Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words, continuing in the footsteps of daprice82. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives. • PREVIOUS • 1987 FUTURE YEARS ARCHIVE: The Complete Observer Rewind Archive by daprice82
Rewinder note:With the news that Dave's mother is dying, I'd like to extend my well wishes to Dave and his family. This pandemic is awful, and for Dave to be unable to see his mother in her dying days so he can be there for her and say goodbye, that's rough. All best to the Meltzers right now.
The Powers of Pain jumped from the NWA to the WWF. This is more interesting to people than even Dave expected, and apparently negotiations had been on-and-off between WWF and the team for almost two months. Even more surprising than the jump is that they’re going to be pushed as babyfaces and be put immediately in a title program with Demolition. It also seems their sudden departure is in part due to not wanting to do the scaffold matches they were being booked for throughout the Bash tour (Dave mentioned them in last week’s issue but I glossed over that), since they were going to be required to do bumps off the scaffold. Warlord and Barbarian are huge guys, so that’s just a recipe for injury, and even if they lucked out once, they were being scheduled for over a dozen against the Road Warriors, and you know Hawk and Animal won’t bump. Ayway, the NWA had the Road Warriors and Paul Jones bury them on tv, and they’re replacing them with Ivan Koloff and The Russian Assassin.
Dave thinks this is only going to help WWF, but won’t really hurt the NWA. WWF can make something good out of them, given their size, look, and general level of ability. They were pushed well as an attraction team against the Road Warriors, but the feud wasn’t a draw and they never really did get over as attractions. Dave thinks this move also puts the kibosh on the Road Warriors going to WWF any time soon, since bringing the Powers of Pain in as faces cuts further into the appeal the Warriors have.
No Holds Barred has started filming in Atlanta. Filming is expected to last the next two months. Opposite Hogan, the other lead is Joan Severence. The film is being produced by “Shane Productions” and is the first film done by that production house. Dave has no idea that this is a shell that Vince made and named after the product of his semen, Shane McMahon, nor that it would ultimately be a precursor to WWE Studios. Anyway, it looks like it’s going to be a kid’s comedy/action movie aimed at being direct to video. I'm guessing some aspects of that change by the time we get a trailer.
By the way, the Powers of Pain quit without notice and will get to keep their name. Which means Crockett didn’t trademark it, and that kind of surprises Dave, but makes some sense to him. The value in a copyright is protecting your merchandising, and the Powers of Pain really didn’t have any merchandising value for Crockett to begin with.
The July 10 Great American Bash ppv hype train is full steam ahead. Dave says it’s pretty much guaranteed to do well financially, and the LugeFlair main event has big interest as most fans expect a title change (ha!). There’s not going to be any direct competition by WWF, so Dave anticipates a buyrate of at least 4%, which would translate to at least 376,000 homes and a gross of $6 million. The way things split, Crockett may only get around a quarter of that, but still, it’s a big financial windfall. Dave hopes they don’t take the success as an indicator that their creative is righting the ship; it’s really just that the concept of the Bash is over, like how the concept of Wrestlemania is over.
The annual Wrestlethon on WATL-TV (Ch. 36) in Atlanta went on this past weekend. They were raising funds for the Atlanta police department to buy bulletproof vests and raised at least $6,000. Expect more info later on in the rewind when Dave gets more info because typewriters don’t allow you to easily go back up to a paragraph and keep a single story all together. What Dave does know, however, is that the highlight was a series of strange angles during the live studio matches from Southern Championship Wrestling. First, Paul E. Dangerously wanted to get Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert back together, but Rich refused so we got a main event set for later in the show. Over the next two hours they kept talking up the match in a spoof of Crockett’s tv right up until there were only two minutes left. They finally get down to the ring and the credits start rolling (this is Dave’s big complaint with NWA tv main events lately), and as the announcer started to sign off, Rick Stuart comes out and says the general manager of channel 36 has ordered them to keep the show on the air until the match ends. So fans got to watch the whole 13½ minute match uninterrupted and it was reportedly an excellent match with all kinds of shenanigans and swerves and ultimately sets up Gilbert, Rich, and Bruiser Brody against Dick Slater, Manny Fernandez, and a mystery partner for June 26.
Rumor has it that Ted Turner has bought the NWA. The rumors are false. To Dave’s knowledge, no transaction has taken place, nor is one likely in the immediate future. The numbers both sides are talking about are still millions of dollars apart (Crockett wants eight figures and TBS apparently doesn’t want to spend near that much). Turner’s got other things going on, too, including hush hush negotiations to purchase CNN from Capital Cities. Talk between the two sides isn’t dead, but they’re still hashing a lot out.
[All Japan] The Road Warriors dropped the International Tag Titles to Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu on June 10 in front of 11,800 fans at Budokan Hall to unify the tag titles. Did they avoid doing a clean job? Does a bear shit in the woods? Did they avoid doing a job at all? Does the pope shit in the woods? Did they not only avoid doing a job, but managed to even get the other guys to do a clean job to them? You know it. They changed the main event the night before in Kiryu to the Warriors vs. Yatsu and Tsuruta, which the Warriors won via pinfall. Then, in the big Budokan show, they used a typical NWA finish. Hawk knocked referee Joe Higuchi out of the ring. Another referee came in and counted the pin on Tsuruta following a double team on him, but Higuchi got up and reversed the decision, awarding Tsuruta and Yatsu the match via disqualification, which triggers title changes in All Japan. Therefore your winners and now unified tag team champions are Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu. The Warriors are scheduled to return in September as challengers.
Also on June 10, the IWGP Tag Team titles changed hands, as Riki Choshu and Masa Saito won the titles from Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura after Saito made Kimura submit. Owen Hart retained the jr. title against Keiichi Yamada in a reportedly excellent match in the other main event.
Antonio Inoki is in Los Angeles training for his comeback in August. Since he’s been out with his broken foot, he’s also undergone surgery for his eye, elbow, and knee. Apparently it’s gratifying to his ego that crowds haven’t been super impressive without him, and he wants to have his big return match be against Hulk Hogan or Bob Backlund. You might remember that UWF wants Backlund in for December against Akira Maeda, but word on the street is that Backlund’s not interested in either offer and doesn’t want anything to do with pro wrestling right now. And the chances of getting Hogan in are probably worse than getting Backlund to agree to wrestle Inoki.
UWF’s second show drew a sellout in Sapporo. Interestingly, the demographic they draw is almost exclusively young men of high school and college age. Tetsuo Nakano and Shigeo Miyato went to a 30 minute draw where both worked so hard they collapsed at the end. Kazuo Yamazaki beat Norman Smiley by armbar, with Smiley delivering a performance that really impressed those who weren’t familiar with him. Finally, Akira Maeda made Nobuhiko Takada submit, and Maeda’s conditioning was much better this go around. UWF’s next show will be on August 13 at Ariake Coliseum, with an 11,000 seat capacity. Maeda’s looking for a karate champion from Europe or the U.S. to face on that night.
[All Japan Women/WWF] The Jumping Bomb Angels lost the WWF Tag Titles to the Glamour Girls by countout on June 8. There’s a lot of confusion about this, Dave says, because it’s Japanese policy for Japanese titles to be able to change hands via countout or disqualification, but American titles generally play by their home promotion’s rules, and so this shouldn’t normally be a title change. In January, they did a similar deal with Tiger Mask vs. Curt Hennig for the AWA title, where Tiger Mask won by countout, but the AWA title stayed with Hennig due to AWA rules. So something happened here, and it looks like Dave finds it confusing, but not fishy. Of course, this was due to Moolah calling in the title change without permission from the office because she knew it would get Kai and Martin in trouble (the office laid into them about it) and basically killed off the tag titles because of it. Leilani Kai talks about this in her shoot interview, and she mentions Wrestlemania being the end goal the office was upset about them screwing up, but given the timing I think she might mean Summerslam.
With Devil Masami out of retirement, JWP is planning a big show on July 14 with Masami main eventing against Shinobu Kandori. Shinobu Kandori, for those who don’t remember, is a former world judo champion and in her rookie year as a pro wrestler she was JWP’s top star, won the Mexican women’s title, retired, regained the title, and retired again. Her last match, as far as Dave can figure, was in the middle of last year, so she’s also coming out of retirement. At some point someone should figure out how many times Kandori has retired so we can compare her to Terry Funk.
Steve Armstrong has returned to Continental, so he and Tracy Smothers are reforming the Southern Boys. And then they’re heading out to Japan in 3 weeks, so the timing could probably be better for Continental.
Continental GM Jack Curtis is out. Coming in to take over the position is Ron West, whose most recent position was with USA Wrestling, which split off from Continental, so that’s kind of interesting.
[Memphis] Dave gives the June 13 match between Curt Hennig and Jerry Lawler 4 stars. The lighting was bad on the tape that aired, so they’ve had to go back to editing for it, but Dave was told that it came off a lot better live than on tv. From what Dave saw, though, it was a great brawl.
[Bob] “Holly is kind of green, but tries to work like Bret Hart.” He’s working the Southern territories, Continental and Memphis mostly.
