Comments on: Taylor Hicks – “Seven Mile Breakdown”

By: Stormy

Stormy — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:09:59 +0000

Jon: Its not country because the lyrics, instrumentaion, producton and vocals contain no elements of country.

By: PaulaW

PaulaW — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:02:33 +0000

If he was gonna release one to country radio I dont know why he didnt choose “Nineteen”. It would be a perfect fit on today’s country radio.

By: Pops

Pops — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:59:23 +0000

Reflect, that was pretty funny. I assume your tongue is firmly in your cheek.

By: reflect

reflect — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:12:12 +0000

great big THUMBS UP from me.
Hicks is as country as Ray Charles, way more country than Swift.
I don’t understand what the problem with the lyrics , I understand it, maybe you have to be a little more country.
All this song needs is a chance. It way more country than most of the stuff I hear on my country station.

By: Matt B

Matt B — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:13:12 +0000

To be fair to an artist, they’re trying to get their music to as many people as possible so it is thoroughly conceivable to market it to as many places and ‘formats’ as possible.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:06:13 +0000

Those who present the music aren’t engaged in a debate.

By: Razor X

Razor X — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:57:18 +0000

Now, maybe it’s wrongly marketed, and it’s “really” not country – but if so, you ought to be able to come up with a better reason for why that’s so than “because I say it’s not.”

Shouldn’t the burden of proof be on those who are marketing the music, rather than on the listeners?

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:32:10 +0000

No, Kelly, that’s the starting point: it’s marketed as country, a genre construct and name which itself – as I’m sure you know – has its roots in music marketing from the 1920s forward. Now, maybe it’s wrongly marketed, and it’s “really” not country – but if so, you ought to be able to come up with a better reason for why that’s so than “because I say it’s not.” And if you’re going to offer how it sounds as that reason, you ought to be able to dish up some specifics. What’s it missing that it needs to have, or what’s it have that it shouldn’t in order to, in your view, be called country?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:03:56 +0000

You are. So, why is this song “country” again? Cuz it’s marketed that way? oh yeah, thats right.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:13:14 +0000

“Thanks Jon – Good to know that as long as someone else tells you that a record is country, you go ahead and believe it without giving it any further examination.”

Well, if that’s all you got out of my answer, it makes sense that you would want to follow Jim down the hypothetical path. But what I wrote was both directly responsive to your question and, I think, pretty clear, so claiming that I missed the point, split hairs, etc., simply shows that you either didn’t understand what I wrote or that you’d rather avoid dealing with informed disagreement. My money’s on the latter, but I’m open to the possibility that I’m wrong about that.