I was inspired by Founding Questions. It’s a music blog. OK, the “music blog” thing is an inside joke within an edifice of inside jokes. (Warning, if you’re even remotely woke save just don’t click!)
There’s a discussion of which music is Americana:
Tom Petty is at least part of my answer to the challenge “Understand this, and you’ll get America.”
It’s a valid thing to consider. Cardi B’s excretable WAP gross to the point of nihilism but it’s “universal“. It doesn’t need or reflect America. It could emerge from Japan, or Brazil, or France, or whatever.
Severian’s example is the Scorpions: “They’re German, but had quite a few American radio hits. They’re not a German band, in my estimation — they’re a metal band made up of Germans.”
Then he hit it out of the park by “noticing” Rammstein.
“They could sing “Heirate Mich” in English, but it would still be German. And yeah, maybe Rammstein isn’t the best example… but on the other hand, maybe they’re the perfect example, because their whole catalog seems to be an attempt to answer the question “Can you rock so fucking hard that it actually turns you gay?”, which is a question that — to this American’s way of thinking, at least — would only occur to Germans.”
After I got off the floor from laughing I watched this:
He’s right! It’s definitely rocking! I have no idea what they’re saying but I think I’m a little bit gay now! It’s not a bad song, I liked it.
Compare that to Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”. It’s by a British band but isn’t identifiably British. The singer is literally gay but it’s the straightest song ever. Also, I see it celebrating capitalism; uncommon in modern America and literally illegal (or nearly) in modern UK.
Severian and his commenters listed several bands/songs inextricably linked to American culture and sensibilities; Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakum, CCR, and John Cougar Mellencamp.
They’re not wrong but ugh… “little pink houses?”… really? It’s so saccharine! There’s too much Bernie Sanders style whining in my diet and my body starts to reject it. I need guitar based fiber for proper digestion. Here’s my list in no particular order.
ZZ Top “Waitin’ For The Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago”
Commentary: The goal is “get this and you’ll get America”. You either get this or you don’t. Somewhere there’s a Rammstein fan who biologically lacks the ability to get it. I imagine an adjunct professor at a faculty lounge in coastal America, who’s wondering why riding in the bus is so bad. Why not celebrate our green technology, mass transit future… at least for the masses? (He, of course, commutes with an electric bicycle. Duh!) Plus, there’s the religious overtones.
It’s a song for and from America. It couldn’t come out of France or Korea.
Lynrd Skynrd: “Sweet Home Alabama”
Commentary: I played this song and an eagle flew out of my speakers! Any culture will have attachment to home and “kin”, but putting lyrics that tell Neil Young he ought to fuck off… that’s America! (I linked a version with lyrics just so you can enjoy them shitting on Neil.)
Honorable Mention: John Denver: “Take Me Home Country Roads”
Commentary: John Denver is half-muppet. Therefore, his music is pure joy. Despite the lack of America’s jagged iron-willed edge, this song practically brings a tear to my eyes. If I play it in my garage, my motorcycle will spontaneously start. There is no answer but to roll country pavement for the rest of the afternoon. I have to. I can’t help myself. Understand this and you understand America.
Note: This song has a new generational presence. Similarly Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” cannot be avoided. The world yearns for heart; Cardi B’s “gyration simulating the throes of passion” doesn’t fill the void.
Nat King Cole: “Get Your Kicks on route 66”
Commentary: Bobby Troup wrote the song in 1946 but I like Nat’s version. Modern politicians make money avoiding a real world history. Would any of them admit an accomplished and respected black dude played awesome jazz on live TV in 1951. Yet there he is. Nat wasn’t shoveling coal or playing basketball. This is 20 years before the 1971 setting to campaign stories where Joe Biden talks like young black kids had scarcely seen the likes of his pasty self. I guarantee that Nat, a very accomplished musician, wasn’t wondering about the curly golden hairs on some forgettable cracker’s leg.
Ponder the spectrum between Nat King Cole and Cardi B. One human lifetime from glorious piano to “unhinged woman leaking on stage”. Get that and you’ve grokked something about the human condition as well as America.
