The Oliver Anthony Spectacle
A true sign of the times.
Rich Men North Of Richmond...
At this point, I would be surprised if someone said they didn't know who Oliver Anthony was. His song, Rich Men North Of Richmond, has gone more viral than I'm pretty sure anything has in the past decade.
I saw his now famous video the day it came out. I literally watched 10 seconds of it and was like eh that's cool I guess, and kept scrollin. Didn't seem like anything special. Slowly, over the next few days, someone would text it to me...then someone would forward it to me on Instagram....and so on, until I had to turn my phone off because all I was seeing was this fuckin ginger in the woods hollerin up a gotdamn storm.
Some quick stats:
The video garnered 57 million views in 3 weeks. Oliver Anthony went from 3,000 followers, to 1.3 million followers in 3 weeks.
Yankee Stadium holds 46,000 people. That means 1,239 Yankee Stadiums worth of people have watched this fucking video. In 3 weeks. Insane.
This dude brought 25 acres worth of cars to a Sunday morning farmers market. Estimated 14,000 people...FOR HIS FIRST FUCKING GIG.
The song….
[Verse 1]
I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bullshit pay
So I can sit out here and waste my life away
Drag back home and drown my troubles away
[Pre-Chorus]
It's a damn shame what the world's gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
But it is, oh, it is
[Chorus]
Livin' in the new world
With an old soul
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
[Verse 2]
I wish politicians would look out for miners
And 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
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down
When I finally went back and watched the whole video, up until the lyrics I've emboldened here, I thought the song was pretty much shooting right down the middle. I was even happy listening to the first half of it, because I'm like fuck yes, I'd love to see the left or right try and weaponize this one. It felt like it had some serious weight to it, and the power to unite, rather than divide….
BUT SURE ENOUGH, we JUST HAD to make fun of fat people eating cupcakes on welfare, forrrrrr why???? Such a basic unnecessary point to make, when the song was already 100x more powerful, because we're shitting on rich men north of Richmond aka every politician in Washington DC, which I can get behind always, and bringing people together by saying "we're all in the same boat here"...again, unity over division always.
yet alas, which song was ironically chosen to be used at the Republican debate???? siiiiiiiick. Oliver's like "wait wait wait, but no this was about you too".....Ron D is like "eh buddy, you made fun of fatties on welfare, we'll take it from here" hahahahaha
side quest, i literally went to the store last week and found fudge rounds, and idk how in the fuck Oliver is talking down on possibly the greatest culinary creation of all time.....long story short, that part of the song was stupid.
$8 Million Dollar Offers
The music industry is actually the worst. A guy makes one little song in nature about unity and twinkies, and every A&R is on the phone with accounting "alright so I'm going to drop the 2,000 tik tok artists i just signed, we're going to dump everything we got into this Oliver guy" ........... "Vanessa, he was just on joe rogan, it doesn't get any fucking bigger than that" ............. "Listen I dont fucking care that he's only written one song that anyone knows and is stating publicly that he doesnt want to accept any offer, be in the spotlight, or basically have a career in music....WE ARE FUCKING SIGNING OLIVER ANTHONY!"
I would probably rip 1-2 fingernails off, if in return, I got to read through the 8 million dollar offer Oliver Anthony received & laugh at whoever the fuck it came from.
Escaping The Matrix….
We're in a very interesting time. Those who seemingly want nothing to do with the "industry," and are just effortlessly existing as themselves, are the ones getting the phone calls. Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan (ugh) and now Oliver Anthony, all following similar paths with similar results. I'm not saying go be a country folk star, but pull the parts of the message that are relatable to you. Adapt, survive, succeed.
If you pick up a guitar, speak from the heart, and sing from the soul...odds are there will be a response.
The irony of Oliver Anthony's story, is that if he wrote this song the same week he signed a deal, it’d never be released. It never would’ve mattered.
What’s that tell you? That the industry is the matrix, ready to suck your heart out, and you have a chance to escape it on your own, by being yourself.
There is a massssssiveeee audience out there looking for something real.
So I don’t know whether I love or hate the spectacle that is Oliver Anthony.
On one hand, I’m happy the kid's going to get his shot, and I hope he takes it. I think he deserves it. He spoke from the heart, I believe he's a good dude, and will do well with the fame he's been given.
On the other hand, it’s reason number 83950327 why I hate the music industry. This isn’t an industry anymore, it’s a “who can stir the pot n get a shot” contest, and it’s so boring. I’m so bored. This dude bores me, which is fine, but he’s got like normal level talent??? I've got 10 songwriters off the top of my head, all who have under 10k followers, that would destroy this dude.
I also genuinely think the same of Zach Bryan and that dudes selling out arenas right now, so what the hell do I know lol this song rips though:
Take solace in the fact that nothing makes sense, and don't stress by trying to figure out the dark unknown abyss that lays ahead. Stay pure, and true to yourself, and you'll look back on all of this with no regrets.
...and as the great Warren Haynes once said....
Let your soul shine
It's better than sunshine
It's better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain
GODSPEED MY FRIENDS.
and long live rock n roll.