Ryan Adams Covering Taylor Swift’s “1989” Album is the Worst Idea Ever
What a bunch of ironic hipster garbage.
So apparently Ryan Adams is in the process of recording a complete cover album of Taylor Swift’s recent record 1989 done in the style of the Morissey-fronted British rock band The Smiths. At least that is what he’s alluding to through his Twitter and Instagram accounts, which were dominated with Swift postings Thursday (8-6) as the press and curious fans spectated along.
Adams began posting lyric sheets, Swift quips, and eventually an audio sampling of his cover version of Swift’s “Welcome To New York,” guaranteeing it was the “saddest version ever” on Thursday. Soon Swift herself was clued into Ryan’s doings and first said, “I will pass out” at the possibility of Ryan Adams making a cover album of 1989, and later said, “I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight or ever again, and I’m going to celebrate today every year as a holiday.”
Adams kept going late into Thursday night, posting a clip of a waltz version of Swift’s song “Out of the Woods.” Feel free to peruse Ryan Adams’ social network properties for more info and updates because frankly, I don’t have the life force to include any more info here.
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Look, I don’t want to be the guy to come into this social network party and throw a wet towel on all this whole “shag-your-hair-in-your-eyes-and-act-likey-you’re-cooler-than-everyone-else Ryan Adams at 40 schtick, but this entire episode is stupid and ridiculous. Yes, I know if we read too much into this the joke is on us. But I really can’t think of a worse idea.
Taylor Swift’s 1989 is a bullshit album full of bullshit songs, and having a top-level independent music personality shine a big ol’ spotlight on it seems like a dereliction of duty. Furthermore, if this album actually sees the light of day and is offered for consumer purchase, basically Ryan Adams is opening up one of those air tubes you see at the bank drive-thru where royalty payments can be funneled directly from well-meaning independent fans to assholes like Max Martin and Shellback—the two producers who co-opted and corrupted Taylor Swift similar to how they have done with popular music from across the globe. If there is a true enemy of everything decent and right in American music, it’s these two Swedish pricks.
I know it wouldn’t be nearly as fun for Ryan Adams, and he wouldn’t receive nearly as much media attention, but why not do a cover album for an artist that the world does not know about? Or hell, why not go back and cover Taylor Swift’s Speak Now, where she actually wrote all of her own songs, by herself, and produced it without the help of outside hit-making money grubbers? The answer is that wouldn’t result in what Ryan Adams is aiming for: attention.
And sorry Ms. Swift, but as much as you and others may want to think this is the ultimate sign of flattery for your music, across the globe there’s half a million hipsters laughing at you. This is camp. This is an inside joke gone too far. And don’t give me any crap about “if this is what Ryan Adams want to do . . .” Screw that. I know Ryan has a history of leading his fan base down terrible dead ends because he got an itch and a whim, but this veers too far into attention whoring to be considered a misunderstood, but otherwise brilliant creative pursuit. He wouldn’t be posting crap on Instagram and bouncing back and forth with Swift on Twitter otherwise.
Everywhere we turn in music these days, the landscape is being junked up with boutique projects and unnecessary releases that are clogging the perspective of consumers and burying the content worthy of attention under a crush of material. Independent music from indie rock to bluegrass is beset with this bad notion that doing ironic covers is somehow worthy entertainment—bolstered by bored musicians short on ideas and inspiration. Have more respect for music. Have more respect for yourselves. Leave the comedic content to Weird Al and others much more qualified.
I love Ryan Adams, and his insurgent and rebellious spirit was one of the direct influences on Saving Country Music (despite recently saying ‘I do not like fucking country music‘). But this is the exact type of crud we do not need junking up an already cluttered and polluted music world.
My two cents.
August 7, 2015 @ 9:57 am
Doesn’t write and record 50 songs a week? He probably got bored re-hashing the same song over and over.
When he’s not writing the same song over and over, he spends most of his time intentionally disheveling his hair…
August 7, 2015 @ 9:59 am
“Taylor Swift”™s 1989 is a bullshit album full of bullshit songs, and having a top-level independent music personality shine a big ol”™ spotlight on it seems like a dereliction of duty ”
I know it wouldn”™t be nearly as fun for Ryan Adams, and he wouldn”™t receive nearly as much media attention, but why not do a cover album for an artist that the world does not know about? ”
Everywhere we turn in music these days, the landscape is being junked up with boutique projects and unnecessary releases that are clogging the perspective of consumers and burying the content worthy of attention ”
And that about sums that up Trigger .
