My Pop culture artifact!

 

I have picked Country Music as my popular culture artifact.  Growing up my mom listened to Elvis Presley, and country music singers like Conway Twitty, George Jones and Loretta Lynn.  I didn’t mind her music until I got into middle school and discovered pop music.  It was like discovering Christmas when I first heard the incredible beats in music from the likes of Michael Jackson, Journey and Def Leppard.  In my younger years, there weren’t many people that would admit to liking country music.  Do you remember that old joke?  What do you get when you play a country song backwards?  You get your house, your dog, your best friend and your truck back, because country music had a reputation for singing about loss and sad things.  I was of the same mind set until about 12 years ago.  All of the sudden I had CMT on my TV and discovered the likes of Keith Urban, Gary Allen and Blake Shelton.  And thanks to the show “The Voice” and Blake Shelton it is alright to admit to liking country music.  And thanks to Keith Urbans’ manly guitar playing it’s cool to like country music.  It’s so cool that country music award shows now have some of the largest viewerships ever.  Actors and actresses that would never have been presenters on these award shows years ago proudly show up and go on about the music stars they love.  Who would have ever dreamed there would be a country music artist judge on American Idol?  If that hasn’t turned popular culture on its head, what will?