Okay, promised to rant about my disdain for country music and the proof I have that rock is superior. Before I get into that, it has been awhile. I’m hoping to get this all up to date over the next week or so, but know that I’m horrible about posting. In June, within a week, Amy’s dad nearly died and mine had a quintuple bypass. Eventful? Yup. Pleasant? Nope.

Okay, I hit upon this whole thing while doing some filing in the medical dept. at the prison. The woman that runs the records room always has the radio tuned to a country station. Country isn’t as “nails on a chalkboard” for me as it used to be, but there are very few artists I can take and with some of them, only a few songs for a limited amount of time. Anyway, the song “Best I Ever Had” comes on the radio, sung with a twang that made my ass pucker. I’m used to the Vertical Horizon version, which doesn’t sound like a cowboy is about to go all Brokeback on someone.

A week later, I was in there and heard “When the Stars Go Blue.” I’m used to the version by the Corrs w. Bono (who, as we all know, gets a lot of puss.) but did know that Ryan Adams had originally done the song. Not this version though. More twang, more ass puckering (not a good thing at a male prison!). What really drove me nuts was the nurses in there were talking about what a great song it was. I agree it is a good song, but should NEVER be sung by Cowboy Curtis.

A few days after THAT, I was over there again and heard a country rendition of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.” AAARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!

I got to thinking back to how country music has remade pop and rock hits, something you don’t regularly see being reciprocated by pop and rock stars. Don’t see Metallica dong a remake of a Garth Brooks song. Just ain’t happening folks! The only notable exception I can recall is Whitney Houston remaking Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” That. Is. About. IT! So, country has to come to pop and rock to get their hits. That tells me they are seeing superior songs outside their genre. If the artists in country are seeing superior songs outside of country, I have to believe that the pop and rock genres are vastly superior to country. The artists’ actions bear this out! When Dolly Parton goes out and remakes “Stairway to Heaven,” something’s wrong with the state of country.

I’ll admit grudgingly that there have been remakes by country artists that improved on the original – Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt” is so raw. He took what Nine Inch Nails’ song and made it his own. You can tell he connected with the lyrics and wasn’t just singing this remake for a paycheck. Garth Brooks’ version of “Shameless” kick the original by Billy Joel in the ass. Probably because Brooks made the song rock, something Joel has never been capable of doing. I’m torn about the remake the Dixie Chicks did of “Landslide.” I felt it was respectful of the original and did improve on the vocals (less nasal than the Fleetwood Mad version). I’m leaning toward this being another example of country improving on the original, but can’t pull that trigger yet. At this point, they are equals to my ears.

But it drives me nuts when a country star has no sense of the song, no sense of the artist who’s originally performed it, putting their heart and soul into it. Or, the country artist who tries to take something that so rocked and turn it into something bouncy and poppy and country. Faith Hill took a great big shit on “Piece of My Heart.” I was shocked, shocked when Amy told me she’d never heard the version performed by Joplin, only the one by Faith Hill (which makes my teeth rot when I hear it – too… sweet, not enough angst). For my wife, the version by Hill will always be the first way she experienced the song. Faith Hill should be labeled a terrorist for that alone.

Going to go and listen to hear what the country artists will be ripping off next. Can’t blame them for taking the songs from the best and dumbing them down for the average country fan.