WTF ..?
August 7, 2015 @ 10:15 am
Maybe I’m a fanboy, but I’ve loved everything Ryan Adams has released, including Orion (come on, space metal!). I’ve always said that he could release an album where he sang the phone book and I’d buy it, because you know it would be chock full of killer melodies. I’m pretty excited about this because it’s gonna be a new Ryan Adams record.
August 7, 2015 @ 10:28 am
I used to think that Adams was going to be the major artist of his generation, on the basis of his amazing early work with Whiskeytown and early solo recordings. But since then, it’s been nothing but diminishing returns. It’s been a long while since he’s made any inspired music. He seems to have nothing interesting left to say. No offense to Swift, but a Taylor cover album is Adams hitting bottom.
August 7, 2015 @ 10:30 am
this guy can eat a bag o dicks. i’ve never liked his music and this is the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard of.
August 12, 2015 @ 9:08 am
http://dicksbymail.com/
Delicious.
August 7, 2015 @ 10:32 am
The white album, Revolver, Red headed stranger, At folsom prison, Honky tonk heros…… Nah I shall cover one of the most exasperating, superficial, overrated, worthless albums of the last decade and style my hair like i am ruffian, even though I am in my 40s.
August 7, 2015 @ 10:34 am
His name was too close to brian adams so I never payed attention to that ass tart.
And yes ironic covers are fucking lame, that horrible gin and juice cover comes to mind ( though I don’t know what their intentions were)
August 7, 2015 @ 8:41 pm
The Gourds cover of Gin n Juice is awesome
August 7, 2015 @ 10:52 pm
personally, i loved the gourds doing gin and juice, but I can definitely see how someone else could hate it.
August 7, 2015 @ 10:44 am
Of all the Taylor Swift albums he could have covered, he chose this one? Just ridiculous.
I could give him an entire library of Taylor songs that I own which would be much more worthy for covering. Of course, that is premised on the assumption that this is a serious project and not a publicity stunt.
August 8, 2015 @ 10:15 am
What song from her catalog would you want him to cover?
And do you think this will be a serious project? Or a satire similar to Cledus T. Judd’s work? Or a publicity stunt/click bait, sort of like John Boehner’s 12 Taylor Swift GIFs?
August 9, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
I am not familiar with Ryan Adams’s past work myself, but I have heard that his background is in country. Pretty much any of Taylor’s first 3 albums, especially her first one, would be far better candidates for him to cover.
August 7, 2015 @ 10:48 am
As big of a music fan as I am, I have never listened to Ryan Adams.
August 7, 2015 @ 11:12 am
Agreed to a point. I have listened to some of the Whiskeytown stuff and a few of the songs are pretty damn good. I am completely ambivalent towards Ryan Adams, he has written and recorded a few decent albums, but I can’t say I have ever been interested in seeing him live or really following him as an artist. I am really glad, looking back on it that the record with Jason Isbell fell through and Isbell ended up going with Dave Cobb.
I’ll give the guy credit though, he married WAY out of his class…..
August 8, 2015 @ 2:38 am
“Heartbreaker”, and the “Love is Hell” EPs are outstanding.
August 8, 2015 @ 7:21 pm
I’m with ya. I don’t even know who he is. Like someone else said, his name is too close to Bryan Adams so I decided to never to listen to his music.
August 7, 2015 @ 10:51 am
I see a little Internet diversion here.
Column 1: the name of an artist, e.g. Ryan Adams
Column 2: album to be covered, e.g. Taylor Swift’s 1989
Column 3: style of cover, e.g. The Smiths
Press Spin All
Random Result
Column 1: Neil Young
Column 2: MC5: Kick Out The Jams
Column 3: Abba
Hours of harmless fun for all the family
August 7, 2015 @ 10:59 am
“Press Spin All
Random Result
Column 1: Neil Young
Column 2: MC5: Kick Out The Jams
Column 3: Abba
Hours of harmless fun for all the family”
Hmm…you may be on to something here , John . It actually COULD be more entertaining than most of the ‘serious’ music projects launched at us . Maybe there’s a valuable music app waiting to be developed here .
August 7, 2015 @ 1:03 pm
Spin all
Random Result:
Column 1: Michael Bolton
Column 2: Willie Nelson’s “Tougher than Leather”
Column 3: The Chipmunks
August 7, 2015 @ 10:55 am
This is probably the most boring post I have read on this site in ages. YAWN.
