Buddy Rich: Analyzing the Reasons for Dislike of Country Music

This essay delves into the reasons behind Buddy Rich's disdain for country music, exploring his perspectives on the genre and its perceived simplicity. It examines his arguments against country music, contrasting them with his appreciation for jazz and its complexity. The essay also considers the historical and social context of Rich's views, including the rise of country music and the marginalization of jazz. It highlights how Rich viewed country music as a step backward compared to the advancements in other musical forms and technology. The essay also acknowledges the limitations of Rich's viewpoint and explores the appeal of country music, its ability to evoke nostalgia, and its accessibility to a wide audience. Furthermore, it addresses the complexities of musical taste and the potential for bias in musical preferences, while providing a comprehensive analysis of Rich's critique of country music.

Running head: BUDDY RICH: HATER OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE CORE
BUDDY RICH: HATER OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE CORE
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1BUDDY RICH: HATER OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE CORE
Music, like all other art forms, has never been stagnant in only one place. With the
evolution of humans, music has also continuously evolved and newer forms of music sprung
from basic structures. Genres have given birth to other genres, that actively breathed life into
newer genres and all of these collectively reached out to even greater number of people. While
some music genres were restricted to certain groups and social structures, the newly developed
genres appealed to other social groups. Like blues, which was originally brought to the western
world by the African plantation workers, gave birth to jazz, which was almost synonymous with
the most elite sections of the society. Buddy Rich was one of the most prolific and influential
drummers of all time and a true jazz legend (McDonough 2017). His playing style and technique
influenced and shaped the playing style of the countless other jazz drummers that were to idolize
him. However, being a human being, he held his own beliefs and had preferences towards
specific genres and held dislike for others. Buddy Rich was not at all fond of country music
because of many reasons that were elaborated by himself on many occasions on different
interviews and the current essay looks into the many facets that rendered his dislike towards the
genre of country music to be sanctified by himself (Wilson 2018).
Jazz, in its purest form, even though is derived from blues, detached itself from its roots
in terms of being available or accessible by the mass. Jazz maintained a stature where it was
meant to be only for the musically refined and those who did not possess any knowledge about
complex musical theories could not appreciate the complicated playing techniques of jazz.
Buddy Rich was a benchmark in not only jazz, but across any and every music genre. However,
he had reservation against country music that he had highlighted in many different occasions.
Buddy Rich expressed his discontent over the genre of country music publicly and dismissed the
entire musical form to be “too simple” for everyone to learn and play (Milkowski 2018).
Buddy believed in musical sophistication and his loathing of country music was not kept
to himself by any means. Public interviews and talk shows were platforms which were
broadcasted across national and even international channels and these served as the places where
Buddy emphasized his disregard for the country western genre of music. Buddy argued that
country music was a giant step backwards, in a time when all other musical forms and other
aspects of life was moving ahead: people were landing on the moon, new technology was being
invented, jazz was creating things and playing styles that were never imagined of before.

2BUDDY RICH: HATER OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE CORE
Standing from this place, it was his view that country music is too primitive and did not offer the
listener anything new to think about or be excited about. On the other hand, he argued, jazz has
given the world prolific musicians who have expanded the fields of music to extents that were
uncharted before.
Despite his views on country music, it must be remembered that Buddy held a very
narrow view of country music overall. Musicians such as Chet Atkins, Hank Cochran, Lucinda
Williams and John Denver have all made incredible additions to the world of music
(McDonough 2017). Country music being simple is the exact thing that helps to attract a lot of
people. The dream like country music has the power to invoke nostalgia and hit a very personal
place with the listener which is often associated with fond memories (Milkowski 2018). This
has helped country music artists to make sure that more people are attracted towards the music
because they can relate their beautiful childhood times with the music. Artists can tap into a
place within the listeners that gives them instant connection and the both can begin a journey
together towards a dreamscape that can enable the listener to sit back and smile.
On the other hand, jazz is all about complexity and technical virtuosity that shows of the
capabilities and the prowess of the player. However, it must be remembered that, complexity
does not always mean “better”. A song can be tremendously complicated in terms of the time
signatures or the complexity of the rhythm sections, and still can lack the very passion and the
heart that is the essential foundation of music to begin with. It should be remembered that blues
and soul artists had initially dismissed even jazz artists by saying that they only make noise and
not actual music. However, this view of jazz has since been changed and the prolific talent that is
required to play jazz has long been acknowledged and incorporated into mainstream music
(Rosario 2015).
To understand Buddy’s perspectives on country music, we have to also understand the
contemporary social structures and the music scenes that were prevalent at that time. It was an
actual fact that jazz had been experiencing somewhat of an ignorance and even legendary and
superb instrumentalists were being overlooked. On the other side, country music had taken over
the western world and a number of artists and musicians had shot into fame who were essentially
using the same style and the same techniques as their baseline (Wilson 2018). Buddy’s dissent
for country comes from a suppressed anger and he mostly speaks up for a whole community of

