Fun fact: Jason Aldean had four writers on that song that weren’t him, and he lives in a literal mansion while talking about working blue collar jobs in his songs. The man himself is a lie.
@@kayleeblack4303 Well, Drake doesn't try to politically posture as some working class hero, to my knowledge. I couldn't tell you much about the guy, he's far from any music I listen to, but he at least seems honest about who he is and how he lives, for better or for worse. The problem is that Aldean is some rich asshole trying to pass himself off as the salt of the earth.
As someone who has lived in a small town most of his life, we've had about 4-5 different meth labs/houses around our area busted over the past 20 years.
Hot take: conservative grifters shouldn't even be included in this. We all know tom macdonald and his sidekicks make terrible music, including them in this feels cheap and wastes spots for honest and interesting terrible attempts at music. It's also tiring to have to hear about tom macdonald clones 50 times a day when end of year lists come out
@@slightexag but that's the point. Tom has been excluded from anthony's lists for this very thing. I am not in Jason Aldean's fanbase at all, but I never would've heard of him if it wasn't for this video.
What I also think is so funny about the Jason Aldean track is that he isn’t even from an actual small town. He grew up Macon Georgia which has a population of around 150,000 and lived most of his life in Nashville. So like… what Fucking small town was he even talking about? LOL
What I find even more hilarious is even with that. Most of the people who like the song who usually bitch about "authenticity" in music will go on about how "real" the song is
it's all performance. he's like a hetero act writing gay love ballads. he doesn't fight or fix things with his hands or ride horses, he sits in his mansion while a team of pop producers write songs that appeal to meth County USA
I live in a conservative small town with a population under 1,000 and even though people are very conservative (including myself) they would never act in a way that that song reflects lol...there are crazy people out there but most normal people are normal.
I had to work a show as a photographer with Falling In Reverse supporting A7X this year. During FIR's set, they did a cover of Smash Mouth's "All Star" filled with f bombs and him yelling at girls in the crowd. It still sounded better than "Watch The World Burn".
Conservatives have zero art literacy. They don't understand that art is inherently political. So they get all tight and offended when they feel someone is "being political" or inserting politics where it shouldn't be. Of course, what they consider to be "political" is just viewpoints outside of the status quo, if Anthony's politics reflected the status quo they would consider it to be common sense and nonpolitcal, even though it still is pushing an agenda. Just one they agree with
honorable mentions 0:30 BoyWithUke's Optimally Bad Song 1:02 Anna Indiana - Betrayed by This Town 1:57 Colleen Ballinger - Toxic Gossip Train actual list 2:33 Donald J. Trump & J6 Prison Choir - Justice for All 3:33 Fall Out Boy - We Didn’t Start the Fire 4:57 Kodak Black - No Love for a Thug 5:43 Grimes & Illangelo - I Wanna Be Software 7:05 Meghan Trainor - Mother 8:06 Forgiato Blow - Boycott Target 9:27 Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North of Richmond 11:26 Falling in Reverse - Watch the World Burn 13:04 TX2 - I Would Hate Me Too 14:08 Jason Aldean - Try That in a Small Town
@@stormblade2895 you definitely thought American psycho was about a big Chad alpha sigma doing big Chad alpha sigma things and not a mentality deranged individual
for me, at least rich men north of richmond is kind of a banger compared to other country tracks in this day and age. Regardless of the true political meaning, it doesn't enrage me like mother does
I mean, if you want songs in general, the entirety of both the Blødúlvur and Kapnas albums are far worse. Blødúlvur may very well contain the worst music of all time; it is physically painful to listen to. even as a diehard metalhead who's loved her fair share of bricked records, that shit is SO badly mixed and devoid of any interesting riffage that it is the textbook definition of unlistenable.
Idk i feel like the song inspiring people to lynch "them city folk *wink*" is a lot worse than an out of touch woman without original ideas or musical talent to back that lack up.
@@Tyler12905 That's where Jason Aldean is from. But hey, at least NOW he lives in a small town, in a huge mansion on an island off the coast of Florida. Just a small town country boy, he is!
DC is north of richmond. So the “Rich Men north of richmond” are the politicians. Although that dosen’t do much to make the song better it just shows that he isn’t really writin about like, rich corporations just congressmen
Man, you've been such a busy music nerd this year. Congrats to you on another year of music, TH-cam, Drake, and all the rest. Hope you and yours are well. Thank you for listening to all the music so i don't have to. It really makes life easier.
That Rich Men North of Richmond take was insane. Saying it’s worse then 1. The target song 2. Megan’s mother song 3. Every Tom McDonald track 4. National Anthem (Trumps Version) 5. Kodak falling asleep on the track Is crazzzzzzzy
i unironically do not understand the ajr hate, they're really not that bad. nothing special sure, but perfectly fine and seem nice and genuine, and I've got a soft spot for a few tracks. i heard of them late so idk if their really early stuff is completely awful, but the last couple albums are decent enough
@benliss1591 okay that is a bad song, and had i heard that first i probably wouldn't have bothered looking into them further, although that really doesn't seem representative of their more recent stuff, so my overall opinion hasn't changed. A lot of bands had some absolute trash in 2013, so i can't hold that against them too much 😂😂 but i do understand the hate a lil bit now, although still think it's overblown, their last couple albums are mediocre at worst, and pretty decent a lot of time time
4:30 Just went and read the Fall Out Boy lyrics, and on one hand some of the word choices just feel clunky in comparison to the original, but on the other hand (the history nerd part of me), part of the appeal of the Billy Joel version is that the events/people/things that he names are generally in chronological order from about 1949-1989 (Billy's entire life up to that point and a huge chunk of the Cold War), so even though they could be just a collection of disparate names, there is a clear progression that you can follow (each verse section can generally be separated into decades, ie. Harry Truman, Doris Day, to Little Rock, Pasternak, and so on). Fall Out Boy jumps from the 1990s to the 2020s back to the 2000s every half a bar, and so it is just a disparate collection of names with no sense of forward progression. Thank you for coming to my impromptu lecture on why I don't like a particular aspect of a Fall Out Boy song.
