Today is a Sunday. Today is a Sunday in September. That means football will be played. And that, of course, means that tailgates will going throughout the country, in all 31 NFL cities (there are 32 teams, but two of them play in East Rutherford, New Jersey), and anywhere else around the U.S. that feels like it.
That begs the question: what music genre will be most prominently featured at these tailgates? The answer, unsurprisingly, is country. If you want to narrow it down, look no further than the Zac Brown Band’s 2008 single, “Chicken Fried.”
Yes, Spotify put together a list of the most popular tailgating songs. The list abounds with country, to the point that the first non-country entry is Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In the USA,” which comes in at 10th. The bro-country moment is also well-represented here, as Luke Bryan and Florida Geogia Line – the two artists most clearly embodying bro-country – both placed two entries in the top five.
As for “Chicken Fried,” its popularity on the tailgate circuit makes perfect sense. It’s a song about food. It’s a song about fried food. And, as the final verse attests, it’s a song about Supporting The Troops. And, hey, all of that might make the Ivory Tower liberals of the world turn their noses, but that clearly doesn’t matter to the tailgaters cooking up barbecue ribs five hours before the game actually starts.
(Via The Daily Dot)
