Try That In a Small Town
- Thread starter GiggityGoo
- Start date
Spot on. I’m only half joking when I say that if that passes for a hit country song, most people here could put together an entire album largely quoting posts from this board over the last couple of years.
Based on what people here have said about the modern country music industry, it sounds like a guy like Aldean and his team of song writers are just throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks.
Someone in that song writing room realized controversy sells and probably knew they had a silver bullet here.
I’m guessing this will far and away be the most downloaded/streamed song over the next couple of weeks and Aldean will become a conservative household name as he gives his “aw shucks” and “I love ‘murica” interviews on Fox News and OAN. He’ll probably frame a copy of Trump’s eventual Truth Social post about it all.
This is definitely not his best song, but man look at the money he is making off of it due to social media I hardly ever listen to country music anymore but downloaded this song just because of what was being said. I'm sure he could give two shits what people on the other side think he has made millions and is still making millions. If that is not taking advantage of living the American dream I don't know what is.
Same goes for remakes, nothing better than making money on others work. For the record one of my all time favorite songs is a remake "Sound of Silence" by Disturbed so I don't hate the artist for it.
Same goes for remakes, nothing better than making money on others work. For the record one of my all time favorite songs is a remake "Sound of Silence" by Disturbed so I don't hate the artist for it.
I’m glad I was not looking to be offended or I would have watched the video and done internet research on 1927 lynchings.
Jason Aldean Already Had the Most Contemptible Country Song of the Decade. The Video Is Worse
Jason Aldean was already trolling with the vigilante-themed song 'Try That in a Small Town.' His video will do much worse damage... to country music.variety.com
I've defended movies, etc. from innuendo attacks or linking them to their creator's other wacky ideas, etc. but this probably needs some explaining:
"The setting, outside the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, has proven upsetting for some who know or learn the history of the building. It’s where, in 1927, a white lynch mob dragged a young man named Henry Choate through the streets behind a car before finally hanging him from a second-story courthouse window. Let’s give Aldean and video director Shaun Silva the benefit of the doubt and assume they had not indulged in a history lesson when they decided the same frontage where a Black man was murdered in front of a crowd would be a good place to alternate projected footage of protesters being put down with a draped American flag. (Hard to blame anyone for thinking that this history did show up in Aldean’s or the filmmakers’ web search on the location, but imagining that they knew that and proceeded anyway, as a known dog whistle, is… just tough to contemplate.)"
Also, pretty good critique here:
But leave aside the uncomfortable connotations that may be there by accident. What do the song and the video mean to say, outrightly? Considering the single itself, first, it’s been written (not by Aldean but by Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy, Kelley Lovelace and Neil Thrasher, none having their proudest moments here) in true modern-day “making a list” songwriting style. Only, instead of being a list of what we like about small towns (water towers, corner stores, holding doors open, lack of stoplights, saying “ma’am”), it’s a list of hellishly dystopian tropes about city evils that seems half-borrowed from Hank Williams Jr.’s “A Country Boy Can Survive,” half-borrowed from the Book of Revelation.
. . .
But the most heinous thing the small towns of today have to dread, and ward off with threats, is that somebody will “stomp on the flag and light it up.” Of all the tropes from bygone days that country songwriters are nostalgic for, it’s surprising to see flag-burning join the list. Jason, 1994 called, and it wants its straw man back.
Also: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face…” This never happens in a small town? Aldean can be excused for not knowing — he’s never lived in one himself — but if he thinks guys outside of big cities have never sworn and spit at cops as they’re getting tossed out of somewhere… has he ever been in a bar?
Speaking of tunes that call for violence …
Psst - He doesn't give a shit what people on either side think.
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anon_6hv78pr714xta
Guest
Maybe people can be interested in something and not be "looking to be offended?"
It’s song lyrics/art. Not every single lyric is meant to be literal or apply to the person singling it.
DMX had a lyric about raping his rivals 15 year old daughter. Multi platinum, not peep from anyone.
Go look of some of G-Herbo lyrics who performed at Hoosier Hysterica. Anything about “smokin ____ packs” or smokin opp packs is getting high to celebrate their rivals murder. Minors in many cases. Abhorrent. No one says much about that or even notices.
Censorship is slippery slope, where do you draw the line?
People should be more focused on how bad the Aldean song actually sucks more than anything.
Well no shit but if he is smart he will continue to play that roll and piss on the other side. Truth be told Aldean like most only gives a shit about a hand full of people. One of my biggest envy's in life is not being part of the "Buck Commander" team he is part of, oh the regret of not being in the right place at the right time.
Where did you find anything about censorship in what I posted? I don’t like dog-whistling to racists be it overt or happenstance, but I suggested Trump would play the song at his rallies. I’m not one who supports censorship, I will not read posts by folks who are willfully ignorant but I’m me not a library nor radio station
Fine about the censorship part, minor digression on my part.
You said he talks out of both sides of his mouth on song lyrics and my point is it’s just two songs. Not to hang on every word literally.
Haven't heard the song, but just looked up the lyrics. I LOVE me some country music. The more hillbilly & roots it sounds the better. The Ken Burns Country Music documentary is just amazing for the first several episodes from the beginnings to up to the 70s. I lose interest in the style/substance of the more modern stuff. But different strokes.
Anyway, after reading the lyrics I tend to think he's just writing a fluff piece that appeals to the mythos of "real America" and the profile of what he considers to be his customer base. It doesn't matter that the myth isn't true. Give the people what they want.