The fact that Jason Aldean is one of the best selling country singers OF ALL TIME is a crime against humanity. That man is the Maroon 5 of country, and Try That In A Small Town is only a small taste of how boring and generic his music can get. If anything, the fact that the song is political automatically makes it more interesting than 99% of his music, even if the politics are awful. Big Green Tractor is a banger though, I’ll give him that.
In fairness to Jason Aldean, he almost certainly doesn't write his own songs, or decide how to market himself. He's just a product for mouthbreathers to consume.
I work at a concert venue and before Jason sang “Try that in a Small Town” he went on some massive rant about cancel culture and how the “woke mob tryin’ to censure me”
They are - wake the f*** up. The Dept of Justice is working with big tech companies to censure content they don't like. The FBI told Facebook that Hunter Biden's laptop wasn't real when they knew it was -- just to protect Joe Biden from criticism before the election. This is not opinion. It's a matter of public record.
I'm getting censored right now trying to post this comment. Before he even made that song, the people who are aware of censorship knows that what you said in that comment is true. He never coined it.
@@professorofsneakology3964Hilarious when you consider that Macon is not only a large town but also is predominantly Black, which seems to be the demographic of “city folk” that he’s hinting to. R.E.M. is actually not from Macon, though. They’re from Athens.
Its a shame Back To Me by ¥$ hasnt dropped yet, because that songs either going in Anthony's worst songs list or best songs list, nowhere in between. Depends if he thinks the Kanye verse is absurdly hilarious and catchy or just lazy. Songs unique as that don't just fall out the sky, y'know.
Billie Joel's version of we didn't start the fire was year by year, it was a masterpiece because every line lead into and rhymed with the next, actually bringing you through history... Fall out boy just listed a load of shit that happened in a 30 year timespan... Absolute hogs trollop
Pat Finnertys “why this song stinks” about try that in a small town is 100% worth a watch, really sheds light on how derivative the song (not genre generecism, it’s kind of plagiarism in some places) is and why jason Aldean just isn’t a great musician/performer beyond the lyrics to that dumpster fire
but why does that warrant it being the worst song of the year? There are tons of rap music that is derivative as fuck, and talks about a lot more violent horrible shit than Aldean does.
I think I had only heard the Grimes track out of these, and as terrible as that is, after checking out the other ones; the Grimes track sounds pretty good. Thank you Falling In Reverse!
Totally, it’s probably the most palatable of all the shit songs here. Not really saying much though, it’s still not good. Surprised the horrendous Fall Out Boy wasn’t way higher on the list
What I can't get over is that Fall Out Boy got the lyrics out of chronological order. That's, like, the conceit of the song. Each verse is a time capsule into a given decade or timespan. Meanwhile they willy-nilly pushed thirty years into the blender and said 'eh, nobody will notice'
Well the problem isn’t really the lyrics it’s the man behind it, who is batshit. Also the whole “north of Richmond” thing seems like a Neo confederate rallying cry
putting rich men north of richmond at #4 is weird. a bland outlaw country song with a vaguely populist conservative slant is worse than boycott target????
@@flilix1 yea i’ve seen them, it was a pretty bad interpretation of the song. i don’t mind him hating the song, i just feel like he put the song on this list for the wrong reasons
Grimes comes off as someone who wants to create cyberpunk art but doesn't understand what cyberpunk is. It's like she saw a still frame of Bladerunner and thought "That looks cool. :)" and has been trying to capture that essence ever since.
tbf I feel like that only really started being a prominent thing after getting with Musk, who your statement also applies to. Art Angels def isn't cyberpunk art, it's actually a damn solid album. She always had a bit of a thing for techno-futurism so having Elon Musk (this was before pedogate) want to date her must have seemed like a dream come true. Until he started getting abusive which culminated in kidnapping her children from her
I am so glad TX2 is on here. Industry plant just sucking up streams from braindead aesthetic chasing teenagers on the same label as so many talented artists. It upsets me so much and I'm glad you took a minute to acknowledge that horse piss.
Man, Fantano triple-downed on the Rich Men song. Dude, it’s not a North Vs South song, it’s about politicians and “rich men” in DC. It’s really not that hard of a concept to grasp my guy.
Exactly! His criticism is full of "whataboutism". He fails to grasp that people can be rich without being powerful. If you're a DC politician with money, you're rich and powerful and you have influence.
You know what I think a good version of "We Didn't Start the Fire of our generation"...? Funny Feeling by Bo Burnham. Dude can be a bit tacky but I do feel that song fits the description.
dumbest part of of jason aldean's beautiful track "try that in a small town" is that he himself has never lived in one 💀 mans really doesn't have a clue what he's talking about
I’m probably politically aligned with Melon on most subjects.. but I think a bad song list should mostly come down to the tracks being musically inept and soulless - not just because they hold differing social and political views to ours. There are hundreds of trite, corporate songs out there that are written in boardroom committees and ‘performed’ by attractive people who don’t know much about the writing and musical process. It’s not art, it’s coldly cynical corporate business. I take more offence at these songs than somebody who can actually write and play music with conviction and emotion, even if I don’t agree with their political views.
chronically online vibes w this one edit: i couldn't escape that "try that in a small town" song. live in rural usa and that shit was on the radio 24/7. first time i heard it i was like no way he's saying that on a song. the whole song is unpatriotic as fuck. "try using your first amendment in a small town, see how far you make it"
Worst ACTUAL songs of the year 1. Tx2 I Would Hate Me Too 2 Meghan Trainor Mother 3 Grimes I Wanna Be Software i miss when songs like this could consistently be the worst instead of nazis pretending they know how to do music
I find it odd how fair Anthony tends to be with artists he doesn’t personally like, but when he has political gripes, all objectivity goes out the window. The rich men north of richmond track was beyond overrated but even on the basis of his own critiques it is at worst a mediocre song
There's practically nothing a person can be interested in that isn't tainted with politics there is no escaping it, I could tell right away this dude was going to be far from the exception, and it took no time whatsoever to confirm my suspicions. I did not make it to the end but it should not surprise me the RMNoR song made the list because of course it did.
