As Monty Python used to say: “And now, for something completely different…”
I don’t watch American Idol unless my girlfriend is over and manages to snag the remote. I’ve pretty much missed every season except for a handful of shows. I did enjoy the few performances of David Cook during Season 7 though, but that’s because I’m more into rock than Top 40 pop.
I also can’t stand most country music. The few exceptions I’ll make are the more “country pop” (or is it “pop country?”) material, usually from the female country artists. Shania, Wynonna and a few others each have a handful of songs that are more upbeat with a more rock ‘n roll – or at least pop – attitude. When they devolve back into the slow and depressing country vibe, the twangy accents, the fiddles… I’m out.
I’m really enjoying Idol Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood’s new cover of Mötley Crüe’s 1985 power ballad “Home Sweet Home” though. It’s one of those (all-too-rare these days) covers that pays respect to the original while bringing it to the current generation along with injecting a little bit of the cover artist’s flavor and personality.
Carrie’s version of “Home Sweet Home” will apparently be used as American Idol’s official sign-off song for this season. It was exclusive to iTunes for a few days but yesterday was released to all vendors.
Carrie Underwood – Home Sweet Home (Single) on Amazon MP3
Carrie Underwood – Home Sweet Home (Single) on iTunes
Carrie Underwood – Home Sweet Home (Single) on Zune Social
Despite being a country singer, Carrie apparently has quite the taste for 80’s hair bands and as can be seen on YouTube, covers them quite well live. Add me to those who’d love to see a studio album with Carrie covering her favorites!
Thanks for indulging this experimental post. No idea if I’ll ever start discussing music, etc. here but thought I’d dip my toes in the water this one time. Regarding the links, I’ve never seen an iTMS link actually launch iTunes like it’s supposed to, but that is the proper link taken directly from iTunes itself. I also intentionally used the Zune Social link rather than the Marketplace link that launches the Zune software. Feel free to make suggestions for your preferred linkage if I ever do this type of post again.
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Thanks for the pointer. I’ll check it out.
Ever heard “Gunpowder and Lead” by Miranda Lambert? That’s a nice country-rock song… one I discovered through Rock Band 2.
Like you, I don’t enjoy much country but I like the stuff that’s influenced by rock. A lot of rock traces back to Southern sounds, so there’s actually a good bit of crossover between rock and country. Check out Pride & Glory (Zakk Wylde — Ozzy’s guitarist). Badlands and The Scream are a couple other good Southern rock bands. Down mixes Southern rock with metal (a match made in Heaven).
My sister’s a big fan of a local guy named Randy Rogers (one of my friends roomed with him in college, so I know he plays and listens to rock). She tells me there’s a big difference between Texas country, like Randy’s, and Nashville country. Nashville managers and execs are apparently responsible for choking all the life out of country and making it into that terrible stuff you hear on the radio. Garth Brooks, David Allan Coe, and Randy Rogers are some of the better country artists because they say to hell with Nashville’s formulas.
In fact, I once heard Rogers, Cody Canada (from Cross Canadian Ragweed), and Wade Bowen sing a song called “F#@$ Nashville”.