August 7, 2015 @ 11:18 am
Yeah–I never listen to either one, so nothing to see here.
I must have picked up/borrowed/found a Ryan Adams CD at some point. I ripped one tune off it, evidently, because when it comes up on my play list I always wonder, WTF??
Based on his picture, maybe he could cover the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack next. I wouldn’t give a fuck about that one either.
That’s all I got, except missing Jon Stewart already. Peace!
August 7, 2015 @ 3:44 pm
“This is probably the most boring post I have read on this site in ages. YAWN.”
I think Trigger should refund your subscription fees …..lol
August 7, 2015 @ 4:26 pm
He should get on it right now! Seriously though, that was not aimed at Trigger so much as it was a comment that this post was about two people who have forsaken country music. I think neither one is really relevant to saving what is left of the venerable tradition of this form of music. They aren’t part of the problem or the solution. I think they matter about as much as the Spice Girls and David Hasselhoff…until he makes his inevitable transition to country, of course. Then God help us!
August 7, 2015 @ 11:14 am
I don’t know much about this goofball, but his can’t be any worse than Swift’s.
When the template is horrible, it’s hard to make changes without them being an improvement.
August 7, 2015 @ 11:22 am
What the hell is your avatar on about?
August 7, 2015 @ 11:23 am
Here we go….
August 7, 2015 @ 3:45 pm
“Here we go”¦”
Hahahahahahahahahah …………
August 7, 2015 @ 11:30 am
Go to my website and tell me what a hate-filled A-hole I am, but please don’t do it here.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:12 pm
Great, then take your political avatar and leave it on your website too. This is a music site, not CNN or Fox News. Your avatar is distracting people from paying attention to the music or what anyone has to say about it, and that is a complete shame.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:21 pm
Agreed.
August 7, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
I would love to hear James Earl Jones shouting “This is Saving Country Music”
August 7, 2015 @ 1:10 pm
I feel like changing my avatar to a rainbow flag with a checkmark on it.
August 7, 2015 @ 1:29 pm
Why is it his fault you let that distract you? The guy is free to have his own opinion. I mean if you read this whole article and only take away that someone obviously disagrees with you about an unrelated topic, that speaks on your part more, not his.
Also, trigger, I think you should be more mad at the people who choose to start the political rants on your message boards instead of just being adults and not knee jerk reacting. You always brag about being accepting of others opinions and you clearly ask people to refrain from making unrelated remarks in the comments section. It’s a little hypocritical to be after someone change to his picture to appease the people who don’t even bother to follow the rules of the website. No matter what the political affiliation.
I didn’t want to get involved, but politics aside, inconsistency in general really pisses me off.
August 7, 2015 @ 2:25 pm
Courtney,
I have also taken exception with the political rants, and there’s numerous examples of that recently. This is the problem with anything political: each side complains they’re being dealt with unfairly. People can make their Avatar whatever they want, and unfortunately, I don’t have any control over it like I do comments. But clearly Clint’s avatar has become an unnecessary distraction. And by “distraction,” I mean it becomes the point of topic, just like it is here. Whether that’s fair or not is inconsequential. I have had people email me telling me they will never read my site again because I have “accepted” Clint and his avatar.
This is all bullshit, and if it doesn’t stop, and soon, I am going to have to ban ALL of Clint’s comments to keep it from being an issue. Which is not what I want to do. At this point, Clint needs to change his Avatar.
August 7, 2015 @ 2:00 pm
I’m with Courtney, y’all is a bunch of grown adults who should know better than to lose all your self-control just because somebody has an unpopular opinion.
August 7, 2015 @ 3:27 pm
Unpopular opinion, huh? That’s quite the euphemism.
Clint has said on this site that he unapologetically hates homosexuals. On the article addressing Ty Herndon’s coming out of the closet (Clint already knew that he was a “dirty homo”), he went on an epic, disgusting homophobic rant in the comment section. Every time I see that avatar, I see Clint’s hate.
If you click on the Charter link at the top, you will see that the first founding principle of SCM is “people first, then music.” Clint’s anti-gay avatar is completely incompatible with that principle.