AWA billed their June 12 Las Vegas tv taping as “The Night of the Champions” and in true AWA fashion most of the advertised main events didn’t happen. They drew 750 fans and the card was reportedly worse than the one Dave went to in May. Medusa Miceli retained the AWA Women’s title in a 10 minute draw against Farmer’s Daughter Brandi Maye in a horrible match that fortunately only actually went 8 minutes. This set up Magnificent Mimi to challenge Madusa for the July tapings and Dave makes a vague “political reasons” statement about Mimi getting a push. Lawler’s title defense against a mystery opponent turned out to be against Soldat Ustinov. Otherwise, the scheduled Diamond and Tanaka vs. Rock & Roll Express match didn’t happen because Ricky Morton took a vacation since they’re heading back to Crockett, so they subbed in Greg Gagne for him. Gagne defended his tv title against Hennig and retained via double countout. Also, Cousin Luke debuted on these tapings as a babyface and looked so bad that when he went around to shake fans’ hands most wouldn’t do it.
With WWF in town at the beginning of July and the annual Calgary Stampede, Stampede Wrestling won’t be doing new tapings on July 1 or July 8. They seem to be taping extra stuff each week right now, so the idea seems to be they’re making a buffer for those weeks and giving the guys a little rest.
Les Thornton’s promotion running opposition to Stampede ran its first show in Calgary on June 11. They drew 200 and didn’t do much promotion, and the fans were clueless whom to cheer for and whom to boo. Most of the wrestlers were fairly green trainees, but none of the matches were bad, according to reports. Even a couple guys trained by the Harts worked the show.
So we finally have clarification on the Brick Bronsky and Brian Pillman fight. A letter recently reported that it was because Pillman and Bruce Hart were ribbing Bronsky too much but it apparently was a slow-burning resentment from a series of events that included the British Bulldogs egging Bronsky on to get in Bruce’s face because he wasn’t getting a push, which led to Bronsky punching Pillman because he reasoned he’d lose his job if he punched Bruce.
Dave has results from the Southern Championship Wrestling show during the Wrestlethon. Nothing too notable here, with the only exceptions being Jerry Blackwell (as Mr. Big) winning a handicap match against Ricky Starr and Tim Anderson that was so bad Dave gives it -2 stars, and the Tommy Rich/Eddie Gilbert match described earlier, which he gives 4 stars.
World Class has three shows this weekend in the Chicago area on June 24-26. Also Michael Hayes got a haircut and his hair’s now the same length as Kerry Von Erich’s.
A movie company is trying to raise funds for a movie called “Death Match.” They’re claiming they’ll have Ric Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper, and Lou Albano in it. As far as I can tell, nothing about this becomes anything.
Madusa Miceli did her photoshoot for a proposed Playboy feature. Playboy wants to get other wrestlers as well. No date has been announced, and indeed no date will be announced, and the photos will never make it into the magazine.
As for the Von Erich Penthouse story, that won’t be happening in the August issue despite the recently-released July issue’s assurance that it’ll be in the August issue. It seems to be being pushed back to the October issue. Who knew one of the longest running stories of 1988 would be the continual delay of publication of an expose on the Von Erichs in Penthouse?
FLAIR (Fabulous Ladies Appearing in International Rings) did their first tv taping on June 19 in Houston in front of a crowd of around 50, most of which were giveaways. Hot Rod Andi was the big star, while Debbie Combs and Linda Street (as Miss Linda) had the best match. Also on the card were Dream Maker (Colonel Ninotchka from GLOW) and Queen Kong.
A former WWF jobber named Larry Finnegan is being held on $150,000 bail on the charges of murdering Hazel Koppel. Koppel, 20, allegedly bit Finnegan while they were having sex in his moving van, and he responded by stabbing and strangling her.
That big meeting in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport between the heads of the various promotions? It led to sweet fuck all. Ken Mantell (World Class), Barry Owen (Northwest), Eddie Gilbert and David Woods (Continental, Jerry Lalwer and Jerry Jarrett (Memphis), and Mike Shields (representing Verne Gagne) all met, and the only agreement they came to was not to invade each other’s territories. They apparently said words about trying to work together too, but no concrete plans for how to do that were drawn up and it seems to have been a waste of everybody’s time.
[NWA] Clash of Champions II peaked at a 6 rating during the Dusty Rhodes and Sting vs. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson match. That translates to about 2.66 million homes. The Atlanta Braves vs. San Francisco Giants baseball game after the Clash only got a 1.5 rating, which means that after the wrestling ended over 75% of the audience tuned out and didn’t stick around for the baseball game.
According to one of the letters this week, Wrestlemania will finally air in Australia on June 17. Talk about a delay.
Scott McGhee, who had a stroke last year and looked to be on the way to potentially reviving his career, collapsed at the beach this past week. Preliminary reports are that he suffered another stroke.
NEXT WEEK:Turner Broadcasting gives a serious offer to the NWA, WWF making inroads in Crockett territory, Powers of Pain debut for WWF, King Haku, and more
The Raptors have three big name free agents that could walk tonight: Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka, and Marc Gasol. But the thing is, in this offseason, many teams simply do not have cap space to sign players. Sure, the sign-and-trade exists, but whether that happens is completely up to Toronto. That being said, I'm going to look at who can sign Fred without the Raptors receiving any compensation in return. For starters, we are going to assume that the Raptors will sign Fred to at least 17.5m/year. Anything above this, they may not be willing to match. So, which teams have at least 17.5m in cap space currently? There are 7 (not including the Raptors). Those teams are:
New Orleans Pelicans
Charlotte Hornets
Miami Heat
Detroit Pistons
Los Angeles Lakers
Atlanta Hawks
New York Knicks
Of these 7, however, two of them have their own free agents that they will want to bring back and, as such, don't actually have the cap space to sign Fred. Those teams are the Los Angeles Lakers (Anthony Davis) and New Orleans Pelicans (Brandon Ingram's qualifying offer cap hold brings them under the 17.5m needed). That leaves 5 teams with the actual cap space to sign Fred:
Charlotte Hornets
Miami Heat
Detroit Pistons
Atlanta Hawks
New York Knicks
Of these 5 teams, however, Fred doesn't necessarily make sense with all of them. Take, for example, the Hornets. It would make no sense for a team with LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier, and Devonte Graham to sign yet another point guard, while having a huge hole at center. That takes them off this list entirely. As such, only 4 teams have actual cap space and the possible need to sign a PG like Fred:
Miami Heat
Detroit Pistons
Atlanta Hawks
New York Knicks
But what are the chances these teams go after Fred above other free agents? For example, the Heat could sign Fred, but would essentially forfeit their ability to retain many of their own free agents. As well, the Pistons look like they're rebuilding and just drafted a PG with a high pick in the draft. Does Fred fit their timeline? The Hawks already have Trae Young. Do they really want to stick Fred at the 2-guard spot instead of getting better wing players? What about the Knicks? If they bring in Russell Westbrook, they certainly won't sign VanVleet. As such, Fred does not fit a dire need for any team that can sign him outright. So, of these four, who is the most likely to pursue Fred?
Team
Likeliness to Pursue
Explanation
New York Knicks
High
By Drafting Obi Toppin, the Knicks are clearly looking to fill their PG need in Free Agency. The Knicks have plenty of cap space and likely want established veterans to build their brand with. They will either sign FVV or Westbrook to fill this need.
Detroit Pistons
Moderate-to-high
The Dwayne Casey connection is there, but that may not be a good thing. The team just drafted Killian Hayes, but they did ship off Luke Kennard, so Hayes could be slotted as a two-guard next to VanVleet.
Miami Heat
Low-to-moderate
No one has talked about this fit, but I actually think Miami is a sleeper team to pursue Fred. The Jimmy Butler signing came out of nowhere and they could sign FVV without compromising their ability to sign a Max player in 2021. Though, since they just made it to the Finals, management may be more apt to run-it-back. If Dragic signs elsewhere, don't be surprised if Fred-to-Miami rumors start popping up.
Atlanta Hawks
Very low
The Hawks have much bigger needs than Fred that could be addressed this offseason. Sure, Fred is a good backcourt defender and could play alongside Young, but it would be foolish of them not to get wing depth this offseason.
But would Fred even want to sign with any of these four teams? By his own account, Fred is looking for three things in his next contract as stated in his interview with J. J. Reddick. First and foremost is money. A distant second and third is an opportunity for Fred to be "the guy" and join a team with a winning culture. How do these four teams rank for Fred, then, compared to the Raptors?
Team
Fred-Fit
Explanation
Toronto Raptors
Money: Good; Role: Decent; Winning: Great
The Raptors can match or beat any other offer gets within reason. If the money will jeopardize 2021 cap space, they won't sign him. With Lowry still around, Pascal's rise, and a possible big name FA in 2021, his chance to be "the guy" is questionable. As far as winning culture is concerned, the Raptors have one of the best records league-wide since Fred joined the team.
