Can you help me figure out why I don't like country music?

I like country myself, or at least some of it. It’s not for everybody, you have to acquire a taste for it. Like you would with Classical, I suppose. But then when it comes to music, I’m pretty flexible, I enjoy a little bit of everything. Except rap. And now, Pop a top again, then I’ll be gone and you can let some other fool sit down.

Why do you want to overcome your aversion? Do you like rap? Do you like hip-hop? What about avant-garde jazz?

I’‘m not much of a fan of most country music. I quite like some country-rock stuff, but most real country music leaves me cold.

Why should you like country music?

Maybe because Lone Star beer, and Bob Wills music, have kept his heart alive since she’s been gone? Anyway, hey Mr. Bartender, please don’t be so slow, I got time for one more round and a six-pack to go.

I’m not sure why anyone does like the majority of country music, as it seems particularly prone to stuff I have a hard time imagining really liking. For me, too much of it conjures some mix of states of mind that tend to react strongly against, and don’t identify with. I get reminded of dumb people in bars who want to fight, people on bizarre ego trips, and nearly endless other stuff that’s deep in “wow, no” territory for me. I do like a few bits, most of which are comedy, tongue-in-cheek, or campy in ways that don’t seem dense or annoying.

That said, I probably also don’t like most other music, either. Country and rap and whiny songs and certain types of jazz are a few genres though that I actively avoid, so I get fewer opportunities to even know about pieces I might like.

I abhor it as well so I can’t help you. Life is full of enough misery and crap without listening to some cowboy hat wearing dude or dudette actually singing about it.

Years ago, I heard doctors of head trauma victims had their patients write country music lyrics.
To me, that spoke volumes.

I too thought I despised the stuff, but my problem just as the OP states is those fuzzy lines between country and bluegrass or folk or blues or rock n roll, etc. When you start talkin about folks like Elvis, Willy Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash – if folks of this caliber emerge from country music and I don’t care for it, the flaw is in me & not the genre. One thing I have found over a lifetime is that the remaining musical styles I abhor such as baroque or Renaissance, even Lawrence Welk “bubble man” polkas, my distaste is probably attributable to the fact that I just haven’t heard enough of it. And country music- once you hear Chet Atkins or Merle Haggard pick a guitar, there’s no bad mouthin Nashville.

^^Oh man, you forgot Hank Williams, Sr.

I’ve always seen it as the white man’s blues. The best is very good and gut wrenching, like Williams, Sr.‘s haunting I’m So Lonesome, I Could Cry. And there’s the humorous ones, like George Strait telling us,—in that rich, strong voice—about all his exes in Texas. But even behind that, is misery. I think the difference between good Country and bad often has to do with the story line, the lyric.

Many of the ones listed by @stanleybmanly above wrote their own lyrics or were written by people who shared the same life experiences. Even if one has never set foot on a farm, or has been spurned by a lover, one is transported into the story, because we sense that they were written from the heart by simple people.

But it was hijacked in the ‘70s by lyricists who know nothing about country and the problems that ride with poverty, rural or otherwise. This goes for many of today’s Country musicians, as well. Country music has it’s roots in Bluegrass and it is obvious when you hear the early Country musicians.

Today’s Country has more in common with what became known in the late ‘70s as Southern Rock, like the Allman Brothers, or Alannah Myles’s Black Velvet. The stark difference is heard when comparing Hank Williams, Sr.‘s music to that of his son, Hank Williams, Jr., who grew up comfortably on his father’s royalties.

Understanding that might help you enjoy it more.

It’s not clear why you want to get over the aversion. We’re not going to like everything in life.

Because it is trash.
Just like mainstream pop music or rap, it is all virtually indistinguishable from each other, sounding like it all came from the same automated factory.
It is white noise, dressed up as music, with no unique or interesting features.

Because you have a modicum of taste.

I don’t like it either i like most kinds of music but C &W all sounds the same to me.

Other than a few old artists that @Espiritus_Corvus mentions I am not a country fan at all.
I agree with @ragingloli most country is just a slight variation of the same old themes with the same old monotonous, generic sound. Anyone could write a country song in about 3 minutes sticking to the scant handful of sad country themes. Here ya go

My girl ran away with a rodeo clown, my truck broke, my dog died, think I’ll leave town.
But i’ve got my good buddies, Jim, Jack and Jose to help me get through another long day. LOL

Personal musical taste results
from numerous factors, not least what you heard (or osmossed) growing up. It’s possible to acquire a taste for music you think you don’t like by learning more about it and listening to more of it (country music comes in many flavors) but if it turns out you don’t like it, don’t worry about it. There are so many wonderful types of music.

Never listen to it when you are depressed. It can push you right over the edge.

Personal tastes differ in everything: Music, food, art, politics, climate, clothing, cars, ugliness, beauty…..you name it.

If all men had the same taste in women, every bar in the world would have 150 guys waiting in line to talk to the same girl.

Some people like country music. Some people love Donald Trump. Some people enjoy having their skull crunched by a bench-vise…..