August 7, 2015 @ 3:55 pm
As far as I’m concerned Jack, a body’s got a right to his opinions, right or wrong, popular or not. I used the word “unpopular” in the interest of remaining neutral, because I really have no beans in this soup. I will agree that that photo is polarizing, it’s not the most polite photo… I well remember that Ty Herndon rant… I was not a regular commenter at that point or I would have been getting chocolate all up in a lot of folks’ peanut butter in that thread. But just from guy who’s actually just Trigger in disguise to another guy who’s just Trigger in disguise, we have our own lives to live and our own problems to worry about, and we should be so lucky as to have so few problems in our life to have the time and energy to waste complaining about people on the internet.
August 7, 2015 @ 4:19 pm
Clint please listen to Trigger because this is his site not yours. I really like saving country music because I like to talk about music and I am not trying to criticize you.
August 12, 2015 @ 5:04 am
EVERYBODY GRAB YOUR BIBLES!
August 7, 2015 @ 3:49 pm
Do like I do with Clint’s avatar . I make like its from a detergent box and signifies that this particular detergent is ineffective on colours and stains . Best buy a different brand .
August 7, 2015 @ 3:53 pm
Folks, let’s please move on from this discussion. I have formally asked Clint to please change his Avatar, not because I am taking anyone’s side, but because it has become an unnecessary distraction. Let’s keep the discussion on the music please.
August 7, 2015 @ 4:37 pm
Yeah! Carry on!
August 7, 2015 @ 11:38 am
He obviously doesn’t like multicolored rectangles!
August 7, 2015 @ 12:41 pm
ZING!
August 8, 2015 @ 5:53 am
Why do you care? He’s a right to his opinion, and you don’t need to question it. Let it go. Don’t be so butthurt. Grow the heck up.
August 7, 2015 @ 11:21 am
Sounds like a fella with too much time on his hands.
August 7, 2015 @ 11:37 am
I think the idea of covering a whole album, song for song, is a really cool idea, and I’ve thought about it for quite a while. This is certainly interesting.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:04 pm
I have no problem covering an album verbatim, and Ryan Adams has engaged in this multiple times. The problem is that this is Taylor Swift’s “1989”—the biggest album in the last decade, that lined the pockets of Max Martin, Shellback, and Scott Borchetta immeasurably.
August 7, 2015 @ 1:05 pm
It is not the biggest album of the last decade. Alright I bought the cd and checked, it has the same circumference and weight as every other cd. Therefore it is no bigger than any other album hahahaha
August 7, 2015 @ 12:43 pm
You should check youtube for the hillside album hour by the waybacks at merlefest. They cover really great albums every year.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:53 pm
Yeah, several bands have done this, albeit with more, shall we say, essential albums; the ones that comes to mind are the Dream Theater covers of Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast. (I have the first of those, and it is very good.)
August 7, 2015 @ 4:00 pm
I couldn’t get in to “Dark Side of the Moon.” Apparently everybody else loves it… “Straight Outta Compton” too is an album that comes up when people talk about essential albums… I’m working these past few weeks on getting into rap; it’s not a genre I normally listen to, two years ago neither were rock or jazz. It’s a bit of a personal growth project I guess. “Master of Puppets” is probably my favorite from that list, although If I wanted to say an album ever existed that was an album without peer, it would either be “American Idiot” or Willie and Waylon’s “Clean Shirt” album.
August 7, 2015 @ 8:26 pm
I never was big on Pink Floyd, but Metallica & Iron Maiden are the shizz, especially on the above albums.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on Green Day. Billie Joe Armstrong has the most annoying singing voice I have ever heard in my life.
August 8, 2015 @ 5:28 am
Billie Joe Armstrong is not a great singer, he has limited range and not the best voice BUT Green Day as a band has some solid material: great lyrics and melodies.
August 8, 2015 @ 10:10 am
I know this will probably show how young I am, but American Idiot was the first album I ever bought with my own money and was my absolute favorite album in my early teenage years. I haven’t listened to it all the way through since I was in high school though, so I’m curious if 23 year old me will appreciate it as much as 13 year old me did.
