CMA Aweirds

Stephen Gregory · Posted 9 Nov 2004 7:22 pm

Just witnessed the most horrible excuse for music ever! Montgomery Gentry. Will somebody tell the dork in the goofy black hat to quit spinning the mike stand it's really annoying and not entertaining. Also who the heck is Big and Rich and what is that awful noise they make?

Jeff Lampert · From: queens, new york city

Tepid instrumental playing from everyone, steels, guitars, and fiddles. How can there be so much instrumentation over a three hour period, and such a dearth of original ideas? The only decent couple of steel things were with Gary Morse. Either the players have no original ideas and/or the producers won't let anyone play anything that's even a little interesting. Either way, it's very lame, IMHO.

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[url=http://www.mightyfinemusic.com/jeff's_jazz.htm]Jeff's Jazz[/url]

Gene H. Brown · From: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Ya know , as long as Joe Public keeps buying this crap, it's gonna be all over the TV and Radio and the normal person's conception of what Country Music is supposed to sound like is really up against a wall right now. I wouldn't pay a dime to go see 85% of what they are calling stars these days, I have lost faith in the normal public view that's for sure.

Sonny Priddy · From: Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA, R.I.P.

I'm With You Gene. SONNY,

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Doyle Weigold · From: CColumbia City, IN, USA

Got to agree with ya'll. If the public out there is buying this stuff and they evidently are, that's fine but why try to make us beleive this is Country Music. The colored dude doin' rap is probably good at what he does, but put him on a rap show, not on a Country Music awards show. I think it all goes back to having a Tradional Country Music Chart and radio stations to play it and have the Country Rock or Modern Country what ever you want to call it have their charts and their radio stations. I guess that's a whole other topic and I know it's been discussed and cussed before on here. Guess I better just quit watching Awards shows. Doyle

Ray Minich · From: Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra

Just when you think you've seen it all, the "country-rap?" music was a real sight to behold. How much do they havta pay the audience to act excited about it?

[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 10 November 2004 at 04:38 AM.]

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

....are they still having award shows?

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 10 November 2004 at 06:00 AM.]

Doyle Huff · From: Broken Arrow, OK USA

What you are saying is the very reason I did not watch the awards last night. I get so angry at the crap they shovel out as country as well as some of the award givers. Why don't they use some of the older (real) country stars to give the awards. The HOF awards are a real joke. They don't even call the winners to the stage to accept, (Ray Price,Carl Smith comes to mind). Thank God I have the right not to watch.

John Lacey · From: Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada

I felt that Kris' speech was real touching. Didn't see all his dedication, just his speech.

kyle reid · From: Butte,Mt.usa

Looks like were living in the end times, Big and Rich is doing their part to put an end to everything decent!

Don Joslin · From: St. Paul, MN

My personal opinion is that it has to do with age. That's not a cheap shot so bear with me for a second. Musically I come from a rock background and later formally educated in Music Theory & Composition. What is curious to me is I went through this same thing with my Mom when I was a kid. She simply could not believe that you could call what the Beatles did 'music'. And, they turned out to be one of the most important influences to popular music in the last 100 years. They effected everything from jazz, to country, to symphony orchestras.

Here's a good laugh for all of us. Now I am going through the same thing with my kids. How can you call that crap you listen to music? They just laugh and tell me I am old. I think that's what I used to tell my Mom. However, now that I AM old, I have found a true appreciation for what Mom tried to teach me - Bob Wills is king. Now I want to play Western Swing on the steel guitar. Talk about coming full circle.

I guess, in the end (along with a music education) it has taught me to attempt to find something positive in whatever I listen to. I have actually heard some interesting syncopation in what my kids listen to. I have heard some marvelous string arrangements in those generic ballads they listen to.

The bottom line is, there are two points to be considered. Young people are the ones who buy music. Example: I am a musician and composer and over the years I have probably collected a little less than 500 CD's, records, and tapes. My son is 25 and a bass player in a punk band. He owns around 750 CD's. And, much of what he has purchased has been direct from independent bands. He hates the Clear Channel machine with a passion. His reasoning is that anything I listen to is 'old' and therefore not 'fresh' enough. In fact, anything that has been on the market for more than about 6 months is 'old' to him. What fuels the Clear Channel machine is sales. And, if the record buying public wants something new every 6 months, they have to turn to formulas and crank it out like spitin' seeds at a watermelon festival.

