Def Leppard Goes Country – Atrocity or Success?

Country musicians are like parasites – they latch onto popular bands, remake their songs and poison them permanently. For the most part, pop artists are the most frequent victims, but the country plague has a new a target: heavy metal.

In one of the most puzzling announcements this year, Def Leppard, the band that pioneered a new wave of British heavy metal, has been nominated for three first-round Country Music Television (CMT) awards for their recent duet with Taylor Swift on the song “Photograph“. Scary (and disgusting), I know. Could this be a sign of the times, or is it an isolated incident?

Unfortunately, the metal-to-country transition appears to be a trend. Slayer is reported to be “bitterly disappointed” that their collaborations with Emmylou Harris (“Honky Tonk Antichrist”), Kenny Loggins (“Hillbilly Awaits”) and Willie Nelson (“At Dawn They Sleep on the Front Porch”) were excluded from CMT’s nominations. They’re disappointed?! – I didn’t even know they’d stooped to that level!

Maybe I’ve been wearing blinders (or just strenuously avoiding obnoxious country music), but all this comes as a shock. However, heavy metal and country music do have a ‘white trash’ attitude in common.

Perhaps the cause of these (seemingly) desperate collaborations is just the downtrodden economy that has been so unkind to the music industry in the past year or so. Or maybe Def Leppard just has a thing for duets with 16-year-old country-pop idols. Could be, but they also have a song featuring Tim McGraw on their new album, “The Sparkle Lounge.”

In any case, this is absurd. Next thing we know Metallica will be touring with Garth Brooks… bleh.

What do you think of this news? Is the country-metal collabo trend an atrocity? Or does it (somehow) make sense?

Source: Antimusic.com