Country music started to suck not when it became political, there was always political country music. It started to suck when it became the refuge for conservatives and no other viewpoints were allowed.
But there was a real hunger in a lot of parts of America for representation, and country music did offer a landscape that was talking a lot about old-fashioned values.
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I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that country radio, which remains very corporate, does have a lock on who can become a superstar and who cannot. And so, if you get sort of an organized fan backlash against a musician over their politics. their career is done. And the most – the high-profile example of that that people will be familiar with is what happened to the Dixie Chicks during the Iraq War.
Country music from before 1970 can be good. There are occasionally things post 1970 that are also good, but they’re much harder to find because it has become a style of music that caters to conservatives, and they expect it to glorify their values.
Country music started to suck not when it became political, there was always political country music. It started to suck when it became the refuge for conservatives and no other viewpoints were allowed.
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https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/how-country-music-went-conservative
Country music from before 1970 can be good. There are occasionally things post 1970 that are also good, but they’re much harder to find because it has become a style of music that caters to conservatives, and they expect it to glorify their values.