I miss when Fantano would focus more on the sound rather than picking most songs purely for the subject matter and lyrics. Even the ones that actually sound like they deserve to be in this list, he seems to care mostly about the lyrics.
as far as i can tell, 5/10 of these songs are purely here for the subject matter. one of which, the rich men song, isnt even so much about the song itself, but rather the fact that conservatives endorse it. the other 5 songs i would say make sense being here on sound alone, but even when discussing those ones, he focuses mostly on the lyrical content. you can criticise the lyrical content of songs, but like, i just dont really care anymore. i wanna hear some shit that offends my earholes not my political opinions.
SexyRedd talks about robbing and murdering. He doesnt care at all. Even though ppl are dying, crime rates are heavy in these locations, he supports it. He loves it. He gives it a 8/10. ( not hating cause i liked quite a bit on that album) But a country guy acting tough? A country guy talking about problems that, lets be real, lots of the world related to? Anthony breaks down the lyrics and makes a 20 minute video explaining how “this stuff doesnt even happen!” “Racist symbolism!” “Right-wing” Blah blah blah.
What's even worse about the Aldean song is that he isn't even from a small town and he didn't even write the lyrics (Jason Isbell mocked him for that).
I 'did not know that country songs were directly from the artist's diary. So Johnny Cash really did kill a bunch of guys and Willie Nelson's a badass cowboy? Does that mean that Ice Cube really smoked a bunch of gangstas with his ak-47? Cause if Jason has to live in a small town to write about a small town, then everyone has to live their art.
I really don’t understand how rich man north of Richmond made it here way worst songs were released this year that deserve it more. It’s just a bland country song with a conservative lean to it. not anything to really care about
Rich men north of Richmond has a great melody to me. It feels more old school Blues than country. Idc too much about the words or how the right wingers perceived it. Just a good sounding song. Idk 🤷♂️
As someone who agrees with AF’e politics, it’s kind of frustrating that this video is more an opportunity to politically grandstand than examine the ten worst hit songs. But yeah that small town song is dog shit.
as someone who is a HUGE Grimes fan and has been for the past 5 years, her music has become so soulless and unaware its baffling to me. Miss Anthropocene was one thing but songs like I Wanna Be Software and Shinigami Eyes had me genuinely shocked on how bad they were. listening to her older music sounds like a completely different artist. fingers crossed that somehow her next album will be better when it comes out in 80 years
The Rich Men North of Richmond song is not bad because of the people who like the song. You didn’t have any critiques about the actual song because it is simply not that bad
I grew up in a small town. Such a small town that crusty old men where they were bemoaning a McDonald's opening up shop. They have since gotten a small Wal-Mart. A lot of the people I went to school with became meth junkies. There's a huge drug problem because there's not shit else to do. Plenty of wine moms and abusive pill-head dads who kinda let the neighborhood raise their kids. The story is the same for a lot of people from "small towns". Meth: perfectly reasonable to try in a small town
I love the premise of Try That in a Small Town is that small towns are full of violent fascists. Not a very good look for people that live in rural areas.
Most "nerds" grow up to be beautiful artists, cool without trying, unique beings that we all obsess/lust over (or maybe it's just me). Grimes has Benjamin Buttoned TF outta that storyline though going from thr later to a try hard nerd that you're embarrassed to know. I mean, Grimes came into my life as this weird girl who had that "Man Repellant"-style that was so fucking intriguing, while featuring Brooke Candy, in her metallic stripper R2D2 look with insane platforms and white girl dreads, in her music video. She produced weird ethereal sounds with hypnotizing beats while claiming her biggest inspiration was Mariah Carey (like, what the actual fuck??). So fucking good! And now... this. She gives us this.😐😐😐 I blame Elon Musk. He fucking ruins everything.
The worst three minutes of this year for me was when I listened to we didn’t start the fire by fall out boy. My girlfriend at that time who was obsessed with them even agreed that the song was bad
@@fortynights1513 there is also a 10+ years old Collegehumor parody cover about the internet called "We didn't start the flame war". I really liked it back then :)
Almost all crime, but especially youth crime and aggravated car theft in the small towns and cities all along the coast of Queensland here in Australia has dramatically higher rates than in the bigger cities...it's a very sad situation
as for the rich men north of richmond song, to be fair Oliver has expressed that he resents his song becoming a rallying cry for republicans, when he easily could have said nothing and continued his right wing grift. I think Todd in the Shadows has the best take on him, He does legitimately think he's in the middle politically, but since he comes from an extremely conservative place, actively being bigoted makes you "in the middle" there.
He is not a bigot. He is like a rapper who feels vulnerable and forgotten about in his neighborhood. Except he's white and in the woods. Both are being forsaken by the government and passed over, with government aid instead going to other countries and noncitizens.
What i think is especially damning of the Aldean track is that he put out a statement saying something along the lines of "the small town values of where i grew up." And he's from one of the biggest suburbs of Atlanta
The Oliver Anthony track wasn't even bad. I know why it's on here, you know why it's on here, and it's bullshit to drag the song for those non-musical reasons...especially when the narrative was pushed by people other than the artist himself. edit - I think it's worth clarifying that I don't agree with the political undertones of the song,, and my eyebrow also went up at some of the lyrics. But cmon. That doesn't make the song itself bad.
the fact that Hi-rez's 2+2=5 didn't even make it in as honorable mention makes me think that either Melon didn't listen to it, or refused to bring it up out of sheer human decency. If it's the latter, I don't blame him.
I wish Anthony would use this list to just point out bad songs from actual artists instead of half the list being terrible right wing songs. We get it, you're a liberal. That's fine and those songs all suck. But I'd rather hear about terrible songs from actual established artists and not the low hanging fruit of Forgiato Blow and stuff like that
I just discovered Pat Finnerty's channel. He breaks down "what makes this song stink" bar for bar and needless to says "Try That In A Small Town" doesn't have a single original chord progression. It's a great watch. Highly recommended!
all of these artists should be very proud that they achieved the amazing feat of pushing Corey Feldman off the worst songs list.
‘of 2023’
@@ProducedByRIFT Corey had a song released recently
corey feldman never had a a bad hit ever
@@axeavier lovin lies is on my sex playlist
I bet hes working hard to create a song that will get him on next years list
Fun fact: Jason Aldean had four writers on that song that weren’t him, and he lives in a literal mansion while talking about working blue collar jobs in his songs. The man himself is a lie.
