This is great analysis. I am working on a piece that looks at Oliver Anthony, Luke Combs and Jason Aldean and examines the prejudices us blue state liberals have against country music and the people who love it, how the country music industry reinforces those stereotypes, and how there's some real, nuanced, relatable messaging in the work of these three artists that transcends the genre and speaks to ordinary, working people from across the cultural and political spectrum.
I look forward to it. Personally, I'm a metalhead and can kind of take or leave country. But it's clear that there are things you can express through country that don't scan in other genres. The Marine Rapper rapped bars over "Rich Men" and I have mixed feelings about it:
Jumping to NPR and NYT would've appeared inauthentic. You're right, he might believe the sentiment. I don't. The finger pointing is inaccurate. We The People have no complaint. We did everything he's kveching about to ourselves. What rings phony to me is a guy like that going on about an arrangement that is giving him everything he could ever hope for. The first entertainer I remember doing that was Bob Dylan in the late 1960s. Uh huh, sure, Bob.
That all said, another class of people whom we rely upon to display a modicum of authenticity is reporters. Why two of them were necessary to each of the NYT and NPR pieces here eludes me, and for sheer misrepresentation Anthony has nothing on these clowns.
Except as a propaganda outlet, I don't know why NPR even exists. Bunch of political activists dressed up as journalists and "commentators," partially funded by you and me. How did that happen? NYT is for those who need their biases fashionably confirmed. You have to admit that Anthony has made himself an easy target for "these clowns." But it's the same as with former President Trump. The more they go after him, the stronger and broader his support base and donations become, which in turn increases the opposition's obsessive hatred of him and donations funding the promotion of that hatred. This raises media ratings because people like a train wreck. So everybody makes a pot of money. In the end, an LCD exercise all about money in the country of money. YAY!
A fad, not a phenomenon. Anthony knows what he's doing. He's making a fortune with a populist gig. The nation isn't in agony at all. We haven't been charged enough for our potato chips to be angry yet.
I really did LOL. Even a blind pig can stumble across an acorn. Honestly, I saw the manufactured Anthony character coming five miles down the road. It was a matter of who would get where he got first. Heavens, his coiffed beard and hair. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he is a regular guy who talks like you and me. He's making $40,000 a day, so we're told.
I think an utter phony would have jumped at the chance to speak to NPR and the NYT. You may be right, I can't know his mind. It's obviously an act, the question is whether it's an act all the way down. I don't think it is in his case.
This is great analysis. I am working on a piece that looks at Oliver Anthony, Luke Combs and Jason Aldean and examines the prejudices us blue state liberals have against country music and the people who love it, how the country music industry reinforces those stereotypes, and how there's some real, nuanced, relatable messaging in the work of these three artists that transcends the genre and speaks to ordinary, working people from across the cultural and political spectrum.
I look forward to it. Personally, I'm a metalhead and can kind of take or leave country. But it's clear that there are things you can express through country that don't scan in other genres. The Marine Rapper rapped bars over "Rich Men" and I have mixed feelings about it:
https://twitter.com/TheMarineRapper/status/1690883423382949888
For that matter, the MAGA rappers, Forgiato Blow, Bryson Gray, et al., may be of interest for the same reason that you're looking at country.
Jumping to NPR and NYT would've appeared inauthentic. You're right, he might believe the sentiment. I don't. The finger pointing is inaccurate. We The People have no complaint. We did everything he's kveching about to ourselves. What rings phony to me is a guy like that going on about an arrangement that is giving him everything he could ever hope for. The first entertainer I remember doing that was Bob Dylan in the late 1960s. Uh huh, sure, Bob.
That all said, another class of people whom we rely upon to display a modicum of authenticity is reporters. Why two of them were necessary to each of the NYT and NPR pieces here eludes me, and for sheer misrepresentation Anthony has nothing on these clowns.
Except as a propaganda outlet, I don't know why NPR even exists. Bunch of political activists dressed up as journalists and "commentators," partially funded by you and me. How did that happen? NYT is for those who need their biases fashionably confirmed. You have to admit that Anthony has made himself an easy target for "these clowns." But it's the same as with former President Trump. The more they go after him, the stronger and broader his support base and donations become, which in turn increases the opposition's obsessive hatred of him and donations funding the promotion of that hatred. This raises media ratings because people like a train wreck. So everybody makes a pot of money. In the end, an LCD exercise all about money in the country of money. YAY!
A fad, not a phenomenon. Anthony knows what he's doing. He's making a fortune with a populist gig. The nation isn't in agony at all. We haven't been charged enough for our potato chips to be angry yet.
I'm surprised to read you, of all people, agreeing with NPR on this.
Well, you know what they say about pigs and acorns. You can decide who is the pig.
In fact I have no idea what that means but I'm giving it a like on sheer color.
I really did LOL. Even a blind pig can stumble across an acorn. Honestly, I saw the manufactured Anthony character coming five miles down the road. It was a matter of who would get where he got first. Heavens, his coiffed beard and hair. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he is a regular guy who talks like you and me. He's making $40,000 a day, so we're told.
I think an utter phony would have jumped at the chance to speak to NPR and the NYT. You may be right, I can't know his mind. It's obviously an act, the question is whether it's an act all the way down. I don't think it is in his case.
Tom MacDonald, solicited for comment in the first Times piece, is an interesting comparison. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwQIDFB4CHQ