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Academic Research of Violence in Country Music

There is not an abundance of academic research pertaining to violence in country music. However, the research that has been done is significant and telling. Armstrong (1993) examined country and rap music looking for similarities in the two genres looking for evidence of violent crimes and toughness. He concluded that, contrary to popular belief, country and rap music are very similar in their representation of violence. Many country songs depict violent crimes, especially domestic abuse. Country music also draws on very masculine themes, such as fighting, drinking, and just toughness in general. Country music shares these traits with rap music more so than we think. 

Other than this piece by Armstrong, there was very little academic research on violence in country music. The other pieces that did exist were unavailable to access. Violence in country music is an interesting topic and I would suggest that more research is conducted in this area going forward.

I turned to forms of popular media for other opinions concerning violence in country music. There is a conclusion amongst many other popular sources that violence is present in country music, and that this presence is often overshadowed by the violence in rap/rock music. There is a subgenre of country music that some have dubbed “Murder Ballads.” These are slow country songs that describe a murder, such as Johnny Cash’s “Delia’s Gone.” Many websites noted that when violence is included the objectification of women often follows. Songs such as “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” and “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” are just a few examples of songs that include violence and the objectification of women. Many opinions also questioned why is it when rappers sing of violence and sex that the public finds it offensive and disrespectful, yet country artists sing about the same things and it goes by the wayside.

Pictured above is Joe Nichols. His song “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” made him famous.

Overall, the examination of violence in country music from an academic standpoint is almost obsolete. However, people are noticing. One simple Google search of “violence in country music” will bring up numerous articles questioning this trend.

Citation:

Armstrong, Edward G. (1993). The rhetoric of violence in rap and country music. Sociological Inquiry, 63(1). 64-78.

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The Cultural Diamond

The cultural diamond is a tool that can be used to critically examine a popular culture artifact. There are four parts to the cultural diamond: creator, receiver, cultural object, and social world. The creator is the person(s) who created the artifact. This can include the author of a book, the director of a movie, producer of a television show, production studio, etc. The receiver can be thought of as the audience; it’s the people who are consuming the popular culture artifact. The cultural object is the artifact itself. This can be anything from a magazine to an album and everything in between. The social world is the world in which the artifact was created. The time and events occurring at that time are important in the creation of a popular culture artifact. We examine all four of these areas by looking at things such as race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. and see what role they may play.

The key to the cultural diamond is that all of these aspects do not work in isolation. As you can see from the picture above, the arrows represent some of the ways in which the different aspects of the diamond can interact. When the creator is creating a popular culture artifact, the social world will influence his/her choices, as well as who his/her target audience is. To truly understand the effectiveness and influence of a popular culture artifact, we must take all aspects into consideration. 

We can use the diamond to analyze any popular culture artifact. For example, we can examine the country song “Get Along” by Kenny Chesney. The song is going to be a part of Kenny’s eighteenth (!) studio album titled Songs for the Saints. The song is performed by Kenny Chesney, a straight, white male singer who has been on the country scene since the 90s. The three writers of the song are all male. The receivers of the song are country music fans, fans of Kenny, and people who listen to country radio stations. The song was just released a few weeks ago, so it’s hard to get exact demographics for the audience. The song itself is very uplifting. The theme of the song is about getting along with everyone and enjoying life. Kenney sings the chorus:

“Get along, on down the road We've got a long long way to go Scared to live, scared to die We ain't perfect but we try Get along while we can Always give love the upper hand Paint a wall, learn to dance Call your mom, buy a boat Drink a beer, sing a song Make a friend, can't we all get along”

From these lyrics, you can see that Kenny and the writers are drawing on popular themes in country music, such as love and drinking. The song was just released, so we can assume that the social world in which this song was written is the world in which we are currently living. In America there currently is much tension in politics, foreign affairs, race relations etc. This song can be seen as Kenny’s plea to people; he just wants everyone to get along. This was a brief examination of a popular culture artifact, but we can see how the diamond can be used as a tool to critically examine media.

