Toby Keith

F2K Presents: The Nine Worst September 11 Response Songs

Today is the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a moment in American history that was pretty horrifying for reasons that have been enumerated countless times. Their effects on pop music weren't as tragic, to be sure, but they were pretty unfortunate—artists on both sides of the aisl ... More >>

Paul Ryan Fails To Realize That Classic Rock Is Pretty Much The New Elevator Music

Much ink has been spilled on the fact that Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan is a relative whippersnapper—born in 1970, the Wisconsin representative is 42 years old. Depending on who you're talking to, this makes him part of "generation x," or "the 13th generation," or "that demog ... More >>

Zac Brown Band Stretches Country's Limits (And Its Legs) On Uncaged

Country music has never had a simple relationship with Mexico. While outlaws like Waylon Jennings once warned that there "ain't no God" on the other side of the border, Tim McGraw more recently took the opposing position, suggesting that God in fact created the country, but only as a place for trapp ... More >>

Q&A: Eric Church Talks Reaching Fans Outside Of Country, Metallica's Influence, And The Misinterpretation of "Homeboy"

With Sinners Like Me and Carolina, Eric Church established himself as one of the most exciting young artists in the country music, mixing man-up rockers like "Lotta Boot Left to Fill" with mature, never-quite-melancholy reflections ("Those I've Loved," "What I Almost Was") on the different paths and ... More >>

Live: Eric Church Drinks A Little Drink (But Doesn't Smoke Any Smoke) At Hammerstein Ballroom

Eric Church Hammerstein Ballroom Thursday, March 14 Better than: Watching some laptop soundscaper at SXSW and making an "I don't think Waylon woulda done it that way" joke to an unappreciative stranger. Spending the past summer touring the country, preparing crowds for the massive star Toby Keith, ... More >>

The Seven Worst Songs Of All Time

​Whenever these tunes get played, I hide under a rock for four minutes--actually, five, just for safety's sake. They are easily the seven worst songs in history. (7) Mr. Roboto by Styx. I would have ranked this a little higher, but its sheer kitschy audacity, pulled off in a sort of nouvea ... More >>

Toby Keith Takes A Stand In The Red Solo Cup Vs. Blue Solo Cup Debate

​Today in new drinking songs that you will probably hear at some point, no matter how removed from mainstream country culture you believe you might be: "Red Solo Cup," Toby Keith's ode to those disposable party cups that you can buy by the sleeve and write your name on so that nobody makes off ... More >>

TALKIN' ABOUT TONIGHT

Fucked Up's name says it all

Live: Toby Keith Plays His Hits At PNC Bank Arts Center

Toby Keith w/ Eric Church and J.T. Hodges PNC Bank Arts Center Friday, September 2 Better than: Most other Ford commercials. Toby Keith is a hell of singer. He plays guitar, too—a nice acoustic one (when he returns for the encore it will have an American flag painted on it)—but tonigh ... More >>

Toby Keith+Eric Church+JT Hodges

Sufjan Stevens's The Age of Adz Is the #7 Record In the Country Right Now

Hail your new leader, America.​"We try not to think too much about the Billboard charts," Asthmatic Kitty's Michael Kaufmann told us last week, when we asked him about the label's sales expectations for Sufjan Stevens's newly released Age of Adz. Maybe not, but the label was also straightforwa ... More >>

Presenting The Hilarious Music-Related April Fool's Joke Probability Index

​Tough day on the Internet: Everyone is both probably lying to you and totally hilarious. As we grapple with this whole Fucked Up getting sued thing, let us examine today's other remarkable music-biz announcements and rate them on a) believability and b) amusement.

Dept. of Corrections: LL Cool J Is, In Fact, Hard As Hell. As is Toby Keith.

He represents Queens, she was reared in Wasilla. ​Sometimes, we make mistakes. Like that time we declared doorknob-dead the street credibility (or: "cred") of Queens-bred rapper LL Cool J. As it so happens, LL himself has remedied the situation, and even left his mother out of it..

