SemiNoTV: Another Rightwing Left-Field Hit

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Mark Jeffries

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Aug 22, 2023, 12:31:03 PM8/22/23
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Hitherto little-known country singer Oliver Anthony (not his real name) has the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 this week with "Rich Men North of Richmond," a song that starts out as an attack on the rich but turns into dog-whistling about "welfare queens" spending their food stamp money on Little Debbie products--it owes its position to support from rightwing podcasters and social media and by gaming the iTunes Store downloads (still a major factor in the Hot 100, despite the fact that more people are streaming now) to look like it's a big hit (Mediabase's radio airplay chart shows neither Anthony or the equally-iTunes Store-game Jason Aldean dog-whistler "Try That in a Small Town" in their top 30, which means that unless either song is between 31 and 40, Seacrest's not playing them on "AT40" this weekend):


It should be pointed out that the iTunes Store gaming is not just political--fans of KPOPers and Taylor Swift have done it to make their favorites look bigger than they are (well, the former, maybe--it's not like you don't hear TayTay on the radio everywhere).

Bob Jersey

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Aug 22, 2023, 6:11:24 PM8/22/23
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He suffered a skull fracture ten years ago, and said he writes songs to help combat mental illness and depression:
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Mark Jeffries, August 22nd:

PGage

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Aug 22, 2023, 7:59:25 PM8/22/23
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It’s not working…


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Bob Jersey

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Aug 25, 2023, 12:45:23 PM8/25/23
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He contends in a new video, released after his song got referenced by Gov DeSantis at the T***p-less debate, that them rightists are, in fact, his target... "I do hate seeing that song weaponized"...
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Mark Jeffries, Aug 22nd:

PGage

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Aug 25, 2023, 7:26:21 PM8/25/23
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My initial take is that this is disingenuous at best. Dude’s lyrics (see below) call back to Reagan’s racist “Welfare Queen” lies, and standard Republican bitching about high taxes and federal regulations. I suspect he sees himself as something like a rural libertarian than a MAGA Republican (but frankly these days that is making some pretty fine distinctions between types of snow), and is part of the crowd that is only slightly less angry at mainstream Republican politicians like Mitch McConnel than he is at mainstream Dems like Biden. The equivalent would be a Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialist writing a song criticizing the Police State and Corporate Culture and then denied he was pushing a political agenda because he hates Democrats almost as much as he does Republicans. Perhaps, but his positions are still roughly consistent with those taken by the Democratic Party, and if the song is a surprise hit it is because it is expressing the views of millions of Democrats and fellow-travelers.

 

“I wish politicians would look out for minersAnd not just minors on an island somewhere

Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat

And the obese milkin' welfare

Well, God, if you're five-foot-three and you're three-hundred pounds

Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of Fudge Rounds(SNIP)

These rich men north of Richmond

 

Lord knows they all just wanna have total control

Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do

And they don't think you know, but I know that you do

'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end

'Cause of rich men north of Richmond (SNIP)”




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Bob Jersey

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Sep 4, 2023, 6:10:50 PM9/4/23
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His followup, "90 Some Chevy," appears somewhat tamer, 'cept for a brief shot of a handgun on the seat next to him (he's from Virginia, an open-carry state)...
PGage, to moi, in part, Aug 25th:
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