Oliver "Chris" Anthony

[LPTiger 5,167]

On 8/18/2023 at 9:28 AM, Didba said:

Man, as a musician this is so depressing currently writing music as a hobby… 

Like THAT gets 22 million plays on Spotify? This seems to be pandering pretty hard to a specific group of people with north vs south dog whistling throughout the song. 

here’s a good breakdown of the dog whistles in the song:

Bo Burnham said it best:

 

Dib, let me preface by saying the only thing I know about Mr. Dogwhistle Anthony Fantano is what I learned in the first few minutes of the video you posted.   Based on it, Fantano is, at best, uneducated and, at worst, intentionally trying to sow discord.   Fantano completely misses the meaning of the words "rich men North of Richmond" and thus misses the entire meaning of the song.   He says the words are a reference to the "Mason Dixon Line" and that Oliver Anthony's song is about 'north vs  south."    As a matter of geography, the Mason Dixon line is a full 200 miles north of Richmond, Virginia.  And south of the Maxon Dixon is the place Oliver Anthony is actually singing about -- Washington D.C.   Fantano's video vividly illustrates one of the biggest problems with the internet and social media -- people of apparent influence with little knowledge and wisdom dish out views and opinions about matters that they have conducted little to no research on and which are then accepted by some as "truth."         

[AUDub 11,153]

25 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

Very true. Worked with "her" for years and no, I don't care to kill "her" with Twinkies. 

Food deserts, poor education about nutrition, and programs that can be labyrinthine to navigate.

It's possible and in some ways even easy to get obese on welfare. 

[Gowebb11 9,335]

18 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

Allowing welfare recipients to spend government dollars unwisely and without restriction is problematic in several ways.

Strike ‘welfare recipients’ and replace with ‘politicians’ and it’s even more true. 😅

[LPTiger 5,167]

3 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

I call this Recipe Country Music. It is totally s*** music. And this guy totally nails it..

DKW, I have to respectfully disagree.   David Alan Coe laid out years ago the recipe for the perfect country music song:  1. drinking, 2. prison, 3. momma, 4. rain, 5. pick up trucks and 6. trains.   I would add to the list fishing, pretty women, horses/bull riding, bars, rivers and boats.   Oliver Anthony only mentions one -- drinking.   Country music isn't known for addressing the serious matters that Anthony addresses -- child trafficking and suicide.   There also are not many country songs that speak to the government wanting to know everything we think and do.    To me, maybe more important, to the point the comedian was making about some country music -- this isn't a metrosexual from the land down under, or some guy who hasn't worked a blue collar job, or a guy with a jet and a ranch he rarely sees singing about things he has never experienced.   It also isn't some remixed, sound machine tuned, Nashville touched up, voice coached piece sung without any passion.   One may disagree with Oliver Anthony but you dang sure can't say the poor young man doesn't believe what he is singing.    And no one can criticize his guitar playing.      

[AUFAN78 3,911]

12 minutes ago, AUDub said:

Food deserts, poor education about nutrition, and programs that can be labyrinthine to navigate.

It's possible and in some ways even easy to get obese on welfare. 

True, but there are those at least trying and few are rich men north of Richmond.

Sadly.

[AUFAN78 3,911]

13 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

Strike ‘welfare recipients’ and replace with ‘politicians’ and it’s even more true. 😅

Unfortunately, they go hand in hand.

[LPTiger 5,167]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:23 PM, AUDub said:

I guaran-*******-tee if that little line in there about welfare queens was replaced with one about union busting, this thread would not exist. 

Dub, Oliver Anthony isn't speaking out against welfare fraud or people who otherwise abuse welfare i..e the pejorative "Welfare Queen."   "Welfare queens" can come in any size.   Anthony is making a much finer point and one that is entirely consistent with the authorizing legislation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Act.    Anthony is arguing that the obese should not be allowed to use tax-funded assistance to contribute to their already existing health problem particularly at a time where we have homeless people starving to death.   "Lord, we got folks in the street (the homeless), ain't got nothing to eat, and the obese are milking welfare, Well God if you are 5 foot 3 and you're 300 pounds, taxes ought not pay for your bags of fudge rounds."  Online, the number of calories in 1 fudge round ranges from 150 to 260 calories.   A 12 ounce Sprite has 10 less calories.  The fudge round does not appear to offer any vitamin A or C.    If one were to eat 6 fudge rounds in a day, that is the equivalent of drinking 6 sodas. Anthony's position is entirely consistent with Congress' intent -- The authorizing legislation says that the SNAP program "is intended to alleviate hunger and malnutrition by permitting low income households to obtain a more nutritious diet."   SNAP prohibits alcohol and tobacco purchases.   But, efforts to regulate with some minimal nutritional requirements have always failed.  

