Backlash after Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" removed from Billboard Hot Country chart

it got mentioned here:

Fusion of Country and Western/Hip-Hop...the wave of the future?

everyone wants to be a cowboy

it samples a track from NIN's Ghosts, that's pretty cool for a #1 hit

Posted this on the Non-US Rap thread earlier, because of the Dutch connection:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8504409/old-town-road-producer-youngkio-interview-lil-nas-x

i've started hearing it on the radio. it's the kind of hit that the medium has been sorely needing for a long time -- all the quibbling about whether it fits in this or that category ironically seems to be helping disparate stations that don't ordinarily see a ton of overlap work together on it simultaneously. close enough to everyone, right? tonight i heard the version w/ billy ray cyrus on the rap station's nighttime mixshow hour.

at some point you had to figure it was definitely going to go big but i can't say i imagined it would be the enormous smash it seems to be on the verge of becoming

If this isn't in the next season of Westworld, I will eat my (cowboy) hat.

instant classic

this song is stupid as hell lol

not saying it’s bad necessarily

it's obviously very stupid but it's also very good

otm

Ridin' on a tractor
Lean all in my bladder
Cheated on my baby
You can go and ask her
My life is a movie
Bull ridin' and boobies
Cowboy hat from Gucci
Wrangler on my booty

it's a very silly song, i do enjoy it tho

its annoying

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/keith-urban-covers-lil-nas-xs-old-town-road-822449/

Keith Urban covered Old Town Road--this version is gonna chart and people are gonna lose their minds.

Once again the white devil's stealing from the black man.

I learned about this song from the pitchfork headline about “Billy Ray Cyrus lends his outlaw cred to Old Town Road” last week and my first reaction was like, admittedly I have not been closely following the oeuvre of mr. Ray Cyrus over these past years, but did I miss something re:him being considered to have ‘outlaw cred’?

keith urban version isn't actually gonna chart lol

My life is a movie
Bullridin' and boobies

Around that time, I had just watched that ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ movie. I just had that scene with Matthew McConaughey in my mind, I was just thinking about his lifestyle. That’s what I did for that line.

The banjo sound makes it all work.

The creek boys remix of Old Town Road is so damn good https://youtu.be/5bXrnvt8KjU

is this the first #1 song where the artist bought the beat from the producer after hearing it on youtube?

nah, desiigner found panda on YT as well

how bout Rihanna and the Numa Numa song

lol good pt

tbf numa numa was a standalone vid, that was before youtube was a colossal force

yeah, and that was also a sample of the original song--desiigner and nas x literally purchased the backing track they heard on YT.

isn't the backing track just "Ghosts 34"? is it really that simple?

no--a dutch producer named youngkio sampled the very beginning of ghosts 34, looped it, and added trap drums

I think I like this. Is it ok to like this?

its not ok to like anything you fool

no--a dutch producer named youngkio sampled the very beginning of ghosts 34, looped it, and added trap drums

Wonder if Goldenvoice will bring this guy/song out at Stagecoach this weekend.

i sing the cupcakke remix to myself all day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90aQaAfXeGs

the creek boyz remix is def worth hearing too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bXrnvt8KjU

this song is good i dont like any of these covers though

Love how a completely non-commercial Nine Inch Nails project can give Reznor/Ross an insane payday.

c'mon the cupcakke remix is great

Love how a completely non-commercial Nine Inch Nails project can give Reznor/Ross an insane payday.

― ... (Eazy), Thursday, April 25, 2019 8:38 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean, "non-commercial" in that it wasn't an album with hits, but it did establish those two as like THE voice of modern ambient and they've been recruited for movie soundtrack projects that I would guess pay exponentially more than publishing on a streaming hit

lol the opening lines of the cupcakke remix are classic

Whatever happened to the Young Thug remix?

I'm obsessed with this choreography

https://www.facebook.com/PorschaColemanOfficial/videos/10156130072335770/

That is fuckin rad

IF OLD TOWN ROAD WAS A UK DRILL SONG pic.twitter.com/tCzqnp8Bp9

— TMC Tré (@iamTresor) May 2, 2019

video is here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Ov5jzm3j8

i love it

Missing one cameo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUUytUkMGO0

Much of the contemporary pop country that I've heard seems to only be country on the basis of having been marketed as country and doesn't actually sound a goddamn thing like country to my ears so it seems like if we start challenging the designation a whole lotta 'country' folks could be unhappy about what side of the divide they'll ultimately wind up on.

i was a little disappointed they couldn't get this dude

https://cdn1-www.musicfeeds.com.au/assets/uploads/Jimmy-Barnes-Scream-671x377.png

Until I did that, though, I relied on those monitors that big department stores like Burdines/Macy's installed in the kids departments. That's where I learned about Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Pet Shop Boys, Wham!, Madonna, Bruce, etc.

