Worst Country Songs That Were Big Hits Poll – Response

Recently, The Boot ran
a Facebook poll that asked readers what the worst country hits were. I had a
look through some of the answers and some were expected, and some totally
surprised me, so I thought I’d share this list with you and a few of my
comments. Here’s the top 10 counting down.

10. Shania Twain –
That Don’t Impress Me Much

I get this. One of the main things that underlies country
fans’ criticisms of songs is the lack of ‘country’ they feel is present. Though
I loved this song as a kid growing up, it was because of its poppiness, not
because it was a great country song. Its bouncy chirpiness and connections to
novelties probably didn’t do a lot for its popularity with die-hard country
fans either.

9. Jason Aldean –
Dirt Road Anthem

I can see why people were annoyed by this one. I personally
found it all kinds of oddness, despite the fact it was a huge hit. Brantley
Gilbert is a talented writer but I actually preferred his remixed version,
although it was even further from ‘country’ than Jason’s. The slow rap is not a
thing.

8. Sugarland – Stuck
Like Glue

WHAT EVEN THE WHAT. I love this song. A lot. It is so catchy
and the video is probably one of my all-time favorite country music videos.
It’s hysterical and I just don’t understand how anyone can truly hate this
song. Sure, they might be annoyed by its catchiness, but I like to call those
people spoilsports and the ‘cool kids’ who pretend not to love ‘Call Me Maybe’
by Carly Rae Jepsen but rock out to it in the shower. However, this song is
far, far better than that and there is no excuse whatsoever for not loving it.

7. Tracy Byrd –
Watermelon Crawl

Like #2 on this list (no peeking!) this song is associated
with a line dance, and perhaps country line dancing has received a negative
perception as of late. I can see how it could be labelled as cheesy, and may
well be seen as a product of the 90s and thus outdated somewhat. The song
itself for me isn’t that annoying but I can understand if it’s been overplayed
and people have been doing some ridiculous dance to it left, right and center
(not insulting proper line dancing here but the mass-audience stuff…) that
it’ll get on people’s nerves.

6. Kenny Chesney –
She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy

Like many of the tracks on this list, this is a little
novelty, a bit of a joke. It’s so full of cocky patriarchy it’s laughable, and
the video? Oh dear. Embarrassing. The lyrics are cringe-worthy and a bit silly,
and that kind of stuff is very popular for comedic value for a short period of
time, and then dates very quickly. People get tired of it because they’ve heard
so much of it.

5. Big & Rich –
Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy

The excessive sex in this song has no doubt put off a lot of
country fans off. The lyrics are also shocking. I don’t hate this song as much
as other people because it’s designed to poke fun at so many songs, and be a
novelty. They laugh at themselves and I don’t think you can hate a song as much
if you know the artists don’t consider it seriously either.

4. Trace Adkins –
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk

Errr. Yeah, I agree with this. While it was probably meant
to be fun and a parody, it just felt pretty annoyingly sexist all things
considered and I personally found it pretty irritating, especially when a guy
thought it was perfectly acceptable to quote the lyrics at me in reference to
my own body when I was 15. That was pretty damn weird.

3. Taylor Swift – We
Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Ha. A lot of people are annoyed by this. I can’t blame them,
it is pretty annoying, not to mention its place in complete pop terrain yet
place on top of the country charts for ages. Plus, it encompasses everything
about Taylor Swift’s songs and love life that gets on the nerves of country
fans. I’m surprised this wasn’t number 1 in all honesty.

2. Billy Ray Cyrus –
Achy Breaky Heart

Well we all saw that one coming. As someone who is from and
lives in the UK, I put all of the misconceptions, stereotypes and terrible
reputation of country music in the UK since 1992 down to this song, which was
extremely popular here. I can see why everyone else is sick of it too.

1. Toby Keith – Red
Solo Cup

Well, it was tough competition, but the childish simplicity
of this parody song that not even the artist takes seriously took the number 1
spot as worst country hit. While I see where people are coming from, I actually
don’t mind the song (although I couldn’t listen to it repeatedly), and I
sometimes sing it to myself round the house. However, considering how new this
song is in comparison to some of the others, and how fresh the irritation is, I
can see why this had so many votes.

The thing I picked up from this list was that novelty is
something that people really don’t remember fondly. In addition, songs that
could be mistaken for pop get on country fans’ nerves too. I was surprised that
the list didn’t go back further than the early 90s, but perhaps that’s a factor
of the age of people answering the poll, due to the demographics of internet
usage. True, plenty of people over 35 use the internet, but the fact is there’s
still a majority of younger people on social media so that’s probably the
reason for the dates. That and they’re more recent and thus more easily
remembered.

So what did you think? Were these the worst country hits? Or
are there others? Comment below.

Posted by Vickye (Guest Writer).
If you want to check out my own blog it's For The Country Record, and you can
follow me on twitter @planmymistake. You can email me at
vickye.countrymusic@gmail.com.