Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 4-10-13

Let’s talk for a moment about a song that has been attracting a lot of attention the last couple days. It’s not something I’d normally discuss, considering it’s mainstream country music, but I feel there’s a great deal of entertainment to be mined from a situation such as this, which is why I’m calling it relevant for this Pick Your Poison introduction. The song in question is by Brad Paisley and features a guest spot from none other than LL Cool J. It’s called “Accidental Racist,” and if you’ve not yet heard it perhaps you want to spare yourself the trouble. Better yet, just read the lyrics and the hilarious commentary about them on Rap Genius. Listen, I can understand the logic behind writing a song like “Accidental Racist.” Whether we’d like to admit it or not, there are quite a few people in this country that still sees everything in terms of black and white. I mean the color of a person’s skin and beyond. I mean, it took until February of this year for the state of Mississippi to officially ratify the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery. It’s not like there was slave labor still going on in the state up until that point, but the stubbornness of some lawmakers can be astounding at times. The point is, we’re not in a post-racial America. Not yet at least. Sure, the election of President Barack Obama had a message of tolerance that came along with it, but it hasn’t stopped hate crimes from happening since then. So yes, Brad Paisley doesn’t want to be seen as racist just because he’s from the South and might have a Confederate flag on his clothes or in his house or on his truck or on his flagpole or whatever. But that’s only the start of the myriad of problems this song has in its lyrics. They’re some of the most cringe-inducing and head-shakingly bad lyrics I’ve ever come across, and I’ve listened to plenty of really shitty music in the last couple decades. The suggest ignorance about the situation while also trying too hard to seem accomodating and placating. It may just be that “Accidental Racist” is…accidentally racist. Or maybe just doing a poor job of being anti-racist. Did we need a song like this in the first place? You always say no until one comes out that actually makes a difference. If it were done right, and I don’t know how that’d go…but IF it were done right, it’d help much more than it hurts. Maybe in its own way it is helping by bringing the masses of people united against it. So…mission accomplished? Anyways, you won’t find anything so outwardly bad in today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. There’s some great tracks today from Attaque, The Casket Girls, Dan Kaplan, Dirty Fences, Greg Friedman, Ian Pooley and Young Hunting. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, may I recommend audio streams from Bass Drum of Death, CSS, Hooded Fang, Valleys and Var.