Opinion: Modern country is the worst musical genre of all time

@tylermunns 

Thank you for the prompt response and the apology.  Accepted.

We all of us make mistakes from time to time.  I have certainly done it myself.  Once we click that doomed button, our contribution is indelible.  We feel awful.

@clearthinker I appreciate your grace and understanding.
 

@thespeakerdude One could could argue that a love of music may inspire those that share such to express dismay at powerful forces in the music industry continually, perhaps even aggressively, eschewing originality and intelligence in favor of pandering, exploitation of dubious notions of “authenticity,” and embracing wholesale unoriginality for maximized profits at the expense of high-integrity, original artists who may have otherwise enjoyed those allocations of time, energy, dollars, marketing and distribution.  
These are choices the top labels make, and thusly the drivel that makes it onto the top stations and secures the highest levels of exposure is what the average kid, the average listener is most likely to be exposed to initially.  Should one love music, it may be disheartening to see some kid receiving this type of thing as “the #1 thing” when it could have been something much higher-quality.  
For me, “genre” thing has nothing to do with it. I think bad music is bad music. I think the excretions that ooze out of speakers when someone listens to the average modern, contemporary “country” station is aesthetically offensive. Putrid.  
This criticism of mine has nothing to do with records released over the past 5 years by Colter Wall, James McMurtry, Ian Noe, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
 
 

I’m black. I’m also a jazz musician as my jazz archtop photo and name suggest. I have also invested countless hours studying jazz history. I suggested that jazz was created by black people because what were the odds of the most disenfranchised creating such complex music?

That’s a remarkable fact. Not racist. It’s no different than saying Whites created country music. Whites don’t have to say that because everyone already knows that. But it is simply astounding that the most disenfranchised in a population could even create such beautiful music. And even more remarkable, many musicians couldn’t even read music, yet played beyond one’s imagination. Wes Montgomery, the greatest jazz guitarist ever, self taught, couldn’t read music. That’s a remarkable achievement. And yet, today, jazz isn’t even heralded by many of its only population. Which personally I find pathetic.

Still, there’s no answer to the improvisation aspect to jazz. You think there aren’t dynamics to jazz, and they only exist in classical music? Anyone who has studied music realizes dynamics exist in all music. It doesn’t matter what type of music you’re studying.

My apologies for contributing to this post for the focus should only be on country music.

@coltrane1 we fell off the country music train pages ago. I don’t think anyone questions that Jazz was created by black musicians do they? I wouldn’t feel bad about it not being heralded. That is probably true of most instrumental only music today, even classical who is followed by a smaller and smaller percentage of the population every day. However, I think there are definitely influences of Jazz on R&B, Hip Hop and even Rap and those are definitely heralded by a large portion of the population and I personally believe they have within them, some of the most interesting (and complex) music compared to what else is popular today. You can’t force people to like something or appreciate something just because you do. You can personally expose them, but that is about it.

There is a long list of musical artists over the years who can’t / couldn’t read/write sheet music. Most reading this thread have probably even heard of some of them. Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Elvis, Paul McCartney, John Lennon.