The second point is everybody has an opinion about what is good and what is bad. Another example. I recently purchased the 'Murph' CD from b0b. If you have heard it then you know how refreshing it is. I played it for my wife (6 years younger than me) and she asked how I could listen to that garbage. She'd rather hear an out of tune acoustic guitarist singing flat about albino whales or something. She says it's only the message (lyrics) that matters. Sigh...

I truly think that when my kids have their own teenagers they will be saying, "How can you call that crap music?"

Don

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My favorite baseball team is the Minnesota Twins...
-------- ...my second favorite is whoever is playing the Yankees!

Charles French · From: Ms.

I'm with you Stephen concerning the "Dork". Altho, many more colorful adjectives come to mind.

My son suggested we check out the "CMA Awards". I told him it would only make me mad to watch that crap! And I was right!

I wish to salute Dolly Parton for rambling on during her award presentation. The best part of the show was when they cut Chesney off!! (:

Mike Brown · From: Meridian, Mississippi USA

No wonder John Rich(of Big and Rich) isn't with Lonestar anymore. Not that I'm a big fan of theirs either.

George Strait was great as always.

Bill Llewellyn · From: San Jose, CA

Hey Don, good post.

Prime time TV shows are aimed squarely at the masses. The shows themselves are tuned to appeal to the biggest number of people possible. The people who pay for them, commercial advertisers, demand it. The biggest number of people in the area of music consumption is the young. Therefore the CMA has to aim at the young to survive. So on the awards you get some elements of country mixed with rock, rap, soul, or whatever it is that pulls in the young. It's understandable to me that the element of traditional country in the CMA awards has shrunk. Traditional country is great for nostalgia, but having it placed prominently on the CMA awards does not amount to keeping up with the times. For better or for worse, pop country and the CMA have to do what they do to survive. I'm not saying I like it, but I can see the reasoning.

My solution in my own personal music selection is to stick with the neo-traditionalists like Vince Gill, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Lee Ann Womack, Daisy Dern (I always have to put in a plug for her), the Chicks, and so on. And there is some good stuff out there from some of the less traditional folks. For example, a lot of Trisha Yearwood's material is more contemporary ballad like, but very solid nonetheless. (And PF is her studio steeler.)

The CMA awards are a barometer of the music buying public's interests. I don't think those of use who appreciate traditional country (a clear minority and not a significant buying population for music marketeers) will be able to change that and point things back to the days of George and Patsy....

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Bill, steelin' since '99 | Steel page | My music | Steelers' birthdays | Over 50?

[This message was edited by Bill Llewellyn on 10 November 2004 at 07:36 AM.]

Don Joslin · From: St. Paul, MN

Thanks Bill.

You guys have to admit that professional music has been pushed into a mind boggling business. A big 'star' (Big & Rich, Tim McGraw, Kenny 'Cheesey', etc.) playing arena/stadium shows is pulling in audiences that are probably 100 times larger than the traditional country and dance acts pulled in. And, they are getting an average of $60 a ticket. Let's look at this. That's $4.5 million per show (75,000 x $60). At three shows per week that's $13.5 million per week, or $270 million for a 20 week tour. That's a BIG money machine! If an entertainer can push up to that level it becomes a totally different game. Those audiences could care less about how musical a solo is. They want it to sound EXACTLY like the CD they have in their car - every night for 20 weeks, exactly the same, lick for lick. There's no room for improvisation. experimentation, or spontaneity when the stakes are $270 million. Like I tell my kids, that's the real world.

Now, personally I'd rather play to 100 dancers who clap when you finish a tune, don't pass people around on top of the crowd, and wear cowboy hats and shirts with yolks and snaps on them. But there is one other point to consider. My son, the punk bass player, works 10 times more than I do and I have an education and 30 years of experience. That should tell you something. Maybe I should dye my hair blue, rip holes in my jeans, turn up my amp all the way, scream out the lyrics to 'Walkin' After Midnight' at the top of my lungs while I play nothing but augmented and diminished chords. Think it will sell?

