The Country Classics
Gangsta Taylor Swift, a jackass, and real country music
Taylor Swift and Nashville caused, to some extent, the problem Swift had at the MTV Video Music Awards. I wasn’t going to acknowledge “Gangsta Taylor Swift” back in June. For those of you that think The Country Classics is written by those with a myopic narrow field of focus, I beg to differ. I monitor almost everything, and acknowledge very little.
When the incident happened I thought the Kanye West – Taylor Swift incident should be ignored. Today I think Swift may have caused some of the problem, playing it for all the marketing and air time possible.
In June 2009 Gangsta Taylor Swift made her debut as T-Swizzy with T-Pain at the CMT Awards in Nashville this week with the song “Thug Story (a play on her hit “Love Story”), reports Rolling Stone magazine. She also cleaned up quite nicely at the awards show. The Chicago Tribune reports her Romeo-Juliet “Love Story” won the 19-year-old singer her “second straight pair of fan-dictated awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year.”
If that is the image you want, and the crowd you want to run with, then you shouldn’t be shocked when the same crowd disses you, steps on your moment, and acts like jackasses. (ABC News reporter Terry Moran claims that during a CNBC interview on Monday — off camera of course — Barack Obama referred to Kanye West as a “jackass” for his behavior.)
Kanye apparently found the award to be such an injustice that he got on stage, grabbed the microphone, and announced to the audience that Beyonce’s video was “one of the best of all time.”
Taylor was so shocked that she was unable to finish her speech.
Shocked? Swift opened the door long before Gangsta Swift in June. Shocked? Ill-prepared, or perhaps failed to read the crowd, but there is no excuse for being shocked.
I always stay away from Nashville – Texas discussions. I try to stay away from “new country versus classic country” arguments. Young versus old, seasoned veterans versus newcomers – to argue any of those points is a no-win situation. To do so implies there are only two alternatives when in fact there are more.
The Kanye West – Taylor Swift uproar simply reinforces the fact that I do not need conflict in my life when I am listening to great country music. While many of the lyrics mention conflict and sorrow, the music is in perfect harmony with the lives of real people.
I invite you to listen to Merle Haggard performing a very touching song. Just listen to the words. The song is “In My Next Life (I’ll make you proud of me)”
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