Toby Keith - Beers Ago
Guilty Pleasures Week

It almost physically hurts to be sharing this tonight. For the past few years, my dad and younger brother have been really into country. When I say that, I mean really into country. We’re from just outside of Boston and my brother owns a cowboy hat. I’d hear country at home. I’d hear it in the car. I’d hear it with my brother’s ringtones. For a long time it was impossible to escape the twang. I’d take just about every available opportunity when they’d talk about the genre to decry it and its merits. This became difficult to keep up, though. Much to my horror, that earworm started working its magic and I found myself whistling some of the tunes from time to time. I wasn’t really at the point of enjoying them, but they’d be stuck in my head nonetheless. I ignored it for a while, and I was able to avoid that second-hand listening to it for a decent stretch. Then I started working in retail on the side of my classes.

Unfortunately for my hipster sensibilities, the soundtrack at work featured some country songs, more so this past summer when I had more time to work. While I started whistling to some of the songs again, something that I do at work regardless of the song, they started getting stuck in my head again, this one in particular. After being forced to listen to it time and time again, in spite of myself I began to enjoy it like a musical Stockholm Syndrome. There’s just about nothing more country than measuring spans of time in “beers ago,” evoking images of reminiscing on late nights in a backyard, downing tall cans of PBR with an absence of irony, and lighting up a smoke or two. Naturally, Beers Ago became my dirty musical secret with my preferences for alternative/indie music in its many forms. When I’d listen to it on my computer, I’d make sure to do it on YouTube so it didn’t end up on my last.fm.

I set out to just own liking this song, but I can’t escape the embarrassment of tossing this one up, so I’d begrudgingly like you to enjoy…

-Andrew

(Source: soundboard)