[emathias]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Not so fast.
...
I can honestly tell you that from the youngest years of my life when I became interested in music, it was the sound itself of [contemporary] country music that I found repulsive - the over the top drawl, the absurd masculinity, the party-on hillbilly lyrics - the culture attached to it I didn't fully grasp until later. I have since grown to greatly enjoy and appreciate older country music and roots music from bluegrass to Patsy to Willie and so forth (mostly the sad bastard stuff), but still have to absorb it in smaller doses as it is far from my favorite genre. Another country music "reinforcer" is our armed forces. Because the military draws a high % of recruits from the rural parts (and Red) parts of our country, there seems to be a strong proud hick/country element and that transfers to many country music fans. As a personal note that I still am a bit sore about, I had a good high school friend who joined the army after Sept 11. He went in loving underground alt rock/punk and 1960's soul/R&B and came out a country fan. I don't fully understand how such a thing happens but I suspect peer influence had a hell of a lot to do with it. Due to what I presume are stress and boredom, military people seem to like to listen to shallow good times music and much of modern country fits that bill.

Personally, I don't like some of the lyrics, like the recent "Whisky Lullaby," about a couple that divorces, drinks themselves to death, and reunite in the afterlife. It's just beyond depressing to listen to and actually made me angry the first time I heard it.