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Position Statement

Country music has been my favorite genre of music since I can remember. I had always associated the genre with sunshine, good times, youth, love, and emotion. After taking COMM 435, I have realized that violence is a common theme amongst many country singers and songs. People usually blame rap music for being too “violent” or too “vulgar.” However, country music contains many violent and vulgar themes. These themes may be more explicit in rap music, but in country music they are very much present. Which, in my opinion, is the key issue. The violence is not as explicit, therefore, we as consumers do not recognize it. I believe that it also has to do with the music itself. Country songs range widely in style; some are very fast and upbeat, others are slow and mellow. Violent themes will be present in these slower songs, but we may not recognize it because we typically will associate violence with the more upbeat, fast songs (like most rap songs).

As I have mentioned previously in this blog, Eric Church is one of my favorite country singers. I listen to him all the time and have seen him in concert once. I had never thought of him to sing about “violence,” however, it is prevalent in many of his songs. For example, his song “Lightning” is about a guilty man in prison reflecting on his crime before he is sent to the electric chair. He describes the crime–shooting and killing a liquor store attendant during a robbery–and expresses his remorse.  Church sings, “For shootin' that boy to death/A liquor store attendant/He was reachin' for his gun/Now his Momma sits there smilin'/As the boss yells \"Roll on one” \.” Until sitting down and really thinking about it, I never realized the violence in this song. The song is very slow and mellow and features mostly Church’s acoustic guitar–possibly a reason why I had never noticed. Another good example of a slow country song exhibiting violence that I have touched on earlier in this blog is “Thunder Rolls” by Garth Brooks. Very soft, quiet, and mellow, yet it is about a woman killing her husband.

It’s not as if these violent themes are not present; they are very much there. However, we may not notice it as much due to the nature of the music. We do not associate violence with this musical style, therefore, country music often gets overlooked as to how violent it really is.

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Advice for COMM 435

COMM 435 has been a great class to take and I would recommend any student at NDSU to take it.  It taught me how to critically analyze popular culture and consider its implications. If I had three pieces of advice to incoming students, it would be this:

1.     Have an open mind. For me, much of the material and content we covered was a bit shocking. We learn a lot about the representations or race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. in popular culture. When you see some of the statistics you may think, “No way, that can’t be true.” Maybe being a straight, white male, I had never realized how poorly minorities are treated and represented in popular culture, so that’s why it was such a shock to me. Have an open mind when examining these representations.

2.     Put yourself in their shoes. This class will be much more enjoyable, and you will get much more out of it if you put yourself in the shoes of others. When studying about representations of disabled people in popular culture, consider if it were you. Consider if you were disabled and how you would feel if you were being represented that way. It will give you a new perspective on the situation, and you’ll learn much more.

3.     When consuming your own popular culture, practice critiquing it. This one will be very hard at first. Initially, you’re going to want to just watch your favorite show, listen to your favorite song, etc. for pure enjoyment. This is good, and you should do it, but once you are able to critically analyze a pop culture artifact effectively, the class will start to click. Eventually, you’ll be watching a movie and without having to actively think about it start to notice some different concepts we have talked about in class. For me, this was the hardest thing to get used to but will pay off in the long run.

COMM 435 is a great class and will help you be a better critical thinker and will increase your overall awareness of what’s going on around you in society. My last piece of advice: take this class!

