MelatoninI'm a fan of "Southern Rock," but sometimes the lyrics make me wonder if i should drop it. Generally I listen more for music than message, but I don't want my kids hearing "be proud you're a rebel..."
originalucifer"southern pride" is just racism alllll cleaned up. so much racism.
But I’m saying it’s not that. It’s the musical style, I really like it. I love Freebird and Sweet Home Alabama, Ramblin’ Man by the Allman Brothers, Frankenstein by Edgar Winter, tons of really good songs.
There’s some styles that are more folky that are much nicer in terms of subject
oh i agree, i love folk music.. all of that old school 'country rock' is great. not so much the twangy country/western
I used to be like you, then I played New Vegas and learned the error of my ways. Now Lefty Frizzell and Marty Robbins are my favorite country artists.
I grew up on the old stuff, even though my dad played rockabilly. We had tons of LPs and I wore out the grooves. Still love it.
My favourites are Willie Nelson and Townes Van Zandt. Folksy cowboy country, contemplative and melancholic.
Sweet Home Alabama really grinds my gears. Neil Young sings about systemic racism and Skynard retorts ‘yea most people here are racist, but not all of us and whoa now look at the sky’.
Horse shit lyrics
You realize that they sang that ironically as a caricature of someone living in the south right?
I think you’re mistaking self-awareness in VanZants sense of pride and conflicting knowledge of the south troubled history with an intentional caricaturization .
Also Alabama just plain sucks. Muscle Shoals studio and the Mobile Bay jubilee are the only things they ever did right
Allmans are great. I grew up loving Skynyrd, but I can’t really listen to most of it anymore. Check out “Play it all night long” by Warren Zevon for a pretty brutal mockery of “Sweet home Alabama”.
I’m REALLY looking forward to that! I’ve liked Warren Zevon ever since Linda Ronstadt recorded “Poor poor pitiful me.” And who doesn’t like “Werewolves of London?”
For real! Every time sweet home alabama comes on the radio I pause for a second to see if it’s:
“the good one (Warewolves),”
“the ok one (sweet home),”
or “the bad one (that fucking kid rock abortion).”
It’s usually not the good one.
“Excitable Boy”
“Lawyers, Guns, And Money”
There is only one Southern Rock song ever created, and it is Molly Hatchett’s “Flirtin With Disaster”.
Fight me.
GREAT song. I re-listened to it just the other day and was so blown away I checked for all the other great Molly Hatchett songs.
Um.
I told you there was only one.
That’s American pride, don’t use “the south” as a scape goat.
That’s like saying “butts stink, don’t use the rectum as a scape goat”
No it’s more like proudly declaring that your own butt doesn’t stink.
So the question is: “what if that thing I said?”
You sing them lullabies where babies fall out of trees.
They’ll be fine
jimmydoreisaleftyYou can enjoy music without having to agree with 100% of the song/band.
As they grow explain your concerns and give history lessons on the matter, if you think it is required.
tetris11I sing R-kelly, MJ, and Garry Glitter songs all the time. I don’t support them financially though, since I’m a kid of the 90s and we grew up when music was freely shareable for the low low price of an internet connection to Kazaa
Reclaim your youth!
Have you had a listen to Drive-By Truckers? Southern rock without the yee haw rebel pride.
I never expected all the recommendations I’ve received, but I’m damned happy about it!
Happy jamming!
I second DBT. Southern Rock Opera is a masterpiece and a lot of their subject matter is a reaction to the stuff OP mentions
raz0rf0xI irrationally hate the South: its music, its culture, its history, and its people.
This is tragically unfair of me and I admit that I’m embarrassed that I haven’t quite shaken myself of that, but I will keep trying
That said, I’ll listen to Johnny Cash all day every day
Johnny Cash is a thing of the spirit
kersploosh“Outlaw country” - Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kristoffer Kristofferson and the like - is solid music all around.
Hank, hank jr, David Allen Coe, all of that is a vibe. Real damn shame there’s some straight n-words in a few of those old songs though, really ruins the vibe to hear the racism come out
It's ok, we hate you back :)
That’s OK. We hate hate carpet bagging, no manners having Yankees who make zero effort to assimilate into our culture.
Default_DefectWhy the fuck would we want to?
You tell me, cheap land?
Doesn’t mean I have to assimilate your culture, I wasn’t clear about what I was talking about.
Doesn’t mean we have to tolerate your lack of manners, either. I think I’m crystal clear about my meaning.
If by “lack of manners” you mean “not tolerating racism” then I know exactly what you’re talking about. At least, that’s my experience with southerners.
kingthrillgoreJohnny Cash is a saint
Would you like to come hang out sometime? NW Florida here. I REALLY mean that. I’m asking and I’m serious.
I got a couple of spare rooms, loads of things to do around here if you like outdoors stuff. Floating the rivers and creeks in kayaks and such is my jam. Stop on random sandbanks, swap in a cold beer, eat a little, explore, move on.
I’ve never lived anywhere where people were less racist. I know, hard to believe. I live on the edge of a redneck town. My street is ~30% black, the rest white. We got one Asian! And I will marry her this Friday. Everyone is coming.