LL Cool J Is Displeased About This Whole "Allegedly Appearing On Sarah Palin's Show" Thing

​Sarah Palin's new Fox News talk show starts Thursday. LL Cool J has been widely reported to be among her guests. (Toby Keith, too, who makes a hell of a lot more sense.) Except... maybe not? So far LL has not elaborated other than re-Tweeting this missive to everyone who asks, but it should b ... More >>

Whoops! Toby Keith Joins LL Cool J As A Totally Unwitting Participant On Sarah Palin's Fox News Show

​So, to recap: among those surprised by the announcement that LL Cool J would be among the inaugural guests on Sarah Palin's new Fox News talk show, Real American Stories, was LL Cool J himself, who proceeded to tweet angrily that the interview Fox was using to promote Palin's show dated back ... More >>

What Do LL Cool J and Sarah Palin Have In Common?

​If you answered, "They both got lyrical beatdowns from Canibus in 1998," well, not quite -- if only because we can't confirm it. If you answered, "Brooklyn thinks they're just punchlines," close, but no cigar. Every borough has Wrong People, even Brooklyn, sparse as they may be. If you answer ... More >>

Bulls on Parade: Live From MSG's Arena Rock Rodeo

Where the soundtrack is more Jock Jams than Red State

Missing White House E-Mails: 6 Leaked

​The White House and two nonprofit groups announced a settlement Monday in a long-running lawsuit over more than 22 million e-mails that were missing during the Bush administration because of poor labeling and other technical problems. The National Security Archive, a historical records group ... More >>

War on Christmas Update: Boycotts, "CHRIST-mas Tree" Give Jesus Team an Advantage

The 50 Worst Songs of the '00s, F2K No. 18: Toby Keith, "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)"

F2K is a countdown of the 50 worst songs of the decade. Track our progress here. Unreasonable, short-sighted, hyperbolic, childish, reactionary--well, to be fair, "Angry American" is a pretty accurate title...

Michael Buble Knocks Paramore Clear Out of the Top 10

​This week in completely joyless chart news: International cipher Michael Buble sells a whopping 132,000 copies in three days to knock Barbra Streisand out of the number one spot; Kiss, whose Walmart-exclusive Sonic Bomb sold 108K, take #2; and Toby Keith's American Ride (not to be confused wi ... More >>

Camille Paglia Provides Much-Needed Intellectual Cred for Birthers

And you thought birtherism was just for hillbillies and Republicans! David Weigel heard Camille Paglia on NPR yesterday, where the author of Sexual Personae and UArts professor told a no doubt astonished latte-drinking audience that "there are legitimate questions about the documentation of Obama' ... More >>

Wayman Tisdale, R.I.P.

Here he is doing Barry White with Toby Keith. And why not. SOTC rarely traffics in smooth-jazz talk, it's true, but let us nonetheless doff our caps for basketball star and bassist extraordinaire Wayman Tisdale, who's died of cancer at 44. After a beloved college stint with the Oklahoma Sooners an ... More >>

Make-Believe Boomlet for "Freedom Tower" Fails

The Times notes that the local tabs and Pataki have been bitching about the Port Authority's switch from "Freedom Tower" to "1 World Trade Center," and say "The 'Freedom Tower' Name Roars Back." That'll show people who think the Times is liberal! But we notice that even the professional outrage arti ... More >>

Country-Rap: A Secret History

Please Stop Belittling Toby Keith

He may be the greatest artist of the '00s. Don't tell the Dixie Chicks.

Bernie Kerik's MySpace Mood is Determined

Academy of Country Music Awards: A Running Diary

Live: Conservative Boogeyman Toby Keith

Music and September 11

Velveeta Elvis

Hat country's resident assman talks "tough" and gets to third base

Offend in Every Way

Shooter Jennings de-sissifies modern country, wearily and warily

A Running Diary of the Billboard Music Awards

Backstage at the Country Music Awards

Letters

Girlschool

Thick-necked ladies' man awaits beatdown by MC Hawking

Music

Grits Vs. Gravy

Bronx hulk, West Coast harpist make two house parties hop

Music

Music

Redneck Men Need Woman

Them Zarathustra boys been drag-racin' Fetchin' Gretchen's whiskey-fueled chariot on 22s

Music

Pebbles at the Palace

Volunteer Now in Civilization's Battle Against George the Boy King

The New Frontier

Playboys of the Southwestern World Thrive on Certainty

Bubba Sparks

All those settled-down friends are rowdy again, so country boy Bocephus will survive

Music

Quiet Desert Storm

A Very Good Year

Friendly Ghost of a Mullet

CMT Is Where It’s At!

Country Cuts the Crap