Farce the Music: .99 Review: Mark McKinney

Jun 1, 2009

.99 Review: Mark McKinney

Mark McKinney - Middle America

The People's Take

Oh Yeah! (5 Stars) – Awesome song! Great lyrics, tight players, love the drum fills (you don't hear those kinds of licks on a country record), and I will be excited to hear the rest of the new album! The bridge adds a lot of energy to carry the song home- my favorite part.
by eye ballers

Middle America (5 Stars) – Modern day classic!
by cabo robo

My Take

Somewhere between Mellencamp's small town laments and The Warren Brothers' occasional faux-losiphizing lies Mark McKinney's "Middle America." It's a fairly catchy ode to life in southwestern central Gambia, I mean ...middle America. This song falls somewhere between a modern day classic and a big steaming pile of poop. It all sounds pretty good to these ears, and Mark does a pretty good job of summing up what middle-Americans are going through these days. My main issue is with the hook. Is there such thing as middle pride? Is he referring to those of us between coasts or just the landlocked among us? He mentions that middle is

between left and right (whew! thanks for clearing that up!) but is that a political statement or a geographic one? Who is supposed to sing along? And are we supposed to feel okay about putting the American dream on a high interest plan? Isn't that what got us in this mess to begin with? Towards the end of the song, Mark pulls an Eric Church and starts listing the finer points of residing in the places in America that aren't tops, bottoms or edges. I'm thinking people on the lower right side can experience rock music too Mark. Now that I've started thinking too hard about this song, I realize you're not supposed to do that. Just roll down the windows and proclaim your middle-Americanness!! Hooray debt!

Total value: .45/.99