TexasBigBlue
Well-Known Member
By Scottie Andrew, CNN
Updated 8:39 PM EDT, Thu August 17, 2023
CNN —
In a matter of days, Oliver Anthony’s working-class anthem, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” has gone from viral sensation to legitimate country hit.
The song, which channels the previously unknown singer’s anger at working hard and paying taxes just to “waste ‘his’ life away,” has racked up millions of views on social media in less than a week and ascended to the top of Apple Music’s Top 100 USA chart and the iTunes top 40 US country chart, dethroning Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” and the controversial Jason Aldean single “Try That in a Small Town.”
Anthony’s single has courted controversy, too, for its lyrics referring to to politicians, “obese” welfare recipients “milking” the system, and “minors on an island.” Notable conservatives, from US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to commentators like Matt Walsh, have adopted the song.
“I appreciate the compliments, but … I’m not a good musician,” Anthony said in a YouTube video posted on Monday. “I hardly know my way around the guitar. My singing’s OK. That’s not what made this (success). It’s you, and the struggles in your life. That’s what’s made this what it is.”
In recent days, the song has been widely lauded by far-right politicians including former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, who called it an “anthem for our times.” It’s also received praise from country stars like Travis Tritt and John Rich of Big & Rich.
Conservative media personality Jason Howerton said he has offered to pay to produce Anthony’s record and that Rich had agreed to produce it. (A representative for Rich told CNN on Wednesday that there “isn’t much to report on” about Anthony and Rich working together. CNN has reached out to Howerton and is waiting to hear back.)
Anthony said in a Facebook post Thursday that he “never wanted to be a full time musician” and is “sitting in such a weird place in (his) life right now.”
Though he did not address his song’s booming popularity among conservatives, he ended his Facebook post, which included comments on his past work and his feelings about his newfound fame, by condemning the way the “Internet has divided all of us.”
“Freedom of speech is such a precious gift,” he wrote. “Don’t let them take it away from you.”
Anthony thanked his millions of new listeners in a video shared Monday and asked them what they could do to “maintain this energy” even after “Oliver Anthony’s long gone and forgotten about.”
“There used to be such a strong sense of community in this country, and you still see it a lot in small-town America, but even there it’s dying out,” he said in the latest video. “I’m no Dr. Phil, but I just feel … it would be wonderful to capitalize on that to help other people in your life – maybe people that are different from you.”
The protagonists in many country standards pride themselves on never having been on welfare, and some go as far as accusing welfare recipients of spending their financial aid on luxuries; Guy Drake’s “Welfare Cadillac” was written from the perspective of a hypothetical welfare recipient with ten kids who bought a brand-new Cadillac with his welfare stipend.
Anthony’s song has been criticized by some listeners for its depiction of welfare recipients as unhealthy and dishonest: “Lord, we got folks in the street/ain’t got nothin’ to eat/and the obese milkin’ welfare. Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds/taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.” (Tritt’s song “Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man” portrays “rich” men as “fat” and “poor” men as “thin” in its final chorus.)
So far, Anthony has not said much to media outlets about his song’s rapid ascent and his sudden fame, though he did say in Thursday’s Facebook post that “people in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers.”
“I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight,” he said on Facebook. “These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they’re being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung.”
Updated 8:39 PM EDT, Thu August 17, 2023
CNN —
In a matter of days, Oliver Anthony’s working-class anthem, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” has gone from viral sensation to legitimate country hit.
The song, which channels the previously unknown singer’s anger at working hard and paying taxes just to “waste ‘his’ life away,” has racked up millions of views on social media in less than a week and ascended to the top of Apple Music’s Top 100 USA chart and the iTunes top 40 US country chart, dethroning Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” and the controversial Jason Aldean single “Try That in a Small Town.”
Anthony’s single has courted controversy, too, for its lyrics referring to to politicians, “obese” welfare recipients “milking” the system, and “minors on an island.” Notable conservatives, from US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to commentators like Matt Walsh, have adopted the song.
“I appreciate the compliments, but … I’m not a good musician,” Anthony said in a YouTube video posted on Monday. “I hardly know my way around the guitar. My singing’s OK. That’s not what made this (success). It’s you, and the struggles in your life. That’s what’s made this what it is.”
In recent days, the song has been widely lauded by far-right politicians including former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, who called it an “anthem for our times.” It’s also received praise from country stars like Travis Tritt and John Rich of Big & Rich.
Conservative media personality Jason Howerton said he has offered to pay to produce Anthony’s record and that Rich had agreed to produce it. (A representative for Rich told CNN on Wednesday that there “isn’t much to report on” about Anthony and Rich working together. CNN has reached out to Howerton and is waiting to hear back.)
Anthony said in a Facebook post Thursday that he “never wanted to be a full time musician” and is “sitting in such a weird place in (his) life right now.”
Though he did not address his song’s booming popularity among conservatives, he ended his Facebook post, which included comments on his past work and his feelings about his newfound fame, by condemning the way the “Internet has divided all of us.”
“Freedom of speech is such a precious gift,” he wrote. “Don’t let them take it away from you.”
Anthony thanked his millions of new listeners in a video shared Monday and asked them what they could do to “maintain this energy” even after “Oliver Anthony’s long gone and forgotten about.”
“There used to be such a strong sense of community in this country, and you still see it a lot in small-town America, but even there it’s dying out,” he said in the latest video. “I’m no Dr. Phil, but I just feel … it would be wonderful to capitalize on that to help other people in your life – maybe people that are different from you.”
The protagonists in many country standards pride themselves on never having been on welfare, and some go as far as accusing welfare recipients of spending their financial aid on luxuries; Guy Drake’s “Welfare Cadillac” was written from the perspective of a hypothetical welfare recipient with ten kids who bought a brand-new Cadillac with his welfare stipend.
Anthony’s song has been criticized by some listeners for its depiction of welfare recipients as unhealthy and dishonest: “Lord, we got folks in the street/ain’t got nothin’ to eat/and the obese milkin’ welfare. Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds/taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.” (Tritt’s song “Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man” portrays “rich” men as “fat” and “poor” men as “thin” in its final chorus.)
So far, Anthony has not said much to media outlets about his song’s rapid ascent and his sudden fame, though he did say in Thursday’s Facebook post that “people in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers.”
“I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight,” he said on Facebook. “These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they’re being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung.”
