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Notes -
Weird I find country increasingly feels self referential and unlistenable. My dad was listening to country radio, and Cowboys and Plowboys came on, and it just made me want to gag. A whole song built on a fake distinction between fake identities of people who don't exist. It just felt so manufactured.
I think part of it is exposure. Obviously I had genre preferences I actively sought out when I was younger, but the general media landscape would give you a more balanced diet of different types of music. There were popular Rock songs, Rap songs, Country songs as well as obvious Pop hits. I'm sure Country has also gone downhill, but it was kinda easier for me to turn my nose up at it as a selective kid/teen.
Now that it seems everything is so heavily Rap dominated, I've kinda made a peace with other genres (like Metal, even). Like, please play anything that doesn't have that monotone rhythmic cadence and that fucking repetitive stuttering hi-hat trick! I know that's supposed to be a 'trap' thing, but Lord it seems to show up everywhere in influence. Please stop putting it in so many soundtracks and trailers where literally any other choice of music would be more appropriate.
I asked Google Home to play some 'easy listening' music and it defaulted to some midtempo mumbling rhyming about pussy sweat among other things. I am not a prude, and my own audio catalogue has its share of depravity. But come on. I want George Michael (sexual t-rex that he was), not this.
I listen to very little new music overall, so you're probably right: if I listened to more unfiltered Top-40 I would probably hate most of that much more than I hate a lot of modern country. Music essentially gets added to my library from the local college radio station, from my gym friends, from my wife. The only time I'm listening to unfiltered new music is when my father is listening to country radio while we drive somewhere.
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