It’s Friday and I’m sharing some of my random thoughts.
I’m actually introducing a new topic today that incorporates something I touched on last week.
As always, we don’t have to agree. But, we have to disagree diplomatically.
Thank you for checking out my thoughts and for sharing yours.
COUNTRY MUSIC & MY RESERVATIONS
When country music programmers gave up on playing new music from Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Pam Tillis, Lorrie Morgan, and other women I love, it was a perfect time for me to stop listening to the genre.
Except for Christmas CDs from Dolly and Reba, the last country CD I bought was Reba’s amazing 2019 Grammy-nominated and radio-ignored “Stronger Than The Truth”.
Recently, I started listening to 99.3 WXFM in Mount Zion, Illinois, in my car and I’m actually enjoying most of it.
However, I’m always hoping not to hear who’s singing, especially the men, since I didn’t want to like a song from racist Morgan Wallen. (No, I’m not buying that he only used that word in a drunken stupor. Alcohol lowers our inhibititions to say, do, or express how we really feel — right or wrong — something our sober mind says “no” to!)
But, Wallen isn’t the only problem and why I have reservations about embracing country music again.
Not only is the format pretty ageist (it stops playing women getting older before it does the men), but it’s still very sexist. Of the 40 most played songs this week on country radio, only seven are by women and one of those is a duet with a man!!!
And, last week, I mentioned that some people are getting bent out of shape after Anheuser-Busch (Bud Light) announced a partnership with trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney.
Kid Rock took his frustrations out by shooting Bud Light cans and “has been” country singer Travis Tritt is not happy either.
He announced he’ll no long work with Anheuser-Busch and drop its products from his hospitality rider and he’s also down on Jack Daniel’s for promoting drag queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race (in a years old campaign).
MY PARTING THOUGHT TO TRAVIS TRITT
Hey Travis, “Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)”!
KUDOS TO HOWARD STERN
Speaking out on the uproar from Kid Rock, Travis Tritt, and other conservatives, the radio talk show host Howard Stern said, “I’m not bothered by gay people or transsexual people. They don’t impact my life, they don’t hurt my life. I love when people are in love. You wanna be a woman? Be a woman. You wanna be a dude, be a dude. Be whatever you f*cking want. As long as you ain’t hurting anybody, I’m on your team.”
EVEN REBA IS SPEAKING OUT
Although her songs have touched on some heavy topics (sex work in “Fancy” and AIDS in “She Thinks His Name Was John”), my country music idol Reba McEntire normally doesn’t take sides in politics or on controversial topics.
However, she did speak out on Tennessee’s anti-drag bill saying she was “disappointed”. Reba adds, “I wish they would spend that much time and energy and money on feeding the homeless children in those two counties.”
When the reporter addressed that her views on the anti-drag bill could alienate some country music fans, Reba responded, “Boy, why? I mean, we’ve got a real problem in this country, and to be worrying about men wanting to dress up as women? God bless ’em to wear those high heels — I feel for ’em. But let’s center our attention on something that really needs attention.”
LOVING THIS COUNTRY SONG
I’ll close on a happy note and get off my soap box with a song that I’m really loving. Thank you again 99.3 WXFM for turning me on to Cole Swindell’s “Drinkaby”.
After I abandoned country music, Swindell blasted onto the charts in 2013 with “Chillin’ It”. It went on to hit #1 and sell more than a million copies!
Since then he’s become a country superstar. He has a total of 17 Top 40 country hits. Twelve have reached the Top Ten and two made it to #1. And, on the country airplay chart, eight have been the most played in the U.S.
His latest, “Drinkaby” is the follow-up to “She Had Me At Heads Carolina”, a remix with JoDee Messina.
Messina even makes an appearance in the video as the bartender!
JoDee’s original, her 1996 debut hit, “Heads Carolina, Tails California” reached #2.
I saw JoDee in concert in the Quad Cities in 2011. It was an incredible show, but I didn’t get a picture. She was very adamant about no photos!
DOG BITES IN ILLINOIS
No, Xanadu (my pug) I’m not calling you out! But, if the shoe fits Cinderella!
Last week was “National Dog Bite Prevention Week”.
In the U.S., 69 million households own a dog and State Farm reports that Illinois is ranked second in the nation for claims of dog bites (255 claims which cost the insurance company $17.5 million in 2022).
Only California leads Illinois (400 claims and $32.2 million dollars).
SPEAKING OF MISS XANADU
The pug is almost four-months-old now and we’ve been a family almost two of those months.
She’s now up to 10 pounds (4.4 pounds when I got her in late February).
“ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT”
I highly recommend the 2022 German war (actually, antiwar) movie, “All Quiet on the Western Front”.
It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The movie won four Oscars, including Best International Feature Film.
At first, I thought it might just be another war movie, but once you got to know the characters and see the pain and sadness of a long, deadly war, the movie carried a powerful punch!
GRADE: A–
OTHER WAR MOVIES
Over the past decade or so, I’ve enjoyed other war movies.
“The Hurt Locker” was my #9 movie I saw in 2010, I gave “Zero Dark Thirty” a “B+” in 2013, “Unbroken” was my #12 movie of 2014, I gave “Hacksaw Ridge” an “A” in 2017, “Dunkirk” was my #14 movie of 2017, and “1917” was my #16 movie in 2020.
“GEORGE & TAMMY”
Recently, I had free Showtime, so I checked out the six-episode series “George & Tammy” about country music legends George Jones (Michael Shannon) and Tammy Wynette (Jessica Chastain).
Chastain won a Screen Actors Guild Award for the performance and will likely be an Emmy contender when the nominations are announced.
If you’re of a certain age, you know George & Tammy were married from 1969-1975 and are two county music legends.
GRADE: B
MY FAVORITE GEORGE & TAMMY DUETS
Since I’m not a fan of George Jones (the man or the singer), I’ll just say that my favorite song of his is “He Stopped Loving Her Today”. It reached #1 in 1980.
As duet partners, George and Tammy scored 13 Top 40 country hits. Eight reached the Top Ten and three made it to #1.
“We’re Gonna Hold On” was my second favorite.
And, “Golden Rings” was my favorite. It topped the chart in 1976 and I still love it today.
MY FAVORITE TAMMY WYNETTE SONGS
Tammy Wynette is one of my all-time favorites. From the 1960s to her last country hit in 1988, she racked up 44 Top 40 solo country hits. 31 reached the Top Ten and she topped the chart 17 times.
My six favorite solo hits from her are: #6 “‘Til I Can Make It on My Own” (#1, 1976), #5 “Stand By Your Man” (#1, 1968), #4 “Til I Get It Right” (#1, 1973), and #3 “I Don’t Wanna Play House” (#1, 1967).
“D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (#1, 1968)
“Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” (#3, 1967)
TAMMY WYNETTE BONUS
While Tammy scored 57 Top 40 country hit as a solo artist and as a duet partner with George Jones, only one of her country hits crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100.
“Stand By Your Man” reached #19.
And, then in 1991, the British band The KLF reached out to Tammy and asked her to be a guest on their song, “Justified & Ancient (Stand By The JAMS).
That song reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Dance Song Chart.
It also topped the charts in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, and Sweden.
Honestly, how many of you remember this song?
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
Anthony
What's Peeps Thinking About Now? It's Probably Random! 