And I say the myth isn't true because it's not like small towns are idyllic places that defend all the good/right/true/honorable. Matthew Sheperd was killed in a small town for being gay. Schwerner/Goodman/Chaney were killed for registering folks to vote. James Meredith was shot in the country for making a march against fear. A lot of J6 people were from small towns and did indeed "cuss out a cop, spit in his face" and much much worse. Maybe that doesn't count since it didn't occur in a small town? Drugs and drug related crime are epidemic in small towns just like they are in cities. Cities aren't on a pedestal here either, they've got countless examples of BS too.
At any rate, I think he's just a musician making songs that will sell.
Anyway, after reading the lyrics I tend to think he's just writing a fluff piece that appeals to the mythos of "real America" and the profile of what he considers to be his customer base. It doesn't matter that the myth isn't true. Give the people what they want.
And I say the myth isn't true because it's not like small towns are idyllic places that defend all the good/right/true/honorable. Matthew Sheperd was killed in a small town for being gay. Schwerner/Goodman/Chaney were killed for registering folks to vote. James Meredith was shot in the country for making a march against fear. A lot of J6 people were from small towns and did indeed "cuss out a cop, spit in his face" and much much worse. Maybe that doesn't count since it didn't occur in a small town? Drugs and drug related crime are epidemic in small towns just like they are in cities. Cities aren't on a pedestal here either, they've got countless examples of BS too.
At any rate, I think he's just a musician making songs that will sell.
I'm guessing she doesn't listen to or promote hip hop songs about killing cops.
Is she supposed to know about those songs and preemptively condemn them?
Was a thread started about any of those hip hop songs?
Anyway, I hereby condemn any songs promoting the killing of cops or anyone else for that matter. Happy?
I wouldn't call "Country Music Television" pulling the song as some major banning travesty. It's a company that made a decision for what they air but the song is still accessible elsewhere. Just boycott CMT if it is that big of a deal. I'm guessing that isn't the first music video they have pulled and probably won't be the last.
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You mean like Hastert, Rep Mark Foley from Florida (I throw one in for ya), Trump commerce official Adam Hageman, Gym Jordan, Matt Gaetz and not to mention all the Trump campaign associates who were convicted of crimes?
Why would they be appalled by the song?
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There are a great many on this board who could be benefitted by watching a Ken Burns documentary- he’s incredibly well educated
Brief sidebar, but agree that he does amazing work. I subscribed to the PBS documentaries app on Prime Video to have access to his work without having to buy them all individually (plus a lot more docs, like Nova & the American Experience). 5* Highly recommend.
Mrs. TMFT and I are often lulled to sleep by the dulcet tones of Ken Burns's narrators. Baseball, Prohibition, The Dust Bowl, The Roosevelts, The Civil War, Congress, The War, The Brooklyn Bridge, Country Music, & The Statue of Liberty. I'll add the Vietnam War to the list once I actually watch it for real before I let it become my bedtime story.
You misspelled “made-up reactions to things not said, not heard, not meant”
Racism isn't hidden or hard to see - its open and notorious
“Dog whistles” got nothing to do with it.
Thats crap that was made up by Democrats trying to hide their open and notorious racist history
(Ever notice how neo-liberals want us to remember and act on 1619 and 1776, but forget 1776-1964, then die on the hill of of that magic night in 1968 when all bad Republicans became racist and all bad Democrats became Republicans? You know - the night logic and reason and history died?)
To prove your point all you got is 60 year old racist incidents?
Seems like and debates always gets to racism, perps, and victims for liberals.
You are wrong about Mathew Shepherd any way.
New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder
Obviously sung by a black White Supremicist - and Aunt Thomasina. I mean, it references a deity - obviously a dog whistle.
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anon_6hv78pr714xta
Guest
His racial self loathing is his biggest problem it’s gotten worse as he’s gotten older.
J6 & Shepherd are of a much more recent vintage. And a drug fueled murder isn't a hate crime, but still in the orbit of what I was pointing out about the small town mythos.To prove your point all you got is 60 year old racist incidents?
Seems like and debates always gets to racism, perps, and victims for liberals.
You are wrong about Mathew Shepherd any way.
New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder
abcnews.go.com
Well if you think you are safer buying gas at midnight on Chicago’s south side than filling up in North Platte Nebraska, at midnight, good for you.
Here’s the difference. Meth and other drugs spawn violence and meth is a problem in rural America. But in the cities, gun fire and violence is just like ambient background noise. It’s always present and is almost always for no reason.
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anon_6hv78pr714xta
Guest
But in the cities, gun fire and violence is just like ambient background noise. It’s always present and is almost always for no reason.
No, it’s not.
No, it’s not.
Seriously. I start that shit and then start wondering what’s going on at Sur with the VPR crew or if the pickers guys are somewhere good and tapout
So what you're saying is the unreleased verse goes something like:
Take a hit of meth in a parking lot
Or maybe some oxy if ya find it
Xanax will always treat you right
Try that in a small town
Here is the chorus
Well, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
‘Round here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town
What do you think he is implying? I would assume either shooting the person or beating the crap out of them.
Verse 2
Got a gun that my granddad gave me
They say one day they’re gonna round up
Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck
Well, i'd say he is talking about shooting the person
Hell, urban leaders even admitted that is true. When asked why blacks get so riled up over cop excessive force and wildly over-estimate the number of cop killings of blacks, but pay little or no attention the the daily black-on-black killings, the answer was they are used to the latter and we just live with it. I don’t feel like looking for the link, but it’s out there.
His failed attempt at lobbing the biggest insult he could think of at the time.
Only time I have ever heard gunfire is when I have been out in the country. I have never heard it in a big city.
Strike that - I heard gunfire once, on Sept. 6, 2018, when a gunman opened fire down the street from my office in downtown Cincinnati. Guy from the tiny village of North Bend came downtown and started shooting at random people.
