The Kawasaki Mullet Commercial – The Music (Spoiler Alert – It’s Not Beastie Boys)

In a new ad featuring a side by side (a 4-wheeler that seats two and has a truck-bed-type situation going on in the back), Kawasaki embraces the mullet (hair but like, a long-hair-type situation going on in the back). You’ve heard of “business up front, party in the back” and that’s the idea behind the commercial. Even bald man Steve Austin gets in on the party.

The Song. Playing as the soundtrack for this commercial is a song called “O YA” (pronounced “Oh Yeah,” like do you like peanut butter? “Oh yeah.”) by Colony House. At first listen, I’m getting a mix of Beastie Boy vibes and hints of Family Force Five. Take a listen and let me know your opinion in the comments…

Colony House is a rock band (if you couldn’t tell from “O YA” (which sounds like– Do you love Taylor Swift? “Oh yeah.” -Every Chiefs fan)) from Tennessee and even though you won’t find it in their bio, two of the band members are descendants of a music legend… Steven Curtis Chapman. With their un-SCC style, though, and quite a bit of success, they are clearly their own entity, much like a little brother stepping out of the shadow of his big brother. I love that for them so be a gem by following Colony House on Instagram: @ColonyHouse and checking out a show near you.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah!

-Out of the Wilderness

I agree with Bethany Hamilton

Instead of riding them, Bethany Hamilton is making waves again after a video splashed onto the scene from surf company Rip Curl Women. Bethany responded in a Twitter post that reads, “Male-bodied athletes should not be competing in female sports. Period.” This comes 11 months after she said she will not be competing in the World Surf league since they are allowing men to compete in the women’s division.

In a nut (no pun intended) shell, the Rip Curl video was a montage of highlights of a surfer who was a man but is now a woman. In the rip current (see what I did there?) aftermath of the video, Rip Curl stated that they aren’t partnering with this surfer, she (he) is not sponsored by the brand, and basically has no ties whatsoever with Rip Curl. I haven’t seen an anything go backwards that fast since Michael Jackson. Hee hee! (or shee shee if we’re being politically correct)

Gosh, some poeple just love to be offended, don’t they? Did they even catch the part about creating a new division? Yeah, Bethany suggested (and others have, as well) creating a separate category for trans athletes to showcase their passion and skill in the sport they love. I can’t see how that would be a bad thing, except that that group of offended people won’t have anything to argue about. Side rant: Does anyone else get the vibe that this group is using the trans athlete drama to exercise their desire for control? It appears that they want everyone to believe exactly the same things they do and if you don’t, you’re a bigot or a racist or a sexist or a misogynist or a you’re just not enlightened.

The water is gotten a little choppy from Bethany Hamilton’s, and Riley Gaines for that matter, stance on trans inclusion. But it’s much ado about nothing. Just make a new division, problem solved. If this offended group would stop and think about it for a second, I sincerely hope they’d realize that it would be a huge step for trans athletes. Not only can they compete without controversy, but these pioneers of sport (because trans in sports is kind of a new thing) will be heralded in history as trailblazers. In every sport, they’ll be able to say, “(person’s name) is the first trans woman (or man) to win the (sport) championship!” Think about the honor and prestige that comes with that. Hey, it’s better than being born a man or woman and sucking at their sport of choice. They can switch genders and dominate and get all the awards. Isn’t that the end goal, recognition as a real athlete?

Until then, hop over to Missouri where Bethany Hamilton is joining Riley Gaines for a story time at a local library in the Springfield area today, February 2nd. They’ll be reading from their books, both which encourage bravery. Pay no mind to the protesters who plan to be there, who are mostly women. They’re not truly thinking about the best interests of the trans athletes, they just enjoy opposing people who aren’t exactly like them, which is pretty ironic.

All of you living in the Show-Me State, show up and show support for Bethany and Riley! Also, follow them on Instagram… @BethanyHamilton and @RileyGBarker

-Out of the Wilderness

5 New Country Music Videos – PART 2 of The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly…

Hey there! Thanks for coming by to check out part 2 of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly… a list of 5 new country music videos. You can read my original post here which includes the videos from Cody Johnson, Scotty McCreery, Conner Smith, Chase Matthew, and Kenny Chesney. Today they’ll be divided up into the good, the bad, and the ugly. Away we go!

The Good. Two music videos land in this category. First is Cody Johnson “The Painter”… a really cute story about a couple falling in love. I like the song except that I think there’s a risk in raising someone up on a pedestal like the lyricist does. “I thank God every day for how He made her.” No one likes everything about everyone. Praising someone so highly only sets them up for failure when they have a moment of imperfection (not living up to their partner’s unrealistic expectations). But this one still lands in the good because as far as love songs go, it’s sweet.

The second video is Conner Smith and Hailey Whitters with “Roulette On The Heart.” Actually, this is my favorite song on the entire list. The verse phrasing and the delivery of the rhymes (verse 1: “Trigger” and “with her”), plus the pleasant combination of the distinct voices work together to make this song really enjoyable. The line “Loving you, baby, is flippin’ off the safety, livin’ on a maybe” is a vivid metaphor, easy to understand especially in the pro-2nd Amendment south. Pew pew! The video is rather bland but definitely doesn’t take away from the give and take of the song. In fact, going back and forth between the two singers matches the push and pull of the lyrics.

