At what point should the integrity of something be sacrificed and popularity take its place? When I say this I am directly relating it to country music, but it can be applied to a lot of things these days. I’m not sure how many people have heard Jason Aldean’s new song “1994”, but I fail to see how something that is so far removed from what country music was in 1994 could possibly be a tribute to Joe Diffie or any artist from that era. (I will include a link so this makes more sense if you haven’t heard it.) I hate that country music has become so mainstream. I understand that it is a more lucrative business because of that, but again, when does that become more important than the integrity of it? I think country music was better off before it gained the crossover status it can have now, because the more people that like it, the more influences it will have. I consider that a bad thing because most of those influences won’t even resemble real country music. While I do like the song “1994” and SOME other crossover songs, I don’t think they should be considered country, and they definitely shouldn’t be used as a tribute to traditional country artists!!!

“1994”