# So I'm sitting at work.....



## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

... and the guy in the cubicle next to me is playing one country song after another from new, male country artists. _Every stinking one of them sounds exactly the same!_ Seriously, he's played five or six different songs in a row from different singers and I can't tell them apart. Same tired old formula, same tired, old nasal twang, same old steel guitar licks. WTF?

I really do like a lot of the old country songs but the lack of originality or variety in the newer stuff is appalling. OK, rant over.:smile:


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

Unfortunately it's not just country. Most "rock" stations are stuck in that same formulaic approach. I miss the early days of AOR radio (mind you I was just a kid) but you'd hear deeper cuts from these things called "albums" where an artist was allowed to make more than one release in their career before being shelved for the next flavour of the week.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Big_Daddy said:


> ... and the guy in the cubicle next to me is playing one country song after another from new, male country artists. _Every stinking one of them sounds exactly the same!_ Seriously, he's played five or six different songs in a row from different singers and I can't tell them apart. Same tired old formula, same tired, old nasal twang, same old steel guitar licks. WTF?
> 
> I really do like a lot of the old country songs but the lack of originality or variety in the newer stuff is appalling. OK, rant over.:smile:


I hear you Big D. Country music has been lorded over by commercial interests going way back in it's history, in a way that other styles (save pop) have been spared somewhat. Whether it was Elvis getting booed off the stage of The Grand Ole Opry, or Willie Nelson retreating to Austin after being overlooked and undervalued by the Nashville suits, American Country music is not a wellspring of open-mindedness. I LOVE Geaorge Jones. but some of that earlier "Nashville Sound" stuff with the strings and Amdrew Sisters-type backing vocals is too much for me.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

And your telling me that every Jimmy Reed or Elmore James song *doesn't* sound the same? or that every song by every female pop singer (Mariah, Christina, Whitney, et al) doesn't sound the same? Or that all renaissance madrigals don't sound the same? Or that all late 19th century Italian opera doesn't sound the same?

It's called "pop" music because it's popular, and that means that anyone who hopes to make a living playing music or selling recorded music people is going to do what's popular.

I would be remiss, however, in failing to note that it is up to programmers on radio stations to try and insert a bit of variety in their playlists. Within ANY stream of popular music there is variation, and they have to do the work to provide it.


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

Big_Daddy said:


> Seriously, he's played five or six different songs in a row from different singers and I can't tell them apart. Same tired old formula, same tired, old nasal twang, same old steel guitar licks. WTF?


I've noticed that when people don't listen to a particular style of music their complaint about it is often that it all sounds the same. Don't like metal - it's just screaming and speed and all sounds the same. Don't like classical - it's just violins and cellos and all sounds the same. Don't like flamenco - somebody caterwalling over what would otherwise be a cool guitar so that it all sounds the same. 

I don't mean to single you out at all. I just find it interesting that one of the most commonly levelled criticisms is that any unfamiliar genre all sounds the same.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Perhaps a little off track, but for the same reasons above, I can't watch music award shows anymore either. Gendre doesn't matter.

Swervin:smile:


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Rugburn said:


> I LOVE Geaorge Jones. but some of that earlier "Nashville Sound" stuff with the strings and Amdrew Sisters-type backing vocals is too much for me.


Wow, Rugburn - nicely put. I love George Jones too, but some of that early stuff is tainted by exactly what you describe.


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

kat_ said:


> I've noticed that when people don't listen to a particular style of music their complaint about it is often that it all sounds the same. Don't like metal - it's just screaming and speed and all sounds the same. Don't like classical - it's just violins and cellos and all sounds the same. Don't like flamenco - somebody caterwalling over what would otherwise be a cool guitar so that it all sounds the same.
> 
> I don't mean to single you out at all. I just find it interesting that one of the most commonly levelled criticisms is that any unfamiliar genre all sounds the same.


I agree with your comment to an extent. But, I've listened to and played more than my share of country music in the last 40 years. LOL. Maybe it was my work mate's selection of tunes/artists, but there was precious little to distinguish the songs _or_ vocalists.:smile:


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

mhammer said:


> And your telling me that every Jimmy Reed or Elmore James song *doesn't* sound the same? or that every song by every female pop singer (Mariah, Christina, Whitney, et al) doesn't sound the same? Or that all renaissance madrigals don't sound the same? Or that all late 19th century Italian opera doesn't sound the same?
> 
> It's called "pop" music because it's popular, and that means that anyone who hopes to make a living playing music or selling recorded music people is going to do what's popular.
> 
> I would be remiss, however, in failing to note that it is up to programmers on radio stations to try and insert a bit of variety in their playlists. Within ANY stream of popular music there is variation, and they have to do the work to provide it.


