The point is it's not the channel people might remember playing videos 24/7.
AFAIK, no other music service has dropped the song. Airplay on country radio hasn't stopped. Country Archeck reports:
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" banned by CMT
- Thread starter vchimpanzee
- Start date
- Status
The point is it's not the channel people might remember playing videos 24/7.
AFAIK, no other music service has dropped the song. Airplay on country radio hasn't stopped. Country Archeck reports:
Every year as we approach the 4th of July, I try to avoid that like I avoid the Grandma song at Christmas
I grew up in a small town, where I never quite fit in. It was a German Catholic small town, to the point the Catholic church leased some of the school buildings to the public school system, and the Catholic kids came to school a half hour before the handful of protestants in town. I had my first "drunk" at a Catholic church festival. Several blocks of my town were taken up by the farm equipment factory my Dad worked at (owned by Avco---which also owned WLW radio and associated TV stations.). For very limited education, he did well, backup up by the United Steelworkers. He sold cars on the side and had a couple of rental properties. I couldn't wait to leave.....but I worked my first radio job at one of the county's radio stations. Fast forwarding, we had a hospital, but when my Mom had a heart attack at a rehab home, she had to be transported 50 miles away on two-lane roads and didn't make it. Forwarding to now, our last visit didn't find a dilapidated town. The big factory is gone but where it used to be is now a bunch of small manufacturing companies and offices. The town is amazingly clean, kids are walking around and yes, there is internet. But the attitudes aren't much different.
My father moved every few years for his job. When I was 12, we lived in the largest town I had ever lived in, which had less than 10,000 people. The one time we lived in a city larger than that was just before he retired, and he was going back to where he grew up by living there. Most years in between we were out in the country. Now, I'm in a town with less than 1,000 people. However, I've never lived more than 20 miles from a hospital.
I do remember reading a company in Eastern NC closed a hospital and then tore it down do no one could reopen it, meaning that for some people the nearest hospital was 50 miles away. I wrote them and said their name would always be associated with that act. The company has since changed names.
I do remember reading a company in Eastern NC closed a hospital and then tore it down do no one could reopen it, meaning that for some people the nearest hospital was 50 miles away. I wrote them and said their name would always be associated with that act. The company has since changed names.
I grew up in a small town. When I was growing up there, it was weirdly religious and conservative and the only entertainment was the regular Saturday night street brawl. The church used to come into school and preach. Most people worked in agriculture or manufacturing, or traveled for work elsewhere. It had one newspaper, but didn't have a radio station. If you were gay, or bisexual, or trans, you either hid right in the darkest corner of the closet or you were a good candidate for a regular beating. You never saw anyone non-white.
Today, the same town is having its third Pride celebration, the first having been in 2019. The streets and store windows are decorated with rainbows and Pride flags, and there's going to be a parade through the main street. A good proportion of local businesses, several of which are run by queer couples, are sponsoring Pride. The new local radio station, launched earlier this year, is broadcasting live all day from the event. Big local industries are life sciences and genetics, software development, pharmaceuticals and tourism. There is a racially diverse community, with South Asians, and more recent immigrant communities from places like Hong Kong and Ukraine. The place is immeasurably better in almost all aspects from the town I grew up in.
Aldean is wrong, small towns are not static, they aren't little museums of 1950s life, I think he's massively wide of the mark - they develop and grow and change socially and demographically just like anywhere else. He wouldn't know that, he didn't grow up in one.
Having just read the lyrics (I haven't heard the song and thankfully will avoid it), it's Redneck gibberish. The song implies there's no crime in small towns. Right, it's just Mayberry with Andy and Barney in charge. The line in the song "We take care of our own" is chilling. The KKK used to say that phrase.
I guess all the drug overdoses, mass shootings, and poverty in rural areas are part of the American Dream of Yesteryear. I also noticed it took FOUR people to write that piece of crap. Small town education ain't what it's cracked up to be...
I guess all the drug overdoses, mass shootings, and poverty in rural areas are part of the American Dream of Yesteryear. I also noticed it took FOUR people to write that piece of crap. Small town education ain't what it's cracked up to be...
Last edited:
Some fans of Aldean are now calling for a boycott of CMT.
www.nbcnews.com
They want to do to CMT what they did to Bud light. Except CMT isn't a music video channel anymore. So most of them didn't watch anyway. They likely wouldn't have known about the boycott had it not received media coverage.
They forget that 20 years ago, country fans demanded a ban on the Dixie Chicks.
Jason Aldean’s video accused of ‘pro-lynching’ stance sparks calls for CMT boycott
CMT yanked the video on Monday after it garnered widespread attention over its lyrics and for featuring a Tennessee courthouse where a Black teenager was lynched.
www.nbcnews.com
They want to do to CMT what they did to Bud light. Except CMT isn't a music video channel anymore. So most of them didn't watch anyway. They likely wouldn't have known about the boycott had it not received media coverage.
They forget that 20 years ago, country fans demanded a ban on the Dixie Chicks.
