While in the theater seeing "Madame Web" for a second time, I got to thinking how in a better, brighter universe, there would have been some kind of fast food tie-in promotion for this movie, with little Madame Web toys for children. Here, I have illustrated the concept as it exists in my heart, with both the toys and the box they would have come in. 🖤
Ink & Digital JoJo Seames, 2024
BIG DISCLAIMER: i was 9 when 9/11 happened, so this might be more about my own crystalizing tastes than anything else. i think it’s a pretty darn good theory tho and other people have validated it.
BIGGER DISCLAIMER: i am not saying that country music prior to 9/11 was free from nationalist, racist, misogynist undertones - i just think that these themes became more the norm!
MY HOT TAKE:
with very few exceptions, including goodbye earl, before he cheats, and daddy Iessons (side note - all women!) 9/11 ruined country music. around 2014 onward we’ve got margo price, sturgill simpson, jason isbell etc., who are making country music great again (wink), but those folks are mostly considered “alternative” country. the mainstream country music for well over a decade now is a glut of trash performative patriotic / working-class-but-not-really lab-crafted budweiser-sponsored nonsense that has managed to sound rebellious (or has convinced its fans that it sounds rebellious) without ever actually questioning any power structure. so much so that artists who ACTUALLY criticized the government were literally blacklisted for nearly a decade (the dixie chicks)
pre-9/11 country music, though not perfect or ideologically pure by any stretch, did not have the raging american flag painted truck boner that comes to mind for a lot of people who say “i like everything except rap and country”
SPECIFICALLY, toby keith’s “courtesy of the red, white, and blue (the angry american)” (2002) literally destroyed country music. it was a direct answer to the 9/11 attacks and war song in support of the invasion of afghanistan. the lyrics read like a disjointed feverish email chain letter forwarded from your great uncle sprinkled with glittering american flag gifs and heavily saturated pictures of bald eagles. the entire song is lifted from an estimated 248 peeling bumper stickers collected from rusted trucks on cinder blocks in overgrown yards, cut up and arranged to fit a catchy, formulaic tune that is almost certainly the background music playing in george w. bush’s head at all times.
“we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the american way and uncle sam put your name at the top of his list and the statue of liberty started shakin’ her fist and the eagle will fly, and it’s gonna be hell, when you hear mother freedom start a'ringin’ her bell”
country music and the new country musicians that toby keith paved the way for became so pro establishment and so unquestioningly nationalistic that, again, the dixie chicks who went against this grain were blacklisted by the industry and received death threats from country music fans. hell, there are folks who STILL froth at the mouth at the mere mention of the dixie chicks.
9/11 killed outlaw country - how can you sing the praises of law breakers when your main circuit consists of singing to troops? there are some great classic country songs critiquing the police state - especially from johnny cash and merle haggard - now country music artists hold fundraisers for FOPs. new country music is basically in-law country music.
you don’t have to write a pro-bush patriotic anthem to be part of this post-9/11 ruination. playing meaningless songs about living in the heart of (read: white) america, eschewing the city (read: not white), and cracking open a cold one with the boys for “authentic” country music is also important to the war effort.
there’s a progression of themes here:
post 9/11 top tier: war anthem, vocally patriotic, directly used as pro war propaganda; which paved the way for: “things used to be so much better” thinly veiled racist laments, good for campaign ads; which paved the way for meaningless party anthems - attempts to make things “like they used to be” and craft a reality that neither the artist nor listener likely ever experience.
that brings us to what most people think of today when they say they hate country music: the country party anthem - “tiny hot gal in tight jean shorts who can drink beer like the guys, she doesn’t like beyoncé Like Other Girls, oh she’s so into me and my truck, i’m gonna take her fishing after i finish sowing my corn - sung by a guy who’s never touched a tractor” - has overtaken the tragic, done me wrong, despairing country ballads of tammy wynette, george jones, and even up into pre-9/11 contemporaries like reba mcentire and george strait. you didn’t necessarily have to be country to relate to their pain. now you have to perform suburban redneckness to enjoy luke bryan.
when was the last time you heard a sad country song?
after 9/11, cowboys (whether or not they had ever been near a cow) weren’t allowed to be sad anymore (no more done me wrong country), and they certainly weren’t allowed to question authority (no more outlaw country). partying hardy became the most important American Thing and if you don’t sing about that, our Enemies Will Win.
so - understanding that country music has always had bad stuff, and that like any genre it suffers from commercialization, 9/11 DESTROYED COUNTRY MUSIC. and toby keith gleefully helped destroy it.
for some further evidence of the decline of country music, please listen to the dixie chicks’ “long time gone” which is an indictment of the industry (i believe it was written before 9/11 but my point still stands - the genre was on the decline and 9/11 was the major cultural event that hastened the decline).
maybe i am a curmudgeon - almost every generation of country music has had its own “country music is not what it used to be” anthem, but i really think something distinct happened with 9/11.
