Toby Keith has been honoured with four prizes at the Academy of Country Music awards. Toby Keith , Classic Or Dud?

"Beer for My Horses" just went by the radio and, wow, I can't believe any station would play this in 2020. Also, wtf, there was a movie??

Yeah, used to hear this on the radio all the time (back when I lived in a red state small town) and always did a double take at the lyrics. The awful thing is the chorus is kinda catchy so when I hear it on the radio I sometimes catch myself humming it later that day.

NEWS: Amid impeachment effort, Trump is giving medals to @tobykeith and @RickySkaggs — national medal of the arts, several sources tell me

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 13, 2021

RIP

if I speak

“A Little Too Late” “As Good As I Once Was” “Just Talking About Tonight” all classics imo

what????

Yeah, he had a run of good to excellent albums in the mid '00s. I'd add "Somewhere Else," "I Love This Bar," and about a dozen others to PK's list.

Requisite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyIwRoPr728

damn the taliban finally got him, sending love & light

no reason in particular. pic.twitter.com/Ycs9zqdTf1

— lieutenant winslow (@lt_winslow) February 6, 2024

Have they started leaving flowers at all the I Love This Bar & Grill locations?

when I turned 21 and started going out the song that would play nonstop is "I Love This Bar", like every local place would have someone playing it 3x a night, one of the few songs I still actively hate, though perhaps "Red Solo Cup" is actually worse, perhaps because he was 50 years old when he wrote it, not to be ageist but if you're that old you should not be at those sorts of parties you giant fuckin weirdo

rest in peace

My aunt brought out red solo cups for our Noche Buena party in December. We were sitting outdoors.

"I Love This Bar" is great.

I would argue with you Alf but I will show some respect for the recently deceased

When exactly did this racist asshole earn any respect?

Some of us who write about country music loved the stuff he released between 1999-2006. We gotta deal with garbage like "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" and "Beer For Your Horses" the same way we gotta deal with "Okie From Muskogee" and "Fightin' Side of Me." But Toby Keith is responsible for the hesitation about assessing Toby Keith. I haven't listened to his last few albums, but it wouldn't surprise me if the white trash with money ethos he celebrated and in 2016 and 2020 implicitly empowered hadn't disfigured his songs. Keith had too much talent for it to happen. Or maybe the newer songs do get disfigured in the same way fascism shrivels whatever it touches, including the earlier material I've praised. Either way I wouldn't have bothered even if he'd rejected Donald Trump.

“I Wanna Talk About Me” is an awesome song

I think I have Tim H to thank for introducing me to “As Good As I Once Was” which is on the very top shelf of unimpeachably satisfying country
songs

You’re welcome Tracer. Alfred OTM - White Trash With Money was where I delicately alighted from Toby’s truck but the string of LPs beforehand are really good with disgusting moments (and as with all such things everyone has their own bar for where the gross stuff gets too much).

i love that bar

I've always loved ILM's double standard with modern country vs indie like omg Pitchfork didn't start their Sleater Kinney review with a land acknowledgement vs Toby Keith advocating for murdering people in the Midwest or Morgan Wallen said the n word sure sucks but whaddya gonna do?

mideast obv

are the same posters dismissing the S-K review the same ones praising Toby Keith?

actually, Keith's lynching song did advocate murdering Americans.

I think Springsteen's Nebraska was advocating for murder in the midwest

Some of us who write about country music loved the stuff he released between 1999-2006. We gotta deal with garbage like "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" and "Beer For Your Horses" the same way we gotta deal with "Okie From Muskogee" and "Fightin' Side of Me."

Are you sure you get "Okie From Muskogee"?

are you sure you do?

Some good words from Adeem: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=823438616258910&set=pcb.823478716254900

I've always loved ILM's double standard with modern country vs indie

Yeah, this is really weird around here. Toby Keith and Morgan Wallen get met with a shrug and excuses because they've also released good music, but when it comes to indie rock and metal, even the slightest whiff of guilt by association gets an artist rendered persona non grata around here. Which isn't to say indie rock dudes and metal dudes don't often earn being canceled and ignored, but it seems to be a real blind spot for country artists to get a pass for racist bullshit.

Sure, but how many country critics on these threads overlap with rock and metal ones? Speaking just for myself, I don't practice "canceling," never have.

We also don't spend a lot of time criticizing rappers for being misogynistic.

The way I see it (surely there is a country album with that title), a huge hunk of country music may share his political beliefs, but only a select few assholes go out of their way to flaunt them, repeatedly and aggressively, and even fewer of those select few assholes (if any) produce much worthwhile enough to overlook their bullshit the way I/we/many/most overlooked, say, Public Enemy's. Like, Brad Paisley's career has been all but ignored ever since he released a *well-intentioned* provocative song, why would I give Toby Keith the time of day for so many *intentionally* provocative, reactionary, jingoistic, xenophobic, racist etc. songs? Especially when there is an almost endless list of other country artists great and small that deserve more ears? Just because he's popular?

Misogyny is rampant in all strains of music, but how many current acts (rap, country or otherwise) make misogyny a trademark? When people think of Toby Keith - and I'm sure the obits will evince this - they are thinking of one thing first and foremost.

If we have to drag Merle into this, its worth noting that he changed his views on the war & counterculture over time and didnt hesitate to call songs like "Okie" and "Fighting Side of Me" the work of a dumb ignorant kid.

I'm sure the obits will evince this - they are thinking of one thing first and foremost.

Well certainly the obits written by people who know of him for one thing.

xpost And also likely recorded dozens of songs better than Toby Keith's best, but I'll leave that to the experts

Brad Paisley's career had already flatlined before that terrible song. Besides releasing increasingly okay at best albums, he was (a) getting older in a genre that prizes youth on the radio (b) an Obama supporter.

actually, Paisley started getting boring at the same time as Keith.

Also speaking of Merle, when he was old and ailing he was playing a concert and could only make it through about 4 songs. He called Toby Keith up from the audience and had him finish the concert for him (playing Merle's songs of course.)

i also think we're kinda conflating criticizing a late musician's troubling legacy after they die vs 'cancelling them' and not listening to their music while they're alive.

some people do the former and not the latter.

like when Prince died we talked honestly about what a son of a bitch he was in the days and weeks after he died but we're still showing up to the threads to talk about his music, y'know

yeah, I'm not sure what Josh's deal is. Is someone making you listen to Toby Keith? Or are you offended that people on this message board like some of his songs?

and Hag (with Willie!) was still performing "Okie" as late as 2015:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqJvKaBwBZI

he was an obama supporter

he was also a Palin supporter at the same time, and loudly & publicly quit the Democratic party before the '08 election because it was "too full of crazies". When pressed, he always tried to aw-shucks himself to both sides because everyones money is equally green, but it didnt take a genius to know what he was pushing.

tbh its hard for me to be unbiased because i cant dissociate him from that moment in time and the ppl i knew who took the racist war anthems of TK and his ilk at face value and ended up not having as good of a 2002-2008 as he did. if thats unfair to his other apolitical barroom singalongs, its a contradiction i can live with

Toby Keith: how do you like him now?

The Dixie Chicks were right to shit on him btw

wait I missed that you were talking about Paisley re:Obama Alfred, lotta posts crashed in at once there

Yeah, I thought so!

Paisley said his song "Welcome to the Future" was inspired by Obama's victory.