Looking at the Billboard Hot 100 for 1995 vs 2022, the main thing that sticks out is the ‘95 lineup seeming more adult-oriented. We were getting Montell Jordan at school dances but my parents would also put him on at parties. I don’t know if parents of junior high kids today are living the Jack Harlow/Morgan Wallen life.

I noticed this a lot with 80's and 90's totp reruns, not just stuff that adults could enjoy but also tons of older artists still hitting the top4 on the regular, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins ofc. I do see a lot of headlines about veteran artist x topping the album charts these days but I think they're safely siloed off from the hot100.

Anyway, re: nostlagia, I've been playing a lot of those Sporcle music clip quizzes Limmy plays on his streams and I'll tell you I'm a fucking beasy when it comes to identifying two second excerpts of hit songs from the 50's to about 2005 and utterly useless after that. This would break the heart of 18 year old me who envisioned my future as a fearless chronicler of pop history, keeping my ears to the ground and my mind in the trenches for as long as I breathed.

but think how embarrassing it would be to know the difference between some awful dubstep pop monstrosity and the Chainsmokers, or the difference between any of the “stomp clap hey” bands of the early teens

Lol re:older acts hitting the top 100

Taylor Swift and Drake debuted around 18 years ago. It’s the equivalent of Grace Slick on the charts in 1986.

Chris Stapleton, Miley, and Nicki were all around two decades ago as well.

hell we all were

weren't there a bunch of old 60s farts in the 80s charts too?

grace slick for example

Take a look at the 1986 rundown I linked to.

The whole “we are at the end of history” shit is tedious post-leftist reactionary podcast runoff imho, no offense to anyone who got bamboozled

Cf https://t.co/IFFIFDFBW5

I mean specifically when used to address present pop culture conditions, obv, although the parallels with a now-30 year old Fukuyama argument are intentional

but think how embarrassing it would be to know the difference between some awful dubstep pop monstrosity and the Chainsmokers, or the difference between any of the “stomp clap hey” bands of the early teens

Knowledge is never embarassing and I assure you my database for 1950-2005 holds plenty that is equally terrible.

My instinct is that most ppl in our age range are simply not aware of what kids are listening to - that kids no longer consume the most popular pop music from a charting pov primarily, that they, much adults, have favorite artists from a wide range of tiers of success, underground favs, poptimist favs, “mid” etc

Big trends in popular streaming music include regional Mexican music, country music, r&b, amapiano, rap as always, super fast dance music most kids associate with video games rather than Frankie knuckles or Kevin Saunderson, etc

*much like adults

Oh yea they also listen to lots of phonk (Eastern European teens making 90s Memphis rap into dance music) and increasingly Brazilian variants of such

Well I don’t know how much kids are listening to amapiano specifically but afropop still streams. It does feel more adult oriented

Replace with kpop or whatever

weren't there a bunch of old 60s farts in the 80s charts too?

― Left, Tuesday, January 16, 2024 9:39 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I know. I was responding to this:

I noticed this a lot with 80's and 90's totp reruns, not just stuff that adults could enjoy but also tons of older artists still hitting the top4 on the regular, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins ofc. I do see a lot of headlines about veteran artist x topping the album charts these days but I think they're safely siloed off from the hot100.

not to speak for dyl, but I didn’t take dyl’s comment (or this convo) to involve “what kids are listening to” on the dl, as much as “pop music” on the most mainstream level (Top 40 and such)…

(I mean I wish I were cool enough that when I said the narrow slice of pop music that I love is better than ever, I was referring to something marginal or obscure… but I ain’t)

can we talk about Falco some more in here

this is frogbs calling

not to speak for dyl, but I didn’t take dyl’s comment (or this convo) to involve “what kids are listening to” on the dl, as much as “pop music” on the most mainstream level (Top 40 and such)…

― Wooly Bully (2005 Remaster) (morrisp), Tuesday, January 16, 2024 9:01 AM (fifty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yea but per Tim’s comment, plus my own, I don’t think top 40 measures what top 40 measured before

I’m not sure teens were listening to all those Diane Warren chart toppers in the 90s either.

The Aerosmith and Toni Braxton ones for sure.

Yeah I didn't take it to be about "measuring" as much as the quality of what is right there in front of us, where it's always been (also, I mean, Duo Lipa is actually v popular)

(not popular enough that I know how to spell her name apparently.. lol)

fwiw, the "the good shit is over here now" line doesn't conflict w/dyl's argument, either

That whole “algorithms are taking over pop” thing felt true to me, at least to a certain extent, in the 2010s, but not now. Plus *smug benevolent father figure face* I have loads of conversations with actual young people about music (bcz DJing) and no two people are the same in terms of what they’re into and why; their knowledge and range, particularly with lyrics, regularly staggers me. I’ve also noticed more awareness from 30+ people about new/current pop. But I’m UK, so maybe it’s different elsewhere.

