Changing the Name of Nashville’s Marathon from “Country” to “Rock ‘n’ Roll” is Stupid
Look, I don’t want to make too much of this, because in the end, what’s in a name? I didn’t really get too exercised over it (har har) until I saw award-winning songwriter (and #55 on Saving Country Music’s Greatest Country Songwriters of All Time) Don Schlitz tweet out about it, “Hey Mark Buffalino: you’re an idiot. And that’s my nice tweet.” But this has got to be the most dumb and over-thought decision I’ve seen in a damn long time.
So there’s this thing that’s been happening in Nashville for sixteen years now called the “Country Music Marathon” where upwards of 30,000 participants run, walk, wheelchair, or otherwise participate in a marathon and half marathon through the streets of Nashville while 28 stages along the route entertain folks. Pretty cool concept, que no? But this year out of the wild-assed blue yonder, they’ve decided to rename it the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.” So you know, instead of folks thinking about Dolly Parton and Kenny Chesney when they hear the marathon’s name, now they think of Winger and Imagine Dragons.
Cue the dumb comments from Josh Furlow, the president of the Competitor Group, Inc trying to explain this stupid decision.
“The evolution of (Nashville) . . . .”
Woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo, hold on a second. As soon as you hear someone start talking about the “evolution” of Nashville, you know it’s time to stop down, roll up your pant legs and shelter the women and kids, because the steer manure is about to get shoveled your way in bountiful quantities. Evolution my ass, but let’s continue forward …
“The evolution of (Nashville) has followed the same evolution as our brand {grumble grumble}. That has been to focus on a key brand, but at the same time cast the net wider from the music genres, from the consumer’s appetite and overall kind of link it directly with the brand that’s already successful in the markets that we do worldwide.”
See now, this is what’s wrong with corporate America in a nutshell. This pointy-headed bean counter is using terms like “key brand” and “market” and “consumer.” Listen bub, this thing’s been going on in Nashville for sixteen years, and it’s not a “brand,” it’s a cultural institution. Nashville isn’t a “market,” it’s a city. And its population isn’t just “consumers,” they are people. And per capita, those people are country music fans more than anywhere else, and that’s why you called it a “country” music marathon to begin with, to give the event some regional flavor.
The problem is that Nashville’s marathon is owned and operated by a for-profit company that also owns marathons in 30 other cities. It sort of boggles my mind of how a company can “own” a marathon, especially one that’s also branded with the St. Jude’s seal, almost implying to people this is a not-for-profit venture, but I guess it’s good work if you can get it.
Competitor Group’s Josh Furlow goes on to say Nashville is “a mixture, still heavily focused on the country music business. But at the same time, there’s still a lot of other music that originates out of Nashville.”
This is true. The Home of Country Music has very much become one of the principal epicenters for all of music in the last few years, and hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. Rock music is just fine, just like all genres are. What I take issue with is the fact that Nashville has become a mecca recently for folks looking to make it in music, and once they arrive, they quickly realize all the money is in country, and instead of learning the trade they simple call whatever music they’re making “country” and nobody gives it a second guess. That’s how the Ross Cooperman’s and Sam Hunt’s of the world are ruining country music, but that’s another tangent.
The point is there’s nothing wrong with regional flavor. Did these morons in a committee room in San Diego really think changing the name of this thing to “rock ‘n’ roll” would make it appeal to more people? If you want to have rock bands play on some of the stages too, then hell yeah I say. And then maybe call it simply the “music” marathon. But somebody didn’t get the memo that the rock format died a decade ago, and that’s the entire reason “country” now encompasses pretty much all of American music as a cultural catch-all phrase. “Rock ‘n’ roll” is the term that is quickly getting phased out.
Anyway, it’s stupid, but it will probably take a committee to change it. So whatever.
Happy running.
Fuzzy TwoShirts
September 16, 2015 @ 9:48 am
Of course it’s stupid, did you honestly expect anybody left on Music Row to make an intelligent decision? although a country music marathon brings to mind some funny images. Stringbean waddling around in his short pants trying to keep up. Dolly’s two (censored) bouncing up smacking her in the face as she runs. Sturgill Simpson riding on a turtle… Jason Aldean too drunk to move in a straight line…
Jim
September 16, 2015 @ 10:00 am
It cracks me up to think that the guys who made this decision really thought that there was enough of a plurality of potential customers that they had to make this change. Like there were hundreds of little housewives who got all excited about training for their first marathon and were all set to sign up… until they saw it was a “country” marathon and decided to save their $30 entrance fee for a Van Halen Marathon instead.
