It can totally be conspicuous consumption. Have you ever tried to buy a new pair of cowboy boots? That shit is expensive. As is a lot of the other trappings of the genre/aesthetic like big trucks. Plus there’s an entire subset of people who spend a ridiculous amount of money to look like they’re dudes helping out on the family farm.
That’s not a country only thing but it definitely rubs people the wrong way.
Basically. White reactionaries in the middle class actually spend a good deal of money just so they can LOOK like poor people. Personally, I like to call them “cosplay cowboys”.
If you’re a poor fool like me who’s born in North America AND can’t afford to live in megacities like NYC, Montreal, Toronto, LA, etc. You know what I’m talking about.
I think the culture surrounding music is relevant when discussing it but even if we want to stick only to the actual music: steel guitars are super expensive and the lyrical themes of many country songs involve lifestyles most working class people are priced out of.
Same thing with culturally black music. Buy expensive things, commit crimes, lash out at one another, compete with everyone. It’s seemingly designed to keep black people broke, in jail, and fighting one another.
It’s not really conspicuous but yeah.
It can totally be conspicuous consumption. Have you ever tried to buy a new pair of cowboy boots? That shit is expensive. As is a lot of the other trappings of the genre/aesthetic like big trucks. Plus there’s an entire subset of people who spend a ridiculous amount of money to look like they’re dudes helping out on the family farm.
That’s not a country only thing but it definitely rubs people the wrong way.
Basically. White reactionaries in the middle class actually spend a good deal of money just so they can LOOK like poor people. Personally, I like to call them “cosplay cowboys”.
If you’re a poor fool like me who’s born in North America AND can’t afford to live in megacities like NYC, Montreal, Toronto, LA, etc. You know what I’m talking about.
Country music is not conspicuous. Which is the topic here.
It is when its being played in public
I think the culture surrounding music is relevant when discussing it but even if we want to stick only to the actual music: steel guitars are super expensive and the lyrical themes of many country songs involve lifestyles most working class people are priced out of.
Same thing with culturally black music. Buy expensive things, commit crimes, lash out at one another, compete with everyone. It’s seemingly designed to keep black people broke, in jail, and fighting one another.