It drew criticism for its choice of setting and for glorifying violence. He is presenting a dare. The song includes the line
Got a gun that my granddad gave meThey say one day they're gonna round up
Aldean says cancel culture is out to get him. Fox News gives him air time. He says the song celebrates small town, take-care-of-each-other values. Aldean's wife, Brittany, has a clothing line imprinted with texts including "Conspiracy Theorist," "Trump," "Burn it down," and "Don't tread on our kids." They are spokespeople in the culture war. They had been invisible to me until this song emerged from the country music circuits into mainstream news. That country silo is huge, but I am not in it so I don't see it.
To get a feel for the emotion and politics of this song, invest the three minutes to listen to it. Or some of it. The real meaning, for the purposes of a political blog like this one, is that the song expresses the sense of estrangement from urban America. It creates a caricature, a straw man. But amidst this carnage, to use Trump's word from his inauguration, small towns are fighting back. It is our country.
This song resonates with many Americans. Trump's belligerence and crudeness is not a bug. It is a feature.
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16 comments:
I never heard the song, and I wouldn’t have heard about it except for all the hoopla, which sounds like much ado about nothing. The lyrics are like every cowboy movie I’ve seen: tough guy takes on the outlaws. “Mack the Knife” was more violent. “Down by the River” and “Hey Joe” were about shooting women. Somehow we survived, hopefully without feeling inspired to kill people.
I imagine the blowback from “Try That in a Small Town” has Jason Aldean crying all the way to the bank.
Someone needs to re-edit this video using pictures of January 6 and other forms of domestic terrorism caused by conservatives.
They don't spit on cops but they use bear spray on them.
Maybe include pictures of the federal government bailing out small towns after plant closings and natural disasters.
FUJA.
I missed opening this post first this morning, but find it very interesting after reading this critique of that "song" on NPR. It needs to be pointed out that Aldean is a fraud and fake "country boy"; to quote Sheryl Crow, an authentic Country Singer, he's a Poser. He was raised in a Southern City of nearly 200,000 people and is worth many $Millions, if one chooses to define "worth" solely in monetary terms.
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/22/1188908968/jason-aldean-small-town-vs-city?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwAR3WHtWIBp0dnD4r-5iqTNAa7NIo8dt_2N-bU6BoKq8xwpflNGcvVX6zyGo
More than "hoop-la about nothing". Please read the
article in the link I attached in my first post this AM.
The thing about this is that it doesn't happen in a vacuum. There is an enormous corporate infrastructure around all these singers and it's remarkable that as this went through the vetting process that nobody raised a concern that it might be, let's say, a bit tone deaf. These are not stupid people.
Or they knew exactly what they were doing...
Liberal urban elites express their contempt for “those other people“ in much more subtle and genteel ways. But the contempt is just as strong, just as toxic.
During the 100 days of “mostly peaceful“ BLM/Antifa riots in Portland in 2020, I wish I had seen some of that “try that in my town” spirit among the supine and totally feckless leaders of the city. Instead, they have boarded up storefronts, homeless camps and crime everywhere, a totally demoralized police force, and a dying downtown.
No offense to Ms. Crow, but Sheryl Crow is not a country singer. She is a rock/country rock/pop singer.
Female country artists include (in no particular order): Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Reba McIntire, The Judds (Naomi and Wynona), Tammy Wynette, Trisha Year wood, Martina McBride and many others. I probably misspelled some of their names, so sorry about that.
All this "hoopla" reminded me about the Peacock Series, "Yellowstone".
Thankfully, Yellowstone is fiction, right?
Over the last few weeks we watched Series 1-4, and will be taking series 5 on our vacation next month. I understand that Yellowstone is quite popular across a whole segment of society.
No spoilers, please.
As for the song, video, and the media hoopla about Jason Aldean...he's an entertainer; country music. Not on my playlist. I do recall little media scrutiny about other lyrics by rappers and the like.
Someday, I hope, the mainstream media will focus on policies and platforms. That's a better way to educate the public about our political candidates and elected officials.
Trigoboff is again defending vigilante and devisive behavior.
THAT is the problem with this country.
Fie on those feckless liberal urban elites and their toxic, subtle, strong, genteel contempt for the whackadoodle Trumplicans who attacked the U.S. Capitol and can’t quit whining about the 2020 election! Yup, any day now they’ll be sending those black helicopters for that gun my granddad gave me, but I recommend they don’t ‘cause I’m almost as tough as those anti-fascists that kicked the Proud Boys out of Portland!
It is funny reading comments about country music by people who know so little about it. For one thing, anyone who appreciates and enjoys country music and has the necessary talent can be a country singer. You don't have to be born in a particular place. Also,there are plenty of rich country artists. They are rich because they have had successful careers in the music business, obviously, and they managed their money wisely. (Plenty of starving, aspiring artists, also.)
For the "record," Jason Aldean was born and raised in Macon, Georgia. Macon has a population of around 157,000. Nashville, Tennessee, has a population of around 667,000. Nashville is now the biggest city in Tennessee, having recently surpassed Memphis. Furthermore, Nashville is among top 25 largest cities in the US. (Thank you, Wikipedia)
In addition to the music business, Nashville is the home of Vanderbilt University (including the law school and medical center), a bunch of other colleges and universities and several major league sports teams. It is a major tourist and convention destination, which irritates the locals.
Population of Nashville is over 689,000. I think I put the wrong number in my previous comment. Check Wikipedia for more info.
My brother-in-law bragged of his eclectic tastes. He liked both kinds of music - country and western. But there's actually a lot of variety in the genre. Doc Watson is one of the all-time greats, and Nashville Skyline is still one of my favorite Bob Dylan Albums.
At the risk of beating a dead horse and boring readers, I should have added that Nashville is very diverse. The population is 24% black and 14% Latino.
The city has a significant immigrant and refugee population. Nashville has the largest Kurdish community in the USA (15,000 - 20,000). The public schools have a large percentage English-language learners, who speak more than 120 languages.
To the south of Silicon Valley, there was a country music radio station called KFAT in the 1980s that occasionally took a humorous approach to the music. One time, they played what they said was the ultimate country music song. The lyrics began like this:
It was raining the day my mama got out of prison,
And I picked her up in my pickup in the rain,
You Never Even Called Me By My Name, written by Steve Goodman and John Prine.
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