Country music lyrics are blasting on urban music stations as younger American trying to escape the emergence of bad pop and even awful pop music turn to this stable genre. Country music is currently gaining on rock as the second most popular music format on American radio stations. It is right behind hip hop in terms of peoples ability to identify a feel, a demographic, and a sense of rebellion when they hear the lyrics on many songs.
If you look back into early to mid 90s it seemed that country music was on the decline. In fact, if you look at some of the popular hits from Shania Twain and even I will always love you by Whitney Houston, country music lyrics could only be heard by crossover pop artists. I am
sure that many in the industry thought this would be the end of nice
commercial successes for modern country artists.
Fortunately, the Nashville establishment held on to their traditions and developed a new set of country artists that would appeal to young urban listeners.
So why didnt they stray and turn country music into a subgenre of crappy pop?
The answer lies in the lessons of the 1980s. Country music went through a moment as the it music during the early to mid 1980s with detrimental results. There were more stars, doing more tours and creating more funds
than ever before, but the most popular country music lyrics at the time did not reflect the geographic sensibilities of the south.
They became caricatures selling urbanites on the exotic possibilities of redneck culture and vain beauty queens.
The Nashville gatekeepers learned a very painful lesson.
Pop culture mangles, destroys, and makes fun of anything that comes in its pathway. They learned that:
1. You might
still get country music lyrics played on urban radios, but you will absolutely need your own radio networks
2. You can compete with pop by developing younger artists like Sarah Evans and Faith Hill who can present a pop image with solid country music lyrics on their albums.
So where does this lead modern country?
Still on the forefront, experimenting with country-rock, and Rhythm and blues collaborations.
It certainly is a sizeably successful
measure
for country music and an even better time for country music fans.