New York Knicks
Money: Great; Role: Great; Winning: Poor
The Knicks can throw Fred the most money and, currently, do not have a face of the franchise. Fred would become Mr.Knick if he signed there. That being said, the franchise's atrocious management over the last two decades might scare him away.
Detroit Pistons
Money: Good; Role: Good; Winning: Decent
The Pistons are a bubble playoff squad that have needed great PG talent for awhile. Coming in, Fred would be a breath of fresh air and provide a leadership role. He may not want to be a part of what appears to be a tank wagon, however. The Pistons can offer decent money as well.
Miami Heat
Money: Decent; Role: Decent; Winning: Great
The Heat are Jimmy Butler's team, but Fred would give them that outside scoring edge to where Fred could quickly be a scoring monster with Jimmy and Bam drawing double teams. Fred would have to be content remaining a third option however, and the scene in Miami isn't much different in Toronto for him. Why would he choose them over Toronto?
Atlanta Hawks
Money: Great; Role: Good; Winning: Poor
If Fred signed with the Hawks, they essentially become a poor man's version of the 2019-2020 Mavericks: high scoring, but poor defense. Atlanta has a lot of needs right now, and Fred's abilities are already present. Trae is the face of the Franchise, not Fred.
Combing these two together, here are the rankings of where Fred could go if he was signed outright (the Raptors receiving no sign-and-trade assets):
Toronto Raptors: I think Fred has a good chance to resign. Both Fred and the team are willing if they can get the money to work.
New York Knicks: There is a decent chance Fred joins the Knicks. If the Knicks make Fred their priority, they will easily get him.
Detroit Pistons: There is a decent chance Fred goes back to Dwane Casey. They can't offer as much as the Knicks, but if the Raptors go cheap and the Knicks don't pursue him, Fred in Detroit makes a lot of sense.
Miami Heat: There is a darkhorse chance the Heat sign Fred. This happens if they want him, the Raptors do something unexpected with their cap space (e.g. signing Christian Wood), and the Knicks and Pistons choose another path for PG help or stand pat.
Atlanta Hawks: There is little-to-no-chance Fred goes to the ATL. This would a huge shocker by both them and Fred.
Is It Just Me, Or Is Miranda Lambert's "Wildcard" Not Getting The Respect It Deserves?
YouTube Link - Spotify Link I just don't think the album is talked about enough!! The 7th studio album from Miranda Lambert is amazing! With 14 great tracks, Wildcard shows off many sides of Lambert. While this is her first album to be released after getting married to Brendan Mcloughlin, a now ex-NYPD officer who works on her security team, it isn't filled to the brim with cheap love songs. - The album opens with White Trash. It's a fun song in my opinion, with a kind of different sound playing behind Lambert's lyrics. (I rate it as 6.5/10) The second track is Mess With My Head. This too, has a slightly different sound to it, but it's unique and refreshing. It's the right amount of edgy and just upbeat enough to pull it off. The lyrics almost remind me of Caylee Hammack's Just Friends. (8/10) Next we have It All Comes Out In The Wash, a song we've all heard at least once. While it might have been a little overplayed when it was first released (Due to it being Lambert's first new song in a long time), it actually sounds better now after not hearing it for a while. It's fun and upbeat and treats life like laundry ready for the machine. (7.5/10) Following Wash, we've got Settling Down, the most poetic track on the album. The lyrics tell a story of someone debating on whether to settle up or settle down, and other questions in a similar matter. Recently released as a single, it has good chances of doing well after the success of Bluebird. (The music video is cool, it stars her husband who might appear shirtless. 10/10) Fifth is Holy Water. I'd describe it as a Gospel-Rock-Country song, an odd combination but Lambert pulls it off. It's a pretty good song. (7.5/10) Now we've got Lambert's collaboration on the album, Way Too Pretty For Prison, featuring Maren Morris. It's a fun, upbeat song playing off the cliché that Miranda kills cheaters. Her and Morris sing about how they'd kill Morris' man since he cheated, but they are too pretty to wind up in prison. Their voices work well together. (7/10) Locomotive, the first song we ever heard from Wildcard after Lambert performed it at an award show after singing Sugar Daddy with Angeleena Presley and Ashley Monroe (As the Pistol Annies). This is a a Rock Inspired-Country song I feel like. It's loud and fast and telling about love. Gives off Somewhere Trouble Don't Go vibes in a sense. (7/10) Eight on the album is Miranda's first number one since Over You (Yes Over You, which was on Four The Record, which means Platinum and The Weight Of These Wings didn't reel in a number one), Bluebird. Based off a poem by the same name, Lambert dedicated the song to front line workers at the start of this pandemic, thanking them at all her each of her TV appearances. It's catchy and tells a good message of keeping the good things in life close to you. (8.5/10) How Dare You Love follows Bluebird. The song is a sweet ballad about confronting and calling out love in a sense. The lyric video is cute, having pictures and clips of people's dogs. (7.5/10) I have a love-and-hate relationship with this next one. Fire Escape is a special snowflake in my book. It's a mellow love song that I didn't really start to like until way after hearing it for the first time. This one might not be for everyone, but Miranda's voice truly does shine on this one and it's well written. (7/10) The eleventh track is Pretty Bitchin'. This one's a light hearted song about admiring the little things in life that make it great, or more so the things in life that makes it pretty bitchin'. (9/10) Number 12 is Tequila Does, Lambert's favorite song from the album. It's a song about no one being able to love her more than tequila, it's mellow and the chorus is catchy. Her vocals are great in this song. (8/10) Track Record is second to last. It's fun, kind of fast, and upbeat. I really like it, and so do many others, including Grady. (10/10) The album wraps up with Dark Bars. It's a slower song where Lambert's vocals can shine. The music itself is amazing itself and then works incredibly well with the lyrics. The song stops at three minutes and thirty-nine seconds and has over a minute of music without lyrics which would be my only complaint. (8.5/10) - Anyways, I love the album and I'd give it a 9/10 as a whole. While it might not have the fire that Kerosene and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend had, or the heartbreak of The Weight Of These Wings, Wildcard shows how Miranda has grown since her beginnings and her divorce. I know it lost to Luke Combs' What You See Is What You Get for the ACM Album Of The Year (Making it her first album aside from Kerosene, which wasn't nominated, to not win the category) and will probably lose to him in the CMAs, it is probably the best album nominated in my opinion (Never Will was good and I haven't heard all of Heartache Medication, Old Dominion sucks and all of Luke Combs' songs sound the same). Thanks for reading! -RanFan183
I was today years old when I figured out that “Fishin’ in the Dark” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is not actually about fishing in the dark (114 points, 21 comments)
96 points: pooker55's comment in I’ve always been a huge fan of Eric Church but I never understood this verse from “The Hard Way”. Can someone please explain its meaning to me
95 points: j_bar62's comment in Morgan Wallen getting alittle political on Instagram?
79 points: fndr_bndr's comment in Taylor Swift being replaced by Brad Paisley in Country Legends mural in Nashville... thoughts?
77 points: deleted's comment in When It Rains It Pours is this generation’s Friends In Low Places
74 points: Walterwhitesmeth's comment in If you had to only pick 1, what would you classify as the Greatest Country song?
72 points: DDowd86's comment in Luke Combs married his fiancé Nicole Hocking yesterday
72 points: lele8369's comment in When It Rains It Pours is this generation’s Friends In Low Places
70 points: jmoney-56's comment in Most beautiful country song of all time?
I was today years old when I figured out that “Fishin’ in the Dark” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is not actually about fishing in the dark (114 points, 21 comments)
96 points: j_bar62's comment in Morgan Wallen getting alittle political on Instagram?
95 points: pooker55's comment in I’ve always been a huge fan of Eric Church but I never understood this verse from “The Hard Way”. Can someone please explain its meaning to me
77 points: deleted's comment in When It Rains It Pours is this generation’s Friends In Low Places
73 points: Walterwhitesmeth's comment in If you had to only pick 1, what would you classify as the Greatest Country song?
71 points: DDowd86's comment in Luke Combs married his fiancé Nicole Hocking yesterday
71 points: jmoney-56's comment in Most beautiful country song of all time?
