Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

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what is muzikmafia tv?????

fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 04:04 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/muzikmafia_tv/series.jhtml


they showed back-to-back episodes tonight.

scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 04:06 (nineteen years ago) link

damn you time warner cable for not giving me cmt!

fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 04:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, I saw that! Hilarity. I was flipping channels and saw Willie Nelson & then had the standard OMGWTFLOL reaction to anything the Big & Rich guys do. Don Imus keeps playing the "Kick My Ass" song on his show. (What can I say, my dad and his friends like Imus, and so I decided to investigate.)

daria g (daria g), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 04:54 (nineteen years ago) link

B&R were up there in the Nashville Scene's country critics' poll thing. So were Tift Merritt and that Jack White Lynn record.

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...

es hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 16:11 (nineteen years ago) link

when is that damn poll out, eddie? already?

The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 16:14 (nineteen years ago) link

damn you time warner cable for not giving me cmt!

comcast does the same to me! wtf?!

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

john'n'chicago, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 16:21 (nineteen years ago) link

okay I see it: www.nashscene.com

The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 16:22 (nineteen years ago) link

nine months pass...
REVIVE!

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

my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 04:41 (eighteen years ago) link

I like not love the new one. Second half's better than the first. I do think it's smart of them to ease back on song-times--most of it is under 4 minutes, sometimes even under 3. Looser, rangier, the pieces of the puzzle broken up more but still mostly there. A lot less Cowboy Troy on this one. My favorite is "20 Margaritas," a goofy two-step.

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 05:42 (eighteen years ago) link

their difficult second album

gear (gear), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 06:14 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm for law and order, the way that it should be.
This song's about the night they spent protecting you from me.
Someone called this outlaw, in some ol' magazine.
New York sent a posse down like I ain't never seen.

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.

m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 11:00 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...
how's that decade working out for ya?

gershy, Friday, 4 May 2007 03:30 (sixteen years ago) link

anyone heard new single "Lost In This Moment"? New album in June, apparently ...

etc, Friday, 4 May 2007 04:18 (sixteen years ago) link

Man, I saw a special where they went back to Vietnam with some vet, in order to bury his buddy's boots there, and it was the most amazingly earnest and silly thing imaginable, with Big Kenny traipsing about in his fucking cigar-store Indian garb, doing his best Jim Morrison-at-40 schtick, and Rich struggling to write the most obvious song possible about, you know, how hard it is to deal with, like, losing a friend to the 'Nam, man, and having to bury his boots because his body never came home.
It was so tacky that I wondered if the producer for the Country Music Channel had been deranged by over-indulging in some aerosolized irony.

I eat cannibals, Friday, 4 May 2007 04:48 (sixteen years ago) link

Debut is still my favorite album of the decade.

New album is not. From the rolling country thread:

So, sad news: First cursory listen (or "tracking through," I guess you'd call it -- I only played a couple of the songs from start to finish, so I could well be missing something) to the new Big 'N Rich album on my better half's stereo (as expected, it wouldn't play on mine) pointed toward a MAJOR fucking disappointment. The Wyclef Jean collab "Please Man" (rhymes with "don't call the policeman") reminded me of some jokey reggae-rap-inflected sub-Sublime '90s "alt rock" act, like, I dunno, Cake or whoever, with rap where Wyclef compares himself to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers and Charlie Daniels that's so clumsy it's embarrasing. And that's followed by the bluegrassed slowed-down de-rocked AC/DC cover, which I guess is supposed to be cute, and winds up being as dumb as when doofus nonentities like Hayseed Dixie or whoever do the same thing. (I mean, it's not even remotely an original idea for crissakes.) The actual AC/DC-like hard rock riffs in "Loud" and (if I'm remembering right) "Radio" seemed more useful, and also as loud as anything then band's done, yet not half as rocking as they've often been; the momentum (and the songwriting) just didn't seem to be there, though maybe it'll kick in. One of those two had some pretty blatant wah-wah; the other one, unless I'm getting mixed up with a different track entirely ("High Five" possibly? I wasn't taking notes), had a dancey, semi-synthesized beat that suggested mid '80s radio rock of some sort; another cut -- "Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, I think -- had a similar post-disco '80s CHR rhythm with a more light-r&b vocal style, I guess. And there seem to be plenty of dull ballads, though none of them as dull as John Legend's acapella intro to "Eternity." Also a gratuitous intro or two where Big Kenny rails preacher-style against "prejudice in music" or whatever, and by now it just sounds forced and tired. As does, at least on first listen, their whole damn shtick -- it's like they're already well on the way to becoming the joke/novelty band that morons and idiots and nincompoops and retards thought they were when they first came out. Unless I'm being a moron myself right now. Which I kinda hope I am.

