oneweekoneband:

Alabama were, without question, the biggest country artists of the 1980s. They were the #1 country artists for singles & albums combined, according to Billboard, in 1983-85, and were #2 in ‘81, ‘82, and ‘86. They had the #1 country album of the year twice in the decade, and twice they placed three albums in the year’s top 10. And of 29 singles they charted on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles in the 1980s, a full 27 of those hit #1, including, at one point, 21 in a row. That’s insane. That kind of dominance is MJ-with-the-Bulls levels of crazy. But. Alabama only (“only”) placed in the year-end artist top 10 from 1981-89. There’s one artist who placed in the top 10 every single year of the decade, as high as #2 (in 1984) and never lower than #8 (‘89). Said artist also charted 29 singles through the decade, with all but three making the top 10, including eight #1s. And at one point in the 1982, he had eight albums on the Top Country Albums chart, simultaneously. Let that sink in for just a second: at the time, the chart only had 75 positions, and he had 8 of them, or almost a full 11% of the chart. That’s domination.

Said artist is Hank Williams, Jr. – and he accomplished all of these feats without even remotely crossing over to a pop (non-country) audience. His highest-charting album on the pop album chart during this stretch was 1987’s Born to Boogie, which made it to #28. And his only appearances on the Hot 100 were way back in 1964, when he was essentially performing Hank Williams, Sr. karaoke.

I’m fascinated by Hank Jr. because he was so dominant, and simultaneously (albeit increasingly as the years have gone on) so problematic. As time has worn on, he’s become increasingly, loudly xenophobic, racist, misogynist, and homophobic. There were flickers of this at his commercial peak in the ‘80s (as I’ll discuss), but nothing near what they’ve become now. But he can’t just be dismissed, because he was also hugely influential – but sadly, much of that influence seems to have been swept under the rug thanks to his ugly politics. (The best accounting of his influence, and its confluence with his problematicism, can be found in my friend David Cantwell’s New Yorker profile of Jr. from 2 years ago; consider it your homework for this week.) And on top of that, not only was he incredibly popular and influential; Hank Jr. was also one of the finest country artists the ‘80s had to offer, synthesizing all sorts of musics into his country. He could do blues, he could do ragtime, he could get jazzy, and his sweetest spot was Southern/country-rock of the Lynyrd Skynyrd variety. 

Today the Country Music Hall of Fame announced their 2018 slate of inductees, and many think thought this could finally be Jr.’s year. Others feel that, thanks to his history of public bigotry, he may never get into the Hall until after his death. Criminally, he was left on the outside looking in yet again. What no one can dispute, however, is that he belongs there, just as much as his Daddy before him. Over the course of the next week-plus, my mission is to show you what makes/made him great and just why he should be considered part of the country music pantheon, focusing on (but not limited to) his prime decade, the 1980s, of which he was the indisputable country king.

As for me, I’m Thomas Inskeep, a popular music critic in my late 40s, who’s been sharing my thoughts on music since I first wrote, way back in 8th grade, for Pages by Pages, my junior high newspaper (shout out to Manchester Junior High School in North Manchester, IN, my hometown). I’m a native Hoosier and former radio DJ who’s been a Californian for almost 15 years, and just to make things that much more problematic around my love of Hank, Jr.’s work, I’m also a queer man. I was a Staff Writer for Stylus Magazine back in 2005-07 (RIP), have written for Seattle Weekly and SPIN, and presented at the 2016 Pop Conference (on Hall & Oates, in case you’re interested). I also write and am a selector for The Singles Jukebox, and I blog semi-regularly at Oh Manchester, So Much to Answer For, my blog home since 2002.

Now, let’s get whiskey bent and hell bound.