brad paisley, has their ever been an artist w. a v. good voice so ill served by his material ?

do you like him @ all chuck ?

Is Elvis Presleys in the ghetto the whitest song ever ?

but are they really good guys? Black is too much macho bullshit, Strait I don't know well but seems a bit of that or at least overly concerned about maleness, and what is it that's hiding behind Jackson's sarcastic shrug thing? Travis maybe, but Paisley seems the least culturally traditionalist of any of them, the Jeff Gordon of the group.

i think his voice is highly serviceable but nothing special. i like his material, even if too often generic.

I'm working on an essay about why I like nu-country so much. For starters, I love that it's based so much on punchlines, like hip hop (witness the cooptation of hip hop slang in nu-country too - no coincidence, man. These dudes are almost certainly listening to Missy) - I mean, objectively, it's pure hack work, really, but still oddly and often mysteriously affecting.

And it is the only truly sentimental, poignant popular music left. Even when they talk about trucks and barbeques and shit, the music itself is touched with this very sensitive sense of nostalgia for tradition, imagined or otherwise. And I believe them.

I think nu-country is simply less than the sum of it's parts. Presented to your average Mojo subscriber, sure it sounds tacky and contrived. But if you really take the time examine what makes it work - and most of it DOES work - you'll find the ingredients of a nu-country song best the ingredients of your average Postal Service / White Stripes / M.I.A / what-have-you song.

As for voice without material, remember Marty Brown (profiled on 48 Hours TV show)? He was a throwback who at times sounded kind of like Hank without Hank, the Everlys without Boudleux & Felice Bryant, or Gary Stewart without Gary Stewart.

shit, there was a Marty Brown profile on 48 Hrs.? I talked to Marty Brown recently, he lives up in central Ky. I think. He was on MCA, and he didn't have good material, certainly not anywhere as good as Gary Stewart's! He's on the new Frank Black album singing a duet with Black on Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town." He made a record recently with Jon Tiven.

'He made a record recently with Jon Tiven.'

Didn't know that. Man, who is Tiven going to bring back next?

Roger Fidelity is OTM.

LOL @ "Online"

"Alcohol" is great.

Yes it is.

http://realmusicpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/whitney-houston.jpg

I heard Ticks three times in an hour the other day on the drive back from KY. He's growin' on me.

he also seems like a cold technocrat, somehow, a technician

well, yeah, he went to college to learn how to be a country star; he's a pro. but he still makes the sentiment work, so it's either at least partly real or he's just that good a writer/player. of course, i like to imagine that behind the stock image is a secret wine-drinking liberal who will one day nudge the masses leftward, but he's probably a lot more boring than that. i think i said all this somewhere else.

He grew on me, too, since my post way upthread from four years ago (mostly thanks to his guitar playing, but once in a while thanks to his songs, too. Has more of a sense of humor than I would have guessed.)

geir otm

Arguably, the three tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras) may belong here too.

uh WAHT

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/07/brad-paisley-cartoon-captions.html

better than a lot of the winners imo

that first one is pretty good! Second one sounds like it could be a punchline to one of his songs. He might be the dad-jokiest musician ever, and I love him for it.

sexy as hell.

New Yorker profile: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/02/100802fa_fact_sanneh

What I wrote about him in the Voice last year, fwiw (a while after I'd come around to his stuff, or a lot of it anyway):

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-10-13/music/brad-paisley-is-ready-to-make-nice/

I got Mud on the Tires last month, and the only song that stuck (heh heh) was the one about cigars. He should stick to songs about "stuff" (like "Water"). Otherwise he slips too easily into boilerplate when bored.

Looking at the original premise of this thread, I find it kinda odd. Nobody is into Paisley because of his voice--in country terms it's serviceable but hardly distinctive. He's a good songwriter and a great guitar player who doesn't venture out of his comfort zone. I like the guy and think he could do a lot more were he not into makin' zillions of dollars as a country musician. So you gotta love him because he's a success and modest about it.

No discussion on his latest album?

Is it good? Love "Water".

wtf at this shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a_qbt1EVuw8

brad paisley: so like i get that the confederate flag is offensive to black people and i'm sympathetic but also i'm proud of where i'm from but i don't want to offend you but we have to realize we can't change the past so i guess just deal with it?
ll cool j: ok i'm going to do the world's worst rap now

Some discussion here: Anticipate Brad Paisley's "Wheelhouse"

one time i was flipping around on tv and i turned to pbs and they were showing a recent steve miller band concert and it was all original steve miller band, all old white guys, except the keyboard player was a younger black guy, and they did they long jammed-out version of "fly like an eagle" with a million solos and weird parts and then they break it down and the keyboard player comes out front and starts doing this rap about "you got to fly like an eagle and you can see/we need to live in peace and harmony" and it still wasn't as bad as ll cool j in that brad paisley song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knVbfhmME1g

"they called it Reconstruction / fixed the buildings, dried some tears"

lol

I am literally beside myself

If you don't judge my gold chains
I'll forget about your iron chains

send this shit to #1 immediately

i plan on using this song to instantly rebut anyone who tries to persuade me there's anything worthwhile going on in "modern country"

you needn't get smug if you haven't heard Ne-Yo and Tim McGraw.

tbh i do think it's a little interesting that paisley's trying to write a nondogmatic, even-handed song about a controversial topic, like just from a songwriting perspective, but otoh there's a reason people don't generally try to do that and also ll cool j is garbage

He's also written a few good songs that touch on being a southern liberal without being as dogmatic and stupid as this one.

brad paisley "ok some people think grits are gross, but i like grits, and they're part of my heritage, but i don't want to offend you when i eat grits, but grits have been around for a long time and we can't turn back history"
ll cool j "is it time for me to do a shitty rap yet? it is? cool."

it's just so weird that this actually got released. like I can see LL, Paisely, producers, label dudes all letting it get as far as a rough mix. or even a final mix. but how nobody at any point puts his foot down and says BRAD. LL. DO YOU WANT TO GO VIRAL WHEN THE ENTIRE WORLD LOLS is beyond me, everybody's got managers and press people, literally nobody had the fortitude to go GUYS. GUYS. DON'T DO THIS

Haven't heard this yet, but did't Paisley do this thing already re: the confederate flag?

Camouflage:

Well, the stars and bars offend some folks
And I guess I see why
But nowadays there's still a way
To show your Southern pride

The only thing as patriotic
As the old red, white and blue
It's green and gray and black
And brown and tan all rolled into ....

man I don't remember that Camoflauge verse

that one isn't bad!

that one = "Camouflage"

the fact that "Accidental Racist" starts with:

To the guy who waited on me
At the Starbucks down on Main
I hope you understand

is the most amazing thing

yeah I was like "ooh this is gonna be good"

Holy shit this song.

To the guy who gave stinkeye
for my stars and bars tattoo
I'm now inspired to share in song
a different point of view

gave me stinkeye dammit, numbers count

"but how nobody at any point puts his foot down and says BRAD. LL. DO YOU WANT TO GO VIRAL WHEN THE ENTIRE WORLD LOLS is beyond me"

they probably stopped there and were like YES, OF COURSE.

"We're still paying for the mistakes that a bunch of folks made long before we came."

Oh wah. WAH. Shut up. SHUT UP.

what the actual fuck??

haha i peeped this song title/feature credit on the tracklist of his album like a month ago and had been rubbing my hands in anticipation ever since

"We're still paying for the mistakes that a bunch of folks made long before we came."

Guilty! Of! Being! White!

oh my god LL Cool J what on earth are you doing?????

"The relationship between the Mason-Dixon needs some fixin'" - lmao i hear this like "punk rock girl" by the dead milkmen

did not expect this to be a 6 minute power ballad

Worse than the KRS-One rap on Too Much Joy's "Good Kill"

ll is ready to forget those iron chains, v charitable imo

"The relationship between the Mason-Dixon needs some fixin'" - lmao i hear this like "punk rock girl" by the dead milkmen

hahaha YES

mason dixon needs some non-phixion

glad brad paisley and ll cool j are finally starting that honest conversation about race we have been afraid to have

This is so sad for LL Cool J, ;_; forever

Now, I don't know 'bout the stars and bars
But I know beer, and I know cars
And staring up into the stars
At the glory that is America.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/73481/the-road-to-accidental-racist-is-paved-with-ll-cool-j-and-brad-paisleys-good-intentions

idea: klezmir/skinhead crossover called "I'm a little agnostic-a/bout your swastika"

http://www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/2012/july/images/accidental_racism1.jpg

"we're all still learning hoss / sorry bout that burning cross"
#accidentalracist meme sweeping the internet

Can we list all the rhyming opportunities passed up by Paisley/LL.

corn cobs / lynch mobs

don't wanna be a grinch/just want to avoid getting lynched

phat beats / white sheets
goin' muddin' in my chevy / redboxing the new Tyler Perry

thread is starting to remind me of So Nick Cannon's new song consists of the full-grown ghost of his potential self singing to his mom, asking her not to abort him?

loool forks

what rhymes with "false equivalencies"?

looking forward to the Jamey Johnson / Chuck D answer track

i'm afraid to listen to this

remember when geena davis won best supporting actress for her role in the accidental racist

YOU MUST LISTEN TO THIS, VG

YOU WILL HATE YOURSELF FOREVER IF YOU DON'T

If you forgive segregation/I'll forgive your booty fixation

If you forgive Emmett Till/I'll forgive your rhymes so ill

Yeah, VG, it has to be heard to be believed.Everything about it is so utterly amazing.

I can't live without my talk radio

The depressing part is he's given every indication of being tired of supressing his liberalism and this, his first self-produced album, plays like a lib coming-out statement that is more defensive and hectoring than we expect from this dude. He's too damn late -- most people in Nashvile his age are cool with gays and uh Starbucks. I don't know who the fuck this is FOR cept ILM.

I'm sorry about Jim Crow/But UPN had some grim shows

possibly you have misread Brad Paisley

xpost okay lol

the crazy part is even our intentionally ridiculous ones aren't as bad as:

"if you don't judge my gold chains/i'll forget your iron chains" that LL actually says

I ain't no racist
No coward or a twit
But I'll yell it in yo face homeboy
I'm too legit to quit

"When you moved in, my parents fled the hood/But honestly the Bernie Mac Show was pretty good"

oh brad, jeeeeeezus christ almighty

wtf is even happening

did ll cool j really just say 'RIP Robert E Lee But I gotta thank Abraham lincoln for freeing me, na mean'

if you don't judge Gold Chains/ I'll forget 2 Chainz

like, I understand the compulsion to write a song like this this

but the compulsion ends when you put the lyrics down on paper and you look at them and go...yeaaahhhhhhhhhh this is not good

i can't even

listen to this brad

I hang at Starbucks
I fux with Peter Buck

We are already thinking sequels and new guest stars, yeah?