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Pop Culture Freaks - Final Chapter

Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society by Dustin Kidd was an excellent read. It has been one of the few required textbooks where I actually looked forward to reading it. Kidd does an excellent job of making the content of the book informational but also compelling at the same time. The last chapter was the icing on the cake. He tied all of his main points throughout the book into one final, cohesive thought. In the last chapter, Kidd wraps up his thoughts on the mass media matrix and the matrix of identity, and how the two are interconnected. In regard to the matrix of identity, I learned that everyone is a ‘freak’ in their own way and that we should not be afraid to embrace our inner freak. The mass media matrix is consolidated to a few companies, so the content we consume is not as diverse as we are led to believe. The mass media matrix pushes their ideas and agendas, often unknowingly, on its consumers. We should not let the mass media matrix dictate what’s “cool” and “popular.” We should also not feel pressure to conform to the popular trends. What I believe Kidd is saying in this final chapter is to not be afraid of being yourself, and to not be afraid to challenge the ideas that are presented to you. 

After reading Kidd’s book and taking COMM 435, I have learned to be a critical consumer of popular culture. Before the book/class, I can comfortably say that I was oblivious to many of the issues on the representations of race, class, gender, etc. in popular culture. I had never thought that the representations of Indians on television were so poor; it was something that never had crossed my mind in all my time spent watching The Simpson’s. I also learned how much power rests in the hands of so few people/companies. I was aware of some conglomerations but was not aware to the extent of power they controlled. In the future, I will be much more aware of not only what I am consuming, but also where it is coming from. Overall, the book and the class have been very interesting and has taught me lessons that are applicable to many other areas of academics and life.

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College Analysis Essay

Earlier in the semester, we were tasked with analyzing a movie depicting college students/college life using Michael Schudson’s cultural potency theory. Cultural potency theory looks to explain the influence that a popular culture artifact has on society. Cultural potency has five dimensions: retrievability, rhetorical force, resonance, institutional retention, and resolution. Retrievability is a measure of how accessible the artifact is to the audience. Rhetorical force is a measure of how powerful and memorable the cultural artifact is. Resonance is a measure of how familiar an artifact is to the audience. Institutional retention measures the degree to which the artifact is institutionalized in society. Finally, resolution gives the audience something to do or something to take away after the film. The movie I chose to analyze was the 1978 cult classic National Lampoon’s Animal House.

I found Animal House to have high cultural potency due to a variety of reasons. The film can be accessed fairly easily and is preserved by the National Film Registry. It has high rhetorical force due to its quotable lines, memorable scenes, and use of popular music. Resonance was also high for the film; the depiction of colleges and college fraternities was very familiar. The film also started the genre of “college comedies” that are often edgy and hilarious. For example, American Pie and Revenge of the Nerds are similar films. Animal House also has high institutional retention; it was the first film in the successful National Lampoon’s franchise. Overall, I found the film to have high cultural potency.

What I learned most from this paper was to be a critical consumer of popular culture. Up until this class, I had been a very passive consumer of popular culture. This assignment was the first time where I very closely examined a movie instead of watching for pure entertainment. I also learned from this assignment to consider the implications that a popular culture artifact has on society. I had never thought that a decently good, pretty funny movie from the 70s would have such a significant influence on our society years after it was produced.

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Videos Examples of Domestic Violence in Country Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PpEuG7YfeE

This first video is a touching story of a country music star who has experienced domestic violence first hand. Jana Kramer’s story is inspiring and gives people hope who may be in similar situations. Some of these experiences can be seen in Jana’s songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdsJI8Wc2D4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=381Q0qf1hDI

Both of the links above are links to Garth Brooks’ song “Thunder Rolls.” This song is a good example of a country song portraying domestic abuse. The song is about a woman who smells another woman’s perfume on her man’s clothes, waits for him to get home, and kills him. However, in the recorded version (first link), the third verse where the murder happens is omitted. You can hear in the live version (second link) that the wife actually murders her husband. This is significant because the perpetrator is a woman and the song is censored, something that does not happen often in songs where a man is the perpetrator.

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Domestic Violence in Country Music

https://nottmagazine.com/2015/03/05/domestic-violence-in-country-music/

Here is a great article from Nott Magazine that discusses themes of domestic violence in country music! It examines how themes have changed over time. It also talks about how women have been objectified in country music and how they have been continually treated as victims. The article also mentions how female musicians have been attempting to reverse the narrative.