As if he was always rich
To his credit, you can technically have a mansion and live in a small town at the same time.
But also, he’s an idiot and the song is absolutely awful.
4 writers for *that* is baffling
How many rappers make songs about the streets when they come from the suburbs (Drake)? It's cringe regardless.
@@kayleeblack4303 Well, Drake doesn't try to politically posture as some working class hero, to my knowledge. I couldn't tell you much about the guy, he's far from any music I listen to, but he at least seems honest about who he is and how he lives, for better or for worse. The problem is that Aldean is some rich asshole trying to pass himself off as the salt of the earth.
As someone who has lived in a small town most of his life, we've had about 4-5 different meth labs/houses around our area busted over the past 20 years.
That's good news. But don't tell Jason that.
try having 6-7 meth labs in a small town
So you’re telling me I SHOULD try that in a small town
As long as no american (or confederate) flag catches fire when those meth labs explode, conservatives don't care.
That's pretty cool.
"Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 Prison Choir's Justice for All" was a sentence that felt like being hit point blank in the face by a fire hose.
Hot take: conservative grifters shouldn't even be included in this. We all know tom macdonald and his sidekicks make terrible music, including them in this feels cheap and wastes spots for honest and interesting terrible attempts at music.
It's also tiring to have to hear about tom macdonald clones 50 times a day when end of year lists come out
tom isn't relevant enough to be on a list. it legitimizes it as actual music, which it isn't
@@slightexag but that's the point. Tom has been excluded from anthony's lists for this very thing. I am not in Jason Aldean's fanbase at all, but I never would've heard of him if it wasn't for this video.
jason aldean isn't just a grifter, he's also massively popular. he's worth calling out.
forgiatto blow does simply because it’s fucking catchy and i hate it for it
It sucks, half of these tracks are fascist nonsense. Melon should stop giving them sunlight even if it’s dunking on them
What I also think is so funny about the Jason Aldean track is that he isn’t even from an actual small town. He grew up Macon Georgia which has a population of around 150,000 and lived most of his life in Nashville. So like… what Fucking small town was he even talking about? LOL
What I find even more hilarious is even with that. Most of the people who like the song who usually bitch about "authenticity" in music will go on about how "real" the song is
The small town he made up in his mind?
People here think anything outside of Metro Atlanta is a small town. (Also he didn't even write the fucking song 4 Nashville songwriters did lmao)
it's all performance. he's like a hetero act writing gay love ballads. he doesn't fight or fix things with his hands or ride horses, he sits in his mansion while a team of pop producers write songs that appeal to meth County USA
I live in a conservative small town with a population under 1,000 and even though people are very conservative (including myself) they would never act in a way that that song reflects lol...there are crazy people out there but most normal people are normal.
You just hate Falling in Reverse because your life isn’t a video game.
He ain't trying hard enough to beat the stage
But he can’t do that while still collecting coins
bro is NOT growing up to be a big boy
He does have an uncanny resemblance to his Smash main, Pacman
he’s not even trying hard to save the girl
I had to work a show as a photographer with Falling In Reverse supporting A7X this year. During FIR's set, they did a cover of Smash Mouth's "All Star" filled with f bombs and him yelling at girls in the crowd.
It still sounded better than "Watch The World Burn".
It was the heaviest song he ever played that night! And the lights were all green!
Yo, Rocked! I love your vids, dude.
At least it wasn't as bad as FIR's Gangster's Paradise cover, lol.
*Insert unfunny played out joke about To Pimp a Butterfly here*
my pet rock died :(
Could’ve just posted the first half of that sentence & it would sum up his entire comment section
Fantano I'm very confused why all the songs on this list are TPAB songs considering you gave that album a 10/10
Finally the tides are turning
Thank you for saying this
why is everyone in the comments so offended that he doesn't like conservative songs? He's allowed to have his own opinion, why do y`'all care
Cause they think they are owning liberals by going against it. Lmao
Yeah, what a bunch of snowflakes, triggered at anything and trying to cancel everyone who does anything that they remotely disagree with.
Conservatives have zero art literacy. They don't understand that art is inherently political. So they get all tight and offended when they feel someone is "being political" or inserting politics where it shouldn't be. Of course, what they consider to be "political" is just viewpoints outside of the status quo, if Anthony's politics reflected the status quo they would consider it to be common sense and nonpolitcal, even though it still is pushing an agenda. Just one they agree with
honorable mentions
0:30 BoyWithUke's Optimally Bad Song
1:02 Anna Indiana - Betrayed by This Town
1:57 Colleen Ballinger - Toxic Gossip Train
actual list
2:33 Donald J. Trump & J6 Prison Choir - Justice for All
3:33 Fall Out Boy - We Didn’t Start the Fire
4:57 Kodak Black - No Love for a Thug
5:43 Grimes & Illangelo - I Wanna Be Software
7:05 Meghan Trainor - Mother
8:06 Forgiato Blow - Boycott Target
9:27 Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North of Richmond
11:26 Falling in Reverse - Watch the World Burn
13:04 TX2 - I Would Hate Me Too
14:08 Jason Aldean - Try That in a Small Town
Congratulations to Tom MacDonald for missing the cut
@@tylerchatham7093I’m honestly surprised him and Adam Calhoun didn’t make the list
@@daniellavaladez7820Fantano was just making him bigger when mentioning him 😂
@@tylerchatham7093 how did this horrible omission happen????
where is its getting hot by nle choppa
I don’t particularly care for the Rich men north of Richmond song, but I think it being higher then the Boycott Target song is crazy.
Fr. Boycott target is HORRIBLE. At least the dude singing rich men can at least "sing" (I put that in quotes because he oversings like a mf)
he claims the songs about slavery. he is quite literally the only person who thinks that.
@@grantm2303he wrote the song so he chooses the meaning of the song
@@futileexistence6913art is up to the interpreter
@@stormblade2895 you definitely thought American psycho was about a big Chad alpha sigma doing big Chad alpha sigma things and not a mentality deranged individual
there are not 5 songs this year worse than Meghan Trainor's Mother and you know it
for me, at least rich men north of richmond is kind of a banger compared to other country tracks in this day and age. Regardless of the true political meaning, it doesn't enrage me like mother does
'I Would Hate Me Too' is worse.