"Accidental Size Queen" feat. RuPaul

then again if you're the idiot who buys the Skynyrd tshirt **with the confederate flag on it** then I have no sympathy for you

^ this.

And ffs, Ronnie motherfucking Van Zant thought the confederate flag was embarrassing.

exactly

I don't want to derail this thread, but when Skynyrd's last album came out, you could pre-order a bundle that included a T-shirt depicting a wolf wearing a Confederate flag do-rag (yes, the ears poked out) and I am very sorry I didn't claim one while I had the chance (I work for their label).

Whoop, never mind - I misremembered. It was an American flag. I know there was some discussion of making it a Confederate flag at some point, though.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.rr.roadrunnerrecords.com/photos/7255/largest/2c010ae3-0a64-4669-9459-6689a01f72b7-1341950230/SkynyrdPackShot.jpg?1341950280

if you misjudge my do-rag

looking forward to compiling a durag spelling variations xls for commentary on this song

I envy those of you who are able to be clever about this. I can't get past the fact that these are some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard.

my favorite thing about this is that when ll cool j starts rapping a soulful gospel choir rises behind him

my favorite thing is that ll cool j starts rapping

my favorite thing is "when I put on that t-shirt/the only thing I meant to say/is I'm a Skynard fan"

SKYNYRD

this whole song is like a fever dream

are we sure this really happened

http://sockmonkeysound.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Lizard-Skynard.jpg

well that's a horse of a different color

pronounced liz-erd sky-narrd

gimme back my reptiles

sweet home anaconda

That Smell (Seriously, Clean That Cage)

Gimme Three Skinks

xp one more:
childish gambino banging hannah up on hbo / nuff respect for the white guy up in tv on the radio

A Simple Asp

ok i'm tired of this now

baby

:)

na otm: just wrote and erased a lengthy "still tippin" revision that rhymed "horse whippin"/"paint drippin"/"mass lynchin"; it may be time to get some air

nobody in that studio has any idea how to mix rap vocals

Or how to rap

when LL finishes his rap and then they bring in paisley back, sliders all the way up, and when LL gets cut back in it sounds like he's rapping from across the mason dixon

that mix could use some fixin

and as bad as LL's lines are, and they are terrible, that tempo is doing nothing for him either

I have had DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK/EXCUSE MY DU-RAG on a loop running through my head all day

Y'all are making fun of this, but has any MC featured a country artist? Huh? HUH?! This shit is BRAVE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEC7kz4hu6c

Y'all are making fun of this, but has any MC featured a country artist an actor in the movie "Toys"? Huh? HUH?! This shit is BRAVE!

at this point confusing LL Cool J and Cuba Gooding Jr should not be considered a faux pas

i like that part where LL is all going off about his peas and mashed potatos have to be separate because he likes his food to have military precision and stuff

The man speaks

http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/04/08/brad-paisley-ll-cool-j-accidental-racist/

New York City was all for slavery. They actually voted 60 percent against — or maybe 70 against — Abraham Lincoln because they didn’t like the idea of slavery going away because there goes cotton and there goes tobacco trade, you know what I mean? It’s very hypocritical to feel like it’s just the South’s fault.

goin in

he watched Lincoln!

i like that part where LL is all going off about his peas and mashed potatos have to be separate because he likes his food to have military precision and stuff

― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, April 8, 2013 6:32 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"i'm a military man, and i like a military meal" has been a catchphrase at my family's dinner table for 20 years, dead serious

xxpost -- Imagine if he'd watched Alex Cross.

imagine if he'd watched Toys.

Imagine there's no this song.

I just got to 3:30 of my first listen to this song and literally shuddered knowing LL was getting ready to jump in.

“I’m with my audience 100 percent in the Southern pride thing

Man, be proud of being from Alabama, or Florida, or hell, West Virginia. But "Southern pride" writ large only means one thing. That's why there's no "Northern pride." Because the fucking north didn't secede from the country as a whole in service of a morally reprehensible movement.

The best thing about the comments in the EW interview is that 80% of them are basically "Paisley doesn't know what he's talking about" and the other 20% are "this song is shit."

I just got to 3:30 of my first listen to this song and literally shuddered knowing LL was getting ready to jump in.

― alpine static, Monday, April 8, 2013 11:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Late to the thread and thought this was La Lechera.

This is like the "Billy Don't Fall" of anti-racism songs.

no way -- "Billy Don't Fall" is good. It's got a terrific groove, first of all.

i meant the stupidity

T-NC has been amazing on this today btw

http://twitter.com/tanehisi/

@mattthomas: @tanehisi “You want a hit, give me an hour plus a Confederate flag.”

lololol

Also as max notes on Gawker, Paisley is from West Virginia, which fought for the Union after seceding from Virginia, why is this fucking song happening?

i meant the stupidity

― gentle german fatherly voice (President Keyes),

ha -- "Billy Don't Fall" is smarter and hence more honest than this farrago.

this just made me laugh: "How great would it be if the Brad Paisley/LL Cool J track was, like, James McMurtry and Ghostface instead and just dark as hell?"

i think people are kinda underestimating how much this song is funny on purpose. Eric Idle is also on the album.

Always look on the bright side.

the Charlie Daniels cameo comes at exactly the wrong moment.

"I guess we're both guilty of judgin' the cover not the book"

I just noticed this line while Jeff was listening to the song for the first time. I just...

I think he meant "Actual Racist."
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisi)

Poor Brad. He's such a ding-dong.

if you don't judge my yarmulke, i won't judge your swastika

"One of my favorite lines in the song, he says, 'I think the relationship between the Mason-Dixon needs some fixing.' Leave it to a rapper to put it so simply and so beautifully."

It took Pynchon like 900 pages to say what LL did in one line

This is going to be a hit, right? I can totally see my little cousins back in NC singing this all the time.

it's not a single, people are just reacting to it strongly because the album it's on is out today

and so far the 2 singles off this one haven't been remotely successful as BP's hits usually are

I think they're shutting this down! Lyrics no longer on the Brad site, youtube links getting blanked ...

that would be pretty funny, considering that, y'know, the album is now on iTunes and Amazon and in most any store where new CDs are sold

he's probably hoping for his first #1 pop album

he's probably hoping for his first #1 pop rap album

lol

Has any conservative come to its defense yet as somehow post-racial? Did any doofus defend Lil Wayne's Emmitt Till line?

Incredulous morning radio show just now, after mocking it for a couple of minutes, took biggest issue with the title. You can be "accidentally offensive," but you can't be "accidentally racist."

So far I've found great joy in laughing at the takedowns who don't realize the song isn't autobiographical

They should have called the song "Unfrozen Caveman Racist."

I'm just a caveman, from primitive caveman times
I didn't know about all my supposed crimes
I've never worn shoes, so I can't walk a mile in yours
So let's just head to the local watering hole for a couple of pours.

I'll just paste the whole thing from the AVClub, because it is funny:

After decades of tense, occasionally violent unease, relations between black and white Americans reached what could be called a lasting accord today, after everyone became united in peaceful agreement that Brad Paisley and LL Cool J probably shouldn’t have recorded “Accidental Racist.” The duet—a sad reminder of the pervasive intolerance that still to this day inspires terrible works of art—joins the likes of “Ebony And Ivory” and “It Ain’t Easy Being White” in a long lineage of songs that have fostered a new, post-racial society, founded to ensure gestures such as these are never necessary again. “We’re good. We can just stop talking about this now,” black and white people were quoted as saying in harmony—the actual kind, and not the version of harmony that is LL Cool J rapping over a Brad Paisley song.
Besides the desire to bring an end to years of unrest in the quickest and least taxing way possible, the duo’s country/hip-hop crossover was reportedly inspired by the minor controversy stirred after Paisley was spotted wearing a Confederate flag-emblazoned T-shirt for the band Alabama, which led to Paisley being branded a “racist” on Twitter. Paisley’s reimagining of that confrontation—here it’s a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt that upsets a guy at Starbucks—sparks a long-overdue dialogue on where “Southern pride” meets “Southern blame,” and how a white Southern man can be “proud of where I’m from but not everything we’ve done,” but also be made to feel shame by so many baristas. “It ain’t like you and me can re-write history,” Paisley laments to this coffee shop patriarchy. “Our generation didn’t start this nation / And we’re still paying for mistakes / That a bunch of folks made long before we came.”

Indeed it is unfair that, in the year 2013, a man can still be judged by the color of the flag on his Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt, when the Civil War was a long time ago. But then LL Cool J arrives to present the opposing argument: that maybe the still-potent reminder of slavery is slightly more painful than a white man’s guilt. However, in the interest of equality, LL Cool J lets Paisley know that it’s cool; he also occasionally wears things that have racial connotations, which can lead to decades of entrenched misunderstandings that require crossover country/hip-hop songs to untangle. “Just because my pants are saggin’ doesn’t mean I’m up to no good,” LL Cool J rap-explains, before one-upping his promise not to commit one of those baggy-pants crimes by offering to let slavery and the centuries of oppression just kind of slide. That is if, in the trade-off, he gets to wear the stuff he likes without being further enslaved by the ol' side-eye. “If you don’t judge my do-rag, I won’t judge your red flag... If you don’t judge my gold chains, I’ll forget the iron chains,” he rhymes, sort of.

And so LL Cool J and Brad Paisley skip, hand-in-hand down their road paved with good intentions and adequate production values, until they arrive at the “new South,” where “bygones are bygones” and “all that’s left is southern pride.” So much so that LL Cool J is even compelled to give the shout-out, “R.I.P. Robert E. Lee,” tipping his do-rag that it's totally cool for him to wear now to the late general, who tripped on a tree root and accidentally ended up leading the Confederacy in a brutal war to protect the South’s rights to keep black people as property. (As Lee was often heard to say on the battlefield, “Whoopsy daisy!”) And thus, Brad Paisley and LL Cool J brought an end to racism, which will only now be revived ironically, during those six interminable minutes whenever someone chooses “Accidental Racist” at karaoke night.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/brad-paisley-and-ll-cool-j-bring-blacks-and-whites,96234/

A modest defense: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2013/04/brad_paisley_ll_cool_j_accidentally_racist.php

You know now that I'm seeing the cover I have further aesthetic questions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/files/2013/04/accidental-racist.png

Paisley and Cool J's eagerness to reach their target audience makes both sound naive--even pandering--to the broader world. Uncharitable bloggers are howling already, with the usually savvy Jezebel deeming the song "a mournful ballad about how hard it is to be a white man."

