XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, sac.politics
XPost: talk.politics.guns
On 10 Feb 2022, Rudy Canoza <
vtandofsky2da@gmail.com> posted some news:su405g$166dq$
37@news.freedyn.de:
Take that small town attitude to New York City and burn the fucking
shithole down. Liberals advocate violence all the time.
Country singer’s heavily criticised song Try That in a Small Town has
been streamed 11.7m times while the video has boomed online
The controversy around the country singer Jason Aldean’s latest single,
whose lyrics and video feature threats of violence toward police
protesters, has boosted its profile.
In the week since backlash to the song brewed online and amid fellow
country artists, streams of Aldean’s Try That in a Small Town have risen
999%, from 987,000 to 11.7m, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sales
of the song have also increased from 1,000 last week to 228,000,
according to the music data company Luminate.
Jason Aldean attends the 58th Academy of Country Music awards in May.
‘There’s nothing American about promoting violence’: country star Jason
Aldean criticised for anti-protest song
Country Music Television (CMT) pulled the music video, which
intersperses footage of protesters facing off against police with
Aldean’s performance at a Tennessee courthouse known for the 1927
lynching of a Black man, from its channel on Tuesday, with no
explanation for the decision. It had about 350,000 views on Youtube at
the time; now, views have topped 16m.
Aldean released the song, which he did not write, in May, but the video premiered on 14 July. The video has been criticized for including images
of violent anti-police protesters, promoting gun violence and taking aim
at the Black Lives Matter movement. The song’s lyrics include the lines:
“Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up /
Yeah, you think you’re tough / Well, try that in a small town / See how
far you make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own.”
The lyrics also allude to a conspiracy theory that the US government
plans to round up its citizens’ guns: “Got a gun that my granddad gave
me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well, that shit might fly
in the city, good luck.”
Critics of the song include the musician Sheryl Crow, who wrote on
Twitter: “I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence. There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting
violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting. This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame.” Crow referred to the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, in which a
gunman opened fire during Aldean’s set at the Route 91 Harvest Festival
in Las Vegas in October 2017. Sixty people were killed and 867 injured;
Aldean and his band escaped unharmed.
As backlash brewed, Aldean defended the song on Twitter, saying it
“refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we
took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or
belief”. He also rebutted claims that it targeted the Black Lives Matter movement as “not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single
lyric in the song that references race or points to it.”
He doubled down while performing over the weekend, and partially blamed
“cancel culture”. During a concert at Riverbend Music Center in
Cincinnati, Ohio, on Friday, the 46-year-old singer reflected on his
“long-ass week”: “I’ve seen a lot of stuff suggesting I’m this,
suggesting I’m that. Here’s the thing, here’s one thing I feel: I feel
like everybody’s entitled to their opinion. You can think something all
you want to, it doesn’t mean it’s true, right?
“What I am is a proud American,” he continued. “I’m proud to be from
here. I love our country, I want to see it restored to what it once was
before all this bullshit started happening to us. I love our country, I
love my family, and I will do anything to protect that. I can tell you
that right now.”
To cheers and chants of “USA”, Aldean also lamented “cancel culture” as
being “something that, if people don’t like what you say, they try to
make sure they can cancel you, which means try to ruin your life, ruin everything”. He added that “one thing I saw this week was a bunch of
country music fans that could see through a lot of the bullshit, all
right? I saw country music fans rally like I’ve never seen before and it
was pretty badass to watch, I gotta say.”
Besides some country music fans, figures such as Donald Trump and
Florida governor Ron DeSantis have voiced support for Aldean and the
song.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/24/jason-aldean-small-town-son g-streaming-increase
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