I mean, if you want songs in general, the entirety of both the Blødúlvur and Kapnas albums are far worse. Blødúlvur may very well contain the worst music of all time; it is physically painful to listen to. even as a diehard metalhead who's loved her fair share of bricked records, that shit is SO badly mixed and devoid of any interesting riffage that it is the textbook definition of unlistenable.
Take the 2 hits Miley Cyrus had and that Last Night song and you're already over halfway there.
Idk i feel like the song inspiring people to lynch "them city folk *wink*" is a lot worse than an out of touch woman without original ideas or musical talent to back that lack up.
I love the bit where you refer to Radke as a singer songwriter. Classic
peak comedy
Huge shoutout to the small town of Macon, GA. Just the beloved one horse stopover of 120,000+ people, about an hour from Atlanta
Macon Bacon, baby
And a blue town at that.
What happened there?
@@Tyler12905 That's where Jason Aldean is from. But hey, at least NOW he lives in a small town, in a huge mansion on an island off the coast of Florida. Just a small town country boy, he is!
lmao@@RoguSpanish
DC is north of richmond. So the “Rich Men north of richmond” are the politicians. Although that dosen’t do much to make the song better it just shows that he isn’t really writin about like, rich corporations just congressmen
Man, you've been such a busy music nerd this year. Congrats to you on another year of music, TH-cam, Drake, and all the rest. Hope you and yours are well. Thank you for listening to all the music so i don't have to. It really makes life easier.
Didn’t expect fantano to sing every song on the list, let alone hitting every note perfectly.
Grimes is on her way to be everything ArtAngels doesn't have 😭
Elon ruins everything he touches😔
Art Angels was so good. Ugh I miss old Grimes.
us grimes fans moved to yeule since.....
I think she’s just experimenting she’ll find her way back lol
and artangels is a terrible album
Huge Mark Wahlberg "I would have stopped 9/11" energy from that Jason Aldean track
That Rich Men North of Richmond take was insane. Saying it’s worse then
1. The target song
2. Megan’s mother song
3. Every Tom McDonald track
4. National Anthem (Trumps Version)
5. Kodak falling asleep on the track
Is crazzzzzzzy
Pat Finnerty's video on "Try That In A Small Town" was amazing. He ripped that song to pieces and it was well deserved.
Yeah it was genius!
It's an incredible takedown
Pat needs more love glad to see him mentioned here!
was just about to comment this
Yes
A whole AJR album and not even a single song? Wow you must really love them.
Its not even that bad tbh
i unironically do not understand the ajr hate, they're really not that bad. nothing special sure, but perfectly fine and seem nice and genuine, and I've got a soft spot for a few tracks. i heard of them late so idk if their really early stuff is completely awful, but the last couple albums are decent enough
@@AndroJonny95listen to the song thirsty and you'll understand the hate
@@benliss1591within the first 15 seconds i started cracking up 😂😂😂😂 wow that’s something
@benliss1591 okay that is a bad song, and had i heard that first i probably wouldn't have bothered looking into them further, although that really doesn't seem representative of their more recent stuff, so my overall opinion hasn't changed. A lot of bands had some absolute trash in 2013, so i can't hold that against them too much 😂😂 but i do understand the hate a lil bit now, although still think it's overblown, their last couple albums are mediocre at worst, and pretty decent a lot of time time
Still amazing to think Toxic Gossip Train really happened.
4:30 Just went and read the Fall Out Boy lyrics, and on one hand some of the word choices just feel clunky in comparison to the original, but on the other hand (the history nerd part of me), part of the appeal of the Billy Joel version is that the events/people/things that he names are generally in chronological order from about 1949-1989 (Billy's entire life up to that point and a huge chunk of the Cold War), so even though they could be just a collection of disparate names, there is a clear progression that you can follow (each verse section can generally be separated into decades, ie. Harry Truman, Doris Day, to Little Rock, Pasternak, and so on). Fall Out Boy jumps from the 1990s to the 2020s back to the 2000s every half a bar, and so it is just a disparate collection of names with no sense of forward progression. Thank you for coming to my impromptu lecture on why I don't like a particular aspect of a Fall Out Boy song.
Anthony saying “boots the house down” is something I never knew I needed
He really ate when he said that lol
@@lexcbaybeeand that’s on periodt
Wtf does that even mean
The fact that Jason Aldean is one of the best selling country singers OF ALL TIME is a crime against humanity. That man is the Maroon 5 of country, and Try That In A Small Town is only a small taste of how boring and generic his music can get. If anything, the fact that the song is political automatically makes it more interesting than 99% of his music, even if the politics are awful. Big Green Tractor is a banger though, I’ll give him that.
He’s best-selling of all time mainly from “Dirt Road Anthem” I feel like.
In fairness to Jason Aldean, he almost certainly doesn't write his own songs, or decide how to market himself. He's just a product for mouthbreathers to consume.
idk, as much as i dislike him and that song, he DOES have some bangers…
@@marxman68964 different people helped write Try That In A Small Town loooooooooooooooooool
@@undercookedtoast1479 Well yeah, you didn't think a modern country artist had any, like, creativity or talent, did you?
“Try that in a small town.”
Oh, they are trying, Jason. Meth addiction is rife in quite a few of them
I work at a concert venue and before Jason sang “Try that in a Small Town” he went on some massive rant about cancel culture and how the “woke mob tryin’ to censure me”
They are - wake the f*** up. The Dept of Justice is working with big tech companies to censure content they don't like. The FBI told Facebook that Hunter Biden's laptop wasn't real when they knew it was -- just to protect Joe Biden from criticism before the election. This is not opinion. It's a matter of public record.
From a paid staged concert event, Jason was silenced.
It's not because of cancel culture, it's the governments and mainstream medias of the world that censors people.
I'm getting censored right now trying to post this comment. Before he even made that song, the people who are aware of censorship knows that what you said in that comment is true. He never coined it.
Loved the carl wheezer impression at 13:24
A title like “Betrayed By This Town” hints that it could be a dark alt-country story song, but AI ain’t there yet.