-- xhuxk, Saturday, April 28, 2007 6:44 PM (5 days ago)


Second album was somewhere in between, for what it's worth.

xhuxk, Friday, 4 May 2007 12:13 (sixteen years ago) link

Am I the only person who things this is are shit?

the next grozart, Friday, 4 May 2007 12:19 (sixteen years ago) link

the Junior Senior of country

braveclub, Friday, 4 May 2007 12:20 (sixteen years ago) link

I still love this album. A lot. There might be an album or two I'd put ahead of it from the decade, though. I haven't heard "Drinkin' 'bout You" in a couple of years now. Beyond the obvious ones, I still like "Holy Water" and "Deadwood Mountain" and "Live this Life" and even "Saved".

The second album, alas, did nothing for me.

The Wyclef Jean collab
oh my...

john. a resident of chicago., Friday, 4 May 2007 13:18 (sixteen years ago) link

two weeks ago i saw a drag king do this song. the crowd went fucking insane.

Emily Bjurnhjam, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:08 (sixteen years ago) link

Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy is long overdue a Poptimism revival I think. The first time I heard it (absolutely off my tits dancing around a flare and a tape player on Sunday night at Glasto 04) still sticks in my head as one of those ridiculously happy moments. I think that was more to do with the booze and silliness and camaraderie and the awesome day that preceded it, but the song helped as well.

Matt DC, Friday, 4 May 2007 14:15 (sixteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

ain't no stopping it now!

gershy, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 04:45 (sixteen years ago) link

two months pass...

i pity the fool

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Monday, 18 February 2008 14:40 (sixteen years ago) link

The truth is out there

Dom Passantino, Monday, 18 February 2008 14:44 (sixteen years ago) link

whatchew talking bout willis

latebloomer, Monday, 18 February 2008 15:43 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Herman G. Neuname, Monday, 18 February 2008 15:46 (sixteen years ago) link

also the last time they listened to it

m coleman, Monday, 18 February 2008 16:12 (sixteen years ago) link

six months pass...

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.

Herman G. Neuname, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 11:38 (fifteen years ago) link

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, 22 August 2008 03:08 (fifteen years ago) link

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

velko, Friday, 22 August 2008 03:14 (fifteen years ago) link

Poetry.

Daniel, Esq., Friday, 22 August 2008 03:16 (fifteen years ago) link

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 HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 22 August 2008 03:46 (fifteen years ago) link

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

omar little, Friday, 22 August 2008 04:06 (fifteen years ago) link

"Save a Plane (Ride a Snake)"

Ned Raggett, Friday, 22 August 2008 04:15 (fifteen years ago) link

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

J0rdan S., Friday, 22 August 2008 04:15 (fifteen years ago) link

five months pass...

Just for the title of the piece.

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 January 2009 18:12 (fifteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Nice!

Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 July 2012 04:56 (eleven years ago) link

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

camp lo magellan (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 27 July 2012 05:00 (eleven years ago) link

i instapapered this

camp lo magellan (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 27 July 2012 05:00 (eleven years ago) link

Great read.

Earth, Wind & Fire & Alabama (Eazy), Friday, 27 July 2012 16:09 (eleven years ago) link

good piece.

EZ Snappin, Friday, 27 July 2012 16:14 (eleven years ago) link

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

you're all going to hello (Z S), Friday, 27 July 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link

“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

camp lo magellan (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:08 (eleven years ago) link

enjoyed that piece

camp lo magellan (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:11 (eleven years ago) link

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

a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:16 (eleven years ago) link

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

Algerian Goalkeeper, Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:20 (eleven years ago) link

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")

Nutri Grane (some dude), Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:25 (eleven years ago) link

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

a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:31 (eleven years ago) link

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!!!

Hungry4Ass, Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:45 (eleven years ago) link


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