Editor's note: Wade recaps a recent hit from his blog,tampacalling.com., posted Oct. 29.
I've always had a soft spot for Bocephus, especially the artist's early material. For instance, his 1976 album Hank Williams Jr. & Friends is a genuine honky-tonk classic. But the Monday Night Football, right-wing buffoon Hank Williams Jr. caricature has long eclipsed that Hank Williams Jr., the one who in the late-1970s and early-1980s expertly carried on the country outlaw tradition of old pal Waylon Jennings. Over the years, Junior has morphed into a rich, bloated, redneck of the lowest variety — a man wearing gilded blinders, who hangs with asshole acolytes like Kid Rock while stuffing his face with filet mignon and retard sandwiches.
After witnessing Junior perform a ridiculously erroneous pro-McCain/Palin rewrite of his signature tune, "Family Tradition" (posted at tampacalling.com Oct. 29), I can no longer call myself a fan of the man — and I own more than a half dozen of his CDs and happily paid to see him perform at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg during my college days. Watching the controversial YouTube clip got me so riled up I ended my blog post with this highly professional missive: "Go back to your mansion, Bocephus, and go suck on one of those Cuban cigars you adore, you fucking fraud!"
The feedback came swift and hard, pro and con. Here's a sampling:
Loretta James: Well said. Thanks for having the courage to say your piece. I agree. It's a shameful, disgusting and embarrassing display of ignorance set to "music."
Shiraz: Shut up and quit crying libtard. You look like a Muslim terrorist.
Me: "Libtard." That's funny and I might have to steal the word from you for future use. But it sincerely scares/troubles me to read hate rhetoric such as "you look like a Muslim terrorist." Sad, Shiraz. Very sad.
Sweet Blahg: Oh Shiraz, rather bitter flavor there — what happened? You used to taste so good… Someone must have left you sitting out overnight without your cork.
Mary Merat: What a moron you are. Hank [Junior] doesn't need false fans of your kind. He was, is, and always will be the king. Go support some jackass without the balls to speak his mind.
Me: So, I'm a "false fan" because I don't agree with Junior's idiotic reasoning that the current financial crisis was caused by Clinton forcing bankers to lend money? Please. Just remember, Bocephus used to be a real rebel, singing songs about guzzling whiskey, chasing women and overdosing in Denver. More important, he used to sing genuine populist lines like: "I can barely live on my take-home pay/ There's a whole lotta people who agree with what I say/ Don't tell me to ride a bus and turn down my Thermostat/ When you're all riding around in jets and Cadillacs/ We can't take this lying down, we gotta try and fight back/ 'Til they believe what we said/ We're tired of being Johnny B. Goode and we gotta be Johnny Rebs."
Bocfusfaninfl: Hank Jr. has not changed his stance one bit, he has always stood for the simple man and his "McCain-Palin Tradition" exemplifies his beliefs. He should be commended for taking a stance, not critized. You may not agree with his position, but a "true fan" wouldn't post such a hard critism of someone you claim to be a fan of. He doesn't need "fans" like you. Furthermore, you should do a better job of researching before you blast someone, Hank lives on a farm in Paris, Tennessee, not a mansion in the heart of Trashville. Guess you won't be at the show in Crystal River in Decmber. I sure will be with about 20 other fans from across the country sitting on the front row.
Me: Putting a mansion on an enormous tract of land and calling it a farm doesn't change the fact that he lives in a mansion, a million miles away from the working class people he claims to represent in song.
Bocfusfaninfl: There you go again, spouting off about stuff you don't know shit about. The only people living in Paris, Tennessee are the WORKING CLASS. You are the typicial liberal do-gooder that attacks someone that has a contradicting opinion. His house is far from the "mansion" you keep wanting to charachterize. Another typical liberal stance, chastise those who have worked hard. Why shouldn't he have a "mansion", he has sold over 70 million records! And don't forget he donated over $100,000, of HIS personal money to the Katrina Relief efforts. If you are going to bash someone, you need to get your fucking facts straight!
Adam: Wade Tatangelo, Just so you know, Hank does own a farm in rural Pike County Alabama and its no mansion either. People don't want to talk about the good things Hank does as Bocfusfaninfl said he donated over 100k to the Katrina fund, Hank visited a Virginia coal miner after he was trapped in a mine, He plays an active role in the education of his children and their school, has played countless benefit concerts. I don't see any one criticizing Madonna for endorsing Obama or any of the other left wing liberal celebrities. Hank does not need fans or "former fans" such as your self to down him just because you disagree with the man, is just stupid. He is an American and has the right to freedom of speech if you don't like it TURN THE CHANNEL! Did you like his re-write of "A Country Boy Can Survive" to "America Can Survive" after 9/11? What is the difference? He wrote that song in support of something he believed in HIS COUNTRY, now he wrote another supporting another of his beliefs and now he is "populist"? Well, the definition of Populism is a discourse which supports "the people" versus "the elites." Democrat John Edwards called himself a "Populist" It sounds to me that you are being hippocratical.
This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2008.