Scientific Proof That All Pop-Country Sounds the Same

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Sadly all the bars are full of racist jingoistic "Patriots". That if they were asked to serve their county in the military would haul ass to Canada,or any place they could get to. Went to go see one band,who's drummer is a friend of mine. After about 20 minutes some Good Ole boy came over and made a comment about my girlfriend. She is half Vietnamese. He said something about "How my grandpappy fought and lost his arm so we didn't have to put up with her kind of people moving over here." I was about to say something to him,when she stopped me and said. "I am sure your Grandpappy would be proud of his grandson picking on a lady who was not only born over here.But who's father also served in that same war." He looked at her with a stunned expression on his face. Then we left. She knows my tolerance for that kind of bullshit is very low. And odds are good if he said anything else I would have went after him.

I'd have probably punched him in the face. Nice job keeping your cool.

[Tom Clark Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom Clark]

I had no idea who Florida Georgia Line were until they appeared on various WWE shows for a few months. They performed at the Tribute to the Troops show and wow was it bad. To me the group that started the whole Pop Country stuff was Alabama. I can remember before they were big the only people listening to country was older people and people that lived in rural areas like where I grew up. Then Alabama hit and everyone was a fan of them. I saw this repeated when I was in high school. But this time it was Garth Brooks. Talking to people that listen to current country they blame it all on Rascal Flatts. Thankfully old school country is having a small comeback in my area. There is 2 or 3 bars you can goto and hear non-pop country music.

I think the success of all the people you've mentioned played a hand in where radio country is today but for my money, the one that really obscured the lines was Shania Twain, so much so that different versions of her albums released, a "country" version and a "pop" version. Never mind the fact that the "country" aspects on the "country" version were barley there in the first place. And that's just from hearing the singles. She was inescapable in the 90's.

Garth Brooks is an interesting case. Remember when he first hit it big he was considered by many to be the country music antichrist (there's that famous quote about pantyhose attributed to Waylon) yet play a Garth song and any 5 songs you hear on the radio and guess which sounds more country? Both Garth and Twain led to people going "I don't like country, but I love Garth and/or Shania!" Its interesting to look back at when both had their commercial peak. Back in the mid-90's there was still a chance of turning on country radio and hearing Dwight Yoakam or Hank Jr. Fast forward just a few years and you're lucky if the country station in your area has a designated hour at 6 in the morning on Sundays to classic country.

[Tom Clark Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom Clark]

Exhibit B: New Video Explains Perfectly Why Pretty Much Every Country Hit Sounds The Same