Further commentary: Route 66 itself went from the greatest thing since sliced bread to nearly irrelevant; not over centuries but within 30 years. That tells you everything you need to know about Americas relationship to built infrastructure.
Bill Conti: Gonna’ Fly Now”: (Rocky’s Training Montage)
Commentary: Soundtrack to a 1977 movie, this is the montage to which all montages are compared (especially this). My high school band in podunk nowhere played this during parades. Marching in the streets blasting Rocky’s training theme with trombones and shit; God damn was that a heady brew!
This isn’t a sniff of Americana, it’s uncorking the bottle and slamming it down!
Every part radiates America! The environment is dirty and economically depressed (Carter era remember?). Is everyone in this poor area whining and groveling like a modern struggle session? Fuck no! The people are supportive of Rocky, Rocky is of the people, and Rocky is too busy preparing to kick ass to fret about policy. Rocky’s not merely a grinder; he isn’t counting reps in an air conditioned gym. He’s getting ready to throw down; punching bags, and meat, and the air. He runs across railroad tracks like a fighter, he doesn’t mince around an oval like a finely tuned athlete.
It also foreshadows a level of violence that will make your TV melt. But the most American part is the absolute lack of malice. It’s aspirational. Angelic voices cry with the spiritual drive to become better. The goal is to righteously and gloriously pummel one’s competition to paste… in a fair fight. Rocky doesn’t want just to win, he wants to be so incredibly awesome that winning is just an aspect of that achievement. He’s not hiring a sniper to take out Apollo Creed. He’s not working on clever tactics. He’s not calculating percentages. He’s not juicing steroids. His simple plan is to punch sides of beef until his awesomeness is unbeatable.
America is still a lot like that. Despite what you see in media (such as voting shenanigans), our core still understands the difference between competitor and opponent. American children can and do destroy opponents at Monopoly and on the same day they will pummel each other at dodgeball; fierce competition but not in anger or fear. That’s how Americans roll. Understand that and you understand America.
Extra Credit: Watch Maynard Ferguson Strangle a trumpet playing “Gonna Fly Now”. What he does to that trumpet is unnatural! The band, because it was the 1970’s, has a flute. A flute?!? Yeah, it’s a flute. You got a problem with flutes? I thought so!
Special Mention: Geography:
Johnny Cash: “I’ve Been Everywhere Man”
Commentary: Scale within just one nation is a thing to understand. Anyone driving across America finds out. Texans are born knowing; as are folks from the heartland and west. Everyone else sits on a plane and knows nothing. Nobody raised in Europe has it in their bones. If you wonder why Johnny Cash didn’t mention Paris you’re the kind of fuckwit that’s trying to make me fund urban light rail with my taxes.
I once slept on the dirt beside my motorcycle on the dusty Winnemucca road.
Special Mention: American Relationship To Authority:
Johnny Paycheck: Take This Job And Shove It
Commentary: He wants to quit and makes no mention of welfare. Corporate bullshit has battered America’s work ethic but it’s still there. Also, the dude chickens out and doesn’t quit; which is very American too.
Sammy Hagar: I Can’t Drive 55
Commentary: The 55 mph limit was my introduction to nanny state bullshit. I’ll never forgive. When Ralph Nader dies (hopefully of natural causes) I will celebrate and he will go to hell. His hell should be a vehicle with no AC and a broken radio going 55 mph across endless Wyoming prairie; forever.
Evil sometimes creates the environment for change for the good. Nader’s crap trained Americans to break speed laws and mock traffic cops. Radar detectors and CBs spontaneously generated. It’s not just vehicle laws. Bill Clinton passed an “assault weapons ban” in 1994, which expired in 2004. His bullshit caused a two decade long buying spree of AR-15 style rifles that may never end.
I spent this weekend on highways with an 80 mph limit. Fuck you Ralph!
The American part is the response. A German might go fast on the Autobahn but America thinks a screaming weirdo in a yellow jumpsuit fighting with cops is the proper response to being bossed around.
In case you were wondering, no EV will inspire good music.
I could go forever but I’ll stop. Y’all have a good rest of the day. Enjoy being in a nation where “y’all” is a word that makes sense only to us.
A.C.
P.S. It bears repeating, fuck Ralph Nader!
