The first GOP debate of the 2024 presidential primary season began on Fox News this week with an unusual prompt: a clip of a low-budget country song from an artist who had no public name recognition as of three weeks ago.
“’Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end,” singer Oliver Anthony proclaims with his thick red beard and a Southern drawl. “These rich men north of Richmond, lord knows they all just wanna have total control.”
Seemingly out of nowhere, the blue-collar track has exploded in popularity and shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Anthony made history by becoming the first singer-songwriter to top the chart without ever previously releasing a song. The hit has more than 37 million views in roughly two weeks on YouTube and is its No. 1 trending music video. “Hollywood” has long been synonymous with progressive media. Republicans have scoffed at the powerful microphone that they believe liberal elites hold in television, film and music. And as the country becomes increasingly polarized, conservatives are coalescing to amplify their own voices.
In an interview with The Hill, Montclair State University associate professor Joel Penney, the author of “Pop Culture, Politics, and the News: Entertainment Journalism in the Polarized Media Landscape,” credited the rise in conservative entertainment to a newfound appreciation for it. The slightly older conservative media world “didn’t think that pop culture was even worthy of attention,” Penney said.
But now, he added, conservatives have realized “the path towards long-term political success [is] to take back the pop culture from the left, which they see as totally dominating the entertainment world.”
“Rich Men North of Richmond” has garnered passionate praise from firebrand right-wing figures including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. “This is the message that Washington needs to hear because this is how our people actually think and feel,” Greene posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Lake, who is eyeing a 2024 Senate bid, said that “It’s raw, it’s true, & it’s touching the hearts of men & women across this great nation.”
And Anthony isn’t alone in finding success this summer with a conservative audience that typically receives little attention from major artists.
Country star Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” also topped the Billboard chart with its right-leaning message.
“Got a gun that my granddad gave me. They say one day they’re gonna round up,” Aldean sings. “Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck.”
The corresponding music video was heavily criticized for its clips of Black Lives Matter protests set alongside footage of a store robbery, carjacking and images of people setting American flags on fire. The video was shot at the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn., where 18-year-old Henry Choate was infamously lynched in 1927.
Country Music Television removed the song from its rotation, but Republicans jumped to defend it.
“Jason Aldean is a fantastic guy who just came out with a great new song. Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!” former President Trump posted on his Truth Social account.
“When the media attacks you, you’re doing something right. [Aldean] has nothing to apologize for,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ® echoed.
And the summer of red-state entertainment has not been confined to music.
Last month, faith-based thriller “Sound of Freedom” caught Hollywood by surprise, grossing more than the latest Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible films with its tale of a former federal agent rescuing children from sex trafficking.
Critics have slammed the movie for amplifying conspiracy theories surrounding child exploitation. The movie’s star, Jim Caviezel, who also played Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ,” is a prominent QAnon promoter, and the movie’s plot raises the same issue — child sex trafficking — at the heart of the QAnon conspiracy, which falsely claims that elite Democrats are involved in trafficking rings and cannibalism.
Prominent Republicans have praised the film. Trump hosted a private screening in Bedminster, N.J., and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) commented “Wow. Wow. Wow” after seeing it, urging followers to take the time to do the same.
The rise of these conservative pop culture hits is no coincidence. As politics increasingly invade all aspects of society, conservative artists such as Anthony and Aldean may see an opening to expand their fanbase and push back on institutions that the right has historically criticized for favoring Democrats over Republicans.
Penney said the summer’s viral moments have been “useful for the conservative movement because it expressed this kind of populist anger at elites.”
“[Republicans] saw this viral video as almost a political ad, the best political ad they could possibly find for the upcoming election cycle,” he said.
“There’s an authenticity that comes across particularly when he’s singing about peoples’ dissatisfaction with the economy and poor wages. … A lot of people are disenchanted with the way our economy is functioning.”
The success of “Sound of Freedom” and “Rich Men North of Richmond” suggest that Hollywood and the music industry may have overlooked an audience of conservatives eager to listen and watch media that better represents them and their views.
