Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

For the rest of my life I will remain completely baffled by how this awful album became such an ilm touchstone.

I'm assuming even calling it "awful" out loud will get me FPed so I'll add, "so long folks".

No, you're fine. There's room in the manger for all walks of life. As The Big 'un always says, "It Ken be done."

I bought the album four years after this thread sprung to life and liked it quite a lot, but then again, this place is not the friendliest toward country, a genre which mixes schmaltz, arena moves, bad jokes, and pathos in ways that confuse people (and sometimes me).

I mean, I love it when ilm coalesces around an unexpected album and pushes me to check it out, but no matter how many times I tried with this, I didn't get it at all. Still don't.

I'm going to guess--maybe I'm wrong--the coalescing had something to do with Chuck's over-the-top swoon at a moment when he was editing the Voice.

I have watched the video in wide-eyed, catatonic horror.

This happens. I never got Moby's beloved Play, much of Radiohead, much of Kacey Chambers, incl. 0 of her beloved Golden Hour ilm is the manger tho.

Musgraves! Sorry Kacey Chambers, although I gave up on you too, to put it nicely.

, this place is not the friendliest toward country, a genre which mixes schmaltz, arena moves, bad jokes, and pathos in ways that confuse people (and sometimes me).

― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, December 14, 2020 11:46 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i honestly don't think i am confused at all by big & rich or country music

the whole big & rich thing on ilm basically always felt like like someone handed me a cold big mac and i tried to eat it and spit it out and then i'm told i need to go to culinary school to really appreciate it

i checked out your life as a record by brandy clark this year because of ilm and that was a real treat, just great songwriting

For me, a good example of the complete opposite of this was Last Train to Paris. It took a lot of convincing to get me to care at all about what Diddy was doing in 2010, but the ilm hivemind managed it and I absolutely fell in love with that record.

sounds like a good poll!

this place is not the friendliest toward country, a genre which mixes schmaltz, arena moves, bad jokes, and pathos in ways that confuse people (and sometimes me).

there was definitely an element to the ilm big & rich thing of some people giving themselves a permission structure to continue writing off all other country music

xpost - I'd be really curious to see what the list of "ilm event albums" looks like. These two, that Electrik Red record maybe?

for sure

permission structure to continue writing off all other country music

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Monday, December 14, 2020 12:37 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i see zero evidence of this

Peak into any year-end thread when an Eric Church single appears.

I don't really follow those too much

I guess why would anyone need permission not to like country music much less pretend to hate Big & Rich when secretly in your dark little heart you love it so much and listen to Save a Horse every day crouched in the closet in secret shame?

no one has to like anything

i was unclear, i didnt mean ppl were being disingenuous about hating big & rich, what i meant was a certain amount of the big & rich praise on ilm had a framing of "we all know country music sucks but FINALLY this is GOOD" that struck me as self soothing a little bit, giving themselves permission to continue writing off country as music for dumb racists because they like the album where the guys rap about not being racist.

yet they turned out to be racists

ahhh sorry OEO totally misread

"FINALLY these are GOOD racists!"

this place is not the friendliest toward country, a genre which mixes schmaltz, arena moves, bad jokes, and pathos in ways that confuse people (and sometimes me).

I love country music from some mega-schmaltzy eras (e.g. 1987-1997) but have completely loathed Big & Rich from day one. It's just terrible stuff and I don't get it at all.

I also hated Lonestar so I guess I do hate these guys specifically

KiNG would have to be on that ilm hive list. And chuffing Balloon.

avalanches are the classic ilm act for me. never seen them in anyone's record collection irl or heard anyone talking about them

Oh yeah, I used to put some of their early stuff on mix tapes way before seeing anything about them on ilm. I guess they weren't all that well-known in the US, but I got compliments for the tapes.

I was actually into Since I Left You before I came around to ilx, can't remember where I heard about it, probably some magazine review.

I think Sim0n Reyn0lds reviewed it pretty ecstatically in Uncut? I could be remembering that wrong.

Yeah think I first heard them on magazine bonus comps.

Ah, that Reyn0lds review was in Spin. That is definitely where I would have seen it.

I have "Save A Horse" on my Elliptical Jams playlist, mostly unplayed since March.

the first B&R record still rules--but there was a lot of great Country music in that era

Yeah, and that was when I started paying attention to it, beyond Willie---pop arena mainstream country was big fun, and I thought so much of it was going to keep being like that---spoiled me, waaaah

he paid out, it went to a military charity: https://tasteofcountry.com/john-rich-joe-biden-donald-trump-election-bet/

I met with @GovBillLee and @SchwinnTeach today at the Capital building. They told me new legislation will be put on the docket in this session to deal with "literature" that our kids are being exposed to containing obscene and pornographic content. They listened. We'll see.

— John Rich (@johnrich) January 11, 2022

sounds like a cool jerk sesh bro

The press release calls Cowboy Troy "the world's only six foot five inch, 250 pound black cowboy rapper, who throws down in three languages and has a degree in economics to boot."

Seems like he should be Big In Europe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tofbP46Ohd4

He's 6 foot 5. Probably big everywhere.

That first one’s kind of rapey. Guess who’s lyrics… pic.twitter.com/Gj7CklQ2E6

— Rep. Gloria Johnson (@VoteGloriaJ) January 12, 2022

lol. She's my state rep, one of our few local Dems. She just got redistricted out of her own district.

Doubling down, I guess.

Cepicky bill criminalizing "obscene" materials in school libraries rolled one week because of time constraints after singer John Rich compares librarians to perverts in a "white van."

— Sam Stockard (@stockard_sam) February 23, 2022

I want to know how a kid working at a fast food restaurant found the funding to purchase thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of rifles, ammunition and body armor. We need answers.

— John Rich (@johnrich) May 27, 2022

Well clearly this is why we have to keep the minimum wage down

And then America tells him to step right up despite not allowing him to buy a glass of whiskey.

— John Legend (@johnlegend) May 28, 2022