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May 26, 2009

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Brian C.

fmu continues to champion the unchampionable--I thought the only thing ol bocephus had going for him was being johnny cash's godson.

ACcountryFan

this blog puts ignorance on a pedestal. "redneck royalty"? "hick schtick"? "Junior charmed the nostalgia-crazed Nash Vegas hicks...". another quote that doesn't mask the hatred...

"He happily fit right in with the burgeoning outlaw country freaks that were dotting the musical landscape." and then there's this...

"More likely, it's some nugget of pure talent, sequestered deep within Junior like a cartoon hillbilly in an outhouse with a Sears catalog..."

do i detect just a tad bit of snobbery by any chance? the old city verses country brow-beating contest? since it appears you hold contempt for country music and country people in general why let the world see how little you know about the subject matter in which you write about?

you write about Hank filling songs with terrible cliche's and here you filled your blog with every terrible anti-south, anti-country music cliche imaginable...for example...

quote: "Bocephus recast himself as the go-to buffoon of Redneck Royalty--a dumb-ass Don Quixote whose various moronic misdeeds are still legendary in their scope. Hank cultivated a sexist, Everclear-swiggin', cocaine-snortin', hard-livin', a-ready-for-some-footballin', NASCAR-loving persona, working his hick shtick like a 90 foot Ray Stevens character come to life."

just what is it that you don't like about Hank...and country music in general?

Hank went through a lot because of who his father is...his father's fan's insisting that the son become the exact duplicate of his father and then when he tried, they got great joy in telling him how inadequate he was.

So, no, it wasn't the case of Hank purposely "living someone else's life before hitting puberty" as you put it. that's what Hank felt the public at the time wanted...and so he attempted to be just like his father in nearly every way until he couldn't take it anymore and he changed his direction.

Spazz

Hi ACcountryFan

I never said that Hank "purposely" was living someone else's life before hitting puberty. Seems obvious that being a youngster he didn't have much choice in the matter.

I love country music and I think Bocephus has made some fine music (as evidenced by the first five mp3s I posted). I can't think of one person besides me who digs Hank Jr. (especially his later stuff) the way I do. I even think his newest video ("Red White and Pink Slip Blues") is really good. Hank has a long rap sheet of sickening antics that I didn't even want to go into on this blog post mainly because I wanted to salute the man on his birthday. I recounted his early years so that those that see him as a total jackass might have some understanding of what kind of hell he spent his first two decades living through.

We're all stereotypes. I'm a New York City dress-in-black, leather jacket, has-been punk rocker and I'm up for any satirical abuse you'd like to toss my way, so lighten up, fella.

"Why Can't We All Just Get a Longneck?"
--Hank Williams, Jr.

Spazz

And one more thing:

I do have contempt for the Nashville assholes and Grand Ol' Opry management types who literally killed his father (and others like him) by forcing them to work the Opry for scale on Saturday nights, which forced them to earn a living driving as far as they could in a six day period for a decent paying gig, thus treating them like indentured servants. Fuck them.

ACcountryFan

Thanks for the reply!

The Opry policy you wrote about has long since changed, though. The people in management during Hank Sr's lifetime have since passed away or retired.

The show has a core line-up that play the Opry all the time but 80% of it's members play the show maybe 5 or 6 times in an entire year...that would not have happened in the past as you pointed out...back when their rules were strict. Let me see...Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Lorrie Morgan, Terri Clark, Alan Jackson, Clint Black...just to name a very few...are all Opry members but they only show up to play the Opry usually around CMA week or during Fan Fair week. Those who don't like the rules of the Opry, or just don't like the idea of playing the show period because of past controversies between artists and management, were never made members...but those who want to be a member, they don't mind the policies that are in place.

That's why you don't see artist's like George Strait, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and others made a member. Anyway, I'm pro-Opry for the most part but I know that their policies and rules, both in the past and in the present, are unpopular with a lot of people but I don't let that part of the situation sway me any.

I wasn't aware that people saw Hank as a total jackass, though? The way I see it, those who are fans of his know what they're getting. The opinion of non-fans, to me at least, are irrelevant. Now, of course, fans of his could've had issues with his behavior back then and that's fine if they did because they were clued in on what was going on...they weren't making up their minds via a tabloid story or a gossip headline on the evening news like so many people do and forming their opinion around second and third-hand information.

I know that in the 1980's his antics at concerts were out of control...and those who didn't like that kind of behavior they kind of, you know, quietly bowed their heads or shook their heads wondering "where did Hank, Jr go?" and they may have stopped going to his concerts because of the wild antics that went on but they still liked his music, though, because he continued having hit songs into the mid 1990's.

ACcountryFan

one more item that I forgot to mention...the Opry never killed Hank Williams. Hank was an alcoholic and his alcoholism and subsequent health issue's with his back and the drug usage...those are what killed Hank, not the Opry's policies. They let him go because of his behavior...and even though the legend has it that the Opry's decision to let him go drove him to drink even more, the point is he was already an alcoholic plus he went through a divorce. it's all history now...but the Opry's pay-scale or their policies didn't kill Hank Williams or anyone else of his era. Roy Acuff lived into the early 1990's, passing away in 1992...Ernest Tubb passed away in 1984...Little Jimmy Dickens is still alive and does Opry shows every week.