Somebody get Jeff Tweedy on this
The irony with Jason Aldean is that he’s spent much of his life in Nashville. Not exactly a small town.
In other words, a fraud.
He grew up in Macon, Georgia, which is also not a small town, and, conincidentally, the hometown of R.E.M.
@@professorofsneakology3964Hilarious when you consider that Macon is not only a large town but also is predominantly Black, which seems to be the demographic of “city folk” that he’s hinting to.
R.E.M. is actually not from Macon, though. They’re from Athens.
@prettybueno1255 you are absolutely right. I a. Not sure why I was thinking R.E.M. was from Macon. I should have done my research.
Its a shame Back To Me by ¥$ hasnt dropped yet, because that songs either going in Anthony's worst songs list or best songs list, nowhere in between. Depends if he thinks the Kanye verse is absurdly hilarious and catchy or just lazy. Songs unique as that don't just fall out the sky, y'know.
I don't see anything about it to make his best songs list
That’s implying Kanye is going to release that album.
@@shashankdas4111 he litreally raps a line from jay and silent bob it's not meant to be taken seriously
@@shashankdas4111because he thought kanye’s verse on 4th dimension was funny and he liked it. could be the same for back to me.
Don’t think it would be. A lot more terrible songs dropped this year at least Back 2 Me has some redeeming quality. I personally enjoy the song!
Billie Joel's version of we didn't start the fire was year by year, it was a masterpiece because every line lead into and rhymed with the next, actually bringing you through history... Fall out boy just listed a load of shit that happened in a 30 year timespan... Absolute hogs trollop
Meh
I thought it was good…
@@bamboozeledyt Agreed, but maybe just because I’m a FOB fan, I thought it was one of the best covers ever.
Pat Finnertys “why this song stinks” about try that in a small town is 100% worth a watch, really sheds light on how derivative the song (not genre generecism, it’s kind of plagiarism in some places) is and why jason Aldean just isn’t a great musician/performer beyond the lyrics to that dumpster fire
He’s an awesome TH-camr
but why does that warrant it being the worst song of the year? There are tons of rap music that is derivative as fuck, and talks about a lot more violent horrible shit than Aldean does.
It warrants it being the worst song of the year because of its overall messaging, and honestly you should a bit prejudiced@@AnonymousuomynonA
@@Bitbatgaming Yeah? What's the overall message of the hundreds of gangsterrap songs that talk about killing people, stealing, and dealing drugs?
@@AnonymousuomynonA you have a white hood in your closet. Not all raps songs are that and it’s very racist to assume.
In many years past the falling in reverse track would easily be the worst of the year but this year we got a truly special one.
"If you were nice that would make you special and interesting" so many people need to hear this
Hot take: Anthony is at his most entertaining to me when talking about the "worst" stuff.
"Beep beep boop boop."
- Antony Fantano, 2023
Racist
What a pitiful rebuttal.
I think I had only heard the Grimes track out of these, and as terrible as that is, after checking out the other ones; the Grimes track sounds pretty good. Thank you Falling In Reverse!
Totally, it’s probably the most palatable of all the shit songs here. Not really saying much though, it’s still not good. Surprised the horrendous Fall Out Boy wasn’t way higher on the list
Honestly I love the Grimes tune. I'm a sucker for old school synth pop and this has shades of Pet Shop Boys for me
It’s one of my favorite songs of 2023
Political music is so tiring. I don’t understand how anyone can like music that panders so much.
That's what I wonder...like do they even realize that that they're being extremely pandered to, or do they know and just not care? Lol it's so weird
What I can't get over is that Fall Out Boy got the lyrics out of chronological order.
That's, like, the conceit of the song. Each verse is a time capsule into a given decade or timespan.
Meanwhile they willy-nilly pushed thirty years into the blender and said 'eh, nobody will notice'
Rich Men North of Richmond being higher than the Target song is sheer insanity. The Oliver Anthony song was based outside of the Fudge Rounds line.
Yeah but it also doesn't sound very good from a sonic perspective. Dude is oversinging like crazy.
Well the problem isn’t really the lyrics it’s the man behind it, who is batshit. Also the whole “north of Richmond” thing seems like a Neo confederate rallying cry
@@Mcxianyun What ? How ? What has the dude done ? North of richmond is literally DC.
From what he said the fudge rounds seems to refer to some government mishandling of funds.
Kinda wild to see you guys here though.
@@testacals he’s a conservative corporate plant trying to blame people on welfare for the country getting screwed over by capitalism
The blessed worst-of lists, one of my favorite Christmas gifts 🎁
Same
putting rich men north of richmond at #4 is weird. a bland outlaw country song with a vaguely populist conservative slant is worse than boycott target????
Look up the two videos he made about the song. Fantano completely misunderstood the song, brought up some conspiracy theories and doubled down on it.
@@flilix1 yea i’ve seen them, it was a pretty bad interpretation of the song. i don’t mind him hating the song, i just feel like he put the song on this list for the wrong reasons
Grimes comes off as someone who wants to create cyberpunk art but doesn't understand what cyberpunk is. It's like she saw a still frame of Bladerunner and thought "That looks cool. :)" and has been trying to capture that essence ever since.
tbf I feel like that only really started being a prominent thing after getting with Musk, who your statement also applies to. Art Angels def isn't cyberpunk art, it's actually a damn solid album. She always had a bit of a thing for techno-futurism so having Elon Musk (this was before pedogate) want to date her must have seemed like a dream come true. Until he started getting abusive which culminated in kidnapping her children from her
I still can’t fathom how Try That In A Small Town went number one, at least Seven blocked it from a debut at the top but it’s still crazy to me😭
What’s crazy bout it? U haven’t seen a song that softly promotes violence reach the top of the chart before?
I am so glad TX2 is on here. Industry plant just sucking up streams from braindead aesthetic chasing teenagers on the same label as so many talented artists. It upsets me so much and I'm glad you took a minute to acknowledge that horse piss.
the precipitation of conservative brainrot in music over the past few years is truly astounding
Man, Fantano triple-downed on the Rich Men song.
Dude, it’s not a North Vs South song, it’s about politicians and “rich men” in DC.
It’s really not that hard of a concept to grasp my guy.