The Bad. There are also two entries in this category. It’s not that they’re entirely bad but there were plenty of eye-rolls as I watched each one. First up is Chase Matthew “We All Grow Up.” Right off the bat in the first 10 seconds there’s that echo effect so often heard in soft, boyfriend country type songs and I despise it. The lyrics include generic small-town (dare I say redneck?) themes like chasing them daisy dukes… made a little trouble had a lot of fun… round here we’re proud of the way we live… party round a fire… and on and on. Somewhere in Nashville, Jason Aldean is proud and Tyler Childers is livid. I’d say, though, that verse 2 is an exception since it’s clever and mostly stays away from the country clichés. I also don’t like the incongruence of the chorus– past tense and present tense in the same sentence!? “We all settled down and we all grow up.” Why not just say “we all grew up” and make that the title of the song? It’s almost as annoying as Reba’s “Seven Minutes In Heaven.”

Kenny Chesney’s “Take Her Home” is somewhere between the good and the bad but what swayed my decision is the lack of emotion in the video. I would’ve liked a more simple, obvious storyline visualized without the excessive editing. Instead of drawing me in, the abstract clips of stars and roads and slowly tracking around the couple in the truck only served to disconnect me from any heartfelt moments shared between the lovebirds. Bottom line: I couldn’t feel it and I wanted to feel it. With that said, the third verse was nice, reminding me a lot of Kip Moore’s “Hey Pretty Girl” (which is a great song, by the way).

The Ugly. If you’ve done the math, you know there’s only one music video left for this category. I guess it’s possible to give the song some credit for a clever title along with the lyrics “drinking cab in a Solo, solo in the cab of my truck,” but there’s a continuity error (not in the sense of a mistake in a movie, as the phrase is often used) in what we’re hearing and what we’re seeing for Scotty McCreery’s “Cab In A Solo.” Whoever thought it was a good idea to put together a montage of concert footage, recording studio clips, and Scotty’s newborn as the visualizer for a break-up song should be fired (not in the sense of losing their job, as the phrase is often used) but hey guy, you’re fired! Go sit at your desk and think about your life decisions. The video adds absolutely nothing to the song when there was a great opportunity for some light-hearted fun with a few good actors. Think about a guy trying to return a bottle of wine to a grocery store. Sitting at a bar crying wildly. Sitting in his truck drinking at a park while other happy people throw frisbees, enjoy picnics, fly kites. All the stuff he’s not doing because he’s a loser (in his mind). I watched this video again and now I’m just angry. It doesn’t suck, but it sucks as a video for this song. Today, it’s the ugly.

-Out of the Wilderness

5 New Country Music Videos – The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly?

Hello there! I’m no Grady Smith or anything, but I like watching music videos (and listening to the songs, too, of course) and finding out how my head and my heart react to the entire presentation. For my entire adult life, I’ve held to the idea that if a music video doesn’t make the song better, don’t do it. The last thing an artist wants (I think?) is for the listener to hear their song and only be able to recall a video they didn’t like. Ideally, they’ll have a video like Kenny Chesney’s “Anything But Mine” or, I’m cringing for including this one, but Florida Georgia Line “Cruise.” The videos enhanced the song and brought about all the good feelings, right? So with that in mind, here are 5 new country music videos for you to check out. Do these make the songs better? Comment below! I’ll watch them as well and in tomorrow’s post, I’ll break down my thoughts on each. Enjoy (hopefully)!

Cody Johnson “The Painter”…
written by Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins and Ryan Larkins.

Scotty McCreery “Cab In A Solo”…
written by Scotty McCreery, Brent Anderson and Frank Rogers.

Conner Smith “Roulette On The Heart”…
written by Conner Smith, Jessi Alexander, Chase McGill, and Mark Trussell.

Chase Matthew “We All Grow Up”…
written by Chase Matthew, Alex Maxwell, Jake Angel, and Will Pattat.

Kenny Chesney “Take Her Home”…
written by Hunter Phelps, HARDY and Zach Abend.

-Out of the Wilderness

The iPhone New Driver Commercial – The Music, Ace Ventura, and More!

This is another commercial released by Apple in the last few weeks (also check out the karate kid ad, which is great). Anyone who has a daughter, granddaughter, niece, God-daughter, or lives next to a new driver can relate to this ad. The other day I hitched a ride with my 15-year-old niece and let me tell ya, I was in the back seat updating my will. OK, it wasn’t that bad but when I saw this iPhone commercial, I had PTSD flashbacks, just sayin’.

Check it out then scroll down for more info…

The Music. For the first time in a long time, finding the song for this ad brought to surface some confusion. Maybe you can chime in with a comment to help sort out who the artist is behind the song. My initial search landed on Nathan Yell with “Goodbye” from 2007. Here’s the full track…

It would have been nice if the search stopped there but then I came across Aloe Blacc. Less than 2 weeks ago he released what sounds like the same exact song, yet it’s 17 years after Nathan Yell’s track.

As I’m researching into the names Nathan Yell, Aloe Blacc, and Engelmorte, I’m starting to think we might have a Lt. Einhorn Ray Finkle situation going on here. Is Aloe Blacc actually Nathan Yell? According to the snippet below, yes.

Exile chimes in: “I also have this other album that is some of his most incredible work under the alias Nathan Yell. It’s a mix of dark, wild west meets gothic, grim reaper meets old gospel hymns.

Exile is a DJ who’s worked with Aloe Blacc many times before. More of that interview including a reference to the track “Goodbye” under the named Nathan Yell can be found on this Medium.com article from 2015. Sooooo Finkle is Einhorn!

How’s that for going down a rabbit hole? When I started writing about the iPhone commercial, I had no idea I’d end up with a scene from Ace Ventura. Alllllrighty then. If you have any comments to share, chime in below!

-Out of the Wilderness