I sometimes think you folks sometime just make up genres to fuck with me.

Like, are y'all into Blompcore? Smoosh-rap? Flomp-hop? Trip-trap?

In the 90s my friends and I used to invent indie acts and nonexistent labels, because there was no central source of truth. Haven't you heard of The Baby Wipes? They started out on the Rectal Snot label, in Portland. But then they totally sold out when they signed with Megascope.

related, my friends in freshman year of college had a fake band called The Storm Petrels. we even made trucker hats with their name

i recall years ago on here when some of us pretended that Denny Lethargy made an album with Sonny Sharrock (the two never actually collaborated.)

I really dug the Storm Petrels' first EP, Promising Debut.

But I was not into their second release, Disappointing Followup.

did adult contemporary just kinda disappear?

I feel like nowadays there's less room for the David Foster-esque pop

Taylor Swift is effectively adult-contemporary now

We've got an A/C station here -- the cross-campus shuttle blasts it. I'll hear the softer '80s and '90s, stuff like Taylor Swift and Sam Smith and the Fray.

ours really leaned into the Elton John/Dua Lipa mashup

did adult contemporary just kinda disappear?

That's Tycho now

The Clear Channel A/C station in Houston made a hard pivot from Easy Listening (Bolton, David Foster stuff etc.) to "Uptempo Classics To Get You Through Your Workday", which ranges from '70s Disco hits to six month-old Pop hits (I found this interesting that they never played anything brand new), and generally leave the Easy stuff to Delilah's syndicated show in the evenings.

DUa Lipa gets played on the A/C station here too. But then she gets played everywhere.

Plus there's that Argylle thing about to hit in a couple of weeks.

Speaking of which – OMG, Swifties: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/taylor-swift-argylle-author-matthew-vaughn-rumors-1235873834/

Yeah I didn't take it to be about "measuring" as much as the quality of what is right there in front of us, where it's always been (also, I mean, Duo Lipa is actually v popular)

― Wooly Bully (2005 Remaster) (morrisp), Tuesday, January 16, 2024 10:41 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

and im saying some people are just old and 'whats in front of you' is different than what was in front of you at 16

but also — and I think this point is being underestimated—I think more people than ever are *invested in* underground, mid tier, non-pop music, than might have been in the 12-CD-fan days. The 12-CD fan of the 90s now has their own Spotify playlist of stuff that might actually include some relatively obscure act—that act just happens to sound like the 12-CD popular level act they already like.

The point I'm making is that everyone's fandom has shifted, to a stage where being a 'casual music' fan by its nature includes liking some 'not that popular' shit

so when I say that what the pop charts are 'measuring' is different, its not just the pop charts ... the very meaning of obscurity or underground is different ... the entire framework of experiencing 'new music' is different..and I think suggesting this is just a continuation of how things used to be is missing how different things really are

OK but I didn't think we were talking about the "charts" here (thread title aside)

I think what's being exposed to some extent is how retro pop music *always* was ... something like the modern milwaukee rap song sounds 'brand new' to most ears, but its actually based on the 'low end' sound which existed in 2010 or earlier and was just off-board for online music fans... likewise peso pluma sounds new to ppl who don't listen to narcocorridos and its a 'new sound' in the pop space but not a new sound if you listened to popular mexican music for years ... so ppl can marshal this information to make any argument they want, ie "everything is retro now!!!" [spaceman meme] it always was

there's nothing new about the birth of hip hop ... this is just pigmeat markham all over again smh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRS62nccwmw

teenagers absolutely were listening to diane warren ballads in the 90s

did adult contemporary just kinda disappear?

as a distinctive style, yes it is basically endangered. the vast majority of songs on the ac airplay chart are songs that were on the pop airplay chart months before -- so the chart is basically the more milquetoast subset of the pop chart, which is itself boring/stagnant. this past year the exceptions were from artists like p!nk, nsync and lewis capaldi but none were particularly big in general or even at the ac format. there are also a few new christmas songs that come along every year, but during that time the audience reach of new songs at the format declines precipitously bc the playlists lean even more heavily on old songs than usual during that time -- new christmas songs take years to properly break. (there was one by david foster this year!)

anyway the way pop music operates (specifically in america!) absolutely is different now than it used to be, yes i am getting old but the differences are measurable and consistent at least if we're talking abt radio. and yes, shame on me for still paying attention to that hoary old distribution method but i do see it as unfortunate as there are aspects to the radio-listening experience that i do think are unique compared to just clicking thru social media or playlists. i legitimately enjoyed mainstream radio for at least a decade of my life and am sad that most stations in this country seem to think that those aspects simply can no longer be replicated (even tho other radio in other countries still manages it)