Can confirm. Alan Jackson and Toby Keith, the blacklisting of Dixie Chicks, literally the only singer I can think of that ever spoke out against anything from 2001-2010 was Johnny Cash. I’d also say that the uber-patriotic stance lead to the shiny, vapid County Boy® nonsense that lead to so many of the solo artists all sounding and looking the same.
Johnny cash wrote an entire album about the destruction of Indigenous lands and of Indigenous people, Kris Kristofferson has been an activist most of his career working closely with the UFM, Woody Guthrie was a social justice advocate and union activist, Dolly Parton has tackled explicitly feminist issues even in the 60s and has been an avid supporter of her lgbt fans, Willie Nelson made Farm Aid to try and help farmers in danger of losing their farms due to mortgages keep them and is also an avid supporter of LGBT rights as well as marijuana legalization, Lorettea Lynn wrote about birth control in the 70s and had her song banned, i could go on!
When in the correct hands, country music is a powerful medium, but post 9/11 it’s been handed off to apathetic white men who have turned it into the most useless genre of music out there.
The Dixie Chicks were right.
“And I know from your verse
You put America first
And all others you simply beat senseless”
always sounded like a direct response to that terrible song.
This was definitely happening before 9/11, but it absolutely catalyzed it further and solidified this type of country music. I have often thought about writing a book about this, which I would title "From Shitkicker to Bootlicker."
This is Erica Henderson’s alternate cover for my new comic with artist Rodrigo Vargas, Impostor Syndicate! The crowdfunding campaign for the book has just about 12 days left, and we’re $100 from our first stretch goal! So back if you haven’t and share if you can!
15 days remain in the Impostor Syndicate Zoop crowdfunding campaign, which means it’s halfway complete!
This is my new comic series with artist Rodrigo Vargas, and we’re very close to unlocking our first stretch goal of adding 4 pages to the book!
After one week, the Impostor Syndicate Zoop funding campaign is just a little under $1,000 from our first stretch goal! Get those money bags ready and help us get there!
My new comics crowdfunding campaign is live now! Back if you can, share if you’d be so kind!
The funding campaign won’t start for a little while, but you can go ahead and sign up for updates for my new comics project, the first 2 issues of Impostor Syndicate on Zoop now!
IT’S NOT ‘PEEKED’ MY INTEREST
OR ‘PEAKED’
BUT PIQUED
‘PIQUED MY INTEREST’
THIS HAS BEEN A CAPSLOCK PSA
THIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY USEFUL THANK YOU
ADDITIONALLY:
YOU ARE NOT ‘PHASED’. YOU ARE ‘FAZED.’
IF IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG DAY, YOU ARE ‘WEARY’. IF SOMEONE IS ACTING IN A WAY THAT MAKES YOU SUSPICIOUS, YOU ARE ‘WARY’.
ALL IN ‘DUE’ TIME, NOT ‘DO’ TIME
‘PER SE’ NOT ‘PER SAY’
THANK YOU
BREATHE - THE VERB FORM IN PRESENT TENSE
BREATH - THE NOUN FORM
THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE
WANDER - TO WALK ABOUT AIMLESSLY
WONDER - TO THINK OF IN A DREAMLIKE AND/OR WISTFUL MANNER
THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE (but one’s mind can wander)
DEFIANT - RESISTANT DEFINITE - CERTAIN
WANTON - DELIBERATE AND UNPROVOKED ACTION (ALSO AN ARCHAIC TERM FOR A PROMISCUOUS WOMAN)
WONTON - IT’S A DUMPLING THAT’S ALL IT IS IT’S A FUCKING DUMPLING
BAWL- TO SOB/CRY
BALL- A FUCKING BALL
YOU CANNOT “BALL” YOUR EYES OUT
AND FOR FUCK’S SAKE, IT’S NOT “SIKE”; IT’S “PSYCH”. AS IN “I PSYCHED YOU OUT”; BECAUSE YOU MOMENTARILY MADE SOMEONE BELIEVE SOMETHING THAT WASN’T TRUE.
THANK YOU.