[Didba 5,256]

On 8/20/2023 at 10:33 AM, LPTiger said:

Dib, let me preface by saying the only thing I know about Mr. Dogwhistle Anthony Fantano is what I learned in the first few minutes of the video you posted.   Based on it, Fantano is, at best, uneducated and, at worst, intentionally trying to sow discord.   Fantano completely misses the meaning of the words "rich men North of Richmond" and thus misses the entire meaning of the song.   He says the words are a reference to the "Mason Dixon Line" and that Oliver Anthony's song is about 'north vs  south."    As a matter of geography, the Mason Dixon line is a full 200 miles north of Richmond, Virginia.  And south of the Maxon Dixon is the place Oliver Anthony is actually singing about -- Washington D.C.   Fantano's video vividly illustrates one of the biggest problems with the internet and social media -- people of apparent influence with little knowledge and wisdom dish out views and opinions about matters that they have conducted little to no research on and which are then accepted by some as "truth."         

It’s all interpretation. That’s what’s beautiful about music. He’s entitled to his, just as you and I are entitled to mine. Frankly, I think the song is pandering, hence the Bo burnham video I posted. I don’t necessarily agree with Fantano, he’s not a regular of mine but his opinion shouldn’t be tossed aside so easily. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Didba

[Didba 5,256]

I mean yeah this song is inflammatory. Just look at all the mud it’s causing to be slung. 

[Mikey 16,631]

7 hours ago, Didba said:

I mean yeah this song is inflammatory. Just look at all the mud it’s causing to be slung. 

It's time for some flames in the direction Anthony wants them to go. Also, there hasn't been enough mud slung at the "Rich Men North of Richmond". Kudos to Anthony.

[LPTiger 5,167]

7 hours ago, Didba said:

It’s all interpretation. That’s what’s beautiful about music. He’s entitled to his, just as you and I are entitled to mine. Frankly, I think the song is pandering, hence the Bo burnham song. I don’t necessarily agree with Fantano, he’s not a regular of mine but his opinion shouldn’t be tossed aside so easily. 

Did is it an interpretation or is it misinformation?    If it is an interpretation is it entitled to any weight since the guy doesn't know the geographic location of the Mason Dixon line and this lack of knowledge forms the very basis of his interpretation?    Freudian slip = "He's entitled to his [interpretation], just as you and I are entitled to mine."😀

[Didba 5,256]

4 hours ago, LPTiger said:

Did is it an interpretation or is it misinformation?    If it is an interpretation is it entitled to any weight since the guy doesn't know the geographic location of the Mason Dixon line and this lack of knowledge forms the very basis of his interpretation?    Freudian slip = "He's entitled to his [interpretation], just as you and I are entitled to mine."😀

It's interpretation.

[Didba 5,256]

On 8/20/2023 at 10:33 AM, LPTiger said:

Dib, let me preface by saying the only thing I know about Mr. Dogwhistle Anthony Fantano is what I learned in the first few minutes of the video you posted.   Based on it, Fantano is, at best, uneducated and, at worst, intentionally trying to sow discord.   Fantano completely misses the meaning of the words "rich men North of Richmond" and thus misses the entire meaning of the song.   He says the words are a reference to the "Mason Dixon Line" and that Oliver Anthony's song is about 'north vs  south."    As a matter of geography, the Mason Dixon line is a full 200 miles north of Richmond, Virginia.  And south of the Maxon Dixon is the place Oliver Anthony is actually singing about -- Washington D.C.   Fantano's video vividly illustrates one of the biggest problems with the internet and social media -- people of apparent influence with little knowledge and wisdom dish out views and opinions about matters that they have conducted little to no research on and which are then accepted by some as "truth."         

I think you are taking his comments about the mason-dixon line way too literally. He is just using it to frame the North/South divide. I think he has a good point about the North/South divide but imo, that gives too much creedence, I think its simply a song that has a ton of conservative buzzwords strung together so it would blow up with the right crowd.

