Country music has morphed with time. It has been shape shifted and molded by industry leaders, demographic demand, political influence, and to some extent - artists themselves (though given the experiennce of other genres, the latter is unlikely). Gone are the days of progressive country musicians, which were really just rock stars from the not-big-city, like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Those were the country folk I liked.

Then something changed in the mid 90s. Hell, I'll just say that like grunge killed metal, Shania Twain and Garth Brooks killed original country.

This country genre was revolutionized by neo-conservatism, so I'll just call it neo-country. Why the fuck not. This music has always bothered me, but I could never really put my finger on that naughty icky thing that made my sensibilities writhe and wiggle.

It was no longer being written by and for guys who ranched cattle and made moonshine, but it was being written for 13 year old girls with parents who have fat paychecks to spend on said fabricated music. It lost its inherent worth. It became corporate, therefore becoming hypocritical for a  genre born from socioeconomic misery.

This isn't at all different from the rap genre, which also was born from socioeconomic misery and was then corporatized and exploited. Soon, genuine artists disappeared from both categories, and neo-country and neo-rap. 

It should be noted at this point that real artists do still exist, they just aren't famous, and will never become famous, unless they Bieber-ify themselves and lose any kind of political or cultural message and hop on the YouTube trolly to RecordDealBurg.

This also irks my culture feelers. 

My brain is highly attune to bullshit. Which brings me back to my feelers that tingled with distaste at a young age when I heard Shania Twain croon about whose bed some asshole's boots have been under and Soulja Boy's ejaculating on a girl's back (I think that's what the superman euphimism is all about anyway). This isn't about anything. This isn't art.

In the scheme of all of the articles, books, film, video, random and purposed that are pulled together, their common and binding thread is art. They are all launched by art. Be it visual art, dance, or music. Art is an interpretation of a deep  seeded feeling that is required for any type of political change.

Country and rap both had their chance. They were upset with the present climate. They represented working people being kept down by the rich man. They created art that was about being given a chance and being given an opportunity to change lives. They were congressional figures for a demographic that is devoid of a leader. The rich man handed a few of these artists a carrot and said in not so many words, "stop what you're saying and I'll make you rich and famous." It may not have worked on the first offer, but it definitely worked on the last.

Brilliant and yet, bullshitty.

Who can blame these artists for taking corporate music up on their offer? They didn't know they were just pawns in a giant plan to derail dissemination of logical, helpful, and progressive ideology in the most consumed form of art: recorded music. 

The only artist successful in bucking this trend is The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. A touch before the dawn of the alleged era of Reagan-tastic American prosperity, he sang about America for what it really was - and he sold a lot of records for doing it.

In "My Hometown" off of Born in the U.S.A. he wrote: 

"Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your hometown"

 I haven't heard any lyrics about lost homes, lost jobs, and wondering why half the people in one's town can drive BMWs and the other half can't afford a car at all. I highly doubt that I will.

Can I get another Springsteen?

*Bonus points for catching anywhere that I actually typed "cunty" instead of "country". A common mistake of Freudian origins.