3BUDDY RICH: HATER OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE CORE
musicians who felt, at that time, that their talents were not appreciated enough and cheaper skills
and shallow musical styles were being prioritized over. To be very honest about the origin of
jazz, its roots are firmly planted into the fields of blues, which is essentially as simple as music
can get. To brag and be vocal about a music style that traces its ancestry back to one of the most
basic and simplistic forms of music, is almost nothing short of coming off as arrogant. To be fair,
even country music sprang from the same aquifer which gave birth to jazz. Hank Williams, one
of the most highly regarded country and western music artists, himself learned to play the guitar
from a black blues musician, which almost gives him the same background as Buddy Rich in
terms of musical origins.
If things are to be categorized in a singular perspective of how many chords were used to
write the song, people may very well completely reject the entire musical efforts that were made
by the Ramones. Almost all of their songs comprised of mainly three chords and a simple drum
groove. They did not exhibit virtuosic playing styles or did not display much technical mastery.
And yet, somehow, their music hit the mass in a way that no one before or after them could
manage to do and they became one of the greatest punk groups to have existed. If complexity
and technical prowess were indeed the parameters that decided if a song is good or not, then the
Ramones would not have any hopes to carve the place for themselves which they did. Blues,
which lay down the foundation stones for so many different and versatile music genres that were
to come in the following decades, including heavy metal, was also often a rustic display of
simplistic chords and super laid back rhythms carried the entire songs. Jazz is also a derivative
form of the same music style as the others, but incorporates much complex techniques and
playing styles that require the instrumentalists to often possess an in depth knowledge about
musical theory.
However, there is still some justification and truth to the opinions and views of Buddy
Rich that he had towards country music. The lyrical content of the music genre seldom went
beyond some core themes and the same themes were essentially presented in different
combination styles. This can soon become incredibly tiring for the listener who is always trying
to get exposed to something new and venturing into newer grounds in terms of art (Sobhani,
Snyder and Steward 2017). The music, however soothing or peaceful as it may be, it fails to keep
the listener hooked to the genre, if all that is being presented to the listener are basically the same

4BUDDY RICH: HATER OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE CORE
things on loop. The same issue had also persisted during the anti-disco movement, which was the
point of origin for an array of different musical forms in the later years, such as Hip Hop and
other similar subcultures. The disco culture had become stagnant after a point and had started to
only reproduce the same things over and over again (Rosario 2015). The apprehension that was
given a rise by the disco music soon started to look for other forms of music which helped the
artists to express themselves as they wanted to and in the process a new culture and musical
genre was given life to.
Buddy’s personal dissent towards country music stems from what some may identify as
ignorance on his part and some sort of personal reservation against the genre (Blair 2015). For
others, it is simply the fact that he chose to be narrow minded and did not want to accept any
form of music that could form its base upon simple tunes and nothing complicated. The technical
mastery that he possessed about jazz drumming is unquestioned and often hailed as supreme.
During the height of his career, he was billed as the “Greatest Drummer of all Time” (Fark.com
2018). This sort of recognition does not happen unless the player actually has something to back
up such claims. However, being bestowed with such titles and honour can also significantly
create a boundary around the celebrities and make their visions highly narrow. However, there
are some people who look at Buddy Rich as a person who is giving the voice to the people who
were prolific at playing instruments and in a genre of music that was being largely ignored at that
time because of the skin colour of the people who were playing the music. Jazz, and especially
bebop, was dissed as “noise” by a lot of musicians at that time. Even the movement that gave
momentum to development of a subculture against the disco style was also essentially a
movement against the black musicians. Irrespective of the final results of the movement or what
new things it gave birth to, the initial sparks of the same were lying in racial undertones which
was very valid at the time of Buddy Rich (Wilson 2018). His interviews and ideals that he held
against country music can also be viewed from a perspective that may has to involve an
understanding of racism in the contemporary American society.
Despite his great reputation as a fantastic drummer, Buddy had also grown a reputation
for himself for showcasing mean behaviour towards his bandmates in many cases. He became
widely known for getting into arguments with members from his band and firing them on the

5BUDDY RICH: HATER OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO THE CORE
spot, while a performance was going on (Milkowski 2018). This is indeed something that is to
be frowned upon and not to be exhibited by a celebrity.
From the above discussion, it can fairly concluded that Buddy Rich held some
reservations against country music that were not always justified. When it comes to music, what
it ultimately is diluted to is the matter of personal choices and tastes. People listen to a lot of
genres of music and from those they chose the one that they feel the most connected to and delve
deeper into the genre. Even if a person does not like a specific genre of music, ridiculing the
entire genre and degrading the people who listen to it or the artists who work hard to create the
same, is something that cannot be accepted. One of the most popular myths that surrounds Rich
is the story of him being on his deathbed and when asked what is that he fears the most, to
replied with “country western”. Hating something such content can come off as being inhibited
towards it and it cannot bode well when making a judgement about the same. Music is something
that is attributed, ultimately, to the ears of the listener, and cannot be simply disrespected
because the person talking about it does not feel good about listening to a specific genre.

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References
Blair, J., 2015. Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966. Arcadia Publishing.
McDonough, J., 2017. Buddy Rich FIRE STARTER. DOWN BEAT, 84(1), pp.42-44.
Milkowski (2018). Bugle Call Rag - Buddy Rich & His Orchestra - Jul 1, 1967. [online]
Available at: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/07/buddy-rich-his-orchestra-bugle-
call-rag.html [Accessed 27 Jan. 2018].
Rosario, N., 2015. Burn This Disco Out.
Sobhani, S., Mark Snyder, M. and Steward, T., 2017. 80 Years of Popular
Music. Metamorphosis.
Wilson, J. (2018). Music. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/02/archives/how-buddy-rich-discovered-karate-and-tamed-his-
temper-music-ever.html [Accessed 27 Jan. 2018].