“These Days”
Rascal Flatts
Written by Steve Robson
Radio & Records
#1 (2 weeks)
November 29 – December 6, 2002
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
November 30 – December 13, 2002
Punch two of the best one two punch in Rascal Flatts history.
Low bar to clear. I know.
But at least we meet this band at their artistic peak, following up the top five masterpiece “I’m Movin’ On” with a quite good heartbreak ballad that feigns endurance in the verses until it spills its guts in the chorus.
It’s catchy and well-written, and Gary LeVox keeps his vocal runs in check. It sounds fresher today than any of the hits to come during their superstar era. The quality control of the nineties era hasn’t fritzed out completely yet.
They’ve got maybe two more number one singles on the way that are as good or better than this. None of them are as good as “I’m Movin’ On.” But this one’s more than good enough.
“These Days” gets a B+.
Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s
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It might be because Rascal Flatts were huge when I was in high school but I have a lot of positive memories attached to their music. I never bought an album by then but enjoyed a lot of songs by them. I agree “I’m Movin On” is such a powerful song and is my favorite as well but I love this song too. I also though “Winner at a Losing Game” was underrated and despite it receiving a music video “My Worst Fear” is a great song and the album cut “I Feel Bad” still hit hard.
I was kind of into Rascal Flatts during their rollout and never fully disowned them even when their songbook yielded diminished returns and when they proceeded to churn out some of the worst dreck ever played on country radio (“Summer Nights”, “Payback”, and especially “Bob That Head”). Gary Levox’s vocals are rightfully polarizing and turn a number of otherwise promising songs into camp, but the emotive delivery is there and on occasion, he can deliver a vocal that lifts a song above the sum of its parts.
He does this on “These Days”. I was always a fan of Sylvia’s “Like Nothing Ever Happened”, despite its rough review on this website, but the similar scenario is handled more comprehensively and effectively in this song. The disconnect between the narrator’s brave and calm face in the verses and his psychological breakdown in the chorus is palpable and well-handled, and Levox’s controlled degree of lyrical bombast sells it more effectively than I suspect most of his contemporaries would be capable of. I was fully prepared to be a Rascal Flatts fanboy after the “one-two punch” you cite with this songs and its predecessor. They’d let me down more often than they got me moving forward, but I’d still argue country music was at least a little more enriched in the 2000s with them than without.
Grade: A-
Sylvia’s “Like Nothing Ever Happened” is a great song. I wonder if she would have been more successful if it were not for the new traditionalist movement.
Sylvia is a sentimental favorite of mine. Hers was the first concert I ever attended at my county fair back in 1982 at the ripe old age of five. She was so popular there they brought her back in 1983. I always loved her voice and a great deal of her material. I’m pretty sure you’re right that in a New Traditionalist-era country radio, Sylvia was always poised to be one of the first on the chopping block.
I was always mixed on Rascal Flatts even in the Mark Bright era, probably because I didn’t know how much dodgier they’d get when Dann Huff took over. I think younger me just wasn’t mature enough to understand “I’m Movin’ On”, and it felt like that song hung around WAY too long for something that didn’t hit top 5, but that one’s easily one of their best without question.
This is always one of their better ones to me, too. I think the narrative flows beautifully, and I love little details like name-dropping Diamond Rio’s “Norma Jean Riley” of all songs.
I had a friend on a forum ages ago who said he didn’t think this song made sense, because he didn’t get why the guy was crying despite seeming to have a normal life. But even as a non-romantic, I understood the deliberate dissonance between the verse and chorus. It’s a clever emotional twist.
Side note: how the hell is Rascal Flatts of all acts a member of the “I don’t remember this top-ten hit at all” club with “While You Loved Me”?
“While You Loved Me” gets zero recurrent airplay but I remember hearing it everywhere, all the time, nonstop back in the summer and fall of 2001.
That song gets played on Sirius Y2Kountry once in a blue moon.
Not one of my fave RF songs, though at least LeVox keeps the adenoidal oversinging to a minimum on this one. There are actually several RF songs that I like; I just always wish someone else was singing them (feel the same about Dan + Shay, who literally sound like Rascal Flatts 2.0….and also have fewer songs that I like).
Not a bad song but nothing interesting. Grade “C”. No one will remember this as time goes on and it won’t be discovered by future generations.
I did not fully appreciate Rascal Flatts, until they were pushed aside by the bro-country dreck to follow. At that point I objected to them far less than before. This is a B-
Rascal Flatts is certainly not one of my favorites, though Paul is right in that my opinion of them has improved after recent country radio developments. I echo Tyler’s shoutout to Winner at a Losing Game as one of my favorite tracks, as well as the gorgeous Ellsworth for an album cut. These Days is one of their better singles and follows my general opinion that their earlier material was stronger than their later material.
Also, Kevin, Beautiful Mess is playing as the music video for this entry. Just an FYI.
My ears bleed and my ire reaches the thermosphere whenever I look at, much less, listen to Rascal Flatts. I afford them zero grace. My inchoate rage blinds me to any artistry or accomplishments they may have actually achieved and one of them might be this single.
They quickly became my scapegoat for all the evils of country music during this era, and they always seemed up to the task of carrying the bloated and inflated weight of their insignificance along with the growing cancerous legacy of the timbre of LeVox’s pinched vocals.
I will try to be aware of how triggering this smug act is to me, but I doubt myself.
On a positive note, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney were members of Chely Wright’s band
I grew up with this band, so I’m biased and have a very soft spot for em. I’ll concede this song is worlds better than just about any of their singles in the mid-to-late ’10s.