That's as dismissive a falsehood as saying Biggie only rapped about drugs.

um, no it isn't

all of the cap'n-save-a-Paisleys out there really need to pull their heads out of their asses and admit that this song is just as terrible on his end as it is on LL's, it's just that LL is way more quotable

paisley tortured "whiiiiiite maaaaaan" in the chorus is easily the worst and most worthless part of the song, at least LL brings the horrified lols

It's almost as if the people who are blaming LL Cool J instead of Brad Paisley for this song's terribleness are being "accidental" racists.

Accidental rockists.

brad designs all his album covers, fyi

The new one is no great shakes, but at least it's a step up from this:
http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/products/bmmg/ent/P886972690827.JPG

Wow, that's not a joke.

Beginning to think maybe Brad should leave Twitter for a bit rather than forwarding the approval of Michael Reagan:

Wow. RT @ReaganWorld: the world would not have heard The Evil Empire Speech or Tear Down This Wall Speech if my father would have...

@ReaganWorld: listened to the naysayers. He understood as you do, your audience is larger than those who point fingers.

@ReaganWorld: @BradPaisley Your song speaks the truth.

So,as you buy this album,I hope it triggers emotions. I hope you feel joy,heartache,triumph,surprise; you laugh,cry,nudge someone beside you

...I hope the album rocks you,soothes you,raises questions,answers,evokes feelings, all the way through until Officially Alive

'Cause I wouldn't change a thing. This is a record meant to be FAR from easy listening. But fun. Like life. Have a ball, ya'll. love- brad

the world would not have heard The Evil Empire Speech or Tear Down This Wall Speech if my father would have...

died in 1981?

i have never been more happy never to have heard brad paisley

guys this album starts with a song called "Southern Comfort Zone" and it is AMAZING

it posits, among other things, that no one in the North knows the words to "Amazing Grace" or eats biscuits and gravy

see I find that song more troublesome cuz the music is pretty and he gets in some good licks.

and then a choir starts singing "And I wish I was in Dixie/Awaaaaaaay"

I think the last time I was this delighted was my wedding day

"I have kissed a West Coast girl/underneath the Northern Lights"

Dude never fails to remind everybody about the first thing he did when he got rich and famous was to marry the girl from Father of the Bride II.

you guys, "Outstanding In Our Field"

it's not even bad or horrifying or anything, it's just... the pun hurts so much

"I Can't Change The World" is where it picks up.

it posits, among other things, that no one in the North knows the words to "Amazing Grace" or eats biscuits and gravy

― relentless technosexuality (DJP), Tuesday, April 9, 2013 11:27 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark

they dont

though it'd still be corny, there'd be the thread of a good song here if LL's verse actually called out Brad's "sucks you still gotta fear my rebel flag when slavery was so long ago" shit. But instead of saying "well, no, brad, i hate your flag because it relates to racism HAPPENING RIGHT NOW" it sounds like he's saying he's ready to put the past aside if you'd stop judging his fashion sense.

i had biscuits & gravy at a cracker barrel in the wisconsin dells once

can we vivisect Eric Idle

xpost -- I'm singing that to the tune of Humpty Hump's discussion about Burger King bathrooms and what can be done therein.

the whole thing where people debate whether Brad Paisley is cagily picking his words to not offend his audience while slowly moving it left is hilarious. Dude's not a politician he's a fucking guitarist. Sucks enough to vote for chickenshit centrism, why would you listen to it?

Wish he'd stick to songs about being a good hubby and trying to insure your cigar box.

"American Saturday Night" made the best of his progressive points by way of deft touch. The last thing he needed was further specificity, especially if he's going to handle his subjects with such gracelessness. LL should be embarrassed but not as embarrassed as Brad for thinking this was a good idea in the first place. It's making people think, alright, for all the wrong reasons and about all the wrong things.

though it'd still be corny, there'd be the thread of a good song here if LL's verse actually called out Brad's "sucks you still gotta fear my rebel flag when slavery was so long ago" shit.

i eagerly await the chuck d remix.

brad: kool thing let me turn on your radio
move me turn me on baby-o
I'll be your slave
give you a shave

So called chosen, frozen?
But what about the holes in the ozone?
Ain't nothing but friends in my bro zone
So you just leave that negativity a-lone.

(guitar solo)

'southern comfort zone' is pretty great and tbf you really can't get good biscuits and gravy in rome. plus the video has a 'take me home' feel combined w/ paisley's 'i did it myself, took ten minutes on ms paint' sense of design.

yeah i hated "Southern Comfort Zone" at first, could never get past the clumsy clips of Andy Griffith etc. on the intro, but it grew on me big time a couple months ago. one of the worst musical aspects of "Accidental Racist" is the way it brings back the same refrain from that song.

Eric Weisbard: http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/04/09/176675002/brad-paisleys-accidental-racist-and-the-history-of-white-southern-musical-identi

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haha

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/04/09/166021736_10_wide-17e758738b95d0a1b9416c701060982034e0656e-s4.jpg

love how this picture was taken in Las Vegas

That's where he's getting the crowd to do LL's part.

"i say 'red flag,' you say..."

The surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, now led by Gary Rossington

Little misleading here, as Rossington is the sole surviving member.

Anyway, Weisbard's piece doesn't seem to be doing much of anything, but if it gets a few people to listen to "Souther Rock Opera" - the keystone of the duality of the Southern thing - then I guess it does enough. The difference between the Truckers and Paisley's take on this stuff is that the Truckers acknowledge in its own complicated defense of the south that racism remains pervasive.

“Racism is a worldwide problem and it’s been since the beginning of recorded history, and it ain’t just white and black, either. But thanks to George Wallace, it’s always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent”

I have a lynard skynyrd lighter. Accidentally racist?

if you own a lynyrd skynyrd lighter...you might be an accidental racist

if you think the biscuits and gravy at some cracker barrel in wisconsin isn't the best biscuits and gravy you've ever had...you might be an accidental racist

Weird Al, winning everything once again

https://twitter.com/alyankovic/status/321738609940103168

omg

thought that said Mel Gibson for a minute lol

all-star choir includes Mel Gibson and Michael Richards.

as an aside, Sweet Home Alabama was written by Van Zandt more as a thank you to the Swampers/Muscle Shoals for setting them up in their studio and that's why they get direct mention in the song but whatever

my bigger problem with that thinkpiece is that he just kinda scoops all of those songs into one big pile to weight up alongside Paisley. but half those songs are WELL WRITTEN. They effectively convey what the writer is struggling with or reckoning with and they aren't hamhanded facepalms like Paisley's ATTEMPT at that sort of thing. He's doing a disservice to every other song he mentions if the whole point of his piece is to say well Paisley's a complicated fellow. Shut up. He wrote a song that was stupid and badly written. the end.

'half those songs' should be = 'those songs are'

ha that would be something. i think one thing that ppl who don't regularly listen to country should bear in mind in asking themselves 'how? why?' is that the album filler on country albums can often be some of the laziest, corniest shit you will ever hear in your life. not saying there aren't great, consistent country albums cuz obv there are (and not just meaning back during waylon and willie days), just that it has never been an album genre and when a thought out deliberate consistent end to end country album does happen either the artist has some level of pretension, they're megahuge and don't release albums every year and need something that can sustain two years of touring, or it's the debut and drunk w/ material. there are great country albums every year but there are also plenty of country artists you only need comps from.

lol, i was SURE that said mel gibson

as an aside, Sweet Home Alabama was written by Van Zandt more as a thank you to the Swampers/Muscle Shoals for setting them up in their studio and that's why they get direct mention in the song but whatever

"Sweet Home Alabama" is one of my favorite songs to see done at karaoke because most people i've seen pick it have no idea why they're insulting Neil Young and praising swampers.

thread needs more countrysplaining

yeah there's a lot of wacky/ill-conceived filler on country albums, especially Paisley albums -- when i saw this song on the album tracklist a month ago i thought it was gonna be a knowingly goofy 3-minute novelty tune, like a country version of TMBG's "Your Racist Friend" or something with LL doing a glorified one line cameo. did not expect something so long and slow and earnest. xp

hahaha

Brad Paisley (feat. Magoo) - "Particle Man"

snortOL

do you really think there's more lazy/corny/wacky filler on the average country album than on the average r&b album or the average pop album or the average metal album?

ha that would be something. i think one thing that ppl who don't regularly listen to country should bear in mind in asking themselves 'how? why?' is that the album filler on country albums can often be some of the laziest, corniest shit you will ever hear in your life. not saying there aren't great, consistent country albums cuz obv there are (and not just meaning back during waylon and willie days), just that it has never been an album genre and when a thought out deliberate consistent end to end country album does happen either the artist has some level of pretension, they're megahuge and don't release albums every year and need something that can sustain two years of touring, or it's the debut and drunk w/ material. there are great country albums every year but there are also plenty of country artists you only need comps from.

I might have missed a few hundred posts yesterday but a couple exceptions aside one thing I didn't get was the "here's this Brad Paisley guy doing the usual country redneck shit." It looks like Paisley's well known enough such that people accept his intentions, although anyone who isn't a Paisley fan won't know Wheelhouse is in the, er, spinning-its-wheels category.

do you really think there's more lazy/corny/wacky filler on the average country album than on the average r&b album or the average pop album or the average metal album?

the red state vibe reminds too many people of what -- Bush voters? Their parents? I dunno.

do you really think there's more lazy/corny/wacky filler on the average country album than on the average r&b album or the average pop album or the average metal album?

― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, April 9, 2013 6:11 PM (50 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i wasn't saying that, don't know if balls was but i didn't get that impression

I might have missed a few hundred posts yesterday but a couple exceptions aside one thing I didn't get was the "here's this Brad Paisley guy doing the usual country redneck shit." It looks like Paisley's well known enough such that people accept his intentions, although anyone who isn't a Paisley fan won't know Wheelhouse is in the, er, spinning-its-wheels category.

speaking as someone who knows fairly little about him outside of a few songs...i would say that this song is pretty fucking far from the "usual"....anything

r&b way way way more of an album genre, pop album filler is usually just lazy in a dull efficient way (they don't sound like something conceived on tour bus), have never really noticed too much filler on the (admittedly not that many) metal albums i listen to.

now rap albums otoh...

kelefa: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/04/brad-paisleys-accidental-racist.html

And TNC: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/04/why-accidental-racist-is-actually-just-racist/274826/

Little misleading here, as Rossington is the sole surviving member.

