The reason I took this long to finish off the second part: I went home for a week. I spent my time with those people that offered that nostalgic outlook in the first place. At times we even divulged our thoughts on identity in the context of small town life.
The Beach:
Jimmy Buffet arrived again. Somewhere out of nowhere while I was still in high school, and his aura was felt in the scene.
Now the baffling thing was at this time the transition I thought was going to come from elsewhere. Big N Rich hit the market with "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" which came off with more grit than most. I remember at one point shortly after the song came out I was listening with an attractive girl in a Honda Civic and I said "this is going to be where country takes off again." I was wrong, I was so dead fucking wrong.
Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney was where it was going. Australians and assholes was going to be where it was going.
Now I'll not throw too many stones. During my youth I indulged in pooka shell necklaces. I thought them to be perfect to assimilate my rebellious attitude. However, grown country musicans were wearing them with straw cowboy hats… and the beach.
Kenny Chesney went way out of left field and drove the market towards the relaxing beach mentality. Coming up with shit like "When the Sun Goes Down" and "Beer In Mexico"
It's like they understood that the "rural" culture now afforded boats and water skis.
…now at the same time the market was going for really really fucking stupid songs like "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy". Chesney hit this apex of crap that, while I was praying the dawning of country's second coming, made me realize that this is what it will be, a dichotomy of the beach and the shit.
Keith Urban is a transition of another part of the genre. He was much less complicated, although I did like him. First off, he's Australian, and while his music was compelling and easy to ride along with, lack a lot of genuine character. This made him a great character for the mainstream as he didn't really try to hard to find an occasional guitar solo and an easy understanding of his lyrics, and while he was conveying his message, it was so neutral that it was easy to assimilate.
Hypermasculinity:
Toby Keith is much like myself, often misinformed and easily misunderstood to be a douchebag. Toby Keith, while hit his high bar fucking HIGH has the misfortune of aquainting himself with other douchebags.
During 9-11 Toby Keith released a single "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue". It was incredibly appropriate for the time. Using lines like "Hey Uncle Sam put your name on the top of his list, and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist" put it as a pinnacle of nervousness turned patriotism. To this day I still have fragments of respect for that song because it truly encapsulated the cold sweat people felt coming home from 7th grade to find out that two massive buildings have completely toppled. Contextually, modern day sees this as something associated with the Bush administration, but at the time it was all but too fitting and completely on its own. I've even hypothesized that popular culture like this song actually influenced the Bush administration, rather than the other way around.
Where it goes wrong is much like the way Merle Haggard followed up "Okie From Muskogee" with "Fightin' Side of Me". It was, to put it poorly, like society unanimously was saying "we get it already." To the country music establishment, which was completely ass-backwards, this was the cash for gold exchange they were looking for.
Now remember the douchebag friends I was telling you about? Yeah, that's Trace Adkins. Famous, among other things, for songs like "Ladies Love Country Boys", "You're Gonna Miss This", and "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing", this is where that hypermasculinity comes into effect. Well you know what, how about I just show you:
In recent years he's gone onto market himself more than his music, but his form of redneckery has made him a bit of evil genius. He is a giant redneck with a ponytail and he will destroy you. He is what the country empire eventually caved to, and with good practice. My mom and sister recently saw both Adkins and Toby Keith in concert and they told me that he actually had Ford trucks on stage to work in as advertising during the show. The Dixie Chicks had lost and the good ole boys had one, even if they were scrawny and Australian.
Tomorrow:
The Triumph of Brotherhood and Nostalgia
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