71 points: lele8369's comment in When It Rains It Pours is this generation’s Friends In Low Places
And now we've reached the beginning of the end of CountryMusicStuff's first appreciation week, I loved every bit of this process, even when I was stressed out with deadlines, I kept pushing forward for you guys as a community, this has been the most fun I've had with the sub in a long time and I can't wait to explore other big and underappreciated artists. After 8 albums its time to answer the big one, which album stands tall above the rest, I'd love to know your opinion, even though I'm not touching Taylor Swift for a long time after this, I'll give a little shoutout here and there when I see it fitting. A lot of people this week have come together to appreciate all the music she's put out, and I don't want it to fade away. I'm gonna announce the placements Drum Corps style because this has built up a lot of momentum over the past week, also this was not easy, a lot of these albums were highly competitive, some rose in placement, some did not, a majority of the scores were really tight, and I'm being as critical as can be, because the fanboy in me would put all these albums around 8 or 9 out of 10. In 8th Place With A Score Of 6.9/10: 8. Lover (2019) Lover is last for me, as I feel like it has a lot to offer, but it fails to be cohesive, the sound ranges from candy sounding pop, to 80's synth style, to the style of Reputation and country, it's a mess in terms of lyrics and production. There a few instances where we get the peak of Taylor's vocal performance and writing skills, but mostly it feels contrived and lazy. Also this isn't last for my disdain of the trash that is the man, the album score is the average of my song ratings, so The Man only counts for 5.5% of the score. 1 song doesn't determine where I place a record. I've seen records where I give one song a 1/10 and the rest are 8,9 or 10 out of 10, and I give it a high score. The writing and sound for a lot of the record, is kind of dated, to be honest, songs like ME! or You Need To Calm Down's sound was already done 2016 and 2017, and in 2019, the sound of music changed drastically, either trap songs by DaBaby, or mellow pop songs by Billie Eilish and Post Malone trended, I'm not saying it failed as it has sold 4 million worldwide which in the streaming era is huge, and it still landed to be the most popular album of 2019, but chart wise this album didn't land, for an artist a few years back was a head of the times it feels on this record she's playing catch up. In terms of the tracks themselves, this is the only record where I actually hate some of the tracks, them being The Man, I Think He Knows, and I Forgot That You Existed, one being dishonest lyricism and the other 2 being lazily produced and sung, normally I can pick up on something I like but not on Knows or Existed, out of context The Man is fun, but using my brain I can tell its the worst of the 3. Then we get into the decent section which is, Miss Americana, False God, You Need To Calm Down, and Death By A Thousand Cuts, these tracks are give or take, you may like the lyrics which are clever or honest, while you get bad production, like on Death By A Thousand Cuts, which is pretty descriptive but it suffers from a lot of the production concerning her vocals or in You Need To Calm Down where it is a jam, but the lyrics are lazy, and pandering, and how she keep's singing to haters and critics, why? There was a whole record dedicated to this, why do you keep bringing it up. And if you are going to, be clever about it, like Blank Space or Delicate. Then there's the good tracks that have a decent balance of both, like ME!, or Paper Rings, these tracks are often silly in their lyricism, which is okay, I'm cool with dumb silly songs, and the production really reflects the seriousness these songs lack, there are some tracks where the lyrics are so dumb and the instrumentation is advanced and beautiful, they don't fit together usually, so these tracks offer the middle lane. The great tracks are the ones where we get to see inside her head, her personal stories, such as The Archer, which actually does a good job in describing the battle of her reputation, not addressing the haters but her own personal perspective, her relationship with Alwyn is on full display with Lover, which is one of the biggest standouts of the record, where get arguably the best bridge of her career, Luke Combs does pretty good ones, but Taylor is on a whole other level, even on tracks that aren't as great, she puts a lot of effort into bridges. Her matured view point of relationships in Cornelia Street, how this relationship is getting so good, and how if they fail, she's afraid to walk that street because its a scar. And the crown jewel of the album, Soon You'll Get Better, which is dedicated to her mother diagnosed with a terminal illness, beautifully written, I can hear every emotion going through her head, and it is heartbreaking. The record offers some of her best songs, my favorite melodies and lyrics, Just because it is barely misses a 7/10, doesn't mean don't listen to it, still 80% of this record I still listen to, I judge songs intellectually, so in terms of fun, this is around 7.5 or 8, if you are getting into pop for the first time after listening to country all your life, this is a good way to enter the genre and what to expect. In 7th Place With A Score Of 7.4/10 7. Reputation (2017) Reputation is considered by many to be her worst album, and majority of the people who say that, only listened to the singles, this album's opening is supposed to break your perspective, I think it is also dated, this sound of EDM, Trap was big with people like The Chainsmokers and Imagine Dragons and they were already on the decline, but while it doesn't hold up compared to the other records, there is a lot I like on it, Taylor's songwriting skills are still here, even if vocally and instrumentally it isn't, even on the bombastic EDM I Did Something Bad, there is still quality, and personally I like the production, the overall package isn't as intelligent as I'd like it to be but by the second chorus it brings it. Even on my least favorite track This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, while pretty forgettable melodically, is really raw in the writing, detailing how people have betrayed her over the years, and highlights her feud with Kanye West, also if you're interested in the context for a majority of the songs, I highly recommend the Netflix Documentary, Miss Americana, I skip over the political nonsense, but you get to see her mind set in her modern songs especially in Lover and Reputation. The singles themselves are bombastic like Look What You Made Me Do and ...Ready For It, people's complaints are valid, it really comes down to personal preference, most people when listening to pop, tend to go for their ears rather than their brains, its easier when listening to country music, as the best of it reflect both instrumentation and lyrics, pop is a lot harder as songs for casual listeners are carried by the production, so she has my respect, for putting intellectualism in this style, the only other artist I think that used to be able to do something similar, was 21 Pilots but they've turned into a joke imo. The record really is divided into 2 parts, the dark and heavy sounding side which is all about her reputation and the other is her personal stories, which has a lot lighter production style, with songs like Gorgeous, if I were to put a song from Lover and Gorgeous together, you'd probably think they came from the same album, I tried it once, and that is what got a friend of mine to check out Reputation. Also quick side note, Her concert at Metlife Stadium 2018, is arguably the best concert I've been to, then again I've only been to 4 or 5, which were Toby Keith, Midland, Florida Georgia Line, and I wanna say David Allen Coe, I can't really remember, I was pretty young at the time and it was raining that day in Metlife. The remainder songs actually highlight her new style or throwback to previous styles from older records, my favorite of the new style being So It Goes, its semi-dirty, and I gag to That's My Kind Of Night, but So It Goes is my jam. Don't Blame Me, has a electronic bass drop gospel feel to me, and while not that great lyrically, makes up for how much on an ear worm it is. Getaway Car is a fantastic metaphor, and is a great throwback to 1989, how she talks about a man, being a getaway car, and her guilt of using him like that. Dancing With Our Hands Tied is another great example of her growing skill of unique storytelling in describing relationships. Delicate is my favorite of the entire album, and highlights how she sorta disappeared for a year in the media's eyes, and how all eyes are on her, and you get a sense of freedom when there's no one watching you, the vocals are so soothing, and the drum loop blends in so well, and according to Grady, he calls it his "Chill Jam" I completely agree, then there's the elephant in the room, Look What You Made Me Do at the time really divided the fan base, but overtime this became a beloved piece of pop culture, it is lyrically so interesting, the chorus is a turn off for people, but after listening to this track tens of times, it's become on of my favorite tracks in her entire catalog. Then the closing track New Years Day, without a doubt the best track, highlighting how true love isn't in kissing, their body, or sex, its in their actions, how something as small as cleaning up after a party does so much, Overall yes I enjoy Reputation, I encourage those scared of checking out this record, give it a listen in its entirety, it's better than you think. In 6th Place With A Score Of 7.5/10 6. Taylor Swift (2006) To all the traditionalists before you downvote this because her countriest record is placed 6th, hear me out. Yes sonically her first record is the best. As is the case for a lot of artists in Nashville during the 2000's. But lyrically, this certainly isn't her greatest. Arguably this album is revolutionary for its key role in the start of the bro era, now I'm not comparing her to bro artists, but if you pay close attention, after 2006, you begin to see a rise in her more bro like songs charting slowly. And in this record, you get all the bro tropes, like Trucks, someones eyes, jeans, dirt roads. I certainly think she did a better job at describing adjectives than most artists, I'd put her around the same level of HARDY in that aspect, but simple adjectives are simple adjectives and there's no getting around that. And while there is a lot of traditional country sounds, to help make up for this issue, around 25% of this record leans in the 2000's pop rock trend, and that lowers my opinion of a lot especially with songs like Invisible which sounds awkward vocally for me, or A Perfectly Good Heart, I think the 2 styles in both the lyricism and instrumentation don't blend together great, and similar to how I view songs like Hey Cowgirl by Randall King, the sound might be beautiful but the lyrics are still pretty simple. She was starting to write songs at 16, she hasn't really sharpened her skills yet, this is evident on tracks like I'm