Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

I was hanging out with a friend of mine who had never seen or heard B&R. We watched some CMT. He just snickered and laughed at that B&R video shot on one of the bridges in Nashville over the Cumberland River. "What the fuck is this?"

I think it's OK, I've grown to somewhat appreciate it. I don't know any other person here in town who takes them seriously at all, they all go "goddam, those New York critics will take *anything* we do seriously." And I don't totally agree, that's just some kind of picque. B&R don't make me laugh or jump up and down or anything, but I think it's good fun, something to think about, significant enough in the evolution of Nashville--maybe Gretchen Wilson is more significant, or Monkey Gentry, you know, in terms of shifting weirdo demographix and all that. As music, well, I am not sure, again--sometimes I quite like it and other times I go, hmm...think I'll just watch Shania Twain ride and sing on her horse in a field of agave or something, she's so lovely...

comcast does the same to me! wtf?!

while i'd *love* to see this, my wife is very glad we don't have it.

in honor of the release of the new album, let us revisit what is still the best album of the half-decade, shall we?

Don't you think this outlaw bit has done got out of hand?
What started out to be a joke, the law don't understand.
Was it singing through my nose that got me busted by the man?
Maybe this here outlaw bit has done got out of hand.

ain't no stopping it now!

i pity the fool

The truth is out there

whatchew talking bout willis

There should be a poll on how many ilxors bought a Big & Rich album because of ilx. And what they thought of it.

also the last time they listened to it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7572040.stm

Daughter slams Cash 'endorsement'

The daughter of late country star Johnny Cash has called the use of her father's name to endorse a US presidential candidate "appalling".

Country star John Rich[ implied Mr Cash would have backed Republican hopeful John McCain while appearing at a rally in Florida, according to media reports.

Writing on her website, Roseanne Cash called the remarks "presumptuous".

"Even I would not presume to say publicly what I 'know' he thought or felt," she added.

According to the Washington Post, Mr Rich, a member of the duo Big and Rich, told a crowd of supporters in Florida: "Somebody's got to walk the line in the country."

"They've got to walk it unapologetically. And I'm sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around."

The star then went on to sing Cash's hit, I Walk the Line.

Ms Cash, who is also a singer-songwriter, requested that in future: "My father not be co-opted in this election for either side, since he is clearly not here to defend or state his own allegiance."

"I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals," she added.

Grammy-award winner Cash sold over 90 million records and had hits with Folsom Prison Blues, Ring of Fire and Man in Black. He died in 2003, aged 71.

I am really at a loss as to why there was universal praise on ilm for such a self-evidently atrocious piece of music as "save a horse (ride a cowboy)".

Why make the past your sacred cow?
I guess you've
changed, you've changed and how
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Fruit's grown rotten on the bough
Reap what you sow,
with a counterfeit plough
Yeah, yeah, yeah

That
was then but this is now

More sacrifices than an
Aztec priest
Standing here straining at that leash
All
fall down
Can't complain, musn't grumble
Help yourself to another peace of apple crumble
And
consequently:
Hearts of oak are charged and blistered
Russians should be baby-sitted
Americans enlisted

That was then but this is now
That was then but
this is now
That was then but this is now

Poetry.

I am really at a loss as to why there was universal praise on ilm for such a self-evidently atrocious piece of music as "save a horse (ride a cowboy)".

-- Freedom, Friday, August 22, 2008 3:08 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

hello and welcome to ilm

big and rich is like the snakes on a plane of the music critic community

"Save a Plane (Ride a Snake)"

I am really at a loss as to why there was universal praise on ilm for such a self-evidently atrocious piece of music as "save a horse (ride a cowboy)".

-- Freedom, Friday, August 22, 2008 3:08 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

A challop for America

Just for the title of the piece.

anthony on B&R

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/07/what-save-a-horse-ride-a-cowboy-did-to-country-music/260300/#

Nice!

I read the title and was shocked the article wasn't just "Nothing."

i instapapered this

Great read.

good piece.

this thread is the clearest instance of ILX totally fucking me over.
i remember sitting there, 5 tracks into the big & rich cd i had just purchased, shaking my head, reading the thread again. checking the date, no...not april 1, wtf

“Save a Horse” was meant to launch a new hybrid genre—”the South shall rock again,” wrote one critic in a review of the album that spawned the song.

no djp but I literally just spent 5 minutes trying to google the Big & Rich song "The South Shall Rock Again" inspired by Dom Passatino's Stylus review

enjoyed that piece

The second best moment in MM was when almost half the audience started singing "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)."

this thread is the clearest instance of ILX totally fucking me over.
i remember sitting there, 5 tracks into the big & rich cd i had just purchased, shaking my head, reading the thread again. checking the date, no...not april 1, wtf

Still makes me lol that so many of you bought the cd and had the same reaction z s did

the whole phenomenon of ilxors who don't listen to country checking out a country album, recommended highly by posters who listen to a ton of country, and acting like they were punk'd is just weird

article kind of conveniently ignores that Big & Rich currently have their biggest country radio hit in years (a very un-"Save A Horse"-like song called "That's Why I Pray")

no point recommending Dierks Bentley and Eric Church to ilxors :(

i was swept up in save-a-horse-mania back in 04, but i actually liked the album and started listening to more country because of it. owned!!!

tl;ip

xxpost -- my sweetie (the country fanatic) is all about Dierks but is kinda pissed with Church because she likes everything about "Springsteen" except, well, the title, in that she hates Bruce. (Which I'm all good with, as has been previously established).