I don't agree with this at all. Colin James, Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd all sound more or less the same. Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph and Buddy Guy all sound quite different. I'm inclined to believe that programmers, producers and execs should "insert a bit of variety" in much of what they do. Just as Van Morrison stated in a recent CBC interview; when he was "off the radar" he was selling out concerts several nights a week without the benifit of a new record, marketing from his record company or radio play. They came for the music, and often not the big hits some may have wanted to hear. I think pop music is a product by and for folks who can't tell the difference between Jimmy Reed and Elmore James, or renaissance madrigals, and don't care to hear a difference. I don't really fault the big studios for spooning pablum the general public eats up, but throw those of us that crave something with more flavour,..... a bone!


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

kat_ said:


> I've noticed that when people don't listen to a particular style of music their complaint about it is often that it all sounds the same. Don't like metal - it's just screaming and speed and all sounds the same. Don't like classical - it's just violins and cellos and all sounds the same. Don't like flamenco - somebody caterwalling over what would otherwise be a cool guitar so that it all sounds the same.
> 
> I don't mean to single you out at all. I just find it interesting that one of the most commonly levelled criticisms is that any unfamiliar genre all sounds the same.


Kat, I get what you're saying but I don't necessarily agree. I listen to a (very) wide range of genres and yes the "popular" portion of ANY type of music on the radio sounds the same. Which is why I don't listen to mainstream radio anymore. Once a record company gets a formula, then that's it. You have to do some searching and find the ones that stand out. In most cases it doesn't seem to be about the music anymore, it's how good you look in your clothes and what you look like in your video. I recently read an interview with Kings of Leon and when they started out, the record companies wanted to pidgeonhole them into the very same cookie cutter (it's not only women) as they are nice looking young men. Their immediate response was to grow long shaggy beards, I think some of them even kept them.


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

I'd like to clarify my earlier comment. I'm not saying that anything unfamiliar sounds the same. I'm just saying I find it interesting that sounding the same is a common criticism that spans all genres. We seem to have a built-in desire for variety.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

kat_ said:


> I'd like to clarify my earlier comment. I'm not saying that anything unfamiliar sounds the same. I'm just saying I find it interesting that sounding the same is a common criticism that spans all genres. We seem to have a built-in desire for variety.


LOL!! Oh yeah I'd agree for sure!! :smilie_flagge17:


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

kat_ said:


> I'd like to clarify my earlier comment. I'm not saying that anything unfamiliar sounds the same. I'm just saying I find it interesting that sounding the same is a common criticism that spans all genres. We seem to have a built-in desire for variety.


So true. And probably that's why the unique (and talented) artists stand out from the crowd. Look at the Beatles. They churned out an immense body of work in their relatively short lifespan as a band and the majority of it is fresh and different from the rest.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Big_Daddy said:


> So true. And probably that's why the unique (and talented) artists stand out from the crowd. Look at the Beatles. They churned out an immense body of work in their relatively short lifespan as a band and the majority of it is fresh and different from the rest.


Yeah. And my Dad still thinks it all sounds the same. :smile:


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Big_Daddy said:


> ... and the guy in the cubicle next to me is playing one country song after another from new, male country artists. _Every stinking one of them sounds exactly the same!_ Seriously, he's played five or six different songs in a row from different singers and I can't tell them apart. Same tired old formula, same tired, old nasal twang, same old steel guitar licks. WTF?
> 
> I really do like a lot of the old country songs but the lack of originality or variety in the newer stuff is appalling. OK, rant over.:smile:


That's one reason I'm glad my workplace doesn't allow music at our desks. 

Whether it's country, rap, polkas it's just too distracting and it's pretty near impossible for everyone to agree on one station.


I hate most of the new country I hear.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...this is a perpetual problem with most mainstream genres - they latch on to an idea and everyone copies everyone else. in country music, the main problem is the songwriting, which too often sounds like the songs were composed by advertising agencies targeting their ideal demographic. 

fortunately, when they do get it right, its just heartbreaking beautiful.

john berry - your love amazes me
vince gill - when i call your name

and many, many others.

-dh


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

david henman said:


> ..
> 
> fortunately, when they do get it right, its just heartbreaking beautiful.
> 
> ...


Billy Ray Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart

Agreed.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

bagpipe said:


> Billy Ray Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart
> Agreed.


...hey! you just traumatized my cat!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The principle in operation here, folks, is regression to the mean. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean

When something is measured repeatedly, over time and accumulated measurements, it all starts to turn into "the average". That doesn't mean the average is in any way bad (though we'll distinguish between bad and boring). Rather as more people latch onto a particular genre, and there are more recorded/played examples of that genre, it will be the case that an increasingly larger proportion of those examples (which we can treat as functionally equivalent to a "measurement") will be closer to the average.

