Let’s Nip This In The Bud

By God, I think I’ve found it! That “one thing” our format currently lacks and that we’ve talked about in this space so many times: an identifiable handle that both hard core and recreational users of Country can quickly and easily get hooked on. Something unique, memorable, and that makes a connection; the kind of music everyone will want to try – at least once, anyway – whether they tell their kids later in life or not. Excuse my random thoughts here, but this new sub-genre has budding potential, which could increase the appetite for our music while distorting one’s sense of time so they’ll keep on listening. As you can see, I’m excited – so excited, I’ve practically got cotton mouth.

Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly give you “Bud-Country: Smokin’ Hot, Hit After Hit!” Sure, the “Bro-Country” buzz was good and all, but my new branding/positioning concept will take Country music and radio to a new, all-time high. Our target demo is pot-smoking males between 21-29. According to my research, there are tons of them out there – twice as many as women – and right now, Country music is a perfect match for these guys. That’s because – don’t be intimidated, but Imma drop more data on ya – according to a recent piece in the always reliable and accurate (cough, cough) Newsweek, which quoted a study conducted by Addiction.com (yes, that’s a real thing), Country music leads the league with the most drug references of any musical genre, followed by Jazz, Pop, Electronic, Rock, Other, Folk, and Rap in that order. And, of the “drug” references among all music genres, marijuana is the one mentioned most.

Do I know opportunity when I see it, or what?

Back in the day, Country music was all about trucks, women, and booze, with the occasional prison and/or train reference tossed in. But this being the 21st century, we’ve evolved. And now, with weed as our new cache, anybody who says we lack substance is wrong. Hell, we’ve not only had substance for years, we’ve had substance abuse, too.

“I think because marijuana has become more normalized in our culture, a lot of Country artists are singing about it more often than ever." That’s Logan Freedman, a data scientist at Addiction.com and sudden Country music expert, quoted in the study. He’s definitely right about marijuana and Americans’ attitude about it moving closer to the center.

In November, California, Massachusetts, Maine, and Nevada passed measures legalizing recreational marijuana use. They will soon join seven other states which previously voted similarly, with a number of states decriminalizing small amounts of weed and others offering broader laws for the use of medical marijuana. It seems to be moving toward the mainstream at a rapid pace. And, think about the age range of many new, developing Country artists – it’s mostly centered in that 21-29 year window I mentioned earlier. I’m not saying everyone in that demo is a pot user, or that just because someone might be an artist they love the weed, but let’s be real here for a second. How many people in that age group, in the music business, do you know who smoke pot recreationally? It’s a rhetorical question, but go ahead an answer anyway, if you’d like.

I asked a few radio friends about this, wondering first if there’s a “there” there, and secondly, if marijuana is indeed more prevalent in Country music, should we be concerned? I know we’ve been more popular among the 18-34 “Millennial” demo in the last six years or so – although that high seems to be wearing off lately… pun intended. But, Country music, even with a younger presence, has remained a format the whole family can listen to, by and large.

Scripps/Wichita OM and Country KFDI PD Justin Case says the volume of songs that reference pot makes him uncomfortable, while also observing, “The line has moved. That is not to say that listeners accept it. When prompted on the topic, listeners have an opinion, and some will tell you that it bothers them. But, I can count on one hand the number of 'recent' weed reference complaints I've received.” Case adds that, to some extent, this reference has always been present, “If not in a lyric, by reputation.”

Glasco Media’s Bob Glasco agrees. “Country listeners have been raised on songs about getting high on booze. I don’t think smoke references matter. I still remember the line in [Hank Williams Jr’s] ‘Family Tradition,’ asking, ‘Why do you drink? Why do you roll smoke?’ And that’s an oldie.” Yep. Released in 1979.

Another major market PD, who I will not identify, says even though he has never been a pot smoker, “It has become pretty mainstream and acceptable. I’ve never received a complaint about any of the references.”