Why are the rich male politicians fat manlets eating fudge rounds? Or is that not what that verse is referring to? Please, enlighten me
Exactly! His criticism is full of "whataboutism". He fails to grasp that people can be rich without being powerful. If you're a DC politician with money, you're rich and powerful and you have influence.
Yeah. I'm sure this conservative singer really care about rich people.
@@maxlap7855 yeah the super “conservative singer” that was at Burning Man this yr 😉
Jason? The same guy who ran off the Vegas stage when shots were being fired, and didn’t tell anyone else to get down? Too big a town
That Grimes track sounds like a Devry University commercial.
You know what I think a good version of "We Didn't Start the Fire of our generation"...? Funny Feeling by Bo Burnham. Dude can be a bit tacky but I do feel that song fits the description.
Glad to see major music content creators, like Fantano and Pat Finnerty, dunking on that Jason Aldean track in the best way possible.
dumbest part of of jason aldean's beautiful track "try that in a small town" is that he himself has never lived in one 💀 mans really doesn't have a clue what he's talking about
I’m probably politically aligned with Melon on most subjects.. but I think a bad song list should mostly come down to the tracks being musically inept and soulless - not just because they hold differing social and political views to ours. There are hundreds of trite, corporate songs out there that are written in boardroom committees and ‘performed’ by attractive people who don’t know much about the writing and musical process. It’s not art, it’s coldly cynical corporate business. I take more offence at these songs than somebody who can actually write and play music with conviction and emotion, even if I don’t agree with their political views.
worst songs list drops while twitter is down, immaculate timing.
is it? so on brand nowadays
chronically online vibes w this one
edit: i couldn't escape that "try that in a small town" song. live in rural usa and that shit was on the radio 24/7. first time i heard it i was like no way he's saying that on a song. the whole song is unpatriotic as fuck. "try using your first amendment in a small town, see how far you make it"
Worst ACTUAL songs of the year
1. Tx2 I Would Hate Me Too
2 Meghan Trainor Mother
3 Grimes I Wanna Be Software
i miss when songs like this could consistently be the worst instead of nazis pretending they know how to do music
I find it odd how fair Anthony tends to be with artists he doesn’t personally like, but when he has political gripes, all objectivity goes out the window. The rich men north of richmond track was beyond overrated but even on the basis of his own critiques it is at worst a mediocre song
He will hate anything that rightwingers love, and love anything that they hate. He has kinda become like that these days and its annoying
There's practically nothing a person can be interested in that isn't tainted with politics there is no escaping it, I could tell right away this dude was going to be far from the exception, and it took no time whatsoever to confirm my suspicions. I did not make it to the end but it should not surprise me the RMNoR song made the list because of course it did.
@@Jeremyak It made the list, because that songs blows.
@@xstoofpeer Would you also find it annoying, if Anthony hated all things that people on the left love? Or would that be ok?
@@danielhudson5186 Fantano literally said the song isn't bad, so you're contradicting yourself
I don't agree with you giving Trump the #1 song of the year just because you like his politics, but you do you Anthony
I miss when Fantano would focus more on the sound rather than picking most songs purely for the subject matter and lyrics. Even the ones that actually sound like they deserve to be in this list, he seems to care mostly about the lyrics.
@pyker1 if its not english he cant tell if the artist is a conservative or not :^)
as far as i can tell, 5/10 of these songs are purely here for the subject matter. one of which, the rich men song, isnt even so much about the song itself, but rather the fact that conservatives endorse it. the other 5 songs i would say make sense being here on sound alone, but even when discussing those ones, he focuses mostly on the lyrical content. you can criticise the lyrical content of songs, but like, i just dont really care anymore. i wanna hear some shit that offends my earholes not my political opinions.
it’s all political with Fantano nowadays
SexyRedd talks about robbing and murdering. He doesnt care at all. Even though ppl are dying, crime rates are heavy in these locations, he supports it. He loves it. He gives it a 8/10. ( not hating cause i liked quite a bit on that album)
But a country guy acting tough? A country guy talking about problems that, lets be real, lots of the world related to? Anthony breaks down the lyrics and makes a 20 minute video explaining how “this stuff doesnt even happen!” “Racist symbolism!” “Right-wing” Blah blah blah.
he always cared mostly about the lyrics wdym
What's even worse about the Aldean song is that he isn't even from a small town and he didn't even write the lyrics (Jason Isbell mocked him for that).
I 'did not know that country songs were directly from the artist's diary. So Johnny Cash really did kill a bunch of guys and Willie Nelson's a badass cowboy? Does that mean that Ice Cube really smoked a bunch of gangstas with his ak-47? Cause if Jason has to live in a small town to write about a small town, then everyone has to live their art.
I really don’t understand how rich man north of Richmond made it here way worst songs were released this year that deserve it more. It’s just a bland country song with a conservative lean to it. not anything to really care about
Anthony wants you to know he is a lefty with a huge ego and a supercilious demeanor. 😒
@tylere.8436 or he just didnt like it, definitely one of the two
@@carstenmoney920 He's being too personal and dishing out a lot of ad hominems.
@@tylere.8436 its not a deep dive, its just a year end list, music is a personal thing. He also says that he doesnt just like how it sounds
I remember when I used to think Fantano and I had similar tastes those days are long gone
Wait does this guy think only queer people can say mother
I’ll say the Plankton ai version of Toxic Gossip Train is veeeeeeeerrry listenable
All I took from this video is a clip of Anthony saying "boots the house down"
Rich men north of Richmond has a great melody to me. It feels more old school Blues than country. Idc too much about the words or how the right wingers perceived it. Just a good sounding song. Idk 🤷♂️
Anthony what the hell. I can't believe you would do this. I just can't believe it. Seriously how could you pull something like this. Unbelievable.
As someone who agrees with AF’e politics, it’s kind of frustrating that this video is more an opportunity to politically grandstand than examine the ten worst hit songs.