August 8, 2015 @ 7:04 pm
I think it’s an album that can only be appreciated when listened start to finish. I first heard it when I was like 14… I didn’t buy a copy for myself until recently, so it’s been six years, give or take… I’m not a rock fan first and foremost, I am a country and bluegrass fan, but America Idiot and the Dropkick Murphy’s “Blackout” album are among my favorite rock albums.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:15 pm
Oh come on, this article is ridiculous – he’s just doing this for fun. He just wrapped up a tour and is blowing off steam. Ryan Adams ALWAYS records covers, usually pretty eclectic ones. What’s the big deal? “Short on ideas and inspiration” – what, he hasn’t put out enough original material this year? Just a live album, box set and four 7″ promos (while touring Europe and America)? I get that the guy has said and done things in the past that would turn people off to his music and personality, but he works as hard as anyone, constantly interacting with his fans and promoting lesser-known artists, and if he wants to do a project like this for fun, I have no problem with it. As far as his intent goes, he has been nothing but respectful towards Taylor Swift and her songs, what I’ve heard of them. This article just seems petty and unnecessary to me, probably inspired by a grudge over comments Ryan Adams has made in the past about country music.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:15 pm
I’m no Taylor Swift fan, and Ryan pissed me off with his Country Music comments but I think it’s fair to wait and see before we judge something. Hey the guy is a pretty talented artist, maybe he hears something in that album that we don’t, who knows?
August 7, 2015 @ 12:23 pm
Hey, I’m not saying this album will be bad. It’s the idea that’s bad. In fact if I would bet that Ryan’s album will greatly outshine Taylor’s with all the Max Martin / Shellback stuff scrubbed from it. Unfortunately most (not all) of the songs aren’t worth a damn naked either, so it’s still the practice of polishing up a turd.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
If somebody is going to cover Taylor Swift’s 1989, it should be Leann Rimes, not Ryan Adams, so that the Swift fanatics can see right away the problems with Taylor’s vocals.
August 7, 2015 @ 3:53 pm
I’m a Taylor fan and her voice has improved as she’s gotten older but no one can deny that LeAnn is a more talented singer.
August 7, 2015 @ 12:36 pm
I am the son
And the heir
Of a blank space that I have to shake off
I am the son and heir
Of James Dean daydreams,
You shut your mouth,
How can you say
I’m singing things the wrong way?
I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does
But seriously. I like Ryan Adams and The Smiths and I actually LOVE 1989 (and now my cred is dropping down–I’m sorry Trigger BUT I LOVE “STYLE” SO MUCH). But put them together and they just don’t work.
August 12, 2015 @ 9:04 am
ignore–wrong post
August 7, 2015 @ 1:12 pm
Ryan Adams pisses me off and it makes me even angrier to know I’m playing into his hipster bullshit by letting him bother me. But seriously could he be more of a caricature?
August 7, 2015 @ 1:36 pm
How exactly would Ryan Adams be recording this cover album without Swift’s knowledge? Does he not need the rights to her songs to release it? Or is that something one obtains after cutting said covers?
August 7, 2015 @ 2:09 pm
I may be wrong, but my understanding of song copyrights is that people can play it whenever they want if they’re not getting paid. If they are they have to pay a tax. The “establishment” I.E. whomever endorses/promotes and manages the artist pays that directly to whatever it is that you call the people who handle the tax itself who then pay a total sum to the artist in royalties. subsequently, Taylor Swift can and may very well have no knowledge that this is happening. I’m sure Windmills, Trigger and Nadia know better than me.
August 7, 2015 @ 6:53 pm
I’m also curious about this process in general. I always thought that there were no issues if you play covers live (which obviously happens all the time) but that you would need the original songwriter’s permission to record it for an album. I’m hoping someone else who has more knowledge of this will chime in here.
August 8, 2015 @ 5:34 am
I don’t believe you need permission to either record OR make a parody. If you’re going to make money from someone else’s work in anyway you pay a fee. The artists themselves usually don’t deal with that because there are bean counters who do that job.
August 7, 2015 @ 2:18 pm
Taylor Swift and Ryan Adams have discussed this on Twitter. Taylor was apparently very excited by the idea of Adams covering her album.
August 7, 2015 @ 1:45 pm
This sounds like a joke to me. No?
August 7, 2015 @ 1:55 pm
I dislike Ryan Adams and think this is funny as hell.
August 7, 2015 @ 2:17 pm
this is just the last grasp at solo relevance before he finally breaks down and gets back together with Whiskeytown. which, the last i checked, nobody is really clamoring for.
August 7, 2015 @ 2:25 pm
I think he’s trollin’ you. My favorite album is his non-country country album Jacksonville City Nights.
August 7, 2015 @ 4:18 pm
Agreed. JCN is prob one of the best country albums in the last 10yrs . I know I’m the minority on this one but Ryan Adams is probably one of the better singer songwriters out there. He can definitely be a dick and a he’s certainty a diva but the guy can write some songs. If you follow RA you know he’s always covering songs or trying to make a metal album. I cant say I agree with him on this cover choice, but its what he does. I also understand why people hate him.