[Didba 5,256]

4 hours ago, LPTiger said:

Did is it an interpretation or is it misinformation?    If it is an interpretation is it entitled to any weight since the guy doesn't know the geographic location of the Mason Dixon line and this lack of knowledge forms the very basis of his interpretation?    Freudian slip = "He's entitled to his [interpretation], just as you and I are entitled to mine."😀

I'll be honest I maybe watched three minutes of his video if that and skimmed it.

[Didba 5,256]

4 hours ago, Mikey said:

It's time for some flames in the direction Anthony wants them to go. Also, there hasn't been enough mud slung at the "Rich Men North of Richmond". Kudos to Anthony.

Kudos to Anthony for stringing buzzwords together in a song knowing that it would blow up with the right crowd.

On 8/20/2023 at 10:47 AM, LPTiger said:

DKW, I have to respectfully disagree.   David Alan Coe laid out years ago the recipe for the perfect country music song:  1. drinking, 2. prison, 3. momma, 4. rain, 5. pick up trucks and 6. trains.   I would add to the list fishing, pretty women, horses/bull riding, bars, rivers and boats.   Oliver Anthony only mentions one -- drinking.   Country music isn't known for addressing the serious matters that Anthony addresses -- child trafficking and suicide.   There also are not many country songs that speak to the government wanting to know everything we think and do.    To me, maybe more important, to the point the comedian was making about some country music -- this isn't a metrosexual from the land down under, or some guy who hasn't worked a blue collar job, or a guy with a jet and a ranch he rarely sees singing about things he has never experienced.   It also isn't some remixed, sound machine tuned, Nashville touched up, voice coached piece sung without any passion.   One may disagree with Oliver Anthony but you dang sure can't say the poor young man doesn't believe what he is singing.    And no one can criticize his guitar playing.      

To be fair, my best friend who has been playing guitar since he was 10 said when I asked his honest opinion on the song was "Nice voice, political lyrics too on the nose, average guitar playing. His voice is the only thing going for it." My buddy is a blue collar electrician working in the biggest petroleum refinery in North America so he isn't liberal like me.

If this song didn't have political, conservative lyrics it would be just another unknown song on spotify. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Didba

[LPTiger 5,167]

He now has 29,000,000 views on Youtube alone.   Regardless of whether any of us like the song it is resonating with many people. 

[Didba 5,256]

10 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

He now has 29,000,000 views on Youtube alone.   Regardless of whether any of us like the song it is resonating with many people. 

I know, that is what we are saying. It was designed to resonate with many conservative people and it has done so.

Hence, why several of us that see through that have called it out as pandering, the song literally does what the Bo Burnham song makes fun of but even takes it a step further because it doesn't even hide the political pandering.

I am glad you like the song though.

 

[LPTiger 5,167]

1 minute ago, Didba said:

I know, that is what we are saying. It was designed to resonate with many conservative people and it has done so.

Hence, why several of us that see through that have called it out as pandering, the song literally does what the Bo Burnham song makes fun of but even takes it a step further because it doesn't even hide the political pandering.

I am glad you like the song though.

 

You are a musician and you think the song is trash so you are not paying much attention to it (obviously you're right).   But, you make a mistake by painting it with such a broad brush.  It you take a moment and see who is commenting on the song I think you be will be surprised.

[Gowebb11 9,335]

Too many people mad about too many things. This guy had it right. 😅

[Didba 5,256]

5 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

Too many people mad about too many things. This guy had it right. 😅

This guy too!

[Didba 5,256]

10 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

You are a musician and you think the song is trash so you are not paying much attention to it (obviously you're right).   But, you make a mistake by painting it with such a broad brush.  It you take a moment and see who is commenting on the song I think you be will be surprised.

I never said I thought the song was trash. I complimented it just as good singing and fairly good guitar upon first listen if you recall on page one.

as I listened to it a couple more times I developed an opinion on its lyrics and themes. Not even then did I say they were trash. Just that they were doing exactly what they were designed to do. Just because I can criticize artistic choices and lyricism doesn’t mean I think the song is trash. 

I actually thought the guitar playing was pretty good but I’m not a lead guitarist. My buddy who is didn’t criticize it either just stating it was “nothing special”. 

I don’t need to see who is commenting on it to form my opinions but, out of respect for you, I’ll take a look next time I’m talking to a man about a horse at work. 

