I had a European friend complain that Americans are so egocentric that they call their music "Country Music." He was also mad we put mayonaise on a pasta and call it a salad.
Do they not use the word country as a synonym for rural? I checked the Cambridge dictionary, it's their second definition listed, even higher than where that definition is listed in Merriam Webster. It's like complaining rock music is made with guitars instead of boulders. Does he also think that country is like the only genre of music made in America? Though some country singers do like to put a lot of nationalism in their music which does kind of confuse things.
I'm a firm mayo by itself as a sauce hater though so I'm with him there. Even more abominable are the jello (or jelly for those in the UK) "salads." It's not a salad!
Okay. I hate any music that references all of the following pandering terms: trucks, boots, whiskey, blue jeans, dirt, drinkin', beer, and. "back roads".
If you removed the lyrics from almost every modern US "Country" song, they wouldn't be so bad, by holy shit...it's like you can't have a country song without whiskey and blue jeans sung in an overdone Kentucky or Mid-Western accent. It's essentially fan service for country boys and girls. Half of those singers haven't touched so much as a rake in their entire lives and for some reason people make this genre their entire fucking identity.
my favourite country songs remain those featured in fallout: new vegas, they're so brilliantly atmospheric.
I generally don't cry but i can just put on "in the shadow of the valley" to cry on demand, i'm swedish as fuck and yet that song instantly makes me nostalgic for some southern ranch i've never seen
The other 2 thirds of the Earth's surface, obviously. As the greatest song in history says: "...We got no troubles - Life is the bubbles - Under the sea..."
Yeah, buy Dolly is in a class of her own. It was when I found out that Australia had their own country music stars who were writing and performing original songs, even songs about Australia, but in an American country music way, maybe even with the twang. Mind blown.
Yeah, nah, Tamworth. We have our own branches of country music down here mate.
Blak Country is a seriously cool branch to explore if you're curious about how Australia has interpreted US country music into a localised sub-genre. Swap your mouth organs for a gum leaf and add some yidaki riffs for extra bass.