So, in fact, over time, as there are more blues songs, more metal songs, more emo songs, more country songs, etc., they will all start to resemble other exemplars from their genre more and more. In other words, both uniqueness and similarity are a function of how much else is out there. Once upon a time nobody sounded like Bob Dylan, or like Kiss, or like Mose Allison, or like B.B. King. Over time, though, more do.

I'm not a huge enough fan of country to leave the channel on CMT for more than a minute or two (unless the video is showing off guitars), but I have to say that when I strolled down Broadway in Nashville, past all the honky-tonks, and heard all those different bands, I liked what I heard. A lot of it was pretty much indistinguishable from Tom Petty, which made it virtually indistinguishable from a lot of other things.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

david henman said:


> ...this is a perpetual problem with most mainstream genres - they latch on to an idea and everyone copies everyone else. in country music, the main problem is the songwriting, which too often sounds like the songs were composed by advertising agencies targeting their ideal demographic.
> 
> fortunately, when they do get it right, its just heartbreaking beautiful.
> 
> ...


hey- a guy at work wanted to listen to some country station- new country. so we did for about a month. all the songs were about pickup trucks and roads and driving and blue jeans. except of course, for the songs that had women singers who were tough and angry and not gonna take it. and possibly coming to get ya.
wtf is with that kieth urban guy? did he really write a song about putting on his pants and say "wow what a great song i just penned"?
no way, cause only a female (or a ponce) can appreciate songs about putting on theyre pants.
i read somewhere (maybe here) that country music these days is marketed for 32 year old divorced women- the stuff i heard on that station confirmed that.
thankfully, one morning we arrived at work to find the station had changed formats- now theyre playing all kinds of cool stuff i havent heard in ages. one minute its gordon lightfoot, the next kool and the gang.:smile:


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

why not skip right over most of the b.s. and go right to all request streaming radio, for free? 

http://www.radiokaos.com/sam2/index.php?&width=1018&height=663

anything they don't have (it would have to be pretty obscure) you can upload to them. check it out


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

fraser said:


> ...only a female (or a ponce) can appreciate songs about putting on theyre pants.


...enlightened thinking. classy.

:bow:


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

thanks dh!
i really didnt think youd appreciate it, after reading what id typed again, but it was too late, and i hate censoring myself anyway.
glad your cool with it, but i have much less class than you give me credit for, really.

today- that station i was talking about- played "funky town"! 
awesome!


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Rugburn said:


> I hear you Big D. Country music has been lorded over by commercial interests going way back in it's history, in a way that other styles (save pop) have been spared somewhat. Whether it was Elvis getting booed off the stage of The Grand Ole Opry, or Willie Nelson retreating to Austin after being overlooked and undervalued by the Nashville suits, American Country music is not a wellspring of open-mindedness. I LOVE Geaorge Jones. but some of that earlier "Nashville Sound" stuff with the strings and Amdrew Sisters-type backing vocals is too much for me.


I agree, that "Nashville Sound" stuff was, well......stuffy!

On the other hand, some of those artists would likely have done much better musically if their artistic talents would not have been smothered.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

kat_ said:


> I've noticed that when people don't listen to a particular style of music their complaint about it is often that it all sounds the same. Don't like metal - it's just screaming and speed and all sounds the same. Don't like classical - it's just violins and cellos and all sounds the same. Don't like flamenco - somebody caterwalling over what would otherwise be a cool guitar so that it all sounds the same.
> 
> I don't mean to single you out at all. I just find it interesting that one of the most commonly levelled criticisms is that any unfamiliar genre all sounds the same.


I like your point. However, I still don't like being screamed at, even though it is done "musically". That included country, pop, metal or any other genre.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

fraser said:


> thanks dh!
> i really didnt think youd appreciate it, after reading what id typed again, but it was too late, and i hate censoring myself anyway.
> glad your cool with it, but i have much less class than you give me credit for, really.
> today- that station i was talking about- played "funky town"!
> awesome!



..you're welcome!


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## kw_guitarguy (Apr 29, 2008)

fraser said:


> hey- a guy at work wanted to listen to some country station- new country. so we did for about a month. all the songs were about pickup trucks and roads and driving and blue jeans. except of course, for the songs that had women singers who were tough and angry and not gonna take it. and possibly coming to get ya.
> wtf is with that kieth urban guy? did he really write a song about putting on his pants and say "wow what a great song i just penned"?
> no way, cause only a female (or a ponce) can appreciate songs about putting on theyre pants.
> i read somewhere (maybe here) that country music these days is marketed for 32 year old divorced women- the stuff i heard on that station confirmed that.
> thankfully, one morning we arrived at work to find the station had changed formats- now theyre playing all kinds of cool stuff i havent heard in ages. one minute its gordon lightfoot, the next kool and the gang.:smile:


I hear ya fraser, BUT...I would much rather listen to music about putting on your pants, or pickup trucks than a lot of the other music out there today...at least some of the country guys can play..Paisley, Alan Jackson etc...