It’s too soon to tell whether these recent hits represent the start of a larger divide in entertainment — or if the summer of 2023 turns out to be a one-hit wonder for conservative pop culture.
Alternate headline, “Dipshit church congregations are being grifted like never before”
The phrase “conservative pop culture” feels like an oxymoron.
Because they’re being sold a narrative that isn’t even in their interests. It’s not culture if it doesn’t come from the people and act for them.
… except that Oliver Anthony wrote his song about politicians, including Republicans. The “Republicans = working people, Democrats = scumbags in Washington” propaganda has worked so effectively that even people on the left have been assuming that when this guy says he’s in favor of working people, and against scumbags in Washington, that must mean he likes the Republicans. He doesn’t, and apparently nobody bothered to ask him before assuming that he does.
“I wrote that song about those people,” he said, referring to the candidates featured on the [GOP] debate.
He also states, more broadly, that “It’s aggravating seeing people on conservative news trying to identify with me like I’m one of them.”
“It’s aggravating to see certain musicians and politicians act like we’re buddies, like we’re fighting the same struggle here.”
Speaking specifically about the song’s use at the Republican debate, he said, with a laugh, “For them to sit there and have to listen to that, that cracks me up.”
Conservative pop culture is doomed because you can’t build an all inclusive media empire on hate and lies.
Conservative pop culture is having a “moment” like Fox News is having a “moment”. It’s just manufactured propaganda pushed by people with an agenda.
So….
They finally figured out they were the Machine RATM was raging against?
God, they’re so close to almost having a clue what’s going on. The class consciousness is right there, it’s just within reach. I would almost fully agree with this guy if he wasn’t such a tool and a racist.
If only the R’s were capable of observing information that wasn’t packaged and fed to them as propaganda we might be on the cusp of a grand change here. Frankly, we’re pretty close to being on the same page. We all know the government is corrupt and our money isn’t worth anything. I’m just personally not on board with letting the christofascists destroy what’s left of the crumbling infrastructure and then call for the literal imprisonment and execution of LGBT folks in the name of “freedom”.
But God, they’re so close. The truth is within grasp.
I’m not sure about the “racist” bit at this point, either. Not making any excuses for the guy, but it’s slightly possible that his boring/tired commentary in the song about poor people (the welfare shit) was even just some misguided/misinformed bullshit that’s been pounded into his head all his life. Who knows, but I’ve been surprised by the guy twice so far.
(The actual clip of the interview is at the bottom of the article) https://www.stereogum.com/2233996/viral-country-singer-oliver-anthony-pisses-off-racists-with-first-interview-since-topping-hot-100/news/
You know, fair enough. Taking the guy at his word given here in that interview, props to him. Generally non-racist pretty wholesome stuff. Granted, I haven’t actually listened to his song, but if it’s topping charts and I haven’t had it forced into my earholes yet I’m confident enough that there isn’t anything too egregious in there. I’ve read that he’s had some problematic opinions regarding Jewish folks and been dropped from some networks for it but I haven’t seen those myself. Oliver Anthony, I may owe you an apology for calling you a racist, so I’m sorry about that. Now just don’t make me regret apologizing.
Why did you call him racist if you didn’t even listen to the song or his own words prior to saying that?
It’s just a knee jerk reaction by stupid people at this point
This article doesn’t mention that the half of the right dropped Oliver Anthony like a hot potato when he said in an interview that he’s not racist. And there were a number of reports of sold-out showings of Sound of Freedom playing to empty theaters.
yeah, the qanon movie was astroturfed and one of the guys who made it has a criminal history of sex trafficking
As someone who grew up conservative in a conservative part of the country, conservative pop culture was always there, it was just always part of regular pop culture.
Country music has always been the genre of choice for conservative messaging, there have always been conservative leaning comedies that have poked fun at liberals and “politcally correct” culture (what we now call woke.) Hell even within “liberal” media, conservatives would often be given a neutral spotlight among liberals. There was a whole episode of Family Guy dedicated to Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly has been featured everywhere from Marvel movies to television cameos, and South Park even still gives conservative viewpoints a positive or neutral light. Not to mention there was a boom of Christian movies during the 2010s, conservative writers have always been prominent on the NYT best sellers in books, and certain sports and event like Nascar, Football, and MMA have plenty of outspoken conservatives that are massively popular and still have strong careers and followings.