Don

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My favorite baseball team is the Minnesota Twins...
-------- ...my second favorite is whoever is playing the Yankees!

Jim Ives · From: Los Angeles, California, USA

Brooks & Dunn won best vocal duo, AGAIN! What a surprise. They are awful and always win.
On the other hand, Gary Morse's playing on his vintage Sho-Bud was worth all the other crap.
Faith Hill sang quite well, more soul than she usually puts forward.
-Jim

Charles French · From: Ms.

My favorite baseball team is the Minnesota Twins... "Johan Santana is da MAN"

-------- ...my second favorite is whoever is playing the Yankees! Amen!!!!!

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

For me, the high point of the awards show occured years ago when Charlie Rich on stage actually took his cigarette lighter out of his pocket and set fire to the award that he was to present because he thought it was not being awarded to a real country artist!

That not only ended Charlie Rich's career, but also any interest that I had in the awards show.

www.genejones.com

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

What did you guys expect? The CMA's are only representative of the music getting air play during the last year. Right?
What has happened to Country Music is another topic.

David Doggett · Posted 10 Nov 2004 10:00 am

Don, there are a bunch of clubs here in Philly that book three bands like your son's every night. I think the players get about $10 each. I wouldn't feel too envious of all that work he is getting.

By the way, that act you describe for "Walking the Floor Over You"? I think I can get you booked as a punk country act...if you want the $10.

[This message was edited by David Doggett on 10 November 2004 at 10:02 AM.]

Don Joslin · From: St. Paul, MN

David - you are right about the money. Although my son's band averages about $25 per man because there is a big punk scene here in Minneapolis. However, they also sell about $150 per show in merch - cd's $10 (cost to produce about $2 - they make them themselves), t-shirts $10 (cost $2.75), buttons $2 (cost $.35) and posters $5 (cost about $.70). Split three ways that's about $60 (merch + wages) per man after expenses. They play one set - 50 minutes plus usually a 10 minute encore because they play LOUD. And, they are usually home in bed by midnight because they play mostly all-ages shows.

Don

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My favorite baseball team is the Minnesota Twins...
-------- ...my second favorite is whoever is playing the Yankees!

Larry Robbins · From: Fort Edward, New York

The CMA awards....Like I said before......
No matter how many times I vomit,I still feel the need to hang myself!
Kenny Cheezy blew his lines in "Hey Good Lookin".....yeah, he's country all right!
Brad Paisly and Alison Krauss were FINE as well as George Strait...wouldn't give two cents for much of the rest of the show.
Guess I watched out of hopeless desperation.Read my first comment.

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Sho-Bud ProII, Pro III custom,
Nash 400,Hilton pedal,Tut Taylor "Virginian" reso"There's been an awful murder, down on music row"

[This message was edited by Larry Robbins on 10 November 2004 at 01:02 PM.]

Paul King · From: Gainesville, Texas, USA

I did not watch the CMA Awards and it is just as well I did not. The lack of real country music these days makes me sick at my stomach. I could not even name 1/2 of the so called country stars out today. If I am lucky they may get back to the real country music before many of us leave this ole earth. But for right now we will have to suffer the pain and misery of all this nonsense.

James Lutz · From: Wisconsin

CMA = Country, My A$$

Stephen Gregory · Posted 10 Nov 2004 3:27 pm

The argument that this trash is the same as the Beatles etc. 40 years, was to us, doesn't fly. Try listening to the Beatles version of "Till there was you" for instance. A wonderful example of vocal and instrumental execution from 4 guys in their early 20s that has stood the test of time, no comparison to the crap we heard on the CMA awards. Second, just because "everyone has an opinion" doesn't make something good. Out of tune, mindless music performed by marginal, at best, "entertainers" is not good and not just a matter of an older persons opinion.

[This message was edited by Stephen Gregory on 10 November 2004 at 03:28 PM.]

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