~Andrew


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## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

*Genre*

You know good music is good music, and I don't care what or whom plays it, and sometimes songs on a CD or tape do all sound the same and there's a really good reason for that.
As some may know, once you sign on the bottom line you no longer control your own music and what is on the list, the company owns your soul and often your cataloque also and you don't get to decide which song works well with the concept of your own music that you really want out there.
So lets not blame the players but do look at the makers who think they know more then the consumer and often think they know what is going to be the next big hit.
So if you want to be fustrated be looking at the giants of so called music makers, I think it would really work well if all those little guys came back and we got rid of the BIG music players.just a little guy with a opinion. Ship


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## Jamesmann (Nov 26, 2009)

*Country*

Hi Guys, just joined the board, thanks to NIK0 for turning me on to it.

I have a publishing deal down in Nashville and I can tell you without doubt that all the writing houses for country first deal with concepts eg: guy has cancer, girl has lost her mom,etc. the music is secondary to the concept because country fans love a story. The music also has firm rules like no pushes or weird time sig. which kinda makes things sound quite similar. Taylor Swift is the face of country music now..gimme a break, but it is what it is, I write country/pop for a living but I love to play anything but. I call it the Mcdonalds mentality, people are busy and don't want to try new flavours, they get a big mac not necessarliy because it tastes so good but more so because they know what it's going to taste like.... sad really I miss the days of prog. rock and experimintation.

My 2 cents

J


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...the junk food analogy, as it relates to mainstream...er...tastes...is perfect:

one blandburger, please, hold the flavour.

-dh




Jamesmann said:


> Hi Guys, just joined the board, thanks to NIK0 for turning me on to it.
> 
> I have a publishing deal down in Nashville and I can tell you without doubt that all the writing houses for country first deal with concepts eg: guy has cancer, girl has lost her mom,etc. the music is secondary to the concept because country fans love a story. The music also has firm rules like no pushes or weird time sig. which kinda makes things sound quite similar. Taylor Swift is the face of country music now..gimme a break, but it is what it is, I write country/pop for a living but I love to play anything but. I call it the Mcdonalds mentality, people are busy and don't want to try new flavours, they get a big mac not necessarliy because it tastes so good but more so because they know what it's going to taste like.... sad really I miss the days of prog. rock and experimintation.
> 
> ...


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

With no reflection on you Jamesmann ... I just think that all the Gnashville writers these days are soooo far removed from "Real" live in the country ( as many of the artist too maybe) that pickups and girls that like guys that like pickups and American Patriotism is the only thing that they can think of to write about. We all suffer.... The Jones and the Haggards actually lived and wrote stuff they experienced. 

Hard to write about the country way of life sitting in a BMW ... 

just my 1/2 cent ..... 


Hard to top this :rockon2:

I'm sittin alone, Saturday night, watching the Late Late Show.
A bottle of wine, some cigarettes, I got no place to go.
Well, I saw your other man today; he was wearing my brand new shoes,
And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

I like this one:

They all sound tired but they Don't sound Haggard
They all have money but they don't have Cash
They all have Jr, but they don't have Hank
I think, I think....


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

*His Lovin' Her Is Getting In My Way lyrics * by George Jones

"His name is on my mailbox where mine was yesterday
His face is in the mirror where I once used to shave
His clothes are in my closet, his car's in my driveway
And his loving her is a-gettin' in my way.

Yes, his loving her is a-gettin' in my way
No, I don't want to have to hurt him but I may
His time is a-growin' shorter day by day
His loving her is a-gettin' in my way
His loving her is a-gettin' in my way.

He's drinking my tequilla and Johnny Walker red
He's eating from my table, he's been sleepin' in my bed
His finger touch my woman where mine once used to play
Lord, His loving her is a-gettin' in my way.

Oh well, his loving her is a-gettin' in my way
I don't want to have to jerk his beard out but I may
But his time is a-growin' shorter day by day
His loving her is a-gettin' in my way
His loving her is a-gettin' in my way.

Yes, his loving her is a-gettin' in my way
No, I don't want to have to hurt him but I may
His time is a-growin' shorter day by day
His loving her is a-gettin' in my way..."


Clearly, he doesn't want to hurt him, but he may.


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