This Day in History November 12, 2003

Time for a little more music history, and this really is keeping with the Veteran's Day Theme even though this is the day after.  On this day in 2003, Toby Keith had his third straight #1 country album with Shockin' Y'all became his second straight #1 pop album as it topped the Billboard 200 album chart.  I hadn't realized that the name of the album was actually a pun on the Shock and Awe campaign that came before the U.S.-led Iraq invasion in March 2003.

I cannot recommend every song on this album.  I am one of those individuals who loves Toby Keith when he sings patriotic songs but doesn't care for him when he sings "dumb" songs.  I don't usually buy his albums because of these other songs.  And this album certainly fits the bill.

The opening song on this album is a fun song called I Love This Bar.  This has inspired his I Love This Bar and Grill chain of restaurants.  There is supposed to be one opening in Seattle, and I plan to go!  This is a song of his I do like because it is fun but not too off-color.

The song I really like however is American Soldier.  I find this a song that that fits in very well with this weekend, so enjoy!  And thank you to all those who continue to serve this country and fight for our freedom!




For more information, check out these links:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/toby-keith-has-his-third-straight-1-country-album-with-shock39n-y39all
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock%27n_Y%27all
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,538100,00.html

Music Monday--Challenge Week #3

Well, today's review is disappointing, to say the least.  I got the album Bullets in the Gun, Toby Keith's latest CD.  I had heard two of the songs previously.  I wasn't too keen on one of them, but the other was okay.  This is one album I am glad I did not buy--I borrowed it from the library.

To the review.  It is true that Toby Keith is always about doing his own thing.  His videos are often entertaining, and his songs are not often just run of the mill.  I have been a fan of his, but I was hesitant about this video mainly because of the title song--this is track one.  Bullets in the Gun is a song that has somewhat grown on me, but I still struggle with evil basically winning out. The story of the song is about a robbery, and according to the video, she gets away with the money, and he is left to face the music alone, bleeding on the ground.  I can't say it's a favorite, but it is probably one of his best on the album.

He follows this first song with Somewhere Else.  This is actually a cute little song about his girl leaving him, and it  gave me hope that the rest of the album would  be nice.  He followed this with his other single, Trailerhood. The video for this is pretty good, and it certainly is the kind of song for which Toby Keith is famous.

From  this point on, things went downhill. The next six songs are all about the girl leaving the guy, the guy being devastated, and the guy gets lost in drink.  And when I say that all of them are like this, I am not joking.  I can't even remember them individually because they all sounded alike.  I was pretty disappointed.

Then I got to the last song, and this is when I believe Toby Keith went too far.  The song is Get Out of My Car. While it is true Toby Keith style, the song is about telling the girl to pull down her pants, take off her shirt, take off her clothes, or get out of his car.  I was pleased at the end that she got out of the car.  But I felt the song really crossed the line. I was glad when it was over, and I look forward to returning this to the library as soon as possible.

I will post a video here that is a good Toby Keith song--one of my favorites by him.  It was probably my first favorite song by him.

Be sure to link up your reviews or post them here if you want to be a part of this music challenge!