Only Me When I'm With You, its sweet and fun but arguably besides the instrumentation and vocals, this is a 7/10 song, and others songs like this include Cold As You, The Outside, Stay Beautiful, all great, but I think we can agree these aren't masterpieces. But while I approach this brutally in some of your eyes, there is still a lot I adore on the record. Our Song is a jam and while simplistic, that's the intention, the melody is as iconic to me as say something like Toes By Zac Brown Band. Picture To Burn is just a blast all the way through, that offer a lot more than a majority of the other tracks on the record, they let the instruments shine more often, you can tell she had a lot more fun with these 2 tracks than the others. The more mature songs signaled that the best of Taylor Swift was yet to come, Teardrops On My Guitar, A Place In This World, are the standouts for me as these are the stories I connected to more, I'm in my final year of high school and I this record feels so nostalgic. Teardrops captures a feeling we've all felt at one point of our lives, it's not that big lyrically, but it has so much emotion, it feels so raw and pure. Then there's Tim McGraw which was the prequel to one of the most iconic tracks of the 2010's Springsteen, who knows, maybe Eric Church was inspired by it to write his own perspective. Tim McGraw is captures every element I love and brings it all together, the great lyrics, the fantastic instrumentation and emotional vocal performance. Her first record may be your favorite, like I said almost all of them are close in striking distance for me, originally I had this in 5th place, but after listening to it 3 more times I came to accept that while the sound is gorgeous, there was just as much quality in her later years. In 5th Place With A Score Of 7.6/10 5. Red (2014) Red as I've said before is her most important record, which was her smooth transition of genres from country to pop, as you can tell by the ratings is a pretty good album, but while this does have the least amount of 6/10's for me, it is overwhelmed with 7/10's. 63% percent of this record is 7/10 for me. And for a pop record which I view it as, that's pretty good, it's extremely hard to make an intellectual pop record in this day and age. Most artists like Camila Cabello or Shawn Mendes while great performers don't put much brains into their songs and you're left with a 5/10 record. Red played it safe in terms of it leaning into the pop genre further than it ever did with songs like 22 and I Knew You Were Trouble. It's what I like to call a wholesome album, which is an album which intellectual and casual listeners can enjoy, songs with so much heartfelt moments, and fun moments people can universally enjoy. So the fun moments for me are definitely songs like 22 and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, 22 is more of a bubblegum anthem, and those never really have vivid imagery, but this does put me in scenarios I've been in, like breakfast at midnight, however I will never EVER!!! go to a club. So there goes the relatableness. But still that melody is impossible not to enjoy (unless you're trigger) We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is my favorite of the pop tracks, I don't think she's had as much fun in a recorded track, its a jam, still had a grudge as it was pushed to country, but still a lot of 2013 singles weren't country. Stay Stay Stay, is another fun little jam that border lines pop with modern country. It is harmless, hilarious and a good time throughout all of it. The S Tier of this record lies within the the opening and ending track, which is State Of Grace, and Begin Again, State Of Grace, shows the beginning of the end for her country career. I regret never seeing this song live, I adore it, and Begin Again, is her farewell to the genre, we get everything I love in a mature Swift song, beautiful instrumentation, compelling lyrics and sensitive vocals. And then imo the best track of the record: All To Well, so well written, beautifully sung, so perfectly built up to this dramatic conclusion. Red, is the safest record she's done, but the best of the record, is some of the best Taylor Swift has to offer. In 4th Place With A Score Of 7.6/10 4. Fearless (2008) This is what I call the golden age of Taylor Swift, drawing a fine line between mature lyrics and great instrumentation. This is the second time I've seen an album average out the same score, so to break it , I counted which album had the most 9/10's and here we are. Fearless brings back to a time, where I didn't have to worry about college, who I'm going to be, all I had to worry about was band and maintaining good grades. Her voice is slowly getting deeper and I got a feeling idolism. It is was my first record Taylor Swift record and I cherish it as much as I do for Chief By Eric Church, arguably 3 records broadened my perspective of the potential of country music, them being This One's For You and these 2. I've talked so much about my love of the album and I've yet to highlight why the album is good. Definitely the simplistic parts of her writing haven't been fleshed out yet, so you have a hand full of 6/10's but they are improvements from her first record. Like Hey Stephen, to me it is clever but I find the melody extremely tedious. The Best Day, I'm sorry if you guys love this one I just don't see it, it feels too perky and you guys describe this to be over emotional, but I can't be on the same page with this. The Way I Loved You, is a bro song, her first 3 albums heavily inspired the lyrical aspect of the bro era, and I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing. Still all of these songs are good especially when I compare it to songs today. This is also her 2nd best single output for her 8 records. The singles here aren't just great for radio, their great overall. You Belong With Me is impossible not to sing along to when it comes on when we play music on the bus after a competition. This was the peak of 2000's pop. Like Robert California from the office, I don't like the Blacked Eyed Peas, I wasn't a fan of the output for a majority of these artists like Usher, or Eminem, so to hear this everywhere was amazing. White Horse is arguably the best lyrically, with how it progresses the story, but Love Story is the perfect balance those 2 songs possess. Great story production, unforgettable melodies and the best sounding song on the record. Fearless for a long time was my favorite record, it was my childhood (the parts I can remember) In 3rd Place Receiving My Bronze Medal With A Score Of 7.8/10 3. Speak Now (2010) Speak Now had the highest expectations from me, given how much I loved the previous record and for a long time I always viewed it as inferior to Fearless, it wasn't till this even where I realized its slight superiority. My only real complaint is how I'm not a big fan of the punk rock sound a few tracks had, but still the tracks were good nonetheless. For a long time I viewed this as her most mature record, where we got to see more of her life as a celebrity rather than stories from her past. There was a lot of innovation with the record as she also experimented with orchestras for the tracks Haunted and Back To December, both capturing the theme the lyrics capture, Haunted obviously bring out haunting melodies and Back To December, bring out sincereness. You could tell she relied less and less on the high school narrative, she really uses it 2 or 3 times imo. A lot of the stories are so unique and feel interconnected in what I think the album's theme is which suppression of emotion. Speak Now the title track is about expressing love to some one who is about to marry the wrong woman, this is a perfect example of suppressed emotion as she does consider this is wrong, but she's tired of hiding it. Back To December is about swallowing pride rather than making a song about the man in the relationship being the wrong, this track is about how she was. Never Grow Up show's her side that never wished she grew up, how everything that matters to her aren't selling out shows, making millions but her family, I can tell I'm in the minority when say it's my favorite track, Better Than Revenge is her unleashing all her bitterness on Joe Jonas. Mean doesn't really convey the them of suppression, but still it's MEAN. The sound of it is amazing, it's pretty goofy, but that's why I love it. Dear John is the longest and most emotional roller coaster out of any Swift song, perfectly paced, unleashing all of her emotions about what I assume to be John Mayer, but I still have my doubts, take him out of the context, doesn't do a darn thing, I love this song just as much. Normally long songs eventually get me bored, but not Dear John I am moved by its haunting somber melody, the build up to her powerful vocals and one of her most compelling stories. Dear John while not my favorite, is what universally unites all fans of this record. This is currently the best country record she's ever made, who knows, Red is creeping up in appreciation, I learn a new detail every time I listen to a Taylor Swift record, so a year from now this record could be 5th or 6th or 2nd or 1st. Receiving My Silver Medal With A Score Of 8/10 2. folklore (2020) I don't think many people realize how much of a game changer this record is. I've argued Taylor has played catch up with Reputation and Lover, but once again she's ahead of the game. This blends several genres at once, country, soft jazz, rock, folk, pop and it doesn't feel disjointed. Without a doubt the most mature and well written record of her career as of now. If folklore was a country album, and given today's standards it is, I'd put it as the #1 album in the mainstream even above Never will by Ashley McBryde, the current leader of this year. Every single song is a fantastic album cut, it has changed the game for how she writes her songs, she's taken new perspective when singing about how she keeps up with appearances, new perspectives in break up and high school songs. The Saltbox House Chapter is a story line the spans off 4 songs, I don't remember the last time something like this has been tried, I'm sure it has but it's been a hell of a long time. The weakest song on this track is still something with so much effort put in, Seven's only major issues are vocal and melodical, lyrically it tells the story of a forgotten friend, and she can remember everything but her physical details. One great example of new ways of writing about her reputation, is The Last Great American Dynasty, instead of talking about herself which she's prone to do a lot. She sings about others and in this case, her Rhode Island home's previous owner. It's very compelling and one of my favorite lyrically, but similar to how much I love Round Here Buzz, the percussion here is too big of a problem. The 1 definitely feels like an outlier, as it doesn't really go in the theme of the saltbox house story line, or her new perspective of her appearance. But still it's fun to listen to. I can picture myself walking through grey skies in downtown for school listening to this record. When I walk alone, I like to be alone with my thoughts and this record allows me to reach that state, even simple