I Was With Red Foley

Sometime back in the early 90s,I bought someone's collection of original M-G-M Hank,Jr. Lps at a flea market.This included a lot of promo copies,and a copy of "Ballads of The Hills and Plains" signed by everybody that was in Hank's band at the time.I hadn't played most of them again until now,and yes I forgot there was some great stuff here.There is a crummy quality clip on YouTube,of "It's All Over But The Crying",a damn fine song,sounds like Floyd Cramer on piano,but may not be.This is from "A Time to Sing",and is one of the worst compressed clips I have ever seen anybody post.This was obviously taped at one time,off TCM.As far as I know ,this has never come out on DVD,has it?

Thank you for not posting "All for the Love of Sunshine".

Red Neckerson

All this points to the fact that HWJR can't win no matter what he does- He has fought the same demons his father did which includes Audrey, MGM, and those who rode his coat takes every step of the way. And let's not forget those country music folks clambering for the reincarnation of Hank Sr. Like him or not he has survived it all including that hideous TV movie of his life with John Boy Walton portraying him. Enough of the editorial though,

My Favorite Hank Moment was when he came to town walked out on stage higher than a Georgia Pine and for 90 minutes was babbling incoherently to a crowd drunker than he was. Ahh Country Music!

big and rich and stupid

Yeppers,

Between this schmuck, John Rich and all of the other rebel flag wavin', gun loving fucking whackos, I just keep a low profile down here in supposed 'progressive' Nashville. And to think I have at least 6 more years till I can retire and get the fuck outta Dodge.

If he bests Corker, this state will have to be declared a third world entity.

And yeah, the Opry shuffles out lil' Jimmy Dickens on a regular basis, but have systematically screwed the middle layer of performers for years, Stonewall Jackson included.


Red Neckerson

Stonewall gave the Opry there Waterloo though, He sued and settled my sources tell me that it was a good settlement and it benefited some of the long time forgotten stars as well as that middle layer of performers who had been getting the shaft for years. Nashville is a hard town. The Crooks used to be lined up onmusic row to take your money and leave you high and dry. It has turned into big Business now with Sony/BMG and all the other carpetbaggers taking everybody and everything they can. Music sales are in the crapper when will we Bail them out?

boil

You may not agree with him, but you must admit he writes a heck of a piece.

Joe R

I second boil's statement. I think Dave the Spazz is probably one of the best writers among the staff bloggers. Even if this post seemed to strike a nerve with some, esp. w/ AC countryfan, it was still an interesting read. (I guess I had to be born somewhere south of Brooklyn but no, AC, I didn't see the hate, only tongue-in-cheek humor.) Note also that this post has received a lot of interest, judging just from the number of comments.

Jim

Dave's stirring tribute to Bocephus is excellent. ACcountryFan, there's a damned good reason that a lot of intellectuals despise "country folk." That street goes both ways. They dismiss anything of any cultural merit as highfalutin' New York librul bullshit. You think rednecks aren't stuck up? Please. They hate intelligence. Anyone with an IQ over 40 is gay. Anyone who doesn't like football is gay. Anyone who doesn't listen to country music is gay. Anyone who doesn't carry a gun, vote red, and pray to JAY-zus is gay, gay, gay. It's about time the toothless yokels got a taste of their own medicine.

I grew up in Texas, I'm an educated Democrat from a family of mostly uneducated rednecks, and I can tell you from experience: the more educated a person is, the less like a hick they sound. East coast hipsters often know more about the history of country music than their deep fried, knuckle-dragging counterparts. Hank, Sr. was no hillbilly. At least, not the Lee Greenwood-lovin' dumbshit variety. And you know something else? Most country music fans have an inexplicable resentment for PLENTY of thoughtful, expressive music that intellectuals enjoy.

And for the record, apostrophes are ordinarily used to indicate contractions and possessive case. It is possibly the most frequently misused punctuation. Learn it, live it.

Jason M

Hank III opened for the Reverend Horton Heat here... I had never heard him before, and the show was very good.

I kind of think of the Hanks as being the Rappers of Country music. They pimp their extravagant drug use, their love of pickup trucks and 4 wheelers, and they sing about NASCAR drivers instead of NBA players. It's really not very mature or intellectual stuff. And that's fine. When there's room for the Ying-Yang twins, there's room for Hank III.

I grew up listening to Haggard, George Jones, Ferlin Husky, Joe Maphis... Country music is my native tongue, and even as a songwriter I have trouble escaping it's idioms. So, this is not an anti-country thing.

Hank Jr. has made alot of hay playing up his dumb hick image. To point that out is hardly a sin. I have to think that Hank Jr. is more than that, but he's probably afraid that dropping his image might alienate his core fans, and those generally tend to be hicks who are proud to have an IQ lower than their favorite NASCAR driver's car number. HWJR is a much sharper man than anyone gives him credit for, because you don't survive for 30-40 years in the music business if you're a dipsh*t.

That said, I don't care for Hank Jr.'s politics as he appears to be slighty to the right of the Freemen movement from everything I've heard and read. Strange that this drug abuser, womanizer, etc... Is now running with the party of Christian fundies....

why am i the only person on hypem to heart hank

if i get stoned and sing all night long.. its a family tradition.


life is pretty amazing.. screw your silly arguments.. lets drink

Spazz

@why am i the only person on hypem to heart hank:

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