A so-called satire site started a mime that Luke Bryan has pulled his videos from CMT to support Aldean. Not true:
www.billboard.com
www.snopes.com
Luke Bryan Did Not Ask for CMT to Pull His Videos in Support of Jason Aldean After Satire Site Story Goes Viral
Luke Bryan Did Not Ask For CMT to Pull His Videos after the outlet removes Jason Aldean video
www.billboard.com
Did Luke Bryan Pull His Videos From CMT?
The claim spread after the music video for Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" was pulled by the television network.
www.snopes.com
Funny, isn't it? A few years back the phrase being thrown around angrily was "Cancel Culture." Anytime "the left" decided to avoid a business because of their owner's policy or belliefs it was "cancel culture." Chick-Fil-A comes to mind. Remember when politicians proudly shared photos of themselves "standing in solidarity" by buying a chicken sandwich and posting a photo online?Some fans of Aldean are now calling for a boycott of CMT.
Jason Aldean’s video accused of ‘pro-lynching’ stance sparks calls for CMT boycott
CMT yanked the video on Monday after it garnered widespread attention over its lyrics and for featuring a Tennessee courthouse where a Black teenager was lynched.
They want to do to CMT what they did to Bud light. Except CMT isn't a music video channel anymore. So most of them didn't watch anyway. They likely wouldn't have known about the boycott had it not received media coverage.
They forget that 20 years ago, country fans demanded a ban on the Dixie Chicks.
Now the same people are calling for
We know who the real "Snowflakes" are. This song is just more whining from the people who talk about the "Browning of America". All of their own personal problems are because of the "Others". If the people who wrote this song really want to see what's wrong with America, all they need is a mirror...
I disagree. There is plenty of blame on both sides. The mirror is the correct analogy but the blame squarely lies on those who choose to divide. And some claiming to want us to come together are not genuine because they slip in words that are simply talking point words to describe the 'other side'. Just in this discussion it has been implied people who like this song are a part of the group trying to close hospitals and that they promote racism and shooting people. Even the KKK was mentioned. Talk about little known facts: I had no clue and cannot even say it would be true the KKK used to say a certain line. Cancel Culture? Are you kidding. With this rhetoric, how is it any different than the NFL, Bud Lite, et. al. It's just more of the same mostly from people who choose to be negative and choose to divide. It matters not which side of the fence. Another post quickly pointed out if we actually would talk to each other, we'd likely be not that divided at all. Instead both sides show just enough fact and add in just enough obscure incidents to say the 'other side' is like this. Amazingly none of it does any good. Write until you're blue in the face and talk this stuff with your every word and it won't go away. It seems hypocritical for me to say, but I'd prefer worry about stuff I can change. Maybe somebody here sees what I see. I had a doctor tell me in all his patients that lived quality lives into old age, they had a positive bent and never dwelled in the negative.
Turner-- I guess you're saying that people should just accept racist garbage with a smile. The song even condones vigilante justice. You talk about being positive, but this song says City people are essentially lowlifes, while small town folk are sweetness and light. Talk about propaganda. Oh, and the state of Florida Board of Education is now going to teach students about "How beneficial slavery was because it taught them useful skills"...
Last edited:
No, it is a sense of wanting to be part of a community. In huge cities, that is often lost, replaced by joining in gangs or even groups that go to the gym or Pilates classes together. Heck, even the more recent creation of the "dog park" is a social occasion where you join others and do something together.
Crime is everywhere. Some blame it on lack of religious values. Some on the disintegration of the nuclear family. Others on the distancing of the rich and poor and decline of the middle class. Or the huge decline in well paying manufacturing jobs, all reassigned to cheap Asian labor.
But having moved from the second hugest metro in the US to a "little big town" of under a half-million just 100 miles away, the first thing I noticed was the significant absence of crime and greater sense of security. In the big place, people looked down when passing you in the supermarket or Walmart. Here, they smile, often nodding their head in a "hi, hello" gesture.
Same state, same big ethnic population. But a feeling of belonging to the community, not one of anonymous isolation as in "lost in the crowd".
In my n=1 sample, there is a palpable difference. Many of my neighbors, both fulltime residents who came from places like Portland, Seattle, Chicago and Detroit, and the part-timers who have summer homes in Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, have commented on the smaller town feel where "if you don't know them, you know someone who does" atmosphere.
A huge percentage of country songs are collaborative. Nothing new there. In fact, the model is Tin Pan Alley in New York City, the source of a huge percentage of American hits prior to "rock and roll" era. Tin Pan Alley - Wikipedia
Going back to the beginning of the discussion, TheBigA pointed out that CMT only plays music videos in the "wee hours" of the morning. It's not a music video channel any more than your local ABC affiliate is an infomercial platform (because that's what often fills late night hours).
The question posed was "why does anyone care?"
A brief search doesn't bring up any official statement from CMT, but the news stories have said it was after "critics of the video said it contained lyrics that glorified gun violence and conveyed traditionally racist ideas." So people complained, and they pulled the song. I haven't looked it up, but I'm sure someone on the board can find where the song was on the country charts back when they pulled it, and where it is now after the "controversy."
Depending on where it sat, it may have been nothing more than "this song isn't worth the trouble." Songs - even by major label country artists - get dropped all the time. Another thing is...why and how did the decision to drop a problematic video become such a big deal? I doubt that it was the people or groups who complained. I'm almost certain CMT wasn't behind it.