August 8, 2015 @ 10:13 am
I think most people that have really delved in to RA’s or Whiskeytown’s music can at the very least appreciate his songwriting. I’m not exactly a big fan of his, but I love Dancing With The Women At the Bar, and Excuse Me While I Break My Heart.
August 8, 2015 @ 5:15 pm
Strangers Almanac is an amazing album lyrically and musically. Like most young artist who get a little bit of fame, they usually get to big for their britches.
RA has always been hard to deal with as a fan. First off, he cant seem to keep his band together. I’m guessing that’s because of his attitude. Whiskeytown’s original lineup was kicked ass. The Cardinals were flat out bad ass and pretty damn country, even with their lineup change. You cant deny his work ethic either. He usually puts out one or more albums a year and tons of free songs be it live or demos.
I know a lot of people have their opinions about him and that’s fine, RA hasn’t done a good job at proving them wrong. But I think that attitude is part of what makes his music so great. Like him or not, his music has influenced a ton of artist from all different sides of the spectrum.
And for his comments about him not liking country music, that was to ruffle feathers and IMO he was talking about today’s mainstream country. He has put out a ton of original country songs as well as covered some great country songs.
August 15, 2015 @ 1:33 am
I wouldn’t actually say that JCN is “one of” the best country albums of the past decade; it IS the best country album of the past decade. That album is where Whiskeytown would have been in 2005 had they not broken up. Of his three releases in 2005, JCN is the best, IMO.
August 17, 2015 @ 10:03 am
I couldn’t agree with you more on both statements.
August 7, 2015 @ 2:55 pm
And the “I am so alternative that I frequently vocally praise pop tracks to be an alternative to the alternative crowd” hipsters are gushing at this. You know which ones.. the ones who throw around the word “genius” and “brilliant” at well-produced pop cuts that may be clever at best.
August 7, 2015 @ 3:24 pm
Okay what I’ve gotten from this.
You don’t like mainstream pop music, Max Martin or 1989. That’s fine. Everybody has their own taste.
You think Ryan Adams shouldn’t like 1989 either, because you don’t like it and what you don’t like can’t possible be liked by an artist you take seriously. That sounds very stupid to me, but whatever.
August 7, 2015 @ 3:50 pm
No, and no.
I wouldn’t say I’m a mainstream pop fan, but I’m not opposed to it all, or even opposed to all of Taylor Swift’s music. I think she’s made some decent music in the past that has been overlooked because of her bubblegum pop fare. I definitely don’t like Max Martin though. Screw that guy.
It’s also not that I don’t think Ryan Adams shouldn’t like ‘1989,’ I’m not sure that he does. So Ryan Adams really listens to “Shake It Off” and thinks this is something to be taken seriously? I’m not so sure Ryan isn’t doing this totally for irony. There are a couple of very marginally-okay songs on ‘1989,’ but it’s Swift’s weakest album by far, in my opinion. But like you said, everyone has their own taste, so there you go.
August 7, 2015 @ 4:02 pm
If Taylor Swift ever recorded material that interested me I would be a fan in an instant. Seriously, if “Taylor Swift sings Stephen Foster” ever becomes a thing I will be all up in that like a red wagon on labor day.
August 8, 2015 @ 10:03 am
Here’s another “mainstream as an alternative for the alternative crowd” thought: If the “straight and the narrow gets a little too straight” he could cover “Man I Feel Like A Woman”. Crappy song, but the message would resonate with the lefty crowd.
August 7, 2015 @ 4:12 pm
Taylor Swift 1989 cd is OK but why Ryan Adams want to cover her cd that is stupid. I know Ryan hates country music and that’s his opinion but doing as cover of her cd is very ignorant.
August 9, 2015 @ 4:29 pm
I take back what I say about Ryan. He probably do a better job at it with his Rock edge to it. I would like to buy his cd also. I never consider him as a country artist anyway he is more of a Rock artist instead.
August 7, 2015 @ 4:14 pm
Anyway I am a fan of Taylor Swift because I really like her music. Ryan Adams I am not a fan of his at all.
August 7, 2015 @ 4:22 pm
“Taylor Swift”™s 1989 is a bullshit album full of bullshit songs”
I’d have to disagree. In my opinion, it’s a good, enjoyable album that has many flaws, but many good aspects too. It’s not her best at all, but people really seem to have a lot of exaggerated opinions about that album. A lot overrate it as some pop masterpiece that is somehow Swift’s best, etc., and also a lot just deem it as straight-up bullshit due to :
a) Swift watering down the detailed writing style
b) Going pure pop.
c) The extreme success and publicity, and sharp rise in celebrity status she’s been experiencing with that album.
