Comments on: Good Artists Gone Bad

By: Erik North

Erik North — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:33:29 +0000

Well, nobody ever said that Dylan wasn’t his own biggest critic. He does what he will; and if it means people don’t hear “Like A Rolling Stone” every time out, that’s the way it’ll have to be.

By: Cool Springs

Cool Springs — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:54:49 +0000

Bob Dylan without a doubt a good artist gone bad. He gets mad when people want to hear the classics. The last few times Ive seen him he was so whacked out on stage you could not understand a word he said. Sad.

Todd

By: TRAVIS IN VIRGINIA

TRAVIS IN VIRGINIA — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:28:47 +0000

I think that any faith hill or shania twain album made after 1999 deserves to be on this list. also any toby keith song that is upbeat, i hate all his upbeat numbers, but the sad songs are good.

By: Erik North

Erik North — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:46:16 +0000

The Beatles “Revolution #9″ is a real clinker as well (tape reversal effects symptomatic of the time it was made [it's from 1968's THE WHITE ALBUM]; the repetition of “Number 9, Number 9″). Here, you’ve got to blame Lennon for this. It’s definitely not his finest hour, let alone for the Fab Four in general (IMO).

By: James S.

James S. — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:41:05 +0000

Toby Keith – just about anything he’s released since the “Pull My Chain” album.

Brad Paisley – “Alcohol,” “Ticks,” “Online,” and “I’m Still A Guy.” Didn’t find them funny. Just annoying.

Kenny Chesney – any of his countless songs about either being in the islands or remembering his youth. “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” is not too bad, though.

Craig Morgan – Loved his debut on Atlantic and his second album is mostly good, too. Can’t stand all the “I’m country and proud of it” ditties he’s released lately like “Bonfire,” “International Harvester,” and “A Little Bit Of Life.”

By: Kevin J. Coyne

Kevin J. Coyne — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:26:03 +0000

I’ll add that “Not Ready to Make Nice” is a very well-known song, and it was a huge hit despite it not getting very much radio play. It was one of the first country singles to go platinum in the digital era. That’s still a rarity today. I think that the only other country artists who’ve had a million-selling single are Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift.

I think it’s the second best Dixie Chicks album, right behind Home. I like Fly quite a bit, but Wide Open Spaces? Not so much.

By: Dan Milliken

Dan Milliken — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:32:30 +0000

I would believe that a lot of people “like” the album just because of what they think it stands for, the same way a lot of people “like” Johnny Cash just because of how the media supersized his cool factor when he died. But the shallowness of certain fans shouldn’t be a reflection on the art itself. We know Johnny Cash was a great artist even though a lot of his recent support seems superficial; likewise, the fact that some people dig the Dixie Chicks exclusively for their views (and I have met people like that, too, coming out of a very liberal area) doesn’t inherently make their music any less substantial. I personally don’t care as much for the album, and agree that some of it is forgettable, but that opinion is informed exclusively by my listening experience.

By: cuttingthetreacle

cuttingthetreacle — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:52:26 +0000

I am contrarian. And it’s still true: musically, it’s an utterly forgettable album. The secretary who used to sit outside my office had the CD cover from the album taped next to her John Kerry bumper sticker on her file cabinet. I asked her how she liked the album. Her response was basically that she hadn’t listened to it and bought it because of Bush (or, more likely, because she hated Bush). I’ll concede that some folks on her probably know some of the songs, but that’s the very rare exception. It was an album that had lots of political support, a lot of awards and no songs that anyone listen to. Give me Crazy by Gnarls Barkley any time instead. That secretary ended up replacing the Dixie Chicks album cover with a Hillary Clinton last spring.

By: Dan Milliken

Dan Milliken — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:47:27 +0000

Woah, what a remark from cuttingthetreacle! It's almost like he knows Taking the Long Way is one of Kevin's favorite albums and is deliberately cutting it down on his blog just for the sake of being contrarian! How unexpected! But really. I personally don't like Taking the Long Way nearly as much as Home or Fly, but I would hardly write it off as such an utter failure. I found "Not Ready To Make Nice" to be a bit of a spectacle, but "The Long Way Around" is one of my very favorite Chicks songs, and there are a handful of other songs off the album that have really stuck with me - none of which are specific to the Bush era or "the incident" at all.

By: cuttingthetreacle

cuttingthetreacle — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:05:42 +0000

Anything off of “Taking the Long Way” by the Dixie Chicks. No one even knows any songs off the record, and with the benefit of hindsight, the entire album feels indulgent, overwrought and (worst of all) very Bush-era.