I live in Nashville, and my husband used to play bass for a country music "star". I still don't like it. Just personal preference, I suppose, and I pretty much love most music.
This only applies to modern country music. I love anything from the mid 90s back!
You're near a large portion of my family, they're like an hour's drive away.
And I actually haven't listened to much older country, my 80 year old aunt blasts some really weird country music from the 50's, so that's how i've sampled it.
I'm not really sure why it's so widely criticized, to be honest. I could give you a very, very long and wordy answer about why rap falls under scrutiny but I can't really figure out why...
Maybe it's all that twang and steel guitars. The southern accents are what kill it for me. But there's a lot of older country that I like much, much better than the modern stuff - not even Willie Nelson old, but like, Garth Brooks and Shania Twain era - and I don't remember it being so widely hated when I was younger, though that could have just been because I wasn't paying attention.
I think it's probably because there's little variation in the "sound" / character of each song. With other genres come subgenres and tons of variety, but country doesn't really have that. A lot of it does sound the same. (I'm aware people would say the same about rap, and even metal, and I would disagree on both counts but agree when it comes to country).
I'm not a fan of country music, but it's good ole American story telling. My dad always jokes that most country songs are about some lover quarrel or a man being sad that his dog died and horse ran away. (Trucks seem to be the equivalent of horses now I would assume.)
But.... I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
*Edit: when I say I'm not a fan I mostly mean that I dunno the genre well but I grew up with country music cause my dad is a cowboy lolz (my mom is a short little Asian woman) I always liked having the two influences.
I've never really liked the genre in general, there are some people that I do like within that genre (Shania Twain is one of those, although she is Country Pop, but still it's Country) but as a whole I dislike the genre. Don't like the vocals in most country music that I've came across, as the way the autotune ( don't have a problem with AT) is used on the males makes them sound the same, where the females seem to have more vocal diversity even when using autotune. I don't have so much of an issue with the instrumentation as it does seem to be diverse. I also don't like how repetitive the themes are within the country music realm, for the most part from what I've experienced, the main themes are Marriage, Break-ups, and Divorce, and believe it or not that not only gets old, but is also quite depressing.
Also don't get the idea in your head that Country music is the only genre that can tell a story. You might not of meant for it to appear like that when you typed it, but thats how I interpreted your statement. Every music genre can tell a story, granted it might not be as in your face as the stories in the country genre are, but they all can tell stories.
It's demographics. Generalizing broad strokes, but country music to someone not living in the country most of the time won't find it relatable. Given that it is in the more recognizable genres of music, it is more apt to scrutiny by the vast majority that relates more to x/y genre. How they respond and voice their opinions highly depends on their communication and maturity level, basically you get what you get.
I'm pretty open about hating Country because - and pretty much only because - it is crammed down my throat all of the time.
I don't really like metal either, but I never have to hear metal at work or at restaurants. There was a time at my workplace where this lady would put the same awful CDs of country on every single shift. Now they don't allow CDs anymore, but guess what? The playlist they put on instead STILL has country on it!
My question is why, if country is so disliked, is it so often played? It honestly is the most grating genre I have to regularly hear. It's either irritating or it's downbeat in such a way that it slows me down. Considering that I listen to a lot of slow/depressing music and only country can have that effect says a lot.
growing up in the south i've listened to my fair share of country music, and tho i don't hate it, i can see why it's hated by a lot of people. it does all tend to sound the same and is all about the same stuff; trucks, tractors, and achey breaky hearts. also it's riddled with objectifying women. there's actually a country song sung by two women about how they'd hate to be a girl in a country song. but, some songs are rly nice and have an actual good message or tell a good story. some are sad and pull at my heart strings and some are just fun. also as some others have mentioned, it's not always universally relatable.
i've gone thru periods where i listen to country music regularly and if i'm somewhere and i song i know/like comes on, i'll sing along but idk i just can't listen to it for very long.
Country music all sounds the same to me, always so whiny. It's the only genre of music I just can't get into. I can think of like, 5 country songs that are alright.
It just depends on the people, I guess. Not everyone is going to hate country, just like not everyone is going to hate rap or whatever other genre.
I live in an area where country is really popular. We have a dance club for western dancing and country music artists come by and put on shows. I don't really hear as much country hate around my area.
I used to love country when I was a kid, my mom played it all the time and it was pretty much all I knew besides classic rock. But as I got older and found my own music to listen to, I realized country really wasn't my style and I don't really like it.
What I do hate is that my sister went a long time hating country music, then it seemed like out of the blue she wanted a pick-up truck, loved country music, wanted cowboy boots, and changed the way she spoke. Like whatever, you like what you like, but her and myself came from extremely suburban areas. I was just always like "where are you even getting this from??" but I don't like her much to begin with.
When I was little I loved country music. Liked so many songs... but the feeling of it's changed for me. Seems like almost all the country songs I hear are "I'm a woman grr don't mess with me y'all", songs about trucks, songs about fishing, songs about beer... oh and let's not forget the songs about how dang fine the singer's woman looks in tight blue jeans. Yuck.
I like older country music, but I'm far less than a fan of modern country.