Add some people’s tendency to reject anything mainstream/successful, and you have many exaggerated opinions about 1989. I’ve seen very few judge this album fairly without mixing their musical opinions with their opinions of Swift as a person/celebrity. People don’t judge it as an album, as music; they judge it as an era of Swift’s career.
August 7, 2015 @ 8:07 pm
Apparently, country music is going the way of Hollywood. Retreads of past ideas. Ridiculous.
August 7, 2015 @ 8:07 pm
JCN and Cold Roses are two of my favorite albums of the past decade. Anyone who writes him off without listening to those simply doesn’t know what they are talking about.
That said I’ve not been impressed lately and this certainly doesn’t interest me.
August 7, 2015 @ 8:49 pm
1989 is a fun catchy pop record. It’s really great for what it is. Not my kind of music but it’s certainly not awful
August 8, 2015 @ 5:00 am
I really do think Taylor has become the ultimate commercial machine …..her recent cover story interview with Vanity Fair is an interesting one…
Here is the article http://thenextweb.com/media/2015/08/05/this-love-is-difficult/
August 8, 2015 @ 8:13 am
The worst idea would be a bro-country act covering Taylor’s album.
August 8, 2015 @ 8:50 am
On what objective basis do you state Swift’s 1989 album is a “bullshit album full of bullshit songs”? She has clearly stated it is not a country album and has not been marketed as such. Therefore that objective yard stick of whether it belongs in the country genre is gone and it can not be criticized on that basis.
Hence all you are left with is whether you personally believe the songs are bullshit or not. You have every right to believe that they are but you do not have the right to state this as a statement of fact. It is purely your subjective personal opinion which is no more valid than anyone else’s personal opinion, including those who like the album.
This belief that genuine country music is superior to other genres of music and matters more just because you love it, is purely subjective and is wrong. Country music has no more merit than other genres, it is just another form of entertainment which just happens to be your favourite. Other people loving other genres of entertainment is equally valid, including those that like Swift’s 1989.
August 8, 2015 @ 10:13 am
When I said ‘1989’ was a bullshit album of bullshit songs, I wasn’t basing that in any way on whether it was country or not. That ship left port a long time ago. Also, I wasn’t stating it as fact. Of course it is an opinion, and I believe that was patently obvious, and didn’t need to be specifically identified as such.
‘1989’ is an amalgam of some of Taylor Swift’s ideas, and Swedish superhit makers Max Martin and Shellback doing their worst. I don’t give a shit what the puppetmaster behind the wild success of Brittney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync has to express. Screw that guy. I want to hear what Taylor Swift has to say.
If you want a more in-depth discussion about my issues with ‘1989,’ feel free to read my review:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-taylor-swifts-1989
August 8, 2015 @ 10:22 am
Just curious, do you think the real T-Swift is more like the girl portrayed in the first 2-3 albums, or more like the woman portrayed in “1989”? Or do you think both personas are manufactured?
August 8, 2015 @ 10:31 am
By simple deduction, you have to say the Swift in her earlier albums was more her because it was her songs, and her calling the final shots on production. Even Liz Rose said she just polished up many of Swift’s songs, but they were still Swift’s compositions. On ‘1989’ who knows where Taylor Swift ends, and Max Martin begins? It’s the perfect example of corporate hitmakers impinging on the creative process to make a monstrosity, and THAT is why I think it is a terrible idea for an artist like Ryan Adams to some how attempt to endear the effort to independent fans.
I’m seeing a lot of Ryan Adams fans defend this idea based simply on their fandom and the fact that Ryan has done similar things before. But actually looking at the merits and the specifics of what covering ‘1989’ involves, especially if he releases it commercially, is basically aiding and abetting the homogenization of modern music. It is very specifically taking dollars out of the hands of independent consumers and handing them to Max Martin.
August 8, 2015 @ 10:48 am
I think the demographics of her audience may have pulled her in her current direction. Teen girls started graduating from high schools in suburban and small town America, then went to college, moved to urban areas, and were exposed to feminism and liberalism in large doses. She had to change to hold onto that demographic, because “country” and the socially conservative persona of her early albums was no longer “cool”. I recall she started to change her persona around 2012, around the time when a girl who was 12 years old when Swift’s first album was released would have gone to college.