...in the current touring band. Original drummer Bob Burns and guitarist Ed King are still alive (they quit the band a few years before the plane crash), but haven't toured with Skynyrd in years.

you could make the argument that Ronnie is "survived" by his talentless brother who fronts the band now, though obv that would be misguided

Kelefa's is good...TNC's much better.

TNC making good points

small point but

I even rock that "Who Do You Love" joint.

considering he name-checks "Pink Cookies" this is definitely some "art of pretend forgetfulness" right?

i like kelefa's article a lot.

and while i think the song is a lot more awful than kelefa gives it credit for being, it's interesting indeed to consider paisley's part of it separate from LL's part. you could have easily fooled me, for example, if you told me this verse, quoted by kelefa, was written by bruce springsteen:

They called it Reconstruction, fixed the buildings, dried some tears
We’re still siftin’ through the rubble after a hundred-fifty years
I try to put myself in your shoes and that’s a good place to begin
But it ain’t like I can walk a mile in someone else’s skin

springsteen, obviously (i think it's obvious), would have turned it into a very different song. it would be sung in a character's voice, and we would accept it as a character's voice, and we would write very different kind of think pieces about it. and we would presume to know exactly where he's coming from, and we would automatically presume it's a very different place from where we presume brad paisley is coming.

TNC's whole post hinges on faulting him for choosing LL instead of some other rapper, which seems sort of like weak sauce imho

I still cannot get over the line They called it Reconstruction, fixed the buildings, dried some tears.

yeah TNC kind of denying LL a little agency here. it'd be a little suspicious if LL was asked to debate race with a politician, but both these guys are vocalist/award show hosts.

They called it Reconstruction, fixed the buildings, dried some tears.

Atlanta was in bad shape, old dudes cried a lot

I can understand why an artist like Paisley would be attracted to an artist like LL Cool J. I can't for the life of me understand why he'd choose LL Cool J to begin "a conversation" to reconcile. Rap is overrun with artists who've spent some portion of their career attempting to have "a conversation." There's Chuck D. There's Big Daddy Kane. There's KRS-ONE. There's Talib. There's Mos Def. There's Kendrick Lamar. There's Black Thought. There's Dead Prez. And so on.

i'm kinda getting tired of this argument. LL is not one of rap's great activists but he's allowed to write about race if he wants to, and i can see why he'd jump at a chance to do it in a high-profile way with a white star, it just happened to turn out badly but i don't think it was a given that he'd drop the ball this badly just because he's not Talib Kweli.

zpoar, people kinda saying the same thing

I originally misread the posts about this and thought it WAS KRS on the song and c'mon his verse would have probably been just as bad, if not more batshit

yeah apparently ll's got some interesting album paisley will be guesting on among many others, pretty sure that's why ll's on the album. listening to 'karate' now, kinda sad that charlie daniels is such a better rapper than ll now.

yeah KRS would've been like "we're both descended from the egyptians/ so stop gyppin' me like a gypsy" (xpost)

Yeah I don't like TNC's argument either. I think croup is otm, they move in similar sorts of circles, they could easily have hooked up for the song because they're aquaintances or friends...that might explain the co-appearances on each other's albums more than HAY I NEED A NICE WHITEBOY COUNTRY SINGER IN A COWBOY HAT / HAY I NEED A GENERIC NONTHREATENING RAPPER

"Karate" is the exactly the kind of track that'll make people roll their eyes -- I did too. It doesn't need Charlie Daniels but I'm glad a guy wrote a spousal abuse anthem this musically sharp (love the synth and Paisley's guitar) and felt confident enough to be facetious about it. Maybe it'll be "Rosie Strikes Back" in another day.

loool some dude

if paisley told an interviewer "i wanted to do a song about race with a conscious rapper so obviously i called LL Cool J" that'd be one thing, but since LL clearly wanted to give his two cents, the point is moot beyond wishing someone else had taken the gig.

I'm more for wishing this song never happened

let's all hold hands and close our eyes and wish REALLY hard

The Coates piece doesn't win for getting in the weeds about which rap artist should've been chosen for the collaboration. It wins because of its last two paragraphs: "Paisley wants to know how he can express his Southern Pride. Here are some ways. He could hold a huge party on Martin Luther King's birthday, to celebrate a Southerner's contribution to the world of democracy. He could rock a T-shirt emblazoned with Faulkner's Light In August, and celebrate the South's immense contribution to American literature. He could preach about the contributions of unknown Southern soldiers like Andrew Jackson Smith. He could tell the world about the original Cassius Clay. He could insist that Tennessee raise a statue to Ida B. Wells.

Every one of these people are Southerners. And every one of them contributed to this great country. But to do that Paisley would have to be more interested in a challenging conversation and less interested in a comforting lecture."

Frankly I could have just seen Brad going "Well, dude's on TV and people know who he is."

I'm more for wishing this song never happened

let's all hold hands and close our eyes and wish REALLY hard

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, April 9, 2013 6:48 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

like you want to let bygones be bygones?

something about that just feels like it peddles the stereotype of idiot country singers. we're talking about a stupid song, not a slackjawed moron who doesn't interact with popular culture at all.

lol ok, i'll keep my eyes open for a everything that rises must converge shirt next time i'm at spencers. or he could just wear a fucking vols jersey or cap w/ a titans logo and express regional pride like a normal american man.

or he could avoid going to Starbucks in muscle shirts and flip-flops.

Paisley wants to know how he can express his Southern Pride. Here are some ways. He could hold a huge party on Martin Luther King's birthday, to celebrate a Southerner's contribution to the world of democracy. He could rock a T-shirt emblazoned with Faulkner's Light In August, and celebrate the South's immense contribution to American literature. He could preach about the contributions of unknown Southern soldiers like Andrew Jackson Smith. He could tell the world about the original Cassius Clay. He could insist that Tennessee raise a statue to Ida B. Wells.

this is a good paragraph otoh Paisley is kind of a moron and probably only knows who a grand total of one (maybe two, if he can remember that Muhammad Ali wasn't born with that name) of those people are. not because he is racist, but because he is not particularly well-read/sharp/etc.

wow shakey sure knows alot about brad paisley

on what do you base that assertation, Shakey?

(xp) but that paragraph has the same problem as the ll cool j part of the piece: it's criticizing him for a litany of things he didn't do rather than trying to absorb and critique what he did do. why should brad paisley insist tennessee raise a statue, or wear a faulkner t-shirt? i mean, if he's moved to do those things, great. but he's a singer/songwriter, so he writes songs. that's what he does.

he's not a moron -- just a star thinkin' about things

on what do you base that assertation, Shakey?

white guys in cowboy hats drive like THIS

I am trying to imagine what "rockin a t-shirt emblazoned with Faulkner's A Light in August" would actually look like and am comin up short.

do they make t-shirts out of books?

it's criticizing him for a litany of things he didn't do rather than trying to absorb and critique what he did do.

No, it's a rebuttal to his admitted reasons for writing the song and his explanation of what brought it about i.e. he wants to show Southern pride, but is too stupid to go about it in any meaningful way.

Anyway, looking forward to Brad Paisley and LL's collaborative tribute rewrite tomorrow for the Thatcher funeral, "Anglophilic Racist."

agree that it is weird someone used a flag to represent a region instead of a shirt emblazoned w/ a novel - the entire novel or just the cover? wait a minute that reminds me of something ll said. maybe he could a shirt emblazoned w/ 'a rose for emily' and get the atlantic blogger demo, the southern pride demo, goth kids that can read, and confused zombies fans in one fell swoop.

balls, you do know I'm a lifelong southerner right? I'm not throwing rocks from a distance.

what if Brad Paisley dressed as Colonel Sartoris

LL as Dilsey

"Accidental KFC"

I'm here to tell you
Dixie's finger lickin' good
The Colonel's secret recipe
Will love your tastes buds like a good boy should

it would've been great and a nice turn if instead of the ll rap there'd been someone else (maybe the guy who played bunny colvin, he's on nashville w/ paisley's wife) explaining that 'ok i get you don't mean to be racist, that you're wearing that shirt w/ that flag for relatively innocuous reasons, but you have to understand that seeing that flag as a symbol of racism isn't some oversensitivity on my part and it's not even necessarily being unable to get over slavery (though that's another conversation), that symbol was used when the southern states changed their flags to protest integration (which was really not that long ago) and when the klan marches that's the flag they march w/, this isn't ancient history (plus as you can see on this gentleman's requiem for a nun t-shirt the past is never dead, it's not even past), this is something we have very barely progressed beyond to the extent we've progressed beyond it at all, and when you celebrate or wear that symbol what it says to much of the world at large is that you're hampering that progress, and i know that's not you really, that you're a big obama supporter and performed at his inaugural and that in your line of work there's more risk doing this than there was for say beyonce, so seriously - maybe wear another shirt' and then paisley goes 'fair enough' and maybe closes w/ 'and that's the story of the accidental racist'.

plus as you can see on this gentleman's requiem for a nun t-shirt the past is never dead, it's not even past

oh snaps

KRS rides for Ron Paul now anyway :/

xxpost -- Mark Twain's "The Accidental Racist of Broward County."

haha how awesome would it be if brad paisley covered 'where life begins'

that does not surprise me at all about KRS honestly

"An Accidental Racist in Colonel Sanders' Court"

"Sorry, dude, you had a hoodie."

Anyway, Colonel Sanders's Food Court, surely.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5kmo1Dgj41qmywcdo1_500.jpg

would wear

that looks pretty great

my fave faulkner t-shirt
http://img1.etsystatic.com/013/0/5892688/il_570xN.420893737_y9ml.jpg

damn was just about to make that joke

ATHENS GA BY THE GRACE OF GOD

To the English major who waited on me
At the Starbucks down on Main
I hope you understand
When I put on that t-shirt
The only thing I meant to say
Is I’m a new wave fan

nice

springsteen, obviously (i think it's obvious), would have turned it into a very different song.

Maybe "My Hometown?" But the Boss has always been a we're-all-in-this-together kind of guy.

Ok just checked my Lynard Skynyrd lighter and at least it doesn't have a confederate flag in it. I think I'm safe.

On it. I didn't check in it.

When I put on that t-shirt
The only thing I meant to say
Is I’m a fan of Skrewdriver's first album

When I put on that t-shirt
That says 'The South Will Rise Again"
I didn't mean to hurt you
Or cause you any pain
Just remind you where I'm coming from
And where I'll go again
to my Garden of Eden antebellum
A gilded palace of sin.