I cannot clap hard enough for your honest post. You must be a fine person for having said all that out loud and I love you for it. I’m embarrassed by my little prejudices as well, and I hate those god damned limits I put on myself. We get past those by travelling and sharing. Only way I know.
DM me and I’ll tell you where we’re at.
Man, that spring-feed water is COLD! I’m a Florida boy myself, and I love doing all that stuff you mentioned. I hope he takes you up on the offer because the world needs more connection.
Nice job stranger. Keep up the good work.
I’m in Florida too, and the most racist people I know moved here from Michigan. Apparently up north there is more segregation than in FL, they told me they went to “the white high school” and my husband said the same thing about Indiana and Maryland, the high schools he went to were segregated.
Those guys come down here where we had enforced school integration (which did work somewhat as far as I can tell) and we are just more mashed together and mixed, and they find out they are actually dead racist and think “those people” should be in a different neighborhood and a different school from their kids. They were just able to ignore their racism up north by never interacting with anyone of a different “race”.
I was born and raised Southern and spent most of my life there. Then one day I went far, far away and holy shit I had bo idea how sheltered and ignorant the South was. I do remember that my history book had a chapter on the Civil War and slavery was two sentences in the entire book.
Idk how old your kids are, but if/when they’re old enough to have a conversation with nuance, just talk with them about the myth of the Lost Cause. Maybe watch some Checkmate Lincolnites videos on YouTube to help. This applies to all sorts of topics of discussion, by the way. Have a fact-based conversation once they are ready, and land on your opinions and show that you arrived there based on the facts as you understand them, encouraging them to take the same sort of approach to any nuanced conflict. In this way, you can still enjoy the music you like without necessarily condoning the message. But keep in mind that unless you’re pirating that music, you’re still financially supporting the artist, so do with that information what you will.
If they aren’t ready for such a complex discussion, you can still make it clear that you like the guitars, drums, etc but not the lyrics, and you can say that the song is about people being mean to people who don’t deserve it and tease that you can talk about it more when they get a little older.
Idk if it’s relevant to you at all, but I rediscovered the Southerner album by Trent Dabbs recently and it’s pretty solid if you want something a little country-ish without being so problematic. Paper Trail in particular is a fucking vibe.
I will check the recommendation out. Thanks for all the good advice.
donutsHow about Tom Petty? Southern rocker with great lyrics and no bullshit. One of the greats as far as I'm concerned.
LOVE Tom Petty. I used to rent a room from his high school teacher at GHS. She said “Tommy Petty” wouldn’t write papers, but he would write and play songs instead, so she let him do that. They were “god-awful” according to her.
He had his moment of idiocy, but did everything he could to make it right.
www.stereogum.com/1815875/…/news/
Tom Petty Admits Touring With The Confederate Flag Was Stupid
Ever since the horrific racist mass murder in South Carolina last month, we as a society seem to be reassessing what it means to throw images of the Confederate battle flag anywhere. Various states, including South Carolina, have decided to stop flying it from their state house, and retailers have pulled the flag from their
Since you chose CDB, here is an interesting bit of trivia about that song in particular:
The song uses a clever play on words to promote Southern rock music. … The “it” that the South is going to do again, it is implied, is to produce additional popular rock groups.
Daniels factually bristled at more nefarious interpretations of what the “it” was. … Daniels told Billboard, “I’m damn proud of the South, but I sure as hell am not proud of the Ku Klux Klan. I wrote the song about the land I love and my brothers. It was not written to promote hate groups.”
Maybe use the songs as an opportunity for discussion … or save it for your kid-free time.
drcouzelisThat’s so cool! Kinda like when proud Americans sing Born in the USA not realizing the actual meaning.
But. At the same time, if you need to pull up a Wikipedia article for people to not think you are a piece of shit, does it matter?
It is the Pepe the frog situation (that actually was a lot more complicated but). Some people used it because they wanted to take the meme back. Most used it to represent hate and bigotry. I know what I assumed when I saw it posted
Speaking only for myself, I generally try to contextualize before I write someone off as a “piece of shit”
I imagine you could take any popular song from today and find fault in 50 years as cultural norms change.
And if someone is listening to an anti robot anthem on the hover train, people will assume they are an asshole.
This is no different than any other media. Multiple shows have made the joke that 80s comedy films were basically nothing but rape. And that is why you have the really awkward conversations when you recommend one.
magnetosphereI’m a fan of Lucero. The lead singer definitely has a Southern accent, but I haven’t noticed any questionable lyrics or glorification of ignorant redneck bullshit. No “codes” or dogwhistles. Maybe you should check them out.
I will absolutely give them a listen
Mostly_GristleLucero is pretty legit. Really nice guys too. My buddy made friends with the singer way back when he was in his previous band and subsequently Lucero is one of the few bands I’ve been following since basically day one.
Some of these are more country than southern rock, but you might also like Jason Isbell, 16 Horsepower, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, Corb Lund, Wovenhand, Larkin Poe, Pink Williams (if you’re not turned off by leftist politics), and Hank Williams III (if you don’t mind a lot of drug references), and The Goddamn Gallows.