Posted on 09/21/2001 9:46:20 AM PDT by dead
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - Young children exposed to country music score lower on IQ tests than kids raised on rock 'n' roll, declares controversial music professor Dr. Roger Solett - and he bases his startling claim on the results of a study of 1,000 kids!
"Country music makes kids stupid," he said. "It's the mind- warping lyrics." And he cited a few examples drawn from what he called "some of the most popular country songs of the past two decades." On the list:
"I'd Rather Have a Bottle in Front of Me Than a Frontal Lobotomy."
"Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissin' You Goodbye."
"If You Wanna Keep Your Beer Cold, Put It Next to My Ex-wife's Heart."
Dr. Solett is the former director of the prestigious Chopin Symphony and a professor of music. He said he and his research team gave IQ tests to 500 6-year-olds whose parents played country music in the house or car daily.
"They're Billy Ray Cyrus, Faith Hill, Clint Black, Randy Travis, Garth Brooks fans - and their children scored, on average, 10 points lower on standard IQ tests than 500 6-year-olds whose parents are rock 'n' roll junkies," said Dr. Solett.
"Now what's the difference between rock and country? It's just wild people banging on drums and strumming guitars in both cases. Lots of howling. Lots of noise. The only difference between rock and country is that country is stupid - the lyrics, I mean.
" 'I wanna whip your cow . . . I fell on a pile of you and got love all over me . . . Drop-kick me, Jesus, through the goalposts of life' . . . I mean, c'mon, this kinda stuff'll warp your mind."
But Dr. Solett's controversial study, and particularly his views, are not shared by many, if any, of his peers. And a member of his own research team, who asked to remain anonymous, told Weekly World News, "He hates hick music with a passion."
Johnny Cash
The man is simply a Genius.
Been there, done that. By that, I mean I once studied music at the college level and all the professors were music SNOBS. They hated anything newer than Stravinsky (i.e. almost all 20th century music)..... or so they said - in class. I, however, found out that the head of the Choral Dept. had played backup guitar in an Elvis movie in the late 1960's, so I used it as blackmail to get good grades for the last two years of my undergrad studies (sort of kidding, sort of not :-).
HEE HAW!
Top 25 Country Song Titles of All Time
In these times, a little laugh really helps.
If They String Me Up, I'll Never Live It Down
I do too; I'll admit my ears have a really hard time dealing with the old-style country twangy singing :-). But I really love the titles.
I also should mention PDQ Bach's poking fun of country music:
Oedipus Tex, conducted by Wayland Newton, featuring the Okay Chorale.
I think I have that one beat. I had the same experience (nothing but radio) but was driving all the way from SE Wisconsin to NW Wisconsin. Guess what was all I could find, after passing, say, Madison, WI?
Nothing but........
When I stopped for gas, the first thing I did was to call my dad, who'd studied CLASSICAL accordion and let him know of my musical predicament and harmonic torture (grin). He really hates "3-chord polka".
Other music quotes found here.
"You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to driving a truck."
Jim Denny (Manager of the "Grand Ole Opry"), firing Elvis Presley after one performance, September 25, 1954
"All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff."
Frank Zappa
Not long ago, I went into one of those large chain music stores, walked up to this sweet young thing and asked her if they had anything by "Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys". The already slack jawed sweetie dropped her cute little jaw an additional 4 inches. I got a full view of the $12,000 braces her daddy paid for AND her tuesday glob of chewing gum.
"Like, huh?", the articulate dearie said.
"Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys", I repeted.
"Well, like, for sure we don't carry any racist or kinky, like, sex stuff, ya know".
And this is in Texas, not far from where he lives. To quote the Kinkshah.."God bless John Wayne".
Looks like this one has made the rounds. The one I heard was definitely not Jimmy Buffett.
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