songs like this one. Her songs about her and Alwyn are so wholesome, Invisible String is all about how an invisible string tied them together and they didn't know it. Little details of where they would've met earlier, places they've been to. Peace is about how while they are together, people will always look for cracks to get a story, and he doesn't are if its peaceful. Alwyn seems like the one for Taylor and I hope they last, he's better than everyone she's ever been with. I wouldn't be shocked if an engagement would be announced in the next few months as this song has finally brought her full circle as she's finally ready to commit, after everything she's been through. Mirrorball tugs at my heartstrings more than any song on the record, how she's giving everything she has in her songs, and each detail of heartbreaking her life is a crack in a disco ball. The world of music is heading into 2 directions, the trap path, which is a young generation singing in vulgar. The Saltbox House Chapter is undeniably the best part of the record, Cardigan, is a great lead single, while not my favorite, it deserves a Grammy nomination, as does the record, most can agree 2020, was mostly a trash year for pop/r&b/hip-hop/etc, and country music is actually getting good, with quality returning more and more with people like Maddie & Tae and Ingrid Andress. August my 3rd favorite track, fills the gaps left in cardigan. We get the details of how James was seduced, how this unnamed lover felt, her joy, her guilt, and sadness. This is Taylor Swift in her prime, something she's hasn't really been in for 6 years. Betty, which is climbing faster than New Years Day, or Soon You'll Get Better ever did, is becoming a defining part of country music for 2020. Betty was the entire reason appreciation week happened, after I was done smashing stuff after the load of crap that was the ACM awards, I reminded myself of how perfect Taylor's return was. Betty in terms of structure is 2020's love story, great storytelling and the key change implies a happy ending. But Illicit Affairs takes it over the top where we get the perspective of James and the unnamed girl, every dirty vivid detail on full display. Folklore brought back the Taylor I knew as a kid, she's changed drastically in the past 14 years, and this is a sign of maturity I can respect, I do have my problems with her but this isn't the place to discuss them nor do they damage my perspective of how talented and heartwarming she is. Folklore isn't going to be for everyone, this is an intellectual album, there isn't a jam piece like ME! or Delicate, its her being the best version of herself on full display for the world to see. And Finally In First Place Receiving My Gold Medal With A Score Of 8.8/10 1. 1989 (2014) To put it simply 1989, is one of the greatest records ever made, I use 3 lines when I describe my praise in reviews like this and that's favorite, best and finally greatest, favorite is pretty simple, I like this song in a non-intellectual manner, it's great not in critical aspects and mostly relies on earworm melodies and licks. Examples are Tequila, or Marry Me. Best is what I use to describe what is critically great. How good is the instrumentation, the lyrics, vocals, production, examples of Best are Mr. Misunderstood, Seneca and Heartache Medication, Greatest is a combination of both but with a 3rd factor, and that is revolutionizing music all together. 1989 broke music, starting a trend that would bring me back into the pop world after I abandoned it around 2009. 1989 would change the songwriting styles and production value of many albums for years to come, in away its the here's to the good times for pop music, difference is this would improve the genre over time, not damage it. 1989 simply is a perfect pop record. Now I say perfect pop record, not perfect album there are problems with it, but a perfect pop album, to me is an album with an engaging sound, unforgettable melodies, rhythmically well tuned lyrics, and great vocal production. 1989 even its weakest moments accomplishes everything. The opening track Welcome To New York, engages you into a thrilling setting, I'm about 15 minutes away from NYC, and while most of it is a rat hole, my first real experience by myself was this song, it is an instant classic, and I'm still mad it wasn't pushed as a single. When I take off for college this is my theme song when I leave as chances are I'm moving to New York to study Music Education. Up until folklore 1989 handled her songs about her you know what (I'm sick of using that word) Out Of The Woods, is about her wondering if she can finally relax with whoever she was dating at the time, as the paparazzi made it their mission to sniff around her personal life. I Wish You Would, while my least favorite is still a great song that probably would've hit #1 like every other single released on here. The irony of song feels so realistic, as the awkwardness and fear of a breakup can make our minds run wild of what the other is thinking, yes both Woods and Would are pretty repetitive in their melody but still they are great pop songs, compared to other songs trending in 2014, Ariana Grande is not my cup of tea, I'll never listen to her unless it's a song from Victorious. Bang Bang was mediocre at best, the literal garbage that is Anaconda. The only artists that really caught my interest was Maroon 5 and Ed Sheeran, and really only their singles did, this whole record captured me. All You Had To Do Was Stay marks the line from the good to the great pop songs, those are jams, but Stay highlights realistic issues in a fun manner, the toughest part of relationship is arguably enduring. And by leaving you show you're not ready and not the one. This Love, could arguably be called a country song, if you use 2010 standards, its beautiful if not a bit repetitive. The only real issue the record has is how repetitive the record can get in terms of lyrics. Clean is my least favorite in terms of production and percussion, but still great lyrical messaging of how going through a breakup is like ripping off a band-aid, it will hurt no matter what, the best you can do is endure the pain and once it passes you'll clean and free of most of the pain. I Know The Places was the first hint of the reputation era, and it's all about escaping the media vultures. Pretty simple messaging, but pretty descriptive in it's rap verses. Her metaphors are well put, how they are foxes, and they will hunt them down. How You Get The Girl is another synth smash, giving simple dating advice, for both short and long term. It's a jam and honestly nothing more, with a little bit story driven details sprinkled in. But the biggest reason this record is #1 and stands tall above the rest is the big 5: Shake It Off, Blank Space, Bad Blood, Style, and Wildest Dreams. One of the greatest single outputs ever in the history of music. Most lead singles sell around 2-3 million, and the other generic ones make around 800k. In 1989, 1 surpassed 12 million 3 surpassed 5 million and 1 passed 3 million. The only record last decade to surpass it in numbers was 21 by Adele, and it's Adele, who is extremely tough to beat, and in terms of single output I still prefer this over 21. The only album that I probably enjoy more in terms of singles in the pop world is ÷ by Ed Sheeran, and even then, you can tell in terms of a lot of the album process this record was heavily inspired by 1989. Bad Blood is my least favorite as its the most repetitive of the bunch and while Kendrick Lamar spiced it up it didn't change my view as much. Still that opening intro is fantastic, it's what Reputation wish it could be in terms of sound. Still salty we didn't play this in Marching Band. And even so lyrically a lot of interesting stuff is going on especially in the bridge. Shake It Off while never holding up to its standard is one her best jams, alongside New York, 22 and Delicate. Some people don't like the douche like bridge, I can understand and respect that, but I act like such a kid when singing along to it. For once I thought she's rising above it all, (boy what a lie that was!) Wildest Dreams restructured the sound of a lot of slow tempo contemporary ballads. It's beautifully sung, and gives off the emotion of pleasurable guilt, I can see the influence of Lana Del Rey, and that and this 80's synth remaster give the perfect combination. Style is the best song in terms of production, nothing over the past 14 years has been able to claim that title. For about 3 years it was my favorite pop song only being surpassed by Castle On The Hill. But still I listen to this track more than any Luke Combs song, Eric Church song, or any other song from indie and Texas artist. Style gives me an emotional rush, some of y'all will be pissed with how high I rate it tomorrow, as the lyrics I admit aren't substantive, but the production is something I haven't let go of for 6 long years, Blank Space is the best of the 5 and the record as while not a return to form sonically, it is a return in terms of storytelling. Brief little details of how she behaves, her next boyfriend, highlighting and summarizing every relationship she's ever been up till 2016. No one has truly escaped her wrath in songwriting, it is arguably her peak in pop, and I'm still considering where it will end up on my list. I do acknowledge when I praise this record it has it's problems, most are in terms of lyrical maturity, I gave it a 8.8/10, if I wasn't as critical as I was put this record around 9.3/10. There are better records out there like Pageant Material by Kacey Musgraves, The Tree by Lori McKenna, but while they are better critically in my eyes, I'll be honest, I would choose this record a thousand times. This record has one thing they don't, this record is unforgettable, if I live to 70 or 80, the 3 records that will always stay with me are Mr. Misunderstood, Seneca and 1989. Fearless is the golden age of Taylor Swift, Red is her most important record, Folklore is her most mature record, but 1989 is her Magnum Opus. It defied all of my expectations with how she handled Red, Mr. Misunderstood is the best mainstream country record of the decade in my eyes, 1989 is the not only the best pop record of this decade, but one of best of the century regardless of genre. It revolutionized the sound of music, changing it for the better, brought me back to a genre I abandoned for shallowness in every aspect, it somehow reignited that spark it had missed for several years. And that's why to me it is the crown achievement of Taylor Swift.
I was today years old when I figured out that “Fishin’ in the Dark” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is not actually about fishing in the dark (113 points, 21 comments)
98 points: j_bar62's comment in Morgan Wallen getting alittle political on Instagram?
95 points: pooker55's comment in I’ve always been a huge fan of Eric Church but I never understood this verse from “The Hard Way”. Can someone please explain its meaning to me
75 points: deleted's comment in When It Rains It Pours is this generation’s Friends In Low Places
71 points: Walterwhitesmeth's comment in If you had to only pick 1, what would you classify as the Greatest Country song?