But what of those references? Is there a “there” there? A music exec I spoke to, who asked to remain anonymous, debunked the study about weed references and its findings. “The Newsweek article is lazy journalism, or if you will, fake news. It quotes a single post at Addiction.com that pulled from a website called Song Meanings.com.” I went and looked for the methodology, which was explained as, “We scraped song lyrics from Song Meanings API and analyzed drug mentions, what drugs were involved, and how it changed over time … We grouped drug slang words together in their respected drug categories.” My music exec friend was very skeptical, saying, “Not sure what they mean by ‘scrape,’ but their statement of methodology does not inspire confidence in their conclusions. They offer no examples of how many songs were examined, the popularity of those songs, or how they defined the genres.”

A good point, so I did a non-scientific study of some songs myself. First, I think it’s safe to say that anybody who has ever worked in Country radio easily can reel off 10 song titles that reference alcohol. Here’s mine, totally off the cuff:

“I like Beer” – Tom T, Hall

“Day Drinking” – Little Big Town

“Misery & Gin” – Merle Haggard

“If Drinking Don’t Kill Me” – George Jones

“Drink A Beer” – Luke Bryan

“Chug A Lug” – Roger Miller

“Drink In My Hand” – Eric Church

“Drinking Champagne” – George Strait

“Drinkin’ Problem” – Midland

“Flatliner” – Cole Swindell f/ Dierks Bentley

But, I had to really think about – and search – recent songs that have pot references, and honestly, not all of them are (ahem), “hits” (pun intended):

“Sun Daze” – Florida Georgia Line

“Ready To Roll” – Blake Shelton

“Smoke A Little Smoke” – Eric Church

“Contact High” – Brad Paisley

“Follow Your Arrow” – Kacey Musgraves

“Weed With Willie” – Toby Keith

“Toes” – Zac Brown Band

“All Right Guy” – Gary Allan

“Greener Pastures – Brothers Osborne

“Wagon Wheel” – Darius Rucker

After I showed him this list, CBS Radio KILT/Houston PD Bruce Logan concurred with our anonymous music exec, telling me: “Newsweek = Fake News! Sad!! No wonder their subscribers are down! Failing Newsweek. There are only three ‘hits’ on that list. There’s no ‘smoke’ there.”

Just for grins, I looked on the most recent Mediabase Country singles chart, week ending April 22nd, and did my own tally of songs with pot and alcohol references. Of the current Top 40, I found 16 songs that referenced alcohol, three with weed mentions, and three with both. I have to say, I was surprised by the results in Newsweek, and I did find it interesting that while Country was the genre with more mentions of pot, no specific artists came up, whereas the majority of artists mentioned as making these references were from the Hip Hop world.

Data scientist Freedman explained the study’s purpose, saying in Newsweek, “We did this study to raise awareness about how drug references in music may interact with addiction, and to alert people in case they want to avoid hearing about drugs in their everyday music.”

Major kudos on raising awareness, because I think everyone agrees that addiction is not funny business, and our hearts go out to anyone who has personally battled one or had a family member go through it. As for that second part about avoiding drugs in every day music – well, good luck with that.

“Country music has always been the best format to truly reflect what's currently happening in the lives of the listeners, family, fans, and artists,” another PD told me. “For me, that's what makes it so appealing. It's real. This trend is a reflection of what's currently happening. That's all.”

The general disposition among the dozen or so programmers I spoke to was similar to the above reaction. And, if the pot thing isn’t really a thing, then we’ll all just move along, nothing to see here. As my music exec friend further pointed out, “If Country music is guilty of anything, it’s relentlessly pushing alcohol consumption. Hell, [Jim Stafford’s] ‘Wildwood Weed’ stiffed on the Country charts at #57, while peaking at #7 on the Pop charts back in 1974.”

Guess the new “Bud-Country” sub-genre will just have to sit on the back burner for now. Man, what a buzzkill.