Any commentator who doesn't realize that LL Cool J is, like, omnipresent on things like the types of awards shows where Brad Paisley performs (dude CLOSED THE GRAMMYS, recall, and he was also at the 2012 ACMs) should probably step back from talking about pop music until they've done some actual research on how it, you know, works.

SEACREST OUT.

sorry, i just get irritated when people who would be aghast at someone being ignorant about movies or politics feel like they can spout off about music in the most superficial of ways

the accidental rockist

"should I call up LL or Immortal Technique?"

well i'm just objecting to the sort of people who are coming at this from a 'why didn't he ask common or mos def' perspective

xpost right

the accidental rockist

― balls, Tuesday, April 9, 2013 9:04 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha i am ready to write this song at a moment's notice btw

I AM A WHIIIIIITE MAN stays obv

*sadface* I made that joke upthread and you said not a word.

Accidentally, Like a Rockist

damn, man, sorry i was an accidental raggettist

Dan and I now have a song of our own to work on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUypt2nvorM

I click on that and the still is of some nude guy and fuck you balls

a nude guy with fuck you balls

I love you in your fuck-me pumps

some dude guy with fuck you balls

At least it wasn't nude Duritz. Or nude Duritz balls for that matter

the carpets match the dreadlocked drapes

per "why didn't he call dead prez" argument, it seems to me that TNC's thrust is that LL is a poor artistic choice for the guest spot presuming 1) social consciousness was the whole point of the track 2) it's paisley's track to make those decisions on. i get that there's only about eight zillion other ways you could approach why this doesn't work; seems like TNC is levying accusations of tokenism and cultural tourism at paisley which was NOT a tact that had occurred to me as i had stopped after i landed on "lol this is so wrongheaded in every way" so that was interesting i thought. that they are undoubtedly red carpet buddies wouldn't have occurred to me either but I am not so much an awards show nerd. wonder if beiber and brown can cover this at the nick kid's choice awards.

and yeah, i get that reduces ll's agency on the track to nil but i think there's some reflexive (maybe even protective) backlash at play when a dude as venerated as ll gives a rest in peace to robert e. lee to work out a narrative where he just sorta accidentally wandered into this mess. whoever said both of their verses are equally awkward otm; ll's stuff is more memorably wtf and quotable tho

I totally figured that Brad knows LL from both the Hollywood and awards circuit. LL is more an actor these days than he is a rapper. More importantly, he is a household name and about as safe a choice as Brad could have found short of will.i.am. You know there are plenty of Paisley fans who watch NCIS and probably don't even know LL Cool J was/is a rapper. Dead Prez? Lol, please. God only knows who was number two on Paisley's list.

Will Smith innit

I don't think even Will Smith would contribute verses that awful.

will smith would write a verse about how he didn't do django because quentin wouldn't let his character kill the slavemaster

Guy: Hey, Brad, I'd like to introduce you to LL Cool J.
Brad: LL, from NCIS? Hey, man, nice to meet you! I love your show.
LL: Good to meet you too, man. You a country singer?
Brad: Well, I guess I try to be. You like country music?
LL: I can't say that I know much about it, man. I grew up with hip-hop. It's for life.
Brad: Oh, so you're into hip-hop?
LL: You could say that.
Brad: That's cool. I met Will Smith once.
LL: You know my stuff?
Brad: What, you rap, too?!
LL: You know it.
Brad: Wow, everyone's rapping these days. You know, I've been looking for a rapper for a song I'm working on..
LL: Oh yeah, what's it called?
Brad: I haven't got a title yet, actually.
LL: Well, count me in, man.
Brad: What, for real?
LL: Yeah, sure. I need to spread my wings a little, know what I'm saying?
Brad: I guess I do.
LL: So how we going to work this? You got some music for me to hear?
Brad: Nah. Just stop by the studio tomorrow. We'll wing it.
LL: Sounds good to me!

rumor has it Devin's on the remix they're rushing out tomorrow

KRS rides for Ron Paul now anyway :/

― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, April 9, 2013 7:13 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Obama, Obama, Obama,
Obramma obrromna obrmmmnna obromney, romney, romney"

"Accidental Toker" then m@tt?

"Good Morning America" soon!

He was on Ellen yesterday!

"look, it's okay! we made a 2nd song together, and it sounds like Luv U Better!"

http://fashionably-early.com/?p=62601

one could list a lot of dudes more qualified to sing the hook on an LL love letter than Brad Paisley

"Good Morning America" soon!

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, April 10, 2013 7:21 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Money quote from LL on Paisley wearing a confederate flag: "I might wear a skull and crossbones; that doesn't make me a pirate!"

This is the story
Of Captain LL Cool J

http://www.randomfunstuff.com/catalog/RebelJollyRogerFlags.jpg

"I might wear a skull and crossbones; that doesn't make me a pirate!"

au contraire, mon frere

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/c96.0.403.403/p403x403/45395_10152623304540332_67019367_n.jpg

LL Cool J, will you be my rapper?

ABC News interview with Brad and LL:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2013/04/paisley-ll-cool-j-stand-by-accidental-racist/

"I might wear a hat that looks like a shark fin; that doesn't make me a shark!"

Damn good SPIN review, I think.

Obviously this is not a genre I particularly enjoy so take this comment with that grain of salt, but I don't see why competency gives a pass for some of the other terrible songs on the album; in my listenthrough I felt that there were only three songs on the album that I would ever want to listen to again (besides "Accidental Racist") and at least one that I found more actively offensive than "Accidental Racist" (anyone who has faced fertility problems is not going to be particularly impressed with "Officially Alive" and the jaunty cheeriness of "Karate" is not wholly successful in walking the line it marks out for itself given the subject matter).

man who hates country music only finds three songs he would listen to again on country album

Obviously this is not a genre I particularly enjoy so take this comment with that grain of salt

i tend to regard songs as character sketches about people I know nothing about, so "Officially Alive" didn't offend me.

lol djp w/ "i'm not a rockist but"

try not being a dick for once

well i never

try not being balls twice

lol

BALLS IS JUST A WHITE MAN
(if you forgive "i don't like country")
COMING FROM THE SOUTHLAND
(i'll forgive you acting cunty)

you've hurt me in my heart, going to spend the rest of the day listening to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpaHMqz0nM

you don't have to like country to judge the songwriting in country, songwriting's it's own fuckin' discipline and this post-popist-moment "if you don't love the genre you're not qualified to speak on it" shit is so dumb

this applies to death metal too even, I mean if you've never actually heard any and then you listen to Corpus Mortale your position is gonna be more exaggeratedly "I don't really know so much about this genre" but you can still figure it out with a hard listen...but country? seriously? compositionally there's nothing going on in Brad Paisley that's not going on in elsewhere the pop chart, it's the same stuff with different tropes & different stylistic tics and its own production prefs but even those aren't terrifically different. everything else about it (standard chord changes and song structures, less-to-more development within a song [often with a little drop-down denouement at the end], setup/payoff verse-to-aphoristic-chorus...you don't have to be into country to be able to analyze it effectively and anybody who says otherwise is fronting imo

lol jd i was just scoffing at usual ilx 'i don't like country and then i listened to this country album you are talking about and guess what - i didn't like it!' - NO SHIT, tbf the consensus is this is a subpar paisley album even from paisley acolytes (which i'm not really, i'll take 'red solo cup' over 'alcohol', that's right i said it).

whenever djp or aero start dropping technical behind the other's argument, i always get the "then i see my homie nate" part of "Regulate" stuck in my head

as you should *mounts up*

loool

http://www.ifimages.com/photos/IgBhUvdBH5gHRypbMRNEpwcpWDY/author-626/Man-suit-blowing-hand-gun.jpg

RIP Nate Dogg. Your sensitive country duet will never be realized. ;_;

lol jd i was just scoffing at usual ilx 'i don't like country and then i listened to this country album you are talking about and guess what - i didn't like it!' - NO SHIT,

I get that, like my favorite band is Mercyful Fate, most people's reaction to Fate is "what the fuck." but I think most posters here djp included could listen to umm ok lemme date my last attention to nu-country, like Trisha Yearwood and say "this isn't my thing but this is well-done"

that's how I feel about Trisha's cooking on her new Food Network gig

ok did everybody watch the Good Morning America interview where the host expressed surprise at a pre-release album stream

hold up, regulators, can we get a verdict on whether "a little drop-down denouement at the end" is redundant?

wow officially alive is officially fucking offensive and I say this as a dad

come at me Brad Paisely I challenge you to a good old fashioned battle

haha you really don't read ilx country threads. usual non-country fan ilx response is 'you ppl are pretending to like this music which is clearly awful and corny or expresses a social and political pov i do not subscribe to' (cf big and rich, 2004), sometimes they'll throw in 'i like real/good country like patsy cline/lucinda williams' for some sort of bonafides. or they'll throw some label on it like 'nu-country' cuz yknow the ppl that actually listen to or make country music don't get to decide what country music is, rock dudes do.

"little" = "brief"
"drop down" - the development I referred to earlier in the graf ("development" in song production = adding instruments and textures) drops out, fewer instruments are heard
"denouement" and "at the end" are indeed redundant
"denouement" and "at the end" are indeed redundant

. or they'll throw some label on it like 'nu-country' cuz yknow the ppl that actually listen to or make country music don't get to decide what country music is, rock dudes do.

man I feel you but when, in I think the 80s? or maybe the 90s, Nashville started making use of the same songwriting factories that LA and Stockholm liked, it became fair to say "the only thing country about this is the flavor" - the songs are really distinct compositionally from other pop songs. Whereas...ok, fuck it, I went at looked up country hits for 1944 and Nat King Cole hit #1 on the country charts with "Straighten Up and Fly Right" on June 17th of that year (and again on July 15th and July 22nd) so my point doesn't stand, the music has always basically been the same as other music and the Nat King Cole trio is country as fuck

wow @ officially alive, this guy is a real dumbshit huh?

sorry barren folks u ded

hey guess what? This is a Brad Paisley thread, not a rolling country thread. Not only that, I listened to the entire album; sorry to break it to you but even though I'm not a regular country connoisseur, I get to have an opinion. Furthermore, the explicit examples of things I didn't like on the album had fuck-all to do with "all country music is terrible" and despite that I acknowledged that my unfamiliarity with the genre overall is coloring my perceptions. So basically, kiss the entirety if my black ass

the whole thing i don't get is that it's my impression that country is considered the new pop rock basically, and pop ppl like lex and stuff like it, so how on earth can you not be qualified to have an opinion on pop songs????