69 points: DDowd86's comment in Luke Combs married his fiancé Nicole Hocking yesterday
Hello! I'm starting to write a story and I really would like some feedback. This is the second chapter, as I've already written the first and have gotten some feedback elsewhere. Can you guys tell me if it's confusing, boring, or if there are some issues? I take all feedback well! (Sorry that it's kind of long in advance, you don't have to read all of it) “How’s that old hairball Ramona doing?” “Serenity, for the last time, Ramona is not an old hairball. He’s just not all there, okay?” Natalie laughs. It felt nice to joke with her again. “But she’s fine. She doesn’t miss you, though. Just in case you were wondering.” “The feeling is mutual.” “When are you coming back to visit us? Bailey and I want to see you again. We’ll even buy you a plane ticket to Louisville if we have to,” she rambles, her bottom lip poking out at the end. I sigh. I want to see my hometown best friends again, but there’s about ten hours’ worth of distance wedged between us. “I don’t know, Nat. I doubt my mom would let me fly up there alone. Plus, neither one of you have enough money to buy a plane ticket,” I smile. She rolls her eyes as her hand grazes the black and orange ball of fur she calls a cat. “It’s been over a year. We can’t just not see each other. Please, please beg your parents to let you come visit before your first day of school.” I stare at my phone screen and think of the probability that my parents will let me go back to Kentucky for a few days (the odds don’t seem to be in my favor). It’s hard to decline to Natalie. Her face is always expressive, and saying no to her is much like stealing candy from a baby. Her eyebrows were already squished in desperation and I hadn’t even given an answer yet. So instead of being honest, I just say, “I’ll see what they can do.” Her face lights back up as she hugs Ramona close to her chest. “Okay! Just let us know when. My mom would love to have you stay with us again.” I nod my head. “Yeah. Hey, um, I gotta go, okay?” “Okay. Just text me or something. I love you!” “Love you too.” I end the video chat and throw myself back against my bed. I’m not going to let this feeling bug me for the rest of the day. “Where are you going?” “To the park, I guess. I just don’t want to be locked in here for the day,” I scratch the back of my neck. I could tell that Mama was skeptical. She always was when I decided to leave the strict confines of the house. “By yourself?” “Yes.” “No one is going to meet you there?” “Who would, Mama?” There’s a pause in the conversation. She looks at me with sorrowed eyes. I dart my own away from her, refusing to let her pity me. “Okay, well, just be careful, okay?” I nod my head and start my walk to the park. There isn’t anything special about it other than the small pond that’s home to a few ducks and turtles. But there aren’t many places to go in Swanson and nothing extraordinary to see either, so the park was really my only option. Sun rays pounded against my skin. I’m going to be so dark later. I find myself much more self conscious about my skin tone during the summer. I don’t like to be much darker than I already am. Oh well. I’ll just stay inside for a couple of days. It’s not like I don’t do that already. A long breath escapes me. This journey to the park wasn’t easing my nerves so far. I still longed to be with Nat and Bailey, I still hated that I lived so far away from them, and I still hated that I lived here of all the places to live. My dad could’ve chosen any other city in Florida, and yet he chose the county that is the most disconnected from the world around it. The Swanson natives lead very country lifestyles. They drive mud-splattered pick-up trucks and golf carts; they enjoy fishing and hunting on the weekends; their accents are dipped in that sweet southern twang; and they love their “southern heritage”[A.K.A. their obsession with the Confederacy (but I usually refer to it as “generational racism”)]. I found it difficult to assimilate to this kind of culture three years ago when I first moved. I didn’t (and still don’t) have very much in common with anyone my age. Not many people took interest in me anyway. Now I’m lodged into the loner category. I would be lying if I said I don’t miss the urban life of going to the movies, going roller skating, and going shopping. If I wanted to do any of those things, I would have to drive at least thirty minutes in either direction. Oh, and I miss having friends, of course. But that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Unless people magically start to really see me next school year. Because of this, I resort to the park. It’s peaceful on most days. Sometimes there’s your typical “delinquents” smoking pot in the far corner, but that’s not out of the ordinary. And I can’t blame them for doing it. When you’ve got nothing to do, drugs are the only thing to keep life from being exhaustingly dull. So maybe that’s why I’m so bored all of the time. If there’s a group of people passing around a blunt today, maybe I’ll ask if I can join. Ha. Who am I kidding? Talking to strangers and smoking weed are out of the picture. I’d trip and fall before I’d even get to say “Hi, I’m Serenity,” to them. There were no kids doing illegal endeavors when I showed up. In fact, there was no one at the park at all. I figured it’s due, in part, to the astounding eighty-five degrees it is outside. Only I am silly enough to be out right now. I don’t mind though. I like it when it’s just me and the ducks. I’ve got to be honest, though, there isn’t much to do at the park as a teenager. Sure, I could swing, but I get motion sick sometimes. I could go down the slide, but I’m afraid I’ll get stuck because of the grip my wide hips will have on the scalding plastic. I could try the monkey bars, but I have terribly sweaty, tiny palms. I look to my phone in the hopes that maybe someone had thought to text me today. No one had, as usual. It doesn’t even phase me anymore. Although I know there is nothing productive about sitting around and feeling sad for myself, that’s what I began to do. But that gets old after a while, and then I find myself thinking of the life I’m going to force myself to have. I’m going to force myself to get over this imaginary wall that is pent up between me and the world of people waiting for me to meet them. I’m going to find my group of forever friends and a fine husband or wife. I’m going to get over my fear of pregnancy and give birth to no more than two little bundles of joy. I’m going to become that freelance photographer that I’ve dreamed of being since I was young. And then I’m going to get over my fear of dying and slip into my eternal life with content. I’ve always found it ironic that my greatest fear is death, because I think about it almost everyday. What it’ll feel like. What’s going to happen to me once I’m gone. Who I’m going to leave behind. Sometimes I wish that my mind didn’t belong to me. That I could think about what other teenagers think about. And to some degree, I do: the sex bit. But other than that, it feels like I’m lightyears away from feeling like a kid who’s literally meant to mess up. I’m always too busy walking around on eggshells, worrying about what I’m going to mess up next and plan my every move carefully to avoid those mess ups. I give myself no room to fall. I wish I would. I sigh as a rush of wind shoots through the air. Rubbing my eyes, I begin to hum. Music soothes me when I feel like I’m going off the deep end. It tames my runaway thoughts. I think of the lyrics that go with the song I’m humming. I think that I’ve been driftin’, without you, driftin’. It’s a song by Good Kid, a band that my older brother used to listen to. He didn’t make it to hear this particular song, but it still reminded me so much of him. The rock elements intertwining with the alternative ones captured his personality in its entirety. My heart ached as I realized that he’ll never be able to listen to it with me. It sent a cold pang through each of my body parts one by one. I hear some grass crunch behind me as someone nears, but I figure that it’s just someone I don’t know trying to find a way to waste their day. I didn’t think the person was actually approaching me until their voice sounded. “Serenity?” I whip my head around, shocked to hear my name come wrapped in such a deep tone. It’s Kaid. It’s weird that I’ve never seen him until the day of my job interview, and now here is. I guess he’s been here the whole time, I’ve just been too in my head and secluded from the world to acknowledge his existence. It’s kind of like how you learn a new word and suddenly it’s everywhere. Then you start to wonder if you’ve always heard it and always read it in some book or on some poster, but it didn’t feel like a word until it was given a meaning “Hi,” I smile. I then take into account how I’m looking. Fuck. My hair was still tied up, as I didn’t have the patience to take it down and style it. I wore some highlighter-colored athletic clothes and some ugly slides that did not match at all. My leg starts jumping. Kaid asks, “What are you doing here all alone?” He rounds the bench I’m sitting on and takes a seat right across from me. That same cedar smell fills the air, sending tingles through me. “Just thinking,” is all that I give him. I don’t say that I have nothing else to do or that I’m so lonely all the time that I do pretty much everything “all alone.” He nods his head. “What about?” I sigh, rubbing my arms. It takes me a while to even gather a response. I’m sure it’s not a good idea to go on about how I was thinking about the life I wish I could have, and then about death, then about my dead brother. “Everything, I guess.” He only nods his head again. He runs a hand through his charcoal hair then folds his hands in front of him. “I don’t really like thinking by myself. My mind just,” — he mimics an explosion — “and then it goes blank for a while. You know what I mean?” I do know what he means. But what I don’t know is why he’s opening up to me, and why he’s talking to me in the first place. It’s not a bad thing, but it wasn’t making much sense; we hardly know each other. “Yeah, I get it. I do that sometimes, too.” I give a forced smile. He looks off to his right for a second. I finally notice the palpitating of my heart and the shaking of my hands. I close my eyes for a few seconds and try to take a deep breath to calm my nerves. “So, do you come here to do your thinking often?” “It depends,” I start. I was going to end my response there, but I wanted to at least make it seem like I was somewhat interested in talking to Kaid. Because I am. I just find it difficult to talk sometimes. “I usually come here to do drugs.” He looks up at me with furrowed brows. “You do drugs?” I smile (it’s a real one this time) and shake my head. “I’m kidding.” He grins too. “You had me a little confused there, Serenity. Here I was thinking I had you all figured out and then you went and dropped