Have you ever noticed how many Shania Twain songs end with exclaimation points?
Chuck Klosterman on commercial country music:
But whenever I go back to my hometown and see the people I grew up with--many of whom are stilll living the same life we all had twelve years ago as high school seniors--I realize that I was very much the exception. Lots of people (in fact, most people) do not dream about morphing their current life into something dramatic and cool and metaphoric. Most people see their life as a a job that they have to finish; if anything, they want their life to only have one meaning. So when they imagine a better existence, it's either completely imaginary (i.e., Toby Keith's Nineteenth-century Lone Ranger fantasy) or staunchly practical (Yearwood's description of the girl who just wants to get married without catching static from her old man). The reason Garth Brooks and Shania Twain have sold roughly 120 million more albums than Bob Dylan and Liz Phair is not because record buyers are all a bunch of blithering idiots; it's because Garth and Shania are simply better at expressing the human condition. They're less talented, but they understand more people.
On Johnny Cash:
...this is also why Cash seems completely credible as a felon: He doesn't want freedom or friendship or Jesus or a new lawyer. He wants coffee.
But whenever I go back to my hometown and see the people I grew up with--many of whom are stilll living the same life we all had twelve years ago as high school seniors--I realize that I was very much the exception. Lots of people (in fact, most people) do not dream about morphing their current life into something dramatic and cool and metaphoric. Most people see their life as a a job that they have to finish; if anything, they want their life to only have one meaning. So when they imagine a better existence, it's either completely imaginary (i.e., Toby Keith's Nineteenth-century Lone Ranger fantasy) or staunchly practical (Yearwood's description of the girl who just wants to get married without catching static from her old man). The reason Garth Brooks and Shania Twain have sold roughly 120 million more albums than Bob Dylan and Liz Phair is not because record buyers are all a bunch of blithering idiots; it's because Garth and Shania are simply better at expressing the human condition. They're less talented, but they understand more people.
On Johnny Cash:
...this is also why Cash seems completely credible as a felon: He doesn't want freedom or friendship or Jesus or a new lawyer. He wants coffee.
Strike a Pose, Chuck! You're Still the One!
posted by Andy at 18:41
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home