The Steel Guitar Forum

Using the words suck or crap when describing music is bad manners. JMO

Johan Jansen wrote:I can't think of a song or artist that destroyed a steelguitar-performance. But...I can think of a lot of linedance-crap that killed the countrymusic-scene!
JJ

....and disco and our all time favorite...KARAOKE!!!

Theresa is right there is no excuse and you should be ashamed for using the words “suck” and “crap” to describe music even if the music is crap and it sucks!
Someone mentioned Ray Price implying that Crazy Arms was great. Have you listened to that old recording, no wonder he took voice lessons and I might add the music was just plain (another word for crap).

When Hank did the songs he talked instead of singing a melody some one put Luke The drifter on the records so they would not be put on the juke boxes as the juke box owners wanted songs that could be danced to.
Now backing up some, the first or second time i saw Hank in person i recall he did Men With Broken Hearts and said it was under the name Luke The Drifter and told the audience he had no idea how or why that name was used on his talking songs. (his words). I i was in the audience, first row. Tracy

BTW.For the ones not familiar with this, Hank was the first to but a beat to country music. He reconized the need for a snare drum and used the guitar as the opry didn't allow drums on stage at the time.

That is probably the first time I have ever been told I have bad manors? Comes as quite a shock!

One that comes to mind above many.."Achy Breaky heart"..

Both Chords!

Weren't the chords a direct rip- off of "Tulsa Time"?

"Achy Breaky Heart" is a song that they could use as an interogation technique for terrorists. I'm thinking that that they would be spilling their guts after the 5th play. It's a nightmare. The Hokey Pokey of country music.

I think the only other music that uses that chord alternation technique is "hip-hop". They do tend to use I-IV more than IV-I, so maybe they are a little more creative?

Being creative when playing traditional music has dubious merits. If I go to a country music concern I expect to hear country music. If I go to a flamenco concert I expect to hear flamenco.

When my daughter was a toddler the dads organised a Hoedown. When we turned up, there was a young disc-jockey playing (c)Rap. Someone obviously didn't explain what a Hoedown is supposed to be. We all left within a few minutes. I guess, taken literally, a Hoedown is where you put down your hoe and come in out of the fields to dance.

I love"Achy Breaky Heart"!

It's a fun little tune...played it in the clubs a million times...

I don't know about one song killing country music. but I think line dancing had a lot to do with the decline of country music bars & clubs..
I played at a large country themed restaurant and dance club the other night..
A local club DJ worked between our sets.. he did not announce even one song by title or artist.. He announced a dance and counted off the dance.

Bo Borland wrote:...he did not announce even one song by title or artist...

I've noticed that lately. When I was young, on the radio they would play a record and announce the title, artist and record label before and after every song. Nowadays they rarely do that, and I wonder how the kids even know who they're listening to.

Alan Brookes wrote:I wonder how the kids even know who they're listening to.

Nowadays they have Smartphone apps for that, Alan. The one I use is called SoundHound and is free. I can press a button on my cellphone and it will "listen" to the radio and (usually) come back within 30 seconds and tell me:

a) Name of the Artist
b) Name of the Song
c) Name of the Album
d) Year of Release
e) Show you the cover art

This is all done by very sophisticated 'matching' of the current sound-wav to the millions already out there in the 'cloud'.

Another incredible trick is that you can hum or whistle a tune into your cellphone and the program will analyze the shape of the sound wav and often can tell you the name of the song you're humming, and then give you links to 3 or 4 (or more) commercial recordings of that song. You can click on the link and hear the original artists' recordings. So, if you want to know "What's the name of that song that goes, De-de-dedeee, da-da-daaah...", it can often find it for you (as long as you can carry a tune!) The amazing thing to me is that you might not be humming it in the same key as ANY of the recordings; in fact, you might not even be in a proper key (e.g., maybe you're halfway between C and C#). Doesn't matter, because the program analyzes the SHAPE of the song, independent of the key.

Amazing.... and it's all FREE. Whew!

It is indeed amazing. I could hardly believe what I was witnessing recently in the local grocery store: a couple of stock clerks were discussing what the music playing on the background sound system was, and one just held his phone up toward the speaker in the ceiling and within seconds had the answer.

I wonder if the software has themes from classical music in it as well? For decades I've dreamt of being able to consult a database to identify a classical melody I can't place, but I underestimated the rush ("march" doesn't describe it) of technology--I always imagined I would have to write it out.

Of course, I still don't have a smartphone anyway...

Brint,

I just hummed the theme from Bach's "Sleepers Awake" into my SoundHound and it came back with the title and 7 recordings of it I could listen to on the spot.

So you have your answer!

In answer to the original question: -

"Rock Around The Clock" - and its' 10,000 mindless iterations.

Hmmm...off the top of my head, I'd hafta say "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro. That was back in '68, and the song hung in at #1 for over a month. Schmaltzy, sad, syrupy, sappy little thing about a widower's reminiscings of his cute but not-too-swift late spouse. MAN I grew sick of that song being played over and over and over. No steel, no lead guitar, just waves and breakers of violins washing over the vocals and plopping them on the shores of country and pop music charts, like tar-balls on the Gulf beaches.

Of course, shortly thereafter, another wave of violins and ripples of vibraphones swept in and carried Ray Price onto the shores of pop music. His "For The Good Times" was equally schmaltzy and syrupy, but at least not as morbid.

(Evidently, the early popularity of scads of violins on "Sweet Dreams" hadn't gone unnoticed.)

At least "Little Rosa" had some steel in it. Syrup, steel, and sadness...but thankfully, no schmaltz. Thank you Red Sovine.

Richard Damron wrote:In answer to the original question: -

"Rock Around The Clock" - and its' 10,000 mindless iterations.

Richard, are you of the opinion that Rock'n'Roll killed country in the fifties?

Probably the artist that stopped using steel on a song or album killed steel guitar on that particular project. I'm just saying artist have been known to be fickle! So....when that happens I'm not buying!

Yes Theresa, there are quite a few of them. Chris Wall had a fine album called "No Sweat" the next one was PSG-less, what a pity

Joachim -

"...and its' 10,000 mindless iterations."

I have a large collection of LPs, many of which I've bought from Goodwill or Garage Sales. When I don't recognise the name on the cover I always read the sleeve notes to see if there's a steel guitarist in the band. If there is, I'll buy it. My logic is that anyone who has a steel guitarist will tend to have a good musical appreciation.

ALABAMA! I don't think they ever used steel on anything. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But I don't think I am

Think of how BIG they were in the 80's. The wide crossover appeal they had. That decade seemed to be the big killer for pedal steel players and good Country music in general.