August 9, 2015 @ 11:29 am
I don’t think there is any aspect of feminism or liberalism that dictates that song lyrics must be dumbed down or made less personal.
August 9, 2015 @ 2:06 pm
But what if she doesn’t have a personal perspective on those subjects? What if she were hitting those themes to try to fit in? Wouldn’t it be easier to hire Max Martin to produce the new songs?
My theory is that Swift’s public persona evolved because her audience evolved. This is similar to Jim Jeffords, Lincoln Chafee, and Arlen Specter changing parties, as their constituencies shifted to the left.
August 9, 2015 @ 2:40 pm
I understand your point about her potential lack of personal perspective on her new themes.
Nonetheless, it still does not excuse the reduction in her lyrical quality evidenced in “1989”. Based on her previous work, creating a repetitive chorus like “haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate” in Shake It Off or creating disjointed verses in “Blank Space” (connected by the weak line “I can show you incredible things”) constitute substandard writing. And let’s not get started on “Bad Blood”…
August 8, 2015 @ 9:38 am
Ryan covers lots of tunes, one of my favorite of his being “Wonderwall” by Oasis,…now , for a time there, a song bigger than that song didnt exist– he absolutely nailed it in his own way.beautiful
now, i ve only heard taylor swifts songs through my 9-year -old daughter’s door on occasion…i dont listen to the radio…but, as a songwriter, i think its interesting to hear how songs can be manipulated …remain lyrically the same but through a different context, maybe having entirely different connotations-
when i first heard this news, i thoought maybe ryan was trying to flatter, romance, date and then spurn the angel of so-called country. i was thinking about their status, tooo…like, is Ryan a peer of Swift? or is he, like so many artists, relegated to that place just below the frail angel–who seems more deity than songstress?
Adams did a show at the letterman theatre a while ago…solo–like his recent carnegie hall disc…but only for 12 songs or so. I go back to that show often– its on youtube, archive.org….and am just in awe….it is a set of songs that absolutely floor. he nails it. he plays 16 Days as an encore and is done.
just let it all go in the wind…the good will remain.
olds
August 8, 2015 @ 6:54 pm
I think this article and the subsequent comments are the most hipster thing I’ve ever read. Nothing like a bunch of stuck up idiots talking shit. If you don’t want to hear Ryan Adams cover 1989 then don’t listen to it when he releases it. Ryan Adams clearly likes the album and thinks it would be badass to re record it in his own way. I’m not a TS fan but I don’t discredit her talent. I can’t call her untalented just because I don’t like her shit. She is talented. You know who else is talented as fuck? jay z. Guess what, couldn’t give a shit about his music either, but that’s not to say he’s not a goddamn genius in his own right. Here’s the thing, everyone here (except a couple of open minded individuals) are all dipshits. I think your skin tight wranglers via 1990 cut off your blood supply to your brains and made you forget that you wore skinny jeans before hipsters discovered them a few years back. It also made you more fucking hipster than you realize and more fucking emo than Dashboard Confessional and Ryan Adams combined. God damnit.
August 8, 2015 @ 10:50 pm
… OR you can all just listen to the song clips before you lose your minds. They’ve been available 24 hours and the world of good music hasn’t imploded.
‘Worst idea ever’ won’t be your first thought.
August 9, 2015 @ 3:55 pm
Why does Ryan Adams have the hair of an adolescent?
August 10, 2015 @ 2:45 am
All I can read from this post is “I don’t like Max Martin and Taylor Swift. Other people shouldn’t like them too, even if it was covered by someone else.” Literally, man. Don’t impose your close-minded ideas like they’re fact.
August 10, 2015 @ 9:29 am
So you read through a 10-paragraph article and all you could read was “I don”™t like Max Martin and Taylor Swift,” and I’m the one that’s closed-minded?
Who said anything here was “fact”? I think it is ragingly obvious these are my opinions, and my opinions only.
August 12, 2015 @ 9:04 am
Trigger, I hate to break it to you, but it’s actually not bad…
http://www.prettymuchamazing.com/stream/ryan-adams-taylor-swift-bad-blood
August 15, 2015 @ 7:16 am
I don’t know, I like most of the music reviewed on this site, most Ryan Adams albums to one extent or another, and, while not a huge Taylor Swift fan, enjoy the singles enough in the car if my daughters are with me and want to listen to them. Don’t see the problem, lighten up.