• 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

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sounds like either a hacked account or a feeble attempt at humor by the washed-up McCoy, who is of Filipino heritage and might be looked upon with suspicion in a Southern small town.
 
Having grown up in a small town, my experience is that there is an "in-group" and an "out-group." If you are part of the dominant race, the dominant culture, the dominant religion, or the dominant economic class of the town, then you are part of the in-group.
If not, then you are part of the out-group and are looked upon with suspicion or mistrust. So if you are part of the out-group, you have to work very hard to gain the in-group's trust and acceptance.

It's true that a small town will stand up for the in-group and will support them. But the out-group is strictly on their own, as it is believed that they should not live there in the first place.

Small towns can embrace the best of American hospitality, or the worst of American provincialism and shunning. Jason Aldean ( from Macon, GA, a considerable size city), has apparently only seen the best of small town, because he would be considered their in-group. There are two sides to every situation. I don't think the songwriters on this release meant to sound provincial and shunning, but I can understand why it would be perceived that way. JMO. -- aryl
 
CTListener said:
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.
Click to expand...
Any press is better than being irrelevant these days I suppose.

Bottom line -- The song sucks. It's not like Randy Newman writing songs in the 3rd person as flawed characters. "Rednecks", "Sail Away", "Short People" are just a few examples of Newman's skill at that. Aldean didn't even write the track and it's not anything close to the quality of Newman's work. The song just seems to be Red Meat for the folks who already hold those beliefs...
 
tbolt909 said:
Any press is better than being irrelevant these days I suppose.

Bottom line -- The song sucks. It's not like Randy Newman writing songs in the 3rd person as flawed characters. "Rednecks", "Sail Away", "Short People" are just a few examples of Newman's skill at that. Aldean didn't even write the track and it's not anything close to the quality of Newman's work. The song just seems to be Red Meat for the folks who already hold those beliefs...
Click to expand...
I looked up the four writers of the song. Two are members of Aldean's band, the other two are Nashville pros, one of whom has a long list of credits on songs recorded by Brad Paisley.
 
CTListener said:
Sounds like either a hacked account or a feeble attempt at humor by the washed-up McCoy, who is of Filipino heritage and might be looked upon with suspicion in a Southern small town.
Click to expand...
Why such hate? What does his race have to do with anything sir? Neal is from Jacksonville, Texas and is still a local, just up the road.
 
And it looks like Hank Williams Jr has resigned from the Board of Directors. CMT could really have some trouble on it’s hands.

For the most part, I don’t like Country music and don’t care for this particular song, but it is interesting to see the pushback against actions taken against controversial artists. See Wallen in 2020.
 
Deus Ex Machiato said:
So...there are people pushing out fake stories about this on social media.

Sometimes, when I think I'm being too cynical...
Click to expand...
Cynicism is the only defense from spam, AI generated posts and other Internet misinformation.

I´ll take the cynicism, please, with a side of skepticism with the dubious sauce, waiter.
 
Deus Ex Machiato said:
So...there are people pushing out fake stories about this on social media.
Sometimes, when I think I'm being too cynical...
Click to expand...
Always. One of the news aggregators I often use now has an entire section where they post and then debunk popular Facebook and Instagram memes and stories that have gone viral. While not always the case, most are blatantly false or provably inaccurate claims, made by those on the political right in an effort to reinforce storylines that have been pushed hard by Fox News and right-wing talk. Quotes that are attributed to people who never made them, concerts that artists supposedly cancelled in protest or where fans booed the act off stage - only problem is those supposed concerts never happened and a quick check of the artist's or hosting venue's website proves as much. Sadly, more than 90% of this crap is either obviously made up, or provably false if people would simply think for themselves and do a simple Google search before reposting and sharing it.

The other interesting phenomenon is when FB or IG users see a story from The Onion or another satirical website that posts fake stories that are meant to parody recent headlines or happenings. People post those on their social media sites, don't realize they're made up and it often sets off a firestorm of comments from people who think it's real. One time I saw such a news "story" about a politician. I commented that this was a fake story from a satiracle website and the idiot who posted it on FB replied with "Well, this seems like something they would have said because they're evil, so I'm leaving it up". Speechless.
 
Mikey Radio said:
"Well, this seems like something they would have said because they're evil, so I'm leaving it up". Speechless.
Click to expand...
Reminds me of chain letters. Remember those?

Your gullible friend got one and absolutely had to share it with six people or else (insert terrible thing) would happen. Then they'd corner you and ask if you'd shared it, and if you dismissed them it turned into a whole thing.
 
CTListener said:
I looked up the four writers of the song. Two are members of Aldean's band, the other two are Nashville pros, one of whom has a long list of credits on songs recorded by Brad Paisley.
Click to expand...
OK. Bob Dylan (Or even Taylor Swift) could write something so lame by themselves in 5 minutes. It shouldn't take FOUR people to collaborate on this forgettable tune.

Maybe Aldean's managers didn't want Morgan Wallen getting all the press. They found a way to get a song nobody knew about into the news cycle...
 
tbolt909 said:
OK. Bob Dylan (Or even Taylor Swift) could write something so lame by themselves in 5 minutes. It shouldn't take FOUR people to collaborate on this forgettable tune.
Click to expand...
I don't understand everyone's snobbery about collaborative songwriting. It has a long history and has produced respected, even critically praised, songs as well as forgettable formulaic hits and however you want to classify "Try That in a Small Town." Often the songs are mainly the products of one or two of the names you see on the label; the others may have contributed a key lyrical phrase or made a change in the refrain. There's nothing that says all four people in the room have to write exactly one-quarter of the song each.
 
CTListener said:
I don't understand everyone's snobbery about collaborative songwriting. It has a long history and has produced respected, even critically praised, songs as well as forgettable formulaic hits and however you want to classify "Try That in a Small Town." Often the songs are mainly the products of one or two of the names you see on the label; the others may have contributed a key lyrical phrase or made a change in the refrain. There's nothing that says all four people in the room have to write exactly one-quarter of the song each.
Click to expand...
There's nothing wrong with collaborative songwriting when it's good. There are thousands of examples. My point was that something so lame shouldn't require 4 writers(Humour). It's likely that this track will be quickly forgotten...
 
Looking at the Mediabase chart today, the song is still growing in airplay on country radio. Remember this entire controversy is about the video. The song was released in May, and the video came out last week. Only CMT has said it won't air the video due to complaints from the public. There isn't another country music cable TV channel anymore. Great American Country was sold some time ago.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


Back
Top Bottom