[80Tiger 899]

Let me start by saying I don't usually read the political forum, much less post. Secondly, I am aware of the song but I have not listened to it. But I am not sure why there seems to be a concern that this is a political song. Woody Guthrie's whole life was protest/political songs. And Neil Young songs had deep political messages along multiple 60's musicians. The whole decade was protest songs. Many of those songs could be considered "pandering" to their audience. Isn't it just a matter of whether one agrees with the message or not?

 

[Didba 5,256]

37 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

Let me start by saying I don't usually read the political forum, much less post. Secondly, I am aware of the song but I have not listened to it. But I am not sure why there seems to be a concern that this is a political song. Woody Guthrie's whole life was protest/political songs. And Neil Young songs had deep political messages along multiple 60's musicians. The whole decade was protest songs. Many of those songs could be considered "pandering" to their audience. Isn't it just a matter of whether one agrees with the message or not?

 

Well I think the difference there is those guys become famous writing both non-political music and political music. And they are most famous, at least Neil Young, for their non-political music. (I’ll admit my knowledge of Woody Gutherie’s catalog is limited at best).

They also didn’t start their music careers during a period of time where it is well known that the pop-country genre panders hard exactly how the record company wants. 

whereas, this guy is only famous with one hit song because it’s a very specific brand of political. His non-political music is nothing special. The only reason this one song is blowing up is because it’s political. 

whether it’s pandering is not a matter of whether someone agrees with it or not, it’s a matter of what era of music/the recording business the music was made in and whether it was written specifically for it to go viral with certain groups. 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Didba

[80Tiger 899]

28 minutes ago, Didba said:

Well I think the difference there is those guys become famous writing both non-political music and political music. And they are most famous, at least Neil Young, for their non-political music. (I’ll admit my knowledge of Woody Gutherie’s catalog is limited at best).

They also didn’t start their music careers during a period of time where it is well known that the pop-country genre panders hard exactly how the record company wants. 

whereas, this guy is only famous with one hit song because it’s a very specific brand of political. His non-political music is nothing special. The only reason this one song is blowing up is because it’s political. 

whether it’s pandering is not a matter of whether someone agrees with it or not, it’s a matter of what era of music/the recording business the music was made in and whether it was written specifically for it to go viral with certain groups. 

Going to disagree on some of this. A lot of Neil Young songs would be considered political, whether about war, environment, or politicians. He most definitely writing for a specific groups and audience as was Guthrie. Now as a musician and a catalogue of music I get it, this guy is no where near the level of Neil Young and probably will never be. But to me his targeting of an audience is no different for any of them. If it is pandering for one point of view, it is pandering for the other.

[Didba 5,256]

1 hour ago, 80Tiger said:

Going to disagree on some of this. A lot of Neil Young songs would be considered political, whether about war, environment, or politicians. He most definitely writing for a specific groups and audience as was Guthrie. Now as a musician and a catalogue of music I get it, this guy is no where near the level of Neil Young and probably will never be. But to me his targeting of an audience is no different for any of them. If it is pandering for one point of view, it is pandering for the other.

I never said Neil Young songs weren’t political. Did you even read all of my points before responding?

further, this ignores my point that the era of a musician plays a huge part into whether they are pandering or not. 

Actually this reply is non-responsive to all of my points so I’ll just re-state them. I’ll bold them too. And surmise them here:

Already famous Neil Young wasn’t writing “southern man” thinking “oh man what buzzwords can I put in this song so it will go viral with liberals to spark my music career.“ He wrote it because he was personally disgusted it says as much in his writing later in life.

However, in the modern era, it’s more likely for an unknown artist to go “oh man what buzzwords can I put in this song so it will go viral with liberals to spark my music career.“

and here are my original points bolded for your ease of reading:

Well I think the difference there is those guys become famous writing both non-political music and political music. And they are most famous, at least Neil Young, for their non-political music. (I’ll admit my knowledge of Woody Gutherie’s catalog is limited at best).

They also didn’t start their music careers during a period of time where it is well known that the pop-country genre panders hard exactly how the record company wants. 

whereas, this guy is only famous with one hit song because it’s a very specific brand of political. His non-political music is nothing special. The only reason this one song is blowing up is because it’s political. 

whether it’s pandering is not a matter of whether someone agrees with it or not, it’s a matter of what era of music/the recording business the music was made in and whether it was written specifically for it to go viral with certain groups. 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Didba