I did what I rarely do: google the lyrics to "Officially Alive," which I read as I listened to the song for the 44th time since last week. I still can't hear what's so damn offensive if a heterosexual male who, "I'm Still a Guy" aside, has showed in song some pretty good and fair sexual politics wants to stand in scrubs and declare himself officially alive at the birth of his child.

people who will never have children are also officially alive. it's offensive on the lines of "you don't know what love is 'til you love Jesus"

i mean y'all are acting like zappa fans or some shit

third top selling country album last year (and top selling album by an african american artist period) was by lionel richie

oooh I grabbed that album and it was pretty funny but I was happy to hear Lionel sing anyway except on the Hootie duet, that was rough

aight i'm on spotify right now gonna listen to this album 10 times today then y'all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2bCc0EGP6U

third top selling country album last year (and top selling album by an african american artist period) was by lionel richie

― balls, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 11:55 AM (22 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how big chartwise was charlie pride?

it's offensive on the lines of "you don't know what love is 'til you love Jesus"

oh for god's sake

man it's gonna be hard for "Karate (feat. Charlie Daniels)" to live up to its song title

but i gotta believe #faith

haha does 'officially alive' do that smug nu-parent thing of 'you'll understand someday, when you're ready to be an adult' like they've gained the wisdom of the hills cuz they forgot to use birth control.

haha oh man the gospel choir singing dixie. rattle & hum might be the real roots of today's country.

quick question:

did this guy used to position himself as kind of a "guitar hero" hotshit 6-string dude when he first came up? i mean not like totally guitar mag ghetto like junior brown or something but is he a kinda great player?

the beat for "beat this summer" is reminded me of Len or something

man my sister and bro in law are gonna fucking love this

man the solo on "beat this summer" is pretty hot shit if that's him

he's like the warren dimartini of country

people who will never have children are also officially alive.

― not feeling those lighters (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, April 10, 2013 12:54 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

THANK YOU!

sorry i'm liveblogging this but you need to learn that the only thing worse than my uniformed opinions is my informed opinions

lol uniformed opinions

lol

roger miller sample on beat

'karate' is standard spousal abuse revenge party, the husband doesn't die and paisley's a dude so it shouldn't have as much trouble w/ radio as 'goodbye earl' (it's also nowhere near as good as 'goodbye earl', rip dixie chicks). would be funny if someday someone (country, not suzanne vega or natalie merchant or whoever) recorded a song acknowledging that yknow there are laws and support networks in place, you don't have to cook up some bronson scheme to take care of the situation. i guess 'goodbye earl' does have her attempt to go to the cops and then brush it off w/ a 'cops are worthless'.

ums you have a trip-hop song about christians coming yr way.

i just read the lyrics of "officially alive" and it appears that experiencing the birth of your child is just an example of one of the exciting moments that suggest you're "officially alive."

this outstanding our field really resonates with me because i grew up in the country and i got drunk outside a lot

do they have "minimum maintenance" roads in the south? they probably called them "hog holler trails" or something i guess

the guitar solos have all been really great so far

brad paisley, more like bad lazily

did this guy used to position himself as kind of a "guitar hero" hotshit 6-string dude when he first came up? i mean not like totally guitar mag ghetto like junior brown or something but is he a kinda great player?

He definitely has this rep to some extent. His album Play is mostly instrumental.

oh shit this is totally this guy's "New Jersey" right?

did not expect LL Cool J to have the second worse rap verse on this album

I don't suppose "Karate" is a cover of the Tenacious D tune?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUuylPvvTPo

Most of what I've read about "Those Crazy Christians" has been outrageously stupid. When did people lose the ability to parse sarcasm?

So you ruffled some feathers, yeah, you've done it now
Turned the tables in the temple clean upside down
You're out on a ledge and one thing's for sure
When you've got 'em all wishin' you'd never been born

Congratulations, you are officially alive
It's confirmation you are officially alive

It's not the double kick of an ultrasound
Or a piece of paper on file downtown
It takes more than a beat and a breath and a name
It's when you're so in love and so in pain

Congratulations, you are officially alive
Here's affirmation, you are officially alive

Yeah, it's a tragedy to go through history and simply just exist
You're gonna realize how quick it flies by and everything you missed
And suddenly you're standing there in scrubs
Love has found new flesh and blood
It's a feeling you weren't ready for
When you're lookin' in eyes that look like yours

Congratulations, you are officially alive
This is creation, you are officially alive
You are officially alive

Pretty clear he's established by the first verse that one can be officially alive without experiencing the birth of their own child - you just have to carpe diem and live on the edge and shit

Paisley talks to the guy in the song and says he feels officially alive. I'm not hearing any smugness or resentment. Where are you getting this "people" shit, aero?

Pretty clear he's established by the first verse that one can be officially alive without experiencing the birth of their own child - you just have to carpe diem and live on the edge and shit

― da croupier, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 1:18 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And if not? Enjoy your unmensch status

yeah, i'm not arguing it's a gorgeous piece of work, just saying that it's not drawing a line between people who have and have not had that specific experience

what exactly do you think is going on here:

And suddenly you're standing there in scrubs
Love has found new flesh and blood
It's a feeling you weren't ready for
When you're lookin' in eyes that look like yours

Congratulations, you are officially alive
This is creation, you are officially alive

y'all non-country listeners give this a shot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJjeWDvh6J0

or here:

It's not the double kick of an ultrasound
Or a piece of paper on file downtown

OK, finally listening to the album now. "Southern Comfort Zone" sounds a good deal better (zippier, for one) than it did on the CMAs last year.

quite frankly, I hope you never have to go through infertility treatments so that you can continue to exist in your current glib and facile state; it seems like a much happier place to be

bro is talkin to the baby

i'm just kidding i have no idea what i'm talkin about

now not only missing the point of the song but croup's point as well

what exactly do you think is going on here:

And suddenly you're standing there in scrubs
Love has found new flesh and blood
It's a feeling you weren't ready for
When you're lookin' in eyes that look like yours
Congratulations, you are officially alive
This is creation, you are officially alive

he's definitely saying that having a kid is an express lane to "officially alive" status, but you can also achieve it through extreme love and pain (verse 2) and everyone hating you (Verse 1)

or here:

It's not the double kick of an ultrasound
Or a piece of paper on file downtown

he's saying being officially alive as far as uncle sam is not the same as being "officially alive" for him. I realize this is a sensitive subject for you, and understand if you don't want to hear his euphoria, but he's simply not saying that you have to have a kid to be alive.

The song would be less problematic I guess if he'd written it in first-person.

curious how 'you haven't lived until you've made someone wish you'd never been born' is smug nu-parent talk (maybe postpartum depression?)

One of the posts linked to yesterday analyzed Paisley's use of sudden perspective shifts using the same chorus or refrains. In this one the shift in the third set of verses is from addressing the guy to addressing the baby, who's no longer merely a number.

did this guy used to position himself as kind of a "guitar hero" hotshit 6-string dude when he first came up? i mean not like totally guitar mag ghetto like junior brown or something but is he a kinda great player?

iirc, the Brad story is that to ensure he was not pegged primarily as a guitar hero - and really, he's one of the best guitarists in the world - the label made him tone down said heroics and play up the songs for the first few albums. "Play" was Brad cashing in chits.

woah is 'officially alive' accidentally pro-choice?

I can buy the identity reading of the second verse, which still also scans as a "love your kid" verse particularly in light of the "this is creation" capper on the song

I don't see why him talking about other things makes the problematic thing I found offensive less offensive but hey

One of the posts linked to yesterday analyzed Paisley's use of sudden perspective shifts using the same chorus or refrains. In this one the shift in the third set of verses is from addressing the guy to addressing the baby, who's no longer merely a number.

this is fucking clumsy as shit on Paisley's part

kiss the entirety of my black ass

Lost LL verse?

khia iirc

Accidental Analingus

I don't see why him talking about other things makes the problematic thing I found offensive less offensive but hey

it's definitely clumsy as shit, and i'm not remotely saying it's a good song. but if you're reading the song as saying "you're only alive if you have a kid" you're ignoring that he lists quite a few other ways to be alive

not to mention that, as alfred noted, the last verse may actually just be some "circle of life" crap

Here's a tune in which he does the perspective shift thing, with just a subtle change in pronoun. A pretty tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCLz2H6g6sg

alfred, a songwriter ought to avoid the second person for generalities like these. it's really not hard, at all. like a C+ songwriter can work around this. choose the second person when the generalities aren't "having babies equals alive" (in two of the three verses, the first one is just set-up). I get that you dig this guy, cool fine, but that song's lyrics are bullshit & I'm a dad for Christ's sake.

lol, I just went to grab the lyrics to that on the "circle of life crap" comment.

not to mention that, as alfred noted, the last verse may actually just be some "circle of life" crap

if you're insisting on the most generous reading imaginable, sure. if you're just reading through it or listening, the song's obviously about parenthood. yup! if you wanna torture out other readings you can, it's clever enough. at first blush the main deal is "wow, parenthood makes you more alive."

i don't think anyone is debating the song is about parenthood, but I don't think it's "torturing out other readings" to acknowledge the content of the first verse

it's just the set-up verse. it's not really much of the thrust of the song. the song moves, as many country songs do, from a loose-and-general to "...and here's the point" payoff. This is supported by the musical development I was talking about above - you open with less, and you build as you rise to your actual point. Once it arrives at its theme, it sticks with it. This is really standard write-a-lyric stuff. Open soft, come to the point and then drive it home. "The eyes that look like yours" are the drive it home part here, the "here's what I mean in one image" moment. I'm a fuckin' dad, I get where he's coming from, and it's bullshit.

I get that you dig this guy, cool fine, but that song's lyrics are bullshit & I'm a dad for Christ's sake.