*slams reblog*
IT’S ‘MIGHT AS WELL’. ‘MIND AS WELL’ DOES NOT MAKE GRAMMATICAL SENSE.
SLEIGHT - DEXTERITY, ARTIFICE, CRAFT (FROM ‘SLY’) SLIGHT - VERY LITTLE, FRAIL, DELICATE
IT’S ‘SLEIGHT OF HAND’.
DISCRETE - SEPARATE, DISTINCT, PARTED
DISCREET - SUBTLE, STEALTHY, DIPLOMATIC
BORN= existing as a result of birth
BORNE= carried or transported by
LIGHTENING = to make something less dark in color or to lessen its weight
LIGHTNING = bright flash of light during electrical storms
{This is quite helpful. Thank you Rebloggers.}
((adm: I just want to add-
Loose- untight
Lose- opposite of winning))
((ALSO: A fun trick - Affect = Action Effect = End Result ))
There = In that place
Their = belonging to them
can’t = a contraction for cannot
cant = a tilt or lean at an angle, usually to accommodate accessibility
Me thinking that this is child’s play and that I know it all already:
Me realising there are some things I didn’t already know:
TO- GOING ONE PLACE TOWARDS ANOTHER
TWO- 2, A NUMBER BETWEEN 1 AND 3
TOO- A DESCRIPTIVE WORD, THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD, THE SHIRT IS TOO LOOSE.
TOO- A DESCRIPTIVE
WORD, THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD,
THE SHIRT IS TOO LOOSE.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
I’m gonna add
ROGUE: CRIMINAL/REBEL/VAGRANT/ETC
ROUGE: RED MAKEUP
it’s rogues gallery, guys. Not rouge gallery. You’re making me think batman has an extensive lipstick collection.
If you’re talking about a weapons CACHE, it’s pronounced cash.
If you say cashay, that’s how CACHET is pronounced which means prestige and does not mean a collection of items stored together in a hidden/inaccessible place.
NO ONE IS ‘PREJUDICE"
PEOPLE ARE “PREJUDICED”
If he’s not moving, he’s STATIONARY.
If he’s a fucking space pencil, then carry on with STATIONERY.
If it’s wet precipitation falling out of the sky, it’s RAIN
If it’s someone ruling over people, it’s REIGN
If it’s holding back someone from (or getting someone to stop doing) something, that’s to REIN [them] IN (…as if you were using REINS on a horse)
(and oh yeah)
If you’re telling someone they’re going to have to reconsider an opinion or course of action, then they have ANOTHER THINK COMING
(because “another thing coming” makes no damn sense whatsoever unless they’re in some kind of monster movie, ffs)
The one that everyone gets wrong is:
TROOPER - A police officer or soldier
TROUPER - A reliable person who doesn’t complain (also an actor or performer who is a member of a troupe)
So if someone is being “a real trooper,” they’re like a cop. If they’re sticking it out through something tough, it’s “trouper.”
If you haven’t checked out my podcast with Erica Henderson and Benito Cereno where we review the “Chucky” TV series, we started in reviewing all the movies this week! Check it out!
If you’re not aware, Comixology Submit is going to be closing down in the next little while, which means my comic with artist Kevin Warren, Copernicus Jones: Robot Detective, will be coming off with it.
Creators have the option to submit their comics to Kindle Direct Publishing, but instead I’m going to be putting all the extant issues of Copernicus Jones on Gumroad instead, still at $1 for a digital issue.
The first six are there now, so go grab them if you haven’t read them.
Lady Gaga will be the first entertainer to ever obtain an EGOOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Oreo, Tony). But are her Oreos any good? We find out on the new Snack Situation!
To make way for our new 2021 post-interview segment, we had to finish up all the linestepper This or That scenarios from last year, plus a few more to boot!
Comics reviewed:
Our Christmas special this year was the Christmas Mix Draftacular, and here are the mixes! (But check them out after you listen to the show.)
Chris Sims’ (Note: The Die Hard soundtrack isn’t on Spotify, so that’s the missing track.)
And here’s a spreadsheet of all the picks Chris made.
Listen to the episode here!
The creator of the new tabletop roleplaying game Anyone Can Wear the Mask and the host of the Party of One podcast, Jeff Stormer, joins us this week for another discussion of gaming! We talk about one-on-one games, superhero roleplaying, pets, the best starter games and a whole lot more! Plus, Matt and Chris take some listener questions about superheroes and food!
The rundown:
Comics reviewed:
On the new Snack Situation, Matt and Chris try another set of chocolate bars sent to them from Australia, courtesy of listener and pal Lucas Brown!
