Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

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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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

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

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

the Junior Senior of country

braveclub, Friday, 4 May 2007 12:20 (seventeen 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 (seventeen 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 (seventeen 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 (seventeen 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

tl;ip

skrill xx (cozen), Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:52 (eleven years ago) link

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).

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 29 July 2012 13:59 (eleven years ago) link

maybe he coulda called it "Bruce" like the Rick Springfield song.

a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:02 (eleven years ago) link

If only.

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:07 (eleven years ago) link

"Springsteen" is so good, maybe in my top 10 for the year. can't really get w/ Church's other stuff, though.

it occurs to me that Horse Of A Different Color came out in 2004, a year or two before YouTube hit big and way before Spotify etc., so i guess that was kind of one of the last bastions of the "I heard this was good so i bought the CD and wtf!!!!" blind purchasing era.

Nutri Grane (some dude), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:19 (eleven years ago) link

so far "Springsteen" is probably my single of the year.

a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 July 2012 14:24 (eleven years ago) link

"Malmsteen"

Listen to this, dad (President Keyes), Sunday, 29 July 2012 15:29 (eleven years ago) link

"Springsteen" is my single of the year too. I like the album but it's still working its way with me.

Euler, Sunday, 29 July 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link

It's funny in that I was hearing it on every radio station in my old town, but I moved last month & here suddenly the stations are mostly rock stations! I think we have one country station. (moved from great plains to midwest) This is maybe the only downside in getting the f outta Dodge-ish.

Euler, Sunday, 29 July 2012 16:35 (eleven years ago) link

springsteen is catchy as hell but i wish there was a reference to making out to "secret garden" just to reaffirm this dude was not a teen in the 80s

da croupier, Sunday, 29 July 2012 19:20 (eleven years ago) link

though that his video's americana is full of double-car garages is an honest update of the cliche

da croupier, Sunday, 29 July 2012 19:23 (eleven years ago) link


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