My digging him has got nothing to do with defending an average at best song with an unearned uplift at the end, but context matters: this is not the first tune the guy's written about The Miracle of Having 'Father of the Bride' Airhead's Baby, and while an execrable one shouldn't get a pass nothing he's written before suggests a cramped vision of what it means to be officially Simba.

lol maybe you should write a 'having a child doesn't change yr perspective on life, it doesn't change shit and anyone who says otherwise is a horrible human being' answer song

congratulations you fucking bigot
this is the reality of your screwing, you miscreant fucking bigot.

xp no see I wouldn't do that because using the second person to talk about What Parenthood Means is an asshole move in all cases

I remember sayin' I don't care either way
Just as long as he or she is healthy, I'm okay
And then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen
And said, "You see that thing right there? Well, you know what that means"

I started wondering who he was going to be
And I thought heaven help us if he's anything like me

He'll probably climb a tree too tall and ride his bike too fast
End up every summer wearin' something in a cast
He's gonna throw a ball and break some glass
In a window down the street

He's gonna get in trouble, oh, he's gonna get in fights
I'm gonna lose my temper and some sleep
It's safe to say that I'm gonna get my payback
If he's anything like me

I can see him right now, knees all skinned up
With a magnifying glass tryin' to melt a Tonka truck
Won't he be a sight with his football helmet on?
That'll be his first love 'til his first love comes along

He'll get his heart broke by the time he's in his teens
And heaven help him if he's anything like me

He'll probably stay out too late and drive his car too fast
Get a speeding ticket, he'll pay for mowing grass
He's gonna get caught skippin' class
And be grounded for a week

He's gonna get into trouble, we're gonna get in fights
I'm gonna lose my temper and some sleep
It's safe to say that I'm gonna get my payback
If he's anything like me

He's gonna love me
And hate me along the way
The years are gonna fly by
And I already dread the day

He's gonna hug his mama, he's gonna shake my hand
He's gonna act like he can't wait to leave
But as he drives out he'll cry his eyes out
If he's anything like me

There's worst folks to be like, oh, he'll be alright
If he's anything like me

1. What pronoun shift? If you are talking about the resolution of the kid to being male, that is completely unlike what you are saying happens in the third verse of "Officially Alive", where by your reading he switches from addressing "you" to addressing "you" and those two "yous" are different people. Otherwise, the entire song is a running monologue about a guy imagining how his kid's life will turn out while at an ultrasound appointment with no actual change of perspective.

2. Did you really just respond to me taking offense at an "aren't babies awesome?" song by posting another "aren't babies awesome?" song?

however I think I do gotta work "miscreant" into a tune somewhere at some point

see when you show me another picture of yr baby being adorable it's like showing a red flag to a black barista, rip to benjamin spock but i gotta thank margaret sanger for freeing me

damn I been at this a couple minutes now and "miscreant" is a bear to rhyme

1. In "Officially Alive" the "you" switches from the father to the son in the last verse. In "Anything Like Me" he goes from implying that he wishes his kid doesn't turn out like him to in the last verse saying "OK, maybe he'll be okay if he's anything like me." Not a pronoun shift, but a perspective shift (which is my mistake).

2. It's the first song I thought of.

Stuyvesant?

xpost

Wait, is someone taking offense at a song about a dad happy at the birth of his kid just because he uses the phrase "officially alive?"

miscreant/this pissant

Excrement is sort of a half rhyme.

I bet it'd be god enough for sting.

Good enough. Or maybe God enough!

'good enough for sting' should be actual songwriter jargon

alabaster to thread

haha like 'close enough for jazz'

Wait, is someone taking offense at a song about a dad happy at the birth of his kid just because he uses the phrase "officially alive?"

The exact statement I made was "anyone who has faced fertility problems is not going to be particularly impressed with 'Officially Alive'".

also anyone who believes that life officially begins at conception

can you take a hint?

apparently not

Who can write a good dead fetus song these days – the Knife?

nick cannon

austin mahone

wonder if anyone will find this offensive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm7JACG-CTk

If Brad thought race relations meant walking on eggshells, imagine what kind of shit song he'd write if he understood the real possibility of offending people who have faced fertility problems.

The exact statement I made was "anyone who has faced fertility problems is not going to be particularly impressed with 'Officially Alive'".

you did, and that totally makes sense. aero later took it to "people who don't have children are also officially alive" though - which inspired my waitaminute

What about people who did not have Brad Paisley's child? Can we pour one out for them?

fuck this bullshit

congrats you win, kudos for being jackasses; I'm sure Brad Paisley would approve

josh and croup are now officially alive

seals and crofts played 'unborn child' at california jam (was this monstrosity a HIT? at least 'accidental racist' is a deep cut), camera man manages to find every woman w/ their kid there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssETDzscao0

Maybe they mishead it as "Unbored Child" and were looking for a kid paying attention.

song contains this lyric: "You're still a-clingin' to the tree of life, but soon
you'll be cut off before you get ripe."

Haha I wonder if before this storm Brad and LL did plan to release it

i may not think the song is a cut-and-dry "fuck you" to those who don't have kids, but people are being real assholes on this thread about it.

Not trying to be an asshole, sorry to offend.

w/ new billboard rules i guarantee there's at least a faction at the label wanting to push it

I genuinely regret being part of what's becoming a dogpile on someone who confessed a strong reaction to a dumb song because of personal experience.

i just wish he wouldn't have put this fucking album out. it's fucking up ilx.

Brad Paisley u are tearing us apart ;_;

accidental momus

inspired by this thread, i've now listened to "southern comfort zone", "officially alive", "those crazy christians" and "accidental racist". "southern comfort zone" is the only track that seems to justify the attention paid (i mean damn). i understand why people are talking about "accidental racist", but it isn't half the song. the other two are borderline crap.

Thread has made me consider that modern country may be the only field whose most innocuous offerings still often offend me for various reasons, from its mawkishness to its laziness to its obnoxious insularity.

christian pop is worse

line may be vanishing fine tho

Yeah, there's a really fine line between the two. The lingering twang is often the sole giveaway when surfing the dial.

I've often wondered whether many country singers actually do feel creatively constrained by adherence to cliche but are too cynical to rock the boat. I like Paisley, but it's disconcerting that his brand of hokum can be considered progressive. I almost prefer the guys that can get a great song out of cliche and boilerplate than guys who try to color outside the box and do a shitty job with it. And I'm not talking about Brad's album covers.

One of Paisley's strength used to be writing terrific conceits involving inanimate objects; do wish Kendrick took "Let me write about this cigarette lighter" to new.heights

Actually Miranda Lambert has been doing it for years, Josh.

Color outside the box or get a great song out of cliche?

wow that kacey musgraves "merry go 'round" song is fucking gorgeous (sorry i kno ~off-topic)

That album is great. Coulda used a little LL, though.

Bit of both. And she's inspiring a bunch of women songwriters too.

Lambert is great. Love her.

blake shelton is so cute on The Voice imo

main thing i'm getting out of the ongoing listen-through is that i'd probably enjoy that instrumental album. dude can hella play. and the production on "outstanding in our field" is enjoyably bonkers, like something mitchell froom woulda did. in general, i find the cornpone hokum easier to swallow when it's upbeat and resolutely goofy.

Shelton put on one of the shittiest live shows when I saw him open up for Paisley. His cover of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative" was both the highlight and low-point.

The instrumental album is pretty great. There's one track - Clusterpluck? - with like every guitar star on it. Also, one of the tracks is an oblique country tribute to Eric Johnson!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6BJ2E8eKww

(feat. James Burton, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, John Jorgenson, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert & Steve Wariner)

If Brad wanted genuine interracial crosover he should play with the Roots imo

His cover of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative" was both the highlight and low-point.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, April 10, 2013 1:47 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

O...M...F....G

eric johnson! CLIFFS OF DOVER REPRESENT!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8CrcXy_bMg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv0NLaqoE8k

someone should do an album of pedal steel covers of alan holdsworth songs

Paisley should do an entire guitar synth album.

never watched the voice, not that crazy about blake shelton (there may be some jealousy in play) but can totally see how this guy got the gig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7gbEY8b_Jo

xpost

Yes! a country cover of Turbo Lover by Judas Priest! i should be an A&R dude

the woman in karate should have left this guy months ago instead of taking it until she got her belt

charlie daniels, fucking hell

thanks for "cluster pluck", josh. hell of a lot better than "i can't change the world", which killed my will to press on through wheelhouse. the instrumental jamming, however, does point out one of the main differences between contemporary country and the early-mid 20th century stuff i love best: effort. country performers nowadays often seem to be trying so damn hard. what i love about flatt & scruggs is that they're so unflappably cool. they just lean back in their boots and slay mercilessly without ever breaking a sweat. like maybe they smile a little towards the end just so you know they know how much ass they kicked. i love that. why must the present be?

"cliffs of rock city" sounds kinda like joe satriani. not a bad thing by any means...

LA Weekly has posted a lazy clickbait article about "Accidental Racist." It's officially dead.

xpost Vince Gill is like that. He's a charmer, but a secret shredder.

Hands up: how many of you would have listened to this album if not for accidental racist?

I dunno, contendeeizer. Before this album Paisley defined "unflappable. " Try Eric Church.

I'm a fan *raises hand, extends middle finger*

yeah, when i opine about "contemporary country", i'm clearly talking out my ass. any and all suggestions appreciated.

Shelton otoh often sings like a zombie. Makes sense Lambert would marry the boringest crooner.

That Musgraves album and Ashley Munroe's are two of the year's best. I big-upped the Kellie Pickler album last year. Church's last has ben one od my recurrents.

On board with all those

get excited

https://twitter.com/jonathanwald/status/322055999605313537

Jackie Langley ‏@langley_jackie 2m
@jonathanwald @piersmorgan @BradPaisley I'm 53 and am sick to death of racism I had nothing to do with constantly being thrown in my face.

Hands up: how many of you would have listened to this album if not for accidental racist?

Absolutely. I never heard This is Country Music or the Christmas album, but I've heard everything else Paisley's done from Mud On the Tires on.

ahahaha ok i figured there was some new country guy named Eric Idle not, like, monty python dude, wtf

uggg god listening to this feels like such WORK, god bless u music critics

This is why I pick and choose my battles with albums these days.

i had to take a break to listen to an Ego Summit song on youtube

listening to that cliffs of rock city track, it's like he brought EVH-style hot doggin' to a country track

Hands up: how many of you would have listened to this album if not for accidental racist?

I would have. I wrote the Br1t@nn1ca article on Paisley.

"Cliffs of Rock City" is way more exciting than the actual cliffs at Rock City, btw.

i don't have the will to finish listening to this sorry brad hope yr t-shirt situation gets resolved

haha

yeah wait I never found out if brad got his latte or not

tbh i probably wouldn't have checked it out w/out the hoopla. i've never really loved his stuff before and shy away from most male vocalist country acts.

aero later took it to "people who don't have children are also officially alive" though - which inspired my waitaminute

song's in the second person - it's a very poor choice for these sentiments; you have to be either charitable or disingenuous to ignore what the effect of this choice, and of the lyric's structure which I went to small pains to point out to you, are on the song's POV

accidental daddist

if you don't judge my take on paisley's quatrains
then i won't forget aero's small pains

the first verse is a bunch of references to Jesus ("turned the tables in the temple clean upside down"), who never had kids.

I have been saving watching the Accidental Racist video until I could watch it on a screen that wasn't my phone and wtf now I can't find it [after about 2 mins of searching]!
Is it because I'm British? it's blocked by SME 'in my country' WHO'S THE RACIST NOW?