that bomb on me.” “Had me all figured out? From one two-minute conversation?” I ask it in a playful way, but I’m seriously puzzled about how he could’ve even thought he had me “figured out.” He knows nothing about me, and I know nothing about him. He’s about to say something but then he closes his mouth. He chuckles a little before saying, “I know that you like my hands.” He smirks. My eyes go wide and my cheeks heat up. “Oh my gosh,” I laugh. “Is that the only thing you know about me or do you just like to see me embarrassed?” “I know that you probably have some serious anxiety because every time I talk to you, your leg starts trying to run away from your body.” I only shrug my shoulders and try desperately to stop my leg from bouncing. “But that’s okay, because I get pretty bad anxiety, too.” I look up to his face again. Correction: his perfect face. I silently thank God for this amazing view. “You do?” He hums. “All the fucking time. I can manage it better these days, though.” I rub my chin and stare at the table in front of me. “Yeah, my anxiety kind of messes up everything for me,” I mumble. I can’t bring myself to look him in the face now. My biggest flaw is now laid out, naked and bare, for a complete stranger to see. “You seem to be doing okay right now. I’m not bored of you or annoyed by you or anything. Just get out of your head for a second and tell me about yourself. We’re going to be working together so we might as well get to know each other.” I heave in another deep breath and finally look back up to him. His eyes are telling me something different now. They aren’t as warm as they were before. They were sullen now. Desperate. It looked like maybe he was starting to think, too, and that he was afraid of the explosion awaiting him. “I’m not from here.” “Where’re you from?” “Kentucky.” “Kentucky?! What made you move so far away?” It was the same reaction that everyone has when I tell them I’m from the Bluegrass state. “My dad got a job in Jacksonville.” “Which state do you like better?” “Is that question some kind of sick joke? Of course I like Kentucky more.” “Why, though? Florida has beaches and stuff. It’s not all bad.” I think about my answer for a minute. For one, Kentucky was home to all my childhood friends, the ones that I miss dearly everyday. I grew up there. It’s a familiar place that made me feel comfortable and normal. It had actual seasons, and not just an eight-month summer, a one-month fall, and a three-month winter. The beaches are nice, but I miss the hills and the trees with leaves that turn colors in September. I miss the historic sites that makes Frankfort, Kentucky the beautiful city that it is. I miss it because when I lived there, the world turned slower and life was simpler. After explaining all of this to him, he said, “Sounds nice.” “Tell me something about you now.” He cocks his mouth to the side for a second while he thinks of something to say. A glimmer of silver flashes on Kaid’s right ring finger. My sight shifts from that to his nails, a glossy black coated and chipped on each one. “Well, my family has been living in Swanson for eons, and was only living in Jacksonville before that. So we’ve been right around here for a long time,” he finally explains. “I do wish I lived somewhere less… Swanson-y, you know?” I nodded my head. There isn’t much diversity in Swanson, and not just in a black-and-white kind of way. Most of its inhabitants have the same haircuts, the same ambitions, the same cars. It’s one big bubble filled with like-minded people and not too many who are willing to step out of its boundaries of conformity. “Me too. I miss when I didn’t feel so weird for not liking Luke Combs.” “You don’t like Luke Combs? Wow, you really are different, aren’t you?” I roll my eyes and he nudges my arm, his sparkling, pearly teeth blinding me as his wide smile appeared. “Tell me why you’re at the park by yourself.” “I could ask you the same, Ren.” Ren. Hm. “But you already did!” “But I have a feeling that you’re lying.” “No, I’m just not revealing the whole truth, thank you. Now, why are you here?” Kaid sighs. “My mom kind of, um, told me to get out. Not that she was kicking me out or anything, she just s-says that sometimes. Only when I provoke her.” His hand reaches to play with the curl swooped over the top of his ear. He’s anxious. Instead of asking him to elaborate, I just hum. I don’t want him to talk about something that makes him uncomfortable. But he offers an explanation anyway. “Yeah, I told her that I hated her boyfriend of six years. I mean I do, he’s a fucking piece of shit that uses her for…” —he waves his hand in front of him in a dismissive manner— “whatever. She never listens to me and just chooses to get rid of me when I decide to tell her the truth. So, that’s why I’m at the park.” Kaid’s eyes are staring directly at the table now, and they don’t seem to be planning on moving anytime soon. “I’m sorry,” is all that I can find to say. “Yeah, well, it’s not your fault. Anyway, why are you here?” I thought about lying to him. Just telling him that I like sitting at the park by myself. Or that I prefer sweating through my pants over sitting under the AC. “You remember how you said you have those thought-explosions?” He looks up to me. “I get those pretty much everyday with no way to get rid of them. So instead of being locked in my room obsessing over it, I come here to let nature ease my mind. It sounds kind of dumb but it helps. But only a little.” I don’t even realize that my leg is moving again until I feel a foot hover over mine, pressing down gently in attempt to stop the miserable rhythm. After a little while of silence, Kaid laughs. “They’re pretty annoying, aren’t they? The explosions, I mean. They just detonate without any warning. When it happens to me, I usually just smoke it away or punch something. But I like your way better. Keeps you out of trouble.” More silence. It’s hard to focus on sentences when a guy as good-looking as Kaid has his leg pressed up against my own and when his genuine eyes are looking straight into me. I give him a half smile. “Doesn’t really help though.” “I have an idea. Can I see your phone?” Upon seeing my confused face, he grins. “I promise I won’t hack your Snapchat or anything.” I unlock my phone and hand it over to him. Suddenly I’m much more aware of the ugly cracks that ran through the surface of it. “The next time that you need to word vomit about those ‘thought-explosions’, text me. I wanna know what’s going on up there in that head of yours.” He types in his number, hands me the phone back, and stands from his side of the park bench. My leg gets colder as Kaid’s moves away. “It was nice seeing you again, Serenity. I’m gonna go get high. Wanna come?” I must be a psychic or something. I shake my head. “I’m good. It was nice seeing you too, though.” He waves me goodbye and heads to his next destination. I watch him until his figure shrinks and I can’t see him anymore. Thanks for reading!
I was today years old when I figured out that “Fishin’ in the Dark” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is not actually about fishing in the dark (113 points, 21 comments)
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Listen to Better Together by Luke Combs. Join Napster and play your favorite music offline. Free printable and easy chords for song by Luke Combs - Better Together. Chords ratings, diagrams and lyrics. [Intro] G Cadd9 G Cadd9 [Verse 1] G Cadd9 G Cadd9 A 40 HP Johnson on a flat bottom metal b "Better Together" LUKE COMBS. Impacting 10/12 . A 40 HP Johnson On a flat bottom metal boat Coke cans and BB guns Barbed wire and old fence posts 8-point bucks in autumn And freshly cut corn fields One arm out the window And one hand on the wheel. Some things just go better together And probably always will Like a cup of coffee and a sunrise This is Combs’ ninth-consecutive #1 single—a first on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart—as well as his eighth single to spend multiple weeks at #1. Additionally, Combs’ current single, “Better Together,” is already top 20 at country radio and rising. Listen to Better Together by Luke Combs, 500,236 Shazams, featuring on Today’s Country, and Luke Combs Essentials Apple Music playlists. Pro Play This Tab. Vocal M S. Rhythm Guitar M S. Solo Guitar M S. Drums M S. View all instruments. Use a mixing console in Pro version. Continue. Edit. Add to playlist. Favorite. Better Together chords by Luke Combs. 181,084 views, added to favorites 15,018 times. Better Together – Luke Combs. How to play Better Together Lyrics: A 40 HP Johnson on a flat bottom metal boat / Coke cans and BB guns, barbed wire and old fence posts / 8-point bucks in autumn and freshly cut cornfields / One arm out the Luke Combs is an American country music singer and songwriter. Combs has released two albums for Columbia Nashville, which have combined to produce eight singles, each of which reached #1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart: &quo… read more A 45-second snippet of "Better Together" was posted by Luke Combs on YouTube and Facebook on the 4th of July 2019. He also wrote on Facebook, "Some things just go better together...New song called 'Better Together'. Pro Play This Tab. Vocal M S. Rhythm Guitar M S. Solo Guitar M S. Drums M S. View all instruments. Use a mixing console in Pro version. Continue. Edit. Add to playlist. Favorite. Better Together chords by Luke Combs. 18,868 views, added to favorites 402 times. Better Together – Luke Combs. How to play
Better Together by Luke Combs Official Cover Performed by ...
Song Better Together; Artist Luke Combs; Licensed to YouTube by SME (on behalf of River House Artists/Columbia Nashville); BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., LatinAutor - SonyATV, Warner Chappell, CMRRA ... 🎧 Welcome to Paradise 🌴Your Home For The Best Country Music With Lyrics!Luke Combs - Better Together Lyrics / Lyric Video brought to you by Country Paradis... Listen to “Better Together” from Luke Combs’ album, ‘What You See Is What You Get’, available now: http://smarturl.it/WYSIWYG?IQid=youtube Spotify: http://sm... Learn how to play "Better Together" by Luke Combs!Click here for PART 2 and start your FREE TRIAL today!https://hdpiano.comSUBSCRIBE HERE for more of our Fam... As per request, this is a cover of the song "Better Together" by Luke Combs. Let me know what y'all think! Luke Combs - Better Together (Lyrics)https://smarturl.it/WYSIWYGConnect With Luke:Instagram: http://instagram.com/lukecombsFacebook: http://facebook.com/luke... "Better Together" by Luke Combs. Buy this on iTunes to support him. Listen to our COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYLIST on Spotify: https://goo.gl/kM8qTP or our Top 40 ... Listen to “Better Together” out now from Luke Combs’ deluxe album, ‘What You See Ain’t Always What You Get’: https://LC.lnk.to/WYSAAWYGYT Chorus: Some ... Better Together by Luke Combs Official Cover Performed by Vocalist: Cody BurkePiano by Keith Washo