Most country music, particularly pop country music, is insipid. There’s no reason to question why you don’t like it. There is quite a lot of rather good country music out there, but mostly it’s labelled “bluegrass” or “folk”. I’ll listen to anything recorded by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings or Sarah Jarosz, among others.

I have a real dislike for country music, too, but may I suggest a classic, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown?”

I also like the banjo music of Steve Martin. I don’t listen to it a lot, but I appreciate the artistry and the skill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQIJuu3N5EY

I love bluegrass, banjo and country rock like Lynard Skinnard, Alllman Bros. and the great old “Old and in the way” album with Jerry Garcia but yep, as @dappled_leaves said…the perfect word for country is insipid. Gah! haha

Now this…this is some good music.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3M0w-LshS4 Playing this album now.

Because you don’t? Why worry about it?

(Original poster here)—yes, I’m fine with Foggy Mountain Breakdown—especially the Lester Flatts/Earl Scruggs version. Steve Martin is really good with the Banjo— salt of the Earth stuff and it reaches me deeply. Even classic Country songs like the O Brother Where Art Thou ? I can handle well in limited doses.

But I live all around country music. Only rap bothers me more—and thats only because it sounds trashy and promotes violence and rage.

But Country is fraught on me by people close to me and all around. I can always move away (physically—just go someplace else) for Rap. But friends all around me listen to country—at home, in the car, in the workplace.

I guess I don’t like the ignorant-sounding dialect and the loudness—the whineiness—girls and truecks and—yeah, rodeo clowns. And the preachiness of those who insist their way’s the best (what we did—we went to chirch and always granma had dinner on the groun’s).

Can’t stand it and its all around me…

Graynn’ma had Day-nir own the grouwns, I maiyn

@Yellowdog I can relate totally. I have very diverse musical tastes everything from classical to classic rock, oldies, blues, jazz, ethnic music, on and on, but yep, I live in a rural area where almost everyone listens to country too and I hate it. haha

Maybe it’s the sounds of the slide guitars and high pitch string instruments that you dislike?

Is this the kind of country music you dislike?

https://youtu.be/Q9b7QwdCWhw

I will say one thing. It you ever need a song to karaoke to* Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo is one of the easiest songs to sing and rather than just hold the mic and read you can move and act a little on the story. During the brief instrumentals you can walk up to someone and sing and even dance a little for 5 seconds. Do it once and people will think you are a born entertainer.

* Sometimes the situation comes up and you need to fit in with customers or friends. This one is good to have in your back pocket – even if you think it’s dumb. ‘Tis always best to be prepared. ;-)

@Coloma Takes a lot of time to write a country song. Say like: Workin’ on my truck with buddy Jose, now my mean mouth woman’s done out of the way. Done put me in a serious funk, woman didn’t like me gettin’ drunk. But I ain’t gonna miss her no way, I am now courtin’ my cousin Daisy Mae.
You think I wrote that in 15 minutes?

My opinion can be summed up thus…
Cunt -ry Muzak

… and tie me to a chair and kick me down the stairs , but don ‘t play that song, that irritating song no more.

@Coloma Not bad, for a quickie. But I’m feeling the Blues more these days:

My old lady,
She so mean.
I ask her for wine,
She gives me gasoline.

—Heavily influenced by Howlin’ Wolf

^ LOL

Country music is like hollowed out, factory prepared, stale white bread. It is not fit to feed pigeons with. It is based on something much more wholesome but is so derivative that it cannot be compared any longer. This is probably why.

Country music is so corny. All the play on words and crap. SOME of it is pretty good. “And the thunder rolls,” comes to mind.
When it comes to sex, country music is the least romantic and the most crude. “Thinkin ‘bout a little white tank top aittin’ right there in the middle by me”
My husband loves country music.

Sounds like grounds for divorce.

You mentioned that you are a conservative Christian. Lots of the stuff in country songs may go against your values, such as drinking and premarital sex, etc.

Who is a conservative Christian @answerjill? Not sure who you were talking to.

Hello @answerjill?

@Dutchess_III: The OP said in his post that he is a conservative Christian.

Oh, he did, didn’t he! I thought she was talking to me! I was going to laugh and laugh.

I don’t think sex and drinking have anything to do with why he doesn’t like it. It’s pretty canned, uninspiring music, IMO. They don’t work too hard on the lyrics and mostly sing about the same things, sex and drinking. But there are some really good ones out there. I especially liked Almost Home. It makes me cry.

I just thought of something…I think there are more mainstream songs about God and Jesus in country songs, than there are in other genres so that would be another reason I don’t think it has to do with themes of sex and alcohol. ALL genres rely on sex or at least romance, heavily.

I only mentioned that I am a conservative Christian because so many of ‘em like Country music. Many think this is the ‘real’ America.

Personally I like folk, folk-rock and Celtic— and oldies that bring back memories of other times in my life— that means even Disco and Bubblegum.

@Yellowdog I can attest to that living in a mostly conservative area with a high christian conservative population. County music is at the top of the musical menu.

Same here. They just love listening to songs that sound like they were written by clueless, horny high school boys! But there are some good ones.
DISCO!!

this is the only good one