It was just a fanmade lyric video.

the first verse is a bunch of references to Jesus ("turned the tables in the temple clean upside down"), who never had kids

But Jesus was a kid, and in fact one of the most famous kids of all time. Think about it.

i thought Jesus did have a kid in those bonus tracks on the deluxe CD of the bible

Book of Mormon or something?

it was by Denis Johnson iirc

Right, they made it into a movie! It was pretty good, iirc.

audrey tatou was miscast imo

Anyway, TNC again, earlier

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/04/against-the-conversation-on-race/274855/

The last paragraph -- graceful and correct -- presumes that Paisley hasn't already shown curiosity. We're back to judging intentions. The results aren't terrible because Paisley was incurious about jail or hiring Mos Def or whatever -- they're terrible because they reveal the limits of his imagination about race.

ta-nehisi needs to stop scolding dude for not going for a "conscious" rapper. accidental rapper racist!

Further from TNC

http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2013/04/against-the-conversation-cont/274887/

Alfred otm. TNC not really very otm even though he writes like he is very otm.

x-post really? TNC still going on about why Paisley didn't pick someone like Boots Riley?--Is there a majority of the African American community that dislikes LL or thinks him less than black? Paisley (however idiotically) was going for "how can we average white and black people understand each other better" not "I consulted the most knowledgable source on the black experience in American history and here's what he/she says."

William H. Cosby, Ed.D.

Still holding out for the Hank Williams Jr / X Clan duet

the Ed.D. stands for "erectile dysfunction"

i can understand if TNC wants to critique Paisley rather than LL, but in effect he's blaming Paisley for not being like "LL, you're an idiot, do you have Chuck D's number"

I think the argument has a subtext that is both kinda direct and obvious and maybe not so much. I could be wrong. I probably AM wrong. But:

If TNC's argument about who Paisley 'should' have picked is a cul-de-sac when a perfectly obvious answer exists, then his larger points about the structural inequality of not merely race in America but the issues OF race and how it's framed and discussed can't be handwaved, and his frustrations with lazy tropes rather justified. And if the logical/understandable response, especially from defenders/those knowledgeable of country, Paisley, etc. (see also Eric Weisbard's piece, Kelefa Sennah's piece, Jody Rosen's comments, etc. etc. etc., all of whom themselves are understandably and rightfully nettled by lazy tropes about said music) is "You can't expect a one-off character song in mainstream country music to address all of that," the response is "Well after fuck knows how long in this country, why not TRY? And based on the comments from the creators of the song in question, was it actually tried?" And finally the brick wall that is the intersection of race *and* class *and* frustrations in dealing with them all is slammed into, and TNC points out that no matter what, if you gamble on grappling with this topic out loud, then based on who you sare the dice are fucking loaded from the start.

Again, maybe I'm wrong.

sorry ned but i'm not about to read four think pieces about fucking 'accidental racist', nevermind followups.

I refer again to Eric Church's "Homeboy," which is about a white guy giggly-nervous about what The City will do to his bro.

xpost -- Heavens, no worries. Read twenty instead. (Wait...)

If TNC's argument about who Paisley 'should' have picked is a cul-de-sac when a perfectly obvious answer exists, then his larger points about the structural inequality of not merely race in America but the issues OF race and how it's framed and discussed can't be handwaved, and his frustrations with lazy tropes rather justified.

I think the majority of his argument is on-point, but he's really clouding things up with this who should have been picked question. And also, Paisley was probably trying to reach the African American community as well. Why not choose a famous guy popular with a broad age demographic?

What is the perfectly obvious answer?

Yeah, about that term cul-de-sac and why I brought it up.

do we know how exactly Paisley and LL got together? Like, who called who? Was Paisley looking for somebody - anybody - to rap on his track, and settled on LL? Did they already agree to collaborate when he brought up he had this song about how it sucks we're still dealing with racism after hundreds of years and LL was like "OMG YEAH! Can you say something about how a girl is swell on mine?" The song is obviously two celebs not challenging each other, and I definitely agree they don't get a backpat for intentions. But TNC is bending over backward to put the entire responsibility for the track on Brad - that it's Brad fault he didn't realize despite LL's transparent enthusiasm that the song was horseshit. LL was basically shrugged off as a clown in his first post, pretending like LL hasn't had moments of ridiculous earnestness throughout his career. You can say the song is bullshit, and certainly make broader points on context, without adding "and fuck you for respecting LL Cool J in the first place."

http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2012/06/morgan-freeman-god.jpg

i just listened to this again and noticed ll cool j going 'gotta thank abraham lincoln for freeing me... thats real... thats the truth' in the outro

pop culture has caught up to yr trollin' from 2005 dude
brave new world

guys, remember "accidental racist"?

yeah, the 80's were weird right

y'all this hit 77

IT'S A SIGN

it's pretty hilarious that an album track dented the charts pretty much purely off of hate-listening/morbid curiosity

i assume those chart positions came primarily from spotify/youtube/etc. and there were not a lot of people giving brad 99 cents on itunes for it

I had managed to avoid listening to this song until it was featured on Colbert and I was shocked at how slow it is. I was expecting something with a bit more pep.

accidental racism isn't a sudden thing, it creeps up on you

whoops i'm racist again

Interesting discussions of this went down at the EMP Pop Conference in New Orleans

Please tell me Amanda Palmer was somehow involved.

Oh sorry, didn't realize there was a separate one in New York.

EMP went regional this year. New Orleans had 3 profs talking about it and also referring to that Blake Shelton song "Boys 'Round Here" with the lyric

"well the boys 'round here they're keeping it country, ain't a damn one know how to do the dougie, (you don't do the dougie)"

Plus old Merle Haggard lyrics and verses from various other current singers

Although I'm glad Shelton's showing aggression for once, that Shelton song is garbage.

tbf that Blake Shelton lyric is a hell of a lot less problematic than "To the man that waited on me at the Starbucks down on Main, I hope you understand/When I put on that t-shirt, the only thing I meant to say is I'm a Skynyrd fan"

there is clearly baggage and troublesome intent there but "We don't do that dance" is a much more defensible statement than "It's just a Confederate flag, what's the big deal? SKYNYRD RULEZ"

(especially when the song then goes on to describe the dude as a proud rebel son who may look like he has a lot to learn but is in reality just white dude from his point of view so hey, no harm no foul)

it's even less problematic when you've got Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley on either side of you.

The Shelton song also knocks the Beatles, for some reason. Yeah Blake, I don't listen to the Beatles much either.

However, he had an earlier song that went:

Tearin' down a dirt road
Rebel flag flyin'
Coon dog in the back
Truck bed loaded down with beer
And a cold one in my lap
Earnhart sticker behind my head
And my woman by my side
Tail-pipe's poppin'
the radio's rockin' "Country Boy Can Survive"
If you got a problem with that, ha ha!
You can kiss my country ass

Wish I had taken more notes during the EMP presentation-- some of the Merle Haggard lyrics could or maybe already have inspired much ilx discussion (the presenter is writing a M. haggard bio). I think there was a mention of a current problematic Luke Bryan one.

"Buzzkill"?

The presenter was Professor David Cantwell who co-wrote with Bill Friskics-Warren "Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles"

My notes are still in my suitcase elsewhere. Will try to update later

Southern comfort zone is bombastic naive and surprisingly likeable

otm

Southern comfort zone is bombastic naive and surprisingly likeable

like a lot of his catalog

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/wbkr.com/files/2013/03/Merle-Harrard-Twitter-472x630.jpg

i think there's some quote from blake on the "boys round here" wikipedia page where he admits the boys in the town the song reminds him of (he didn't write it) actually play jason aldean now.

you'd think I'd like how nonsensical it is to jump from "we hate the beatles" to "we can't do the dougie" but for some reason it just makes the pandering horseshit all the more annoying to me

though i hope "sweet as dixie crystal" is a meth ref

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXD-XH5QKew

Mainstream country is inextricable from pandering bullshit, alas. They might as well rename the subgenre pandering bullshit.

Though the question is, is the pandering bullshit of mainstream country any more notable/prominent than the pandering bullshit of metal or rap?

well compared to metal they enunciate

True, they do make it awfully easy to discern the pandering bullshit.

the storytelling gag songs on this album (death of a single man/karate/harvey bodine/outstanding in our field) are WAY more crazy than accidental racist, they just feel less trolly
wish i didn't like them (except for karate which kinda sucks)

"Karate" is hot trash, yes

If ever an album would have benefitted from growly death metal vocals, it's this one. Hell, I'm surprised he didn't toss in a metal track, a reggae track ... I'm having a lot of trouble listening to this, which is a first from Brad, I think.

great whiney interview with LL: http://www.spin.com/articles/ll-cool-j-authentic-accidental-racist-tour-van-halen-legacy/

while the song doesn't really pull of the "I'll stop being mad about the past if you stop being racist murderers today" message he claims he was going for, glad to read this after all the accidentally racist "brad, i am offended you think this man has any right to speak about race" thinkpieces

it always helps to actually talk respectfully to the person who did the damn thing

best critique of the song remains the snl skit

"Did I say that? Hmm. Kind of sounded different when I said it to my MacBook."

The problem I have with the interpretation presented in that interview is that the character Paisley created in that song is actually a racist who is more concerned with not looking like one than not being one, not someone who isn't a racist but sort of looks like one, which completely neuters LL's point of view and puts more onus on his black character to just get over slavery before everyone can finally get along. The biggest problem with LL's thesis statement behind his final chorus ad libs is that the historical weight and import of the doo-rag/hoodie is nowhere near the historical weight and import of the Confederate flag, which represented an entire sovereign nation that attempted to secede from the United States in order to preserve an economic system built upon the blood of black people. Furthermore, to go off of the characters in the song and assuming that LL is supposed to represent the barrista (because if he doesn't, what is his narrative purpose beyond "hey look, a rapper"), no one thinks their barrista is going to jump them regardless of any doo-rags or gold chains said barrista may be wearing.

I wrote somewhere, maybe on Facebook, that LL was responding much more to Brad the person than Brad the character on that song and his response in that interview confirms that impression for me. I get the sentiment but it's a super stupid song.

otm. if he'd actually mentioned trayvon martin, he might have actually got across that he's aware of more heinous crimes than skynyrd fandom going on today, though i wonder if brad would have scrapped his "forgive me, starbucks employee" story if he knew LL was going to raise the stakes.

i forget if the snl sketch was posted, but just in case.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/478687

"We spent 11 minutes writing the song"
"I almost finished the whole pizza!"

Anyway, a new interview:

http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/what-brad-paisley-learned-from-accidental-racist.html