Erin’s Commentary On Rolling Stone’s “Drunk Country 2014″ Story

A friend of mine sent me the link to the this story a couple of days ago and although I'm perfectly aware of the perception Rolling Stone and writer Adam Gold was going for, it opened my eyes to at least two facts.

First of all, drinking and partying is not just a country music and country music audience thing. Fans at any concert or any sporting event, they drink, and some of them drink more than they should. I can guarantee if you venture to another music genre, especially pop, you'll find a lot of partying and what you might perceive as inappropriate behavior. The writer claims of Billboard's Top Country Songs of 2014, "a whopping 68 featured references to drinking (69 if you consider (Luke) Bryan trying to pour a little sugar into some poor girl's Dixie cup as an alcohol reference." And Gold points out "...at least a dozen of those beer-dripping, rum-drenched, whiskey-soaked hits had liquor references in their titles..." You know the ones. This generation of performers and listeners find the songs as more of a party than the sad "Tear in my Beer" drinking songs of George Jones, Hank Williams Jr. and Sr., or Johnny Cash their parents or grandparents grew up with. I think the bro-country factor along with guys who aren't bad to look at contribute to the situation.

I didn't watch the American Country Countdown Awards, but Florida Georgia Line hosted the show, from behind a bar, where they poured and mixed drinks. Again, the audience at any awards show, maybe not the Nickelodeon Awards, they might nurse a drink throughout the duration of the show.

I think the other fact in the story that really made me angry, it includes a reference and a video to a Dierks Bentley show in November where he pulled some obviously intoxicated girls onstage to help out with "Drunk on a Plane" and one of the girls after one or two lines just spews everywhere. You'll notice the person shooting the video cuts away, I'm glad he or she did. I just found myself thinking did this girl really think she would embarrass herself so badly or did she not care? And then I think to myself, Bentley is married with three kids, two are girls. Would he want his daughters on that stage? So more than anywhere else, the problem lies within the live concert setting, it's a part of the atmosphere.

I'm not denying or criticizing anyone's will to drink or to party at all. Even in 2015, it won't stop. Of course moving into the winter months, the singles you'll hear may or may not be as over the top in terms of partying. We all need some time to settle down.

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