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Violence in Country Music

Music is one of my favorite forms of entertainment and popular culture. Music is also one of the most popular forms of country music. Whether you are aware of it or not, you are almost always continuously listening to music. In your car, at work, at home, etc. If you are like me, you have music playing all of the time. I listen to music while I’m cooking, cleaning, showering, doing homework, playing video games, and the list goes on and on. I even listen to music while I sleep! I’ll turn on my Amazon Echo to some calming music before I go to bed.

The point is you consume a lot of music. As a result, you consume the lyrics and the messages in those lyrics, whether you are consciously aware of it or not. A common them in the lyrics and imagery of popular music today is violence. When people hear the terms “violence” and “music” together, they often think of genres such as rap, hip hop, or rock. While those genres have their fair share of violence in them, there are others as well. One that is often overlooked is country music.

Country music is one of my personal favorite genres of music. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am a big fan of Kenney Chesney. Eric Church is another favorite of mine; I have seen him in concert twice. I also love old country; Johnny Cash is one of my favorite musicians of all time. 

Eric Church, the best (in my opinion) country singer out there.

People generally think country music is more on the innocent side. However, country music incorporates more violence than we perceive. Domestic violence is specifically an area that is sang about quite often. This is important because it’s an issue that is not prevalent in society. People put all the blame on rap music for being “too violent,” while country music is forgotten about. For example, Eric Church has a song titled “Knives of New Orleans” that is about a man who is on the run from the police for stabbing his lover.

This blog is (partially) devoted to examining the portrayal of violence in country music, particularly country music, and its implications on society.

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Pop Culture Autobiography

Hey everyone! My name is Ryan Erickson and I am a sophomore at North Dakota State University studying Management Communication. Currently I’m enrolled in COMM 435: Critical Approaches to Popular Culture. What we do is critically analyze all forms of popular culture, examining issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. This class has opened my eyes to many of the issues that are present today in not only the media we consume, but in society as a whole. I definitely used to be a passive consumer of popular culture, but this class has increased my awareness dramatically.

As far as my experience of popular culture, it’s safe to say that I’m a big fan. Popular culture is 99% of the media that I consume (I’d say the other 1% is when I listen to classical music on MPR). Rarely would I consider the things I watch/read/listen to be high culture or folk culture. Popular culture has played a significant influence on my life. One of the vivid memories I have from my childhood is my dad and I going to Best Buy to buy a Nintendo GameCube. We bought two games: Luigi’s Mansion and Madden 2005. To this day, Luigi’s Mansion is easily my favorite video game and bond that I still share with my dad. Another vivid memory I have from my childhood is my mom taking me to school in the mornings and blaring Kenny Chesney music. She owns every single one of his CD’s; she even took my sister and I to his concert when I was ten years old at the Fargodome. I’m still a huge Kenny Chesney fan. He’s one of my favorite artists, and I am actually going to his concert in a few weekends! Movies were also big too. Every Wednesday night, I’d go stay at my dad’s house. One of our little traditions is that we would watch a movie before bed every night. Miracle was played so often that the disk got scratched so we had to go buy a new one...twice. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was also played quite a bit. Television, as it probably is for many people, was and still is a prominent part of my life. Every Sunday night my family would sit down together and watch 60 Minutes.  Now with the ability to stream entire series on services such as Netflix or Hulu, we can watch an entire show together at our own pace. My mom and I watched The Office together a few years ago.

Over the past few months of this course, I have begun to notice how significant popular culture is in our lives. Many of my life experiences center around some sort of popular culture artifact. Another thing that has become more prominent to me is the influence that popular culture has in society. Many people view the shows they watch on television as mindless entertainment. However, what they watch influenced them and the world around them more than they know. Going forward, I’m excited to examine a specific topic in popular culture in more depth and consider its implications on society!

Pictured above is my favorite scene from my favorite movie, Miracle.