I've heard of 11-year old girls aping Taylor, Katie, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga ...

[westen44]

This reminds me of once when I had a temporary job in Cleveland, Ohio.  In the break room, one of the employees was taking about a quick trip he had taken through the South.  He seemed genuinely perplexed and disappointed that he hadn't seen any plantations.  This also reminds me of how weary the Dutch must get with people talking about windmills, wooden shoes, pot, prostitutes, and tulips. 

[uwe]

you guys watch too much bad television.

[Pilgrim]

I remember when Deliverance came out...

My best buddy and I borrowed a 16-foot canoe and took a four-day vacation over spring break that year, canoeing down the east side of Coeur d'Alene lake in northern Idaho. (It's a really big lake - 30+ miles long, and big enough that it had steamboats in the early part of the previous century.) We camped on beaches and left each one cleaner than we found it. It was too early for anyone to be at their vacation homes, so we had no hassles. 

[uwe]

This reminds me of once when I had a temporary job in Cleveland, Ohio.  In the break room, one of the employees was taking about a quick trip he had taken through the South.  He seemed genuinely perplexed and disappointed that he hadn't seen any plantations.  This also reminds me of how weary the Dutch must get with people talking about windmills, wooden shoes, pot, prostitutes, and tulips.

I assure you: All five items are alive and well with our neighbours! You forgot dams and dykes.

[westen44]

I assure you: All five items are alive and well with our neighbours! You forgot dams and dykes.

Well, I'd say the prevalence of wooden shoes has diminished, though.  They may exist, but more as an oddity. 

[westen44]

In regard to hillbillies, notice what Bob Dylan says in this second paragraph in his description of rock:


Traditional rock & roll, we're talking about that. It's all about rhythm. Johnny Cash said it best: "Get rhythm. Get rhythm when you get the blues." Very few rock & roll bands today play with rhythm. They don't know what it is. Rock & roll is a combination of blues, and it's a strange thing made up of two parts. A lot of people don't know this, but the blues, which is an American music, is not what you think it is. It's a combination of Arabic violins and Strauss waltzes working it out. But it's true.

The other half of rock & roll has got to be hillbilly. And that's a derogatory term, but it ought not to be. That's a term that includes the Delmore Bros., Stanley Bros., Roscoe Holcomb, Git Tanner and the Skillet Lickers... groups like that. Moonshine gone berserk. Fast cars on dirt roads. That's the kind of combination that makes up rock & roll, and it can't be cooked up in a science laboratory or a studio.

[Dave W]

In regard to hillbillies, notice what Bob Dylan says in this second paragraph in his description of rock:


Traditional rock & roll, we're talking about that. It's all about rhythm. Johnny Cash said it best: "Get rhythm. Get rhythm when you get the blues." Very few rock & roll bands today play with rhythm. They don't know what it is. Rock & roll is a combination of blues, and it's a strange thing made up of two parts. A lot of people don't know this, but the blues, which is an American music, is not what you think it is. It's a combination of Arabic violins and Strauss waltzes working it out. But it's true.

The other half of rock & roll has got to be hillbilly. And that's a derogatory term, but it ought not to be. That's a term that includes the Delmore Bros., Stanley Bros., Roscoe Holcomb, Git Tanner and the Skillet Lickers... groups like that. Moonshine gone berserk. Fast cars on dirt roads. That's the kind of combination that makes up rock & roll, and it can't be cooked up in a science laboratory or a studio.

And the guy who really brought both halves together is Chuck Berry.

[westen44]

And the guy who really brought both halves together is Chuck Berry.

Now we're getting somewhere.  Chuck Berry may very well be the most important, but a few others made major contributions, too--Bill Haley, for example. 

[GonzoBass]

...how weary the Dutch must get with people talking about windmills, wooden shoes, pot, prostitutes, and tulips.

Here it's grass shacks, hula skirts and a coconut/pineapple diet.
As if Gilligan were everyone's neighbor...
 

[Dave W]

Now we're getting somewhere.  Chuck Berry may very well be the most important, but a few others made major contributions, too--Bill Haley, for example.

Right.

Chuck grew up in St.Louis listening to country music. Bill Haley's band evolved from The Saddlemen to the Comets.

[westen44]

Right.

Chuck grew up in St.Louis listening to country music. Bill Haley's band evolved from The Saddlemen to the Comets.

And before the Saddlemen, the Four Aces of Western Swing. 



Chuck Berry's influence was immeasurable.  His influence was direct and literally overwhelming.  I don't even have a favorite Chuck Berry song.  There are too many. 

Edit:
Just found this---(I doubt if everyone would agree with the list--I don't--but it's a start.)  At the very least, the David Bowie version of "Around and Around" should be replaced with the Stones. 

http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/10-Greatest-Covers-of-Chuck-Berry-Songs.aspx

[westen44]

Here it's grass shacks, hula skirts and a coconut/pineapple diet.
As if Gilligan were everyone's neighbor...
 

But the majority of people on the mainland want to visit Hawaii.  The image could hardly be any more positive. 

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I can take you to see the people who are really like Deliverance, which took place in the Ozarks, not really the South, but a similar culture. There are quite a few inbred welfare families that definitely fit that bill, with the sad situation of a lazy patriarch using his daughters as breeding stock to keep the gubmint money coming in with a loose conflagration of transient girlfriends who leave their kids behind.  There used to be a house full of them on the back side of the family farm in Hancock county and when my uncle had a good year selling cattle, he bought them out for the land, tore down the house and extended the pasture fence a bit. They were the embodiment of every southern stereotype you could think of, complete with junked cars in the yard,  a toilet on the front porch, and the inbred, developmentally disabled kid who played guitar and banjo. They smelled awful, and were pretty pitiful. Child Services finally was able to rescue several of the kids after they were able to prove that they were the products of incest.

[Lightyear]

i don't know what south you guys are talking about because i can go years without seeing overalls. not even at walmart. i used to spend a lot of time in rural georgia but its basically blue jeans. sorry to rain on your hillbilly delusions. 

I'm in the Houston area and i see overalls on a regular basis - they're not real common but I do see them.  Keep in mind that I'm in one of the more affluent bedroom cities that ring Houston proper.  Houston is an odd mix - most likely that half of the population is from somewhere else so it's gets a bit eclectic - think south of the border meets the "yankee north" with a goodly mix of natives - it's quite the mashup.

I traveled heavily from the mid eighties to about 2001 for work.  I got fairly good at hiding my accent while in the north as I got tired of having to explain that I had only one oil well and just few head of cattle in my back yard

[nofi]

that's because houston is not in the "real south".