The cynic in me says it was the label seeing an opportunity and taking it. I hadn't heard the song before it became the Outrage Trigger of the Moment, but I listened, and as someone who spent many years in country radio, its...middling. Pretty formulaic stuff in a sea of formulaic songwriting. Probably written in a writer's room in Nashville, the production is typical Aldean, and the words are cliche'. Would it have been a hit if it were not for this dust-up? I don't know, but I do know that no label would walk away from an opportunity to get a record not just up the country charts, but national recognition so that people who'd never heard of Jason Aldean had an opinion on the song.
Why does anyone care? Because someone or someones want very much for you to care.
The question posed was "why does anyone care?"
A brief search doesn't bring up any official statement from CMT, but the news stories have said it was after "critics of the video said it contained lyrics that glorified gun violence and conveyed traditionally racist ideas." So people complained, and they pulled the song. I haven't looked it up, but I'm sure someone on the board can find where the song was on the country charts back when they pulled it, and where it is now after the "controversy."
Depending on where it sat, it may have been nothing more than "this song isn't worth the trouble." Songs - even by major label country artists - get dropped all the time. Another thing is...why and how did the decision to drop a problematic video become such a big deal? I doubt that it was the people or groups who complained. I'm almost certain CMT wasn't behind it.
The cynic in me says it was the label seeing an opportunity and taking it. I hadn't heard the song before it became the Outrage Trigger of the Moment, but I listened, and as someone who spent many years in country radio, its...middling. Pretty formulaic stuff in a sea of formulaic songwriting. Probably written in a writer's room in Nashville, the production is typical Aldean, and the words are cliche'. Would it have been a hit if it were not for this dust-up? I don't know, but I do know that no label would walk away from an opportunity to get a record not just up the country charts, but national recognition so that people who'd never heard of Jason Aldean had an opinion on the song.
Why does anyone care? Because someone or someones want very much for you to care.
And I pointed out that it doesn't. "Wee hours" is midnight to 5 a.m. CMT videos don't start until 2 or 3 and run through 9 a.m. on weekdays and noon on weekends. Whether appreciably more people are watching the videos over breakfast or before lunch is the question. Chances are the numbers for all hours are tiny, but there are many more potential viewers at 8 a.m. than there are at 3. But the huge majority of people who are weighing in on the song now probably only heard or read about it online or via some mass medium, and are checking out the video on YouTube or somewhere else to see what the fuss is about. Suppose CMT had never added the song. Would the video's presence on YouTube or via reposting on FB, Twitter or wherever stoked the fire just as well?
As you intimate, though, this could all be Aldean's label's plan. I wonder how the other Nashville labels feel about this. Country music had been getting a lot of favorable publicity over Luke Combs' "Fast Car." Now Aldean has shifted the conversation back to the same old hick/ignorant/racist theme country music just can't seem to shake for very long. Renaissances are brief. I talk up the "good" side of country music to friends old and new all the time. Now I'm getting nothing but Aldean questions from them and have a hard time coming up with a response that convinces myself, let alone them.
And again, the only reason this is a huge thing right now is the video. It was minding its own business in the lower reaches of the country chart for over a month before this past week.
Last edited:
Music videos are not the attraction on CMT. If they were, they'd show them more often.
People don't watch channels, they watch shows.
This reminds me of something I haven't thought about in a minute. Aldean's first #1 single was a song called "Why." He was (as always happens) not the only artist to do that song. I always thought Shannon Brown did it better on her "Corn Fed" album, but that never went anywhere. Yet (and I admit to stretching things to keep it on topic) the last track on that record was called "Small Town Girl." I thought that this song pretty much nails the perspective of someone who came from a small town and went to chase her dreams in Nashville, but didn't catch them. Anyway...
p.s. I just watched the Luke Combs song. He did a great cover.
It was a page two story in one of the newspapers I look at. I figured that was enough.
tbolt909 states: Turner-- I guess you're saying that people should just accept racist garbage with a smile. The song even condones vigilante justice. You talk about being positive, but this song says City people are essentially lowlifes, while small town folk are sweetness and light. Talk about propaganda. Oh, and the state of Florida Board of Education is now going to teach students about "How beneficial slavery was because it taught them useful skills"...
Wow, you no nothing about me yet you make wild and disparaging accusations. By tearing down someone else to make yourself look good, one must ask, what good are you?
Wow, you no nothing about me yet you make wild and disparaging accusations. By tearing down someone else to make yourself look good, one must ask, what good are you?
Neal McCoy join his and it is not SATIRE. He posts daily (The Pledge) from this page.A so-called satire site started a mime that Luke Bryan has pulled his videos from CMT to support Aldean. Not true:
Luke Bryan Did Not Ask for CMT to Pull His Videos in Support of Jason Aldean After Satire Site Story Goes Viral
Luke Bryan Did Not Ask For CMT to Pull His Videos after the outlet removes Jason Aldean video
Did Luke Bryan Pull His Videos From CMT?
The claim spread after the music video for Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" was pulled by the television network.
- Status