Double standard of country music

[Vote for Chewbacca the Wookiee]

The more popified country is becoming, the greater the double standard along gender lines.
Look at the male side, and you see balding, pudgy Garth Brooks, the best seller in the history of the genre, a man comparable in sales to Elvis and the Beatles. A large number - Joe Diffy, Trace Adkins, Vince Gill to name a few, are also not entirely in that overly groomed grouping. They're judged on quality, not appearance, as they should be.
But the females are disappearing from radio and suffering reduced airplay on CMT and GAC after age 40. Reba's been reduced to a sitcom - on the WB! Suzy Boggus, who has a beautiful voice, fell off the face of the earth close to a decade ago.
Comments?

[JediMAC]

Love me some Shania and Faith!  Shania's the hottest woman on the planet (as you'd notice in our hotties thread here), and Faith ain't too shabby either.  In fact, Shania's kind of our honorary "mascot" here, if you will...  

Oh wait, were you talking about their music Chewie?  My bad.  Probably just perpetuated the exact stereotype you were pointing out there, eh?  

Well, I'm not really sure that I'm the right person to comment on this one, since I'm not much of a country fan.  Do enjoy some Garth, and "old school" stuff like Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson, but other than that, I'm not too knowledgeable about the genre.  I'd guess most folks who don't live in the South aren't really attuned to this brand of music either, which is perhaps the reason why they only check out it out when the "hot country chicks" are involved.  Possible they just sex 'em up a little to appeal to a much broader audience, and draw in folks like me.  Sure works for Shania and Faith, who've achieve major crossover status.

But in the context of actual country music fan's opinions, I can't really speak to the issue.  In fact, I'm not too sure if we've got many "southerners" around JD who would be more knowledgeable on the subject.

In closing, I'd just like to say:



   

[Vote for Chewbacca the Wookiee]

Magnificent boobs ..... What was I talking about?

[Rob L]

Shania’s “assets” have made her famous even in the UK, where the general population is mostly unaware of Country music. She will be 40 soon, so then we’ll see.

As for the guys, I think most people here would have heard of the name Garth Brooks, but I don’t think his work is too well known here. Like I said, we don’t really get country, just the pop-ified stuff.

The Dixie Chicks are popular because of how they look, but more importantly because they annoyed your President. It’s a stereo-type but CD-burning (and not the process whereby one might bootleg an album) is just the sort of thing we’d expect from Country fans

[DSJ™]

Love me some Shania. Shania's the hottest woman on the planet (as you'd notice in our hotties thread here). In fact, Shania's kind of our honorary "mascot" here, if you will...  

In closing, I'd just like to say:

 

I'd like to say:



   

[Morgbug]

The double standard absolutely exists.  Basically for a woman in country music, you must either be beautiful, or sufficiently thin and able to apply sufficient makeup.  Pretty obvious really.  

Tricia Yearwood, who by our hotties thread, wouldn't necessarily fit the trend, is about the only glitch in the system.  Even at that, I would hardly call her unattractive.  She's just not swimsuit model proportioned but I would suggest she has the best voice of the whole bunch.  

Sara Evans has been interesting to watch as well.  In her first videos she was, um, a little heavier.  Has a voice that could soothe the devil, but didn't really achieve much airplay, video or audio, until she lost about 30 pounds.  Definitely a beautiful woman regardless.  Terry Clark would be another that fits the category loosely.  Great singer, great talent but not necessarily the hottest of the bunch.  

Johnny Cash. Nuff said.