To believe that conservative media is now starting to breach its way into the mainstream is to believe the propaganda that many conservatives push in that American pop culture is inherently liberal or leftist.
You should look up country music of the 1960s. Songs like “The Pill” by Loretta Lynn and performances by Johnny Cash at prisons. Country music hasn’t always been conservative songs about trucks and guns and dogs.
Yeah, Republicans hitching their raft to country music has always been problematic. If anyone remembers the Dixie Chick’s you can’t really make that shit up.
But the trick is to convince enough people that it’s about 95% librul propaganda so we need 10x more right-wing representation in media for it to be fair.
Finally, for the first time in history, there are conservative artists.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“’Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end,” singer Oliver Anthony proclaims with his thick red beard and a Southern drawl.
But now, he added, conservatives have realized “the path towards long-term political success [is] to take back the pop culture from the left, which they see as totally dominating the entertainment world.”
“Rich Men North of Richmond” has garnered passionate praise from firebrand right-wing figures including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Last month, faith-based thriller “Sound of Freedom” caught Hollywood by surprise, grossing more than the latest Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible films with its tale of a former federal agent rescuing children from sex trafficking.
As politics increasingly invade all aspects of society, conservative artists such as Anthony and Aldean may see an opening to expand their fanbase and push back on institutions that the right has historically criticized for favoring Democrats over Republicans.
The success of “Sound of Freedom” and “Rich Men North of Richmond” suggest that Hollywood and the music industry may have overlooked an audience of conservatives eager to listen and watch media that better represents them and their views.
The original article contains 883 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I love watching the left infighting over a man saying things like “inflation is out of control, the government is corrupt, and wages do not afford us even the lowest standard of living” simply because he has an accent they associate with the right.
Uh he also claims Jews are responsible for 9/11 so is that a right wing value you share?
There’s a big difference between saying the jews did 9/11 and linking to a playlist that includes a video that’s says that. But yeah, I’ve edited my original comment, I wasn’t aware of the artist’s personal beliefs when I said that. I still agree with some of the broader points of the song.
So, welfare is a problem?
See my comment above:
To be fair, the line is preceded by a call for action against the homelessness crisis and followed by lines about the exploitation of workers by coal mine operators. It’s like he came this close to realizing class consciousness but swerved right, right at the end to blame the fellow working class. It’s a common and unfortunate trope of most working class conservatives.
Regardless, I’ve edited my original comment because I’ve changed my views on the artist after doing more research.
What infighting? I’ve seen a lot of criticism of an antisemite with a fake accent that wrote a song that repeats false tropes about poor people.
I just hate that the song about “rich men north of Richmond” talks shit about poor people on welfare. If he’d just left that out. I could get on board.
Name a single plan of action from any person on the right who promoted the song to fix any of this? People don’t care about his accent, people are pissed that people with no plan, who actively complain all day, every night do it with no solution. The idea neither side cares is absolutely absurd.
I quite like Oliver Anthony.
Bro that’s nearly every country artist. When the camera is off. Almost none of them talk like that. Just like the Duck Dynasty guys were not what they appeared on tv. Before the show they were all clean shaven and in polo shirts. Everything else was just an act for the camera and the rubes.
The article also mentions that he condemns racism and his song is critical of Republican officials too
The problem with that is, most Americans don’t really understand what “racism” really is. Or how it really impacts the minority groups it’s wielded against. All these people hating on undocumented immigrants for instance. They aren’t the problem. Never have been. If we made sure they had the same rights and protections as labor, as all Americans have. They wouldn’t be so profitable for companies to take advantage of, or devalue American labor.
Unable to see past their own issues, turned against people they have more in common with. To actually help those responsible for their pain.
Not to mention the dudes social media is carrying plenty of unsavory hints. You’re trying to fabricate nuance. But the actual nuances were finding aren’t encouraging.