But yeah that small town song is dog shit.
as someone who is a HUGE Grimes fan and has been for the past 5 years, her music has become so soulless and unaware its baffling to me. Miss Anthropocene was one thing but songs like I Wanna Be Software and Shinigami Eyes had me genuinely shocked on how bad they were. listening to her older music sounds like a completely different artist. fingers crossed that somehow her next album will be better when it comes out in 80 years
The Rich Men North of Richmond song is not bad because of the people who like the song. You didn’t have any critiques about the actual song because it is simply not that bad
*Fudge rounds*
Yeah... I miss when people could not drag politics into everything
He’s so obsessed with politics nowadays that he can’t even make a list without half the songs being written by conservatives
@@MaceShyzmost don’t tbh. Fantano just can’t stop talking bout it after the Faber(prolly wrong spelling)article
I encourage everyone to listen to that "Justice For All" song. It is seriously uncanny..
When they say White People have no culture I point to this song. Checkmate
I'm not doing that but from the description melon gave I'm imagining something similar to an intro of something off one of ministry's bush-era albums
@@jimmy3people0everyone wants to be tom waits nowadays but nobody’s willing to replicate his drinking habit.
WTF... was the choir recorded over a jail phone?
I’ll admit I actually did like it
I grew up in a small town. Such a small town that crusty old men where they were bemoaning a McDonald's opening up shop. They have since gotten a small Wal-Mart.
A lot of the people I went to school with became meth junkies. There's a huge drug problem because there's not shit else to do. Plenty of wine moms and abusive pill-head dads who kinda let the neighborhood raise their kids. The story is the same for a lot of people from "small towns". Meth: perfectly reasonable to try in a small town
Great list!
Came for a Tier list of songs…got a political rant. When did Melon become such a whiny liberal?
Ronnie is a walking spittoon
Welcome to the walking spitoon how chester are ya
Nah ya'll just don't have no music taste. Ronnie's songs are fire
@@Vhs.dreamsyour taste must taste like asshole then cause that's all you're gonna get with Runny RedPee.
@@Vhs.dreamsyour taste is like that of a spittoon
I love the premise of Try That in a Small Town is that small towns are full of violent fascists. Not a very good look for people that live in rural areas.
Most "nerds" grow up to be beautiful artists, cool without trying, unique beings that we all obsess/lust over (or maybe it's just me). Grimes has Benjamin Buttoned TF outta that storyline though going from thr later to a try hard nerd that you're embarrassed to know.
I mean, Grimes came into my life as this weird girl who had that "Man Repellant"-style that was so fucking intriguing, while featuring Brooke Candy, in her metallic stripper R2D2 look with insane platforms and white girl dreads, in her music video. She produced weird ethereal sounds with hypnotizing beats while claiming her biggest inspiration was Mariah Carey (like, what the actual fuck??). So fucking good!
And now... this. She gives us this.😐😐😐
I blame Elon Musk. He fucking ruins everything.
get yourself around Allie X instead, and Poppy. They're who Grimes could have been
I had a feeling Colleen was gonna be here somehow lmao
Don't let this distract you from the fact that Anthon is pushing 60 💀
The best drugs are in small towns
maybe an odd thing to notice, but this video seems particularly well-lit, like you’re sitting under a skylight on a sunny day. good production 👍
This year's theme is "Shitty politics on really bad music".
The worst three minutes of this year for me was when I listened to we didn’t start the fire by fall out boy. My girlfriend at that time who was obsessed with them even agreed that the song was bad
Didn’t even know that song was followed up this year.
The 1989 track was solid in my opinion.
@@fortynights1513 there is also a 10+ years old Collegehumor parody cover about the internet called "We didn't start the flame war". I really liked it back then :)
That song is hot water trash
Almost all crime, but especially youth crime and aggravated car theft in the small towns and cities all along the coast of Queensland here in Australia has dramatically higher rates than in the bigger cities...it's a very sad situation
as for the rich men north of richmond song, to be fair Oliver has expressed that he resents his song becoming a rallying cry for republicans, when he easily could have said nothing and continued his right wing grift. I think Todd in the Shadows has the best take on him, He does legitimately think he's in the middle politically, but since he comes from an extremely conservative place, actively being bigoted makes you "in the middle" there.
He is not a bigot. He is like a rapper who feels vulnerable and forgotten about in his neighborhood. Except he's white and in the woods. Both are being forsaken by the government and passed over, with government aid instead going to other countries and noncitizens.
@@kennethgordon7900 undocumented immigrants don't get government aid lol
What i think is especially damning of the Aldean track is that he put out a statement saying something along the lines of "the small town values of where i grew up." And he's from one of the biggest suburbs of Atlanta
I guess you can say he’s pandering
You know the year is real bad when Pump Rock x Heavy Metal and Cinderella Snapped are not on the list
Damn Fantano still taking Ls with that Oliver Anthony track. Can't accept that his interpretation is dead wrong lmao
Hot take: Richmen North of Richmond would be a perfeclty fine song if not for like one or two lines
No
I dont think the oliver anthony song deserves to be on here, its just mediocre, theres definitely worse songs that could have taken its place
Melon continues to demand a dissertation out of Rich men North of Richmond because it doesn't align with him politically. "wHy sIngLe oUt dC?" 🥴
The Oliver Anthony track wasn't even bad. I know why it's on here, you know why it's on here, and it's bullshit to drag the song for those non-musical reasons...especially when the narrative was pushed by people other than the artist himself.
edit - I think it's worth clarifying that I don't agree with the political undertones of the song,, and my eyebrow also went up at some of the lyrics. But cmon. That doesn't make the song itself bad.
Watch the World Burn sounds like an especially bad Epic Rap Battles of History verse.
You’re torturing me by reminding me of Epic Rap Battles.
the fact that Hi-rez's 2+2=5 didn't even make it in as honorable mention makes me think that either Melon didn't listen to it, or refused to bring it up out of sheer human decency. If it's the latter, I don't blame him.
I wish Anthony would use this list to just point out bad songs from actual artists instead of half the list being terrible right wing songs. We get it, you're a liberal. That's fine and those songs all suck. But I'd rather hear about terrible songs from actual established artists and not the low hanging fruit of Forgiato Blow and stuff like that
I just discovered Pat Finnerty's channel. He breaks down "what makes this song stink" bar for bar and needless to says "Try That In A Small Town" doesn't have a single original chord progression. It's a great watch. Highly recommended!