in preparation for my annual review of music for the year, i thought i'd share some thoughts on what the worst song of the year is and why it should be held on such a pedestal.
jason aldean struck out in 2 swings with this song.
now, this album, "my kind of party" was released last year, and "tattoos on this town" was the forth single released from it. this piece of garbage somehow climbed it's way to #2 on the country charts and is the poster child for why so many people are so jaded towards country music. this is an odd turnaround as the single that preceded it was the huge hit "dirt road anthem" which attracted many not-so-country fans.
i don't get why this song had to be released as a single, or even written in the first place. it was written by three people, none of who are jason aldean. that alone already makes me dislike it. one of my biggest problems with country music is how often the song is written by someone other than the "artist" who records it. this is also one of the reasons why i respect brad paisley so much; dude writes much of his own music. but that's a story for another book. shame on these folk for penning a song that glorifies a terrible aspect of growing up.
what is that terrible aspect of growing up?
why, it's the glorified sense of entitlement that comes with being a teenager on your way out of high school. "we sure left our mark on it," the chorus boasts, claiming how much of an impact this particular group of teens made on their home town. it's like they left tattoos! oh but wait. that's not how growing up is. this song glorifies a fictitious sense of entitlement that so many high schoolers have when they are getting their diploma. every grade thinks they were so influential and did so much and were so unique. i remember my senior year, we had t-shirts that said "it took 2007 years to get a class this good." NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! we were nothing outlandishly over the top, we were very ordinary. nobody cares about the class that graduated 4 and a half years ago now. they just don't.
this song reminds me of that other country song, "boys of fall." both songs share the same sense of youth, only "boys of fall" gives a reason for remembrance. there are towns out there where if the football team is doing well, then the town may get behind them. but still, tattoos on that town? no. maybe a few years later, some old folk who go to the games might be sitting at a diner or a bar and reminisce about how good that team way back when was, but they certainly weren't that influential.
so if you think that you're so god damn special to your town and that you left such a mark on it.....wait a few years, you weren't. and jason aldean and the smucks who wrote this should NOT be glorifying such thought. it's just aiding to the already overwhelming sense of entitlement that plagues the current youth of america.
now some people might read this and go "oh but it's catchy! it's a toe tapper!" eh....not really. sonically, it leaves much to be desired. the chord progression is bland, the song structure is redundant, and the instrumentation is nothing to make itself stand out.
it just sucks. it's the worst song of the year.
i mean, even toby keith, who usually is so overwhelming with his obnoxious salute to america, his belittling "i like america more than you" attitude, and general slob'ish'ness managed to set aside his red-white-and-blue kiss ass'ing to put out two quality tracks this year (red solo cup and somewhere else). so that leaves you alone at the top, mister aldean. not even sum 41's bland new album or the garbage that is "wishing well" by blink-182 can touch the crap that spews out of this particular track.
coming soon:
-why david mcwane is so important to me and what his throat cancer means to music.
-musical year in review, oh'12
-my year in review, oh'12
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