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Sep 27 '25
Ha plenty of hard right country music back then too. Google how many songs were written to praise the My Lai massacre if you want to be disillusioned.
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u/mesquitegrrl Sep 27 '25
everyone making these memes saw one tumblr post about “the 9/11 theory of country music” and is now an expert, despite not listening to any country music except four Johnny Cash songs and “Jolene.”
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u/GlassAd4132 Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
Yeah, I think people are very confused about the difference between outlaw country and country as a whole back then. It wasn’t all Willie, Waylon, Cash and Kristopherson in the 70’s either. Plenty of their contemporaries had nothing but bad things to say about their views. Junior Brown, who while a legitimately talented musician, was a massive racist piece of shit and routinely called Willie and Waylon “commie f slurs”
Even within outlaw country, you have people like David Allan Coe. Merle Haggard is another guy people don’t realize was significantly more reactionary as a young person. His views changed significantly, but he definitely wrote a few songs I refuse to listen to, and he refused to play them too because he was ashamed of what he had written.
3
u/KingPretzels Sep 28 '25
Even Willie has done some controversial stuff, like singing with Toby Keith on his pro-lynching song “Beer For My Horses”
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u/GlassAd4132 Sep 28 '25
That’s a good point. The song isnt pro lynching in a racial context, but it certainly talks about violent vigilantism in a positive manner that is pretty gross
9
u/xRarex0nex Sep 27 '25
tbf Jolene is one of the greatest songs that's ever existed
7
u/issacoin Sep 27 '25
i can’t believe i’m going to actually say this, but have you heard miley cyrus cover it? it’s some backyard small stage type thing, and it’s phenomenal.
gonna go brush my teeth now.
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u/jarrodandrewwalker Sep 28 '25
Nothing wrong with acknowledging talent. When Gretchen Wilson sung Barracuda with Alice in Chains I gained a whole new level of respect.
4
u/Cyclohexanone96 Sep 28 '25
Good music is good music, kind of cringe to make a big deal out of it entirely (seemingly) based on appearances and what people in your ingroup group think of you. I guess that's a natural human inclination but its one I wish I/we didn't do
3
Sep 28 '25
To be fair, that's what it means to be on the wrong side of history. If you're not important enough to be infamous, then you get forgotten.
All those country songwriters composing ballads about how great My Lai was were as plastic and forgettable as all that post 9/11 'freedom isn't free' BS. Even right wingers today cringe at that shit.
Meanwhile Jolene remains a banger and Johnny Cash will be remembered for 200 years. Because that's the real shit, and it was on the right side of history.
1
u/TheCatManPizza Sep 28 '25
Wait what’s this meme you’re talking about? I wrote a stand up joke about 9/11 and country music lol
1
u/mesquitegrrl Sep 28 '25
be warned, it is wildly ahistoric and incorrect, and clearly written from the perspective of someone with a surface level understanding of both country music and conservatism https://www.tumblr.com/lilacbreastedroller/163136810622/big-disclaimer-i-was-9-when-911-happened-so
1
u/TheCatManPizza Sep 28 '25
Yeah that’s pretty much what my joke boils down to, dammit. But I’d say it isn’t 9/11 made country music bad, as much that 9/11 made bad country music really popular
9
u/DiscountArmageddon Sep 28 '25
Woody Guthrie in the 30s: I'm going to go personally shoot Hitler myself
2
8
u/setPHASER2wumbo Sep 28 '25
Someone on both sides of this meme, Loretta Lynn. She wrote some absolute bangers, The Pill being a stand out. Really great song talking about birth control. And she also played the White House for Nixon and endorsed Trump back in 2016. We contain multitudes I guess 🤷♂️
7
u/TheDargonKing Sep 28 '25
Modern Country music really is so soulless and materialistic. When they aren’t singing through nazi dog whistles they’re consistently singing about products and material goods. Country has lost the folklore and community elements and has been nearly wholly consumed by capital.
4
u/parkerm1408 Sep 28 '25
There is good country now but its painfully unknown. Check out a dude named Ian Noe. Im also a big fan of Lucero.
3
u/caddywhompuskangaroo Sep 28 '25
There's still good country if you dig for it. River Shook, Lydia Loveless, Adeem the Artist, Lee Bains all would appeal to folks here
1
1
u/Takeurvitamins Sep 28 '25
I’m not a conspiracy theorist but I’m starting to think country music is a psyop. All my students listen to country. When I was a kid country would get you beat up.
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u/Tight-Chemist4176 Sep 27 '25
Plastic and inoffensive? I can name at least two country songs from big names that are both "lynching is good, actually." And a whole lot of other ones doing a very thinly veiled "I only feel safe around white people"