Pete Marshall
September 16, 2015 @ 10:51 am
Country music is Nashville and Nashville is a country music town.
Brandon
September 16, 2015 @ 11:09 am
Country music left Nashville a long time ago.
Mike W.
September 16, 2015 @ 1:19 pm
Actually I would say Country music left Music Row long ago. Plenty of great Country music is still being written, recorded and sung in Nashville….you just won’t find it on any radio stations or CMT.
Nadia Lockheart
September 16, 2015 @ 10:52 am
……….on second thought, those youngens really seem to like their ravey-gravy club music! Maybe we should appeal to the youngest target demographic in the Nashville market and rechristen our run the EDMARATHON instead? Look: it’s all-caps! That’ll scream hipness!” -__-
Leaf
September 16, 2015 @ 11:00 am
I am not one for chiming in, or debating, but I think a bit of clarification (from a non-music perspective) may be in order here. The Rock’n;Roll Marathon series, is exactly that, a series of marathons. The appeal of a new destination in a series is desirable. As an avid runner, and yes, marathoner, I can vouch for the appeal to get another destination under my belt, pun intended. I have talked to several runners who have a goal to complete the Rock’n’Roll series. Personally, I have run the Rock’n;Roll Dallas 3 times (it’s local) and in the next year, I’ll be running the Rock’n;Roll Denver and Savannah. Regardless of my love for country music (which is lifelong), the change of name will actually move this into my foreseeable future. And this will happen across the board. So yes, this will bring in other runners, but not because it’s Rock vs. Country, but because it’s now part of the Rock’n;Roll series. I’m sure I’ll be in the minority here, but these are my thoughts.
Trigger
September 16, 2015 @ 12:57 pm
Leaf,
Not to debate you, but from what I understand, the Nashville race was already part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll series of marathons. The only difference was the name. They changed the name to hopefully try to drive that point home because apparently people don’t travel to the Nashville marathon like they do for some of the other races.
But Josh Furlow is not talking about that point. Josh Furlow felt the need to explain to everyone that Nashville is no longer about country music only, and that’s the reason for the name change. Oh, and also because of this branding concern. Josh Furlow was the one that made this a music issue. He could have said, “We’re adding this to our series.” Instead he said a bunch of stuff that doesn’t really make sense about Nashville’s changing demographics.
P.S.: I’ve got lots of respect for anyone who chooses to discipline themselves to run a marathon. So hats off to you!
Leaf
September 16, 2015 @ 12:04 pm
And an interesting side note, the Dallas Marathon (which shares part of the course with Rock’n’Roll Dallas), has 2 back-to-back hills nicknamed the Dolly Partons (you can imagine why). In the valley is a water stop ran by guys in Dolly wigs.
Trigger
September 16, 2015 @ 12:59 pm
See this is the kind of local color that makes these marathons cool. I’d say brand each one of them to reflect the local flavor, and still keep them in the same series.
Nadia Lockheart
September 16, 2015 @ 3:39 pm
Here in Portland, we have an event production company known as Good Sport Promotions that specializes in creating biking and alternative transportation events that achieve just that: reflecting local culture! =)
There’s one cheekily named “Worst Day of the Year” ride every February 8th (I think that’s the day off the top of my head)…………and it’s named that because two of the worst natural disasters in Portland history transpired on that exact day including a historic flooding and a volcanic eruption from Southwest Washington and its fallout resulting in mass mayhem. And the imagery and framing of the event and route illustrates this! =)
hiYUN
September 16, 2015 @ 1:26 pm
Trigger you should start a record company that makes neo-traditional country. Surely there must be some money in that. I’ll be the session guitar player even!
I don’t have a fortune yet, but I will some day. When I do, that’s what I’m doing, damned if I lose money on it.
Tyler
September 16, 2015 @ 7:55 pm
I agree. We need more outlets that can produce our kind of music. Create a community of people that listen to the real thing. We should focus more energy on the solution. How can we increase awareness of superior alternatives to mainstream media?
Albert
September 16, 2015 @ 8:03 pm
“I don”™t have a fortune yet, but I will some day. When I do, that”™s what I”™m doing, damned if I lose money on it.”
See….that’s cuz you LOVE music hiYUN…especially trad country .But people like you in listener-land are getting fewer and farther between . People don’t LOVE music , it seems . They LOVE the music business …the IDEA of being in the biz and being recognized regardless of WHY .
