Does Bad Music Make For Bad Politics?

Below is the new “Stand By Hillary” song that appears an attempt to bridge the rather wide gap between Hillary Clinton (and Democratic candidates generally) and males, particularly white males. At first, I honestly thought this was a joke. I am still a bit unsure, but people are reporting that this is a real effort at reaching country music fans. My issue is not the candidate, but the music. To the constant complaint of every member of my family, I listen to country music and this is just really, really bad country music.

The group is actually called “Stand With Hillary.”. It is reportedly the product of Daniel Chavez, a longtime Democratic political operative, and media producer Miguel Orozco. It features such lines as “And now it’s 2016 and this time I’m a thinkin’, guys put your boots on and let’s smash this ceiling.” The chorus follows with such refrains as “she’s a mother, daughter and through it all she’s a loving wife.”

The video seems like it was produced by people who not only have no knowledge but a disdain for country music — and country music fans. As for country music material, the stereotypical images and canned lyrics is not what would make for a good country song. One could come up with a classic country tune, but it would be less of a Kim Jong-un/Dear Leader piece and more of a a Carrie Underwood song.

If this was intended to reach out to males, it seems likely to backfire. The cliche images and lyrics border on the insulting. It suggests that they think that you just have to throw up a few pictures of barns, horses, and a hot woman on a motorcycle and you are good to go with male voters. When I showed it to the family, everyone thought it was simply goofy and even a bit creepy. But you can be the judge (I am going back to irritating my family with some of my favorite Kenny Chesney songs to clear the palate).

From my perspective, our leaders are already giving us bad politics. They can at least not add bad music on top of it.