December 31, 2010
-
Country Music
I've written about this before and have talked to people about it. But I don't feel I can come to grips with how I'm starting to like country music. It has actually been annoying enough for me to comb through my music library to try to find the source of what makes country music that much appealing to me than before....and I'm failing at it. What precipitated this enough for a blog post? Lately I've been listening to Bon Jovi's single What Do You Got?, and it is a great song. Why do I find it so appealing though? Lyrics are one thing, but the music.....that's where I think the differences lie. Well, of course it is, but what makes country music "country?" The twang? The harmonization? The instrumentation? The subject matter? Let's be clear. There is the difference between old country and new country. The new country is more rock than country, so that's probably the main reason why it has more appeal, but what makes the designation country different from "country?"
Let's take a look at his album Lost Highways. Yes, listening to Summertime and Everybody's Broken definitely tells me that What Do You Got is at least country influenced. Switch to the album Have a Nice Day. Bell of Freedom, which is clearly in the "rock" section, sounds like it has similar qualities to What do you Got. Switch to the Crossroads "Greatest hits" album. All the power ballads sound the similar. Always, Bed of Rose, I'll be There For You....all classified as rock. They all have vocal harmonization, stringed instrumentation, and a certain twanginess. However, none of these songs are country!
Is it the type of vocal harmony? Well, it certainly isn't a musical type. Listen to Wanted Dead or Alive on the Rock of Ages musical soundtrack...that goes too far. Backstreet Boys? Oddly enough kinda....Listen to the songs I Still...and Safest Place to Hide on the Nevergone album...the "rock" album for BB. The Doobie Brothers and Boston also use a lot of vocal harmonization, clearly Classic Rock. Sample Listen to the Music, Jesus is Alright, Black Water (the most country sounding...), though to be honest, Boston might be pushing it a bit with harmonic.....analysis. Doobie Brothers also has similar instrumentation.
And then it dawned on me. Country Rock essentially puts all the various pieces of musical genre into one. It takes the rock, the vocal harmony, the strings, even organ and piano into one. And THAT is what appears to be bothering me. You would think that combining everything into one super genre would be good.....but for some reason I'm holding back. Perhaps it is because combining everything makes the individual genres lose their distinctiveness? (Oh...History of Christianity I flashback....sorry). I don't know. I'll let this stew a bit and see what results. In the meantime, I have some Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tower of Power, and Paramore to tide me over and break the monotony of Country Rock.
Comments (1)
Okay Kwang - I do think that seminary is messing with your toe tapping clarinet playing, your running to put communion together, digging the list for readers, and keeping up with me and CAFE to produce a whole new you. Country music? Oh my, I will have to get you to listen to Handel's Messiah or something like this! Please, oh please, let country music be a passing phase. Is there anything but booze, loose women, breaking up, bleeding hearts, looking for a one night stand or anything worth listening to? I had to listen to country music for a year at my first job out of college - not telling you the year - when I didn't have a car and my father drove me in his pick up truck and played country music the entire ride to work and back home again. Bad year. Bad music. But it gets better when I see you playing your clarinet and I think - I need to get mine out and practice for hours everyday to get the beautiful sound you have. Remember - clarinet, Latin, German, Italian good music. Cheri
Comments are closed.