Music is THE focus of my life . I write, produce , teach, sing , play , perform and LISTEN to tons of music and I’m in my 60’s . Its never been any different for me . And it was the same way for so many folks of my generation . We seemed to care a whole lot more about GOOD music . More than ever it seems that people just accept whatever they are force-fed musically by commercial radio in these times . I don’t see or feel any passion in most of what I hear . And I think THAT is why listeners have become so apathetic -its stems from WHAT they are fed. They’ve forgotten ( or have never experienced ) what it feels like to moved by great song after great song on a radio station ….great grooves , incredible lyric -writing of substance, melodies and stunning soloists . Everything is so watered -down lyrically ….3 out of 4 songs have the same rhythm , mostly guys singing , mostly singing about the same thing , lots of ” fake” musical parts on a track …autotune etc.Totally style ( trend) over substance . NO life …NO passion …NOTHING to say of any significance in much of the pap that’s promoted. I can’t live in that fake musical world . I’ve been spoiled and inspired by something way better .
Tyler
September 16, 2015 @ 8:42 pm
Well that’s unfortunate. I’m in my 20’s and I was taught how to listen to music. Surprisingly, there are more of us than you might think. Why is there not something that defines the authentic music we want to hear? A place to call home and a place to be discovered. There are people out there starving for this!
Jim McGuinness
September 16, 2015 @ 2:37 pm
Brand, market and consumer are hardly new terms. It’s how the marketing world talks. There’s nothing demeaning about it.
It’s like a while back when a friend, a publisher, advised me to ditch my aol email address because he felt that, professionally, it made me look like a relic.At first I thought that was a form of bigotry. I then thought about it some more and realized it made sense. I still have my aol account, but never use it when conducting business. It’s similar here. Though both music genres are dead, rock ‘n’ roll is a more attractive term than country. Welcome to the 21st century.
Pete Marshall
September 16, 2015 @ 8:39 pm
How about all genre music marathon?
GregN
September 17, 2015 @ 6:21 am
Reaching out to a wider audience?
They could’ve called it the “Music City Marathon” and covered all genres.
Leaf
September 17, 2015 @ 7:42 am
There actually already is a Music City Half in the Spring. It’s not as big, attendance wise, as the aforementioned marathon, but I have friends that have participated in it.
CAH
September 17, 2015 @ 8:03 am
I think the name change is more honest branding.
Nashville is way to go-go and effite for me.
I take Interstate 840 to look around it and not even have to think about Nashville.
The only time I go through Nashville is to stop at Grimey’s, the Ernest Tubb Record Store or Edward McKay’s Books and Music.
No offense to Nashvillians or to its robust indie music scene.
I don’t like big cities.
KC
September 17, 2015 @ 10:06 am
Runners (of which I am one) know what the Rock ‘N’ Roll Series is and that the name change has nothing to do with any musical landscape.
I don’t know why that stupid press quote was even released.
It’s all business to make it clear to participants that the now-former Country Music Half Marathon is part of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Series. I knew it last year when I ran it.
And it could actually drum up business. Runners want to compete in events where they know the timing and organization is carried out by pros. It was not 100 percent clear in years past that the Rock ‘N’ Roll Series, which is lauded for such was part of it.
As for the race, it does actually involve music with stages and bands/artists playing set up every mile or so throughout the course. Last year, I noted a mixture of country, bluegrass and rock. I really didn’t care who was playing thought, I had a time to beat.
Robert
September 17, 2015 @ 3:48 pm
Nashville would have been another Birmingham, Little Rock or Memphis without country music. It’s regarded throughout the world as the home of country music. Change the name back to the Country Music Marathon.
Chris
September 17, 2015 @ 4:38 pm
This is stupid. Another of many ways the gatekeepers are trying to erase country music’s identity, I mean country music? What’s next, changing the name of the Country Music Hall of Fame to The Bro-country, Pop, Disco, EDM, and R&B Hall of Shame?
Chuck Smith
January 15, 2017 @ 7:30 am
Here is another sign of dummies with charts, graphs, and figures trying to run something they just don’t understand. I don’t know why I am suprised with the way so called Country Music as gone today, I keep waiting for the music association to change the name to something other than Country Music so we the people can reclaim real Country Music again, any way that’s another story. I was born in the Tennessee Mountains and yes I play and sing country music. Any way this is another way stupid idea from someone who doesn’t understand the people of the Tennessee area or it culture, history, or feelings plain and simple.