Mainstream country music certainly has no shortage of trend chasers. In 2013 and early 2014, you were pretty much guaranteed to hear songs about pickup trucks, alcohol, and hot girls (not that we don’t still now, but it was extremely more prevalent and noticeable then).  In the latter half of 2014, there was a noticeable abundance of Pop starting to infiltrate the mainstream country airwaves to the point where you couldn’t even hear a token country instrument. Of course, we had acts who latched onto either one or both of those trends. Some males have even switched trends, gradually moving on from one trend to the next (we call this evolution, right Thomas Rhett?).

One of these acts who has done so is Chris Lane. Chris is an act who is signed to Big Loud Mountain Records. His debut single, “Broken Windshield View” was an absolute train wreck of a song, and was a 100% pure bro-country song complete with a loud production, obnoxious lyrics, and an obnoxious vocal performance. Thankfully, it tanked. I really want to leave his new single alone, mostly because I was hoping to never have to hear this thing ever. Well it looks like I won’t be able to avoid it, as according to some sources, this is already shaping up to be the next On The Verge pick after Granger Smith’s bro “Backroad Song”. I mostly hate this program, save for the lone exception of Cam’s “Burning House”. Well, I definitely will hate it a whole lot more if Chris’s next single is the next pick, because this is even worse than “Broken Windshield View”.

Remember how I said there were males who switched from one trend to the next? Well you better believe it’s in full force here. “Fix” is a total Pop song. There’s no arguing it. And no, don’t give me shit about the banjo that plucks faintly in the background, that doesn’t do a damn thing to add a country element to this song. A lot of people will argue that Sam Hunt is lyrically a country artist, and I while I highly disagree with this statement, I at least understand where they’re coming from with the argument. “Fix” however, is not something you could call a country song, in fact, even as a Pop song, this is an absolute disaster (and that’s being nice!).

The song not only combines Country’s trend of masquerading Pop songs as Country, but also goes further with what seems to be the new lyrical trend of comparing love to a drug. Tyler Farr’s, “Withdrawals”, Zac Brown Band’s “Beautiful Drug” and Brett Eldredge’s “Drunk On Your Love” all compare the effects of a woman’s sexiness to the effects of either alcohol or drugs. But wait! This song is TOTALLY different! This time, the MALE is the drug! How clever Chris! Yeah, no. Screw that. Like I said, the song talks about a woman who apparently is in need of love, and apparently Chris can be the drug (the “fix”) she needs. What’s even worse is the arrogance that accompanies the lyrics. Take a look here:

I make you feel invincible, I’m more than recreational, I’m what you need

And on top of that, the girl in the song apparently already has someone who she is already seeing. But hey! Screw him! Chris is who you need! He even says so himself. There’s apparently nothing wrong with the relationship but screw love! Sex is better! Here are the lyrics to prove my point:

​Hey girl, he don’t get you then never, then just leave

This goes even more full on arrogant than Old Dominion’s “Break Up With Him”. Sure, maybe there’s something wrong with the relationship, but we only hear it Chris, not the woman, so in this sense, I’m led to believe that Chris is only after one thing.

All in all, this song is the perfect representation of what mainstream country is falling to. There’s nothing country about this whatsoever, and there’s nothing even original or redeemable about it whatsoever either. There’s still time before the next On The Verge pick, so maybe I’m wrong. I pray to God I am, because if this song hits the mainstream airwaves, it’ll truly show why mainstream country music needs a major “fix."

Grade: F
Listen: “Fix” (Note: Must have an AllAccess account to listen, but I highly recommend skipping this)

Author: Zackary Kephart

Hello folks, and welcome to the 2nd annual This Is Country Music 20 Worst Singles of 2014 list. This year, in addition to myself and sabre14, we have Pulse Music Board member zack97 contributing to our list. Without further ado, here are the twenty worst radio singles of 2014, as voted on by TICM contributors. Stay tuned for our Best Of list, coming soon!

#20
Little Big Town, "Day Drinking"

After "Your Side Of The Bed" and "Sober" under performed at radio, it was obvious that Little Big needed something upbeat and fun in the vein of "Pontoon" to catapult themselves back into top five territory. With that we have "Day Drinking". This song is lazy and annoying, the whistles throughout make it hard to enjoy, and do we really need more songs about how fun drinking is? It's an overdone topic as is, throw in a grating production and you have a mess of a single. - zack97

#19
Darius Rucker, "Homegrown Honey"

While "Homegrown Honey" was already a dull, unoriginal song to begin with, what makes it even worse is the fact that it's such a blatant attempt to return to radio after "Miss You" bombed. Bro-country is dead dude, get with the times. "Ooo, I dig the way that you move" is an embarrassing line. *sigh* - Markus Meyer 

#18
The Band Perry, "Chainsaw"

While "Chainsaw" is fairly unoffensive upon first listen, it grows worse upon each listen. When The Band Perry is on their game, they're interesting, and they hold up after repeated listens. "Chainsaw" is neither, it's boring, and it's grating. - MM

#17
Eric Paslay, "Song About A Girl"

This song spends three and a half minutes telling you what this song is not about but at the same time never going in depth about what the song "is" about. I'm sorry but Eric's song about "nothing", or at least nothing we haven't heard a million times before about a heartbreak queen rockin' the jeans before, if you ask me, and one I wish was never a single. - sabre14

#16
Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, "Somethin' Bad"

I expect better from both of these two. Lambert and Underwood have produced some of the most compelling material of the past five years, and this is what we get from their duet? Disappointing. This is all style, no substance, it's loud for the sake of being loud, and worst of all, it's pointless. Somethin' bad indeed. - MM

#14
Brantley Gilbert / Justin Moore / Thomas Rhett, "Small Town Throwdown"

This obnoxious piece of trash is easily the worst song on what was an otherwise brilliant album in Just As I Am. It's cliched, it's loud, and Thoma Rhett sounds terrible with his exaggerated twang. No thanks. - MM

#13
Maggie Rose, "Girl In Your Truck Song"

Maggie, why? When you put out three dynamite songs out to radio that barely make a dent with them its frustrating. So she thought that combining the names of a lot of famous "bro country" hits("Thats My Kind Of Night", "Chillin' It", etc.) would be a great idea. Unfortunately for her, this song doesn't work at all, largely due to the fact that the lyrics are lazy and stupid. Seriously Maggie. get on Maddie & Tae's side. At least they mentioned the bro songs cleverly and stood up for the females. - zack97

#12
Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan, "This Is How We Roll"

With this song came the same song and dance (literally) with FGL. A catchy melody but God awful lyrics. The overproduction is nothing new with them but the rapping by Tyler during the one of the song's verses was (on radio at least) and easily the worst part of the song. - sabre14

#11
Rascal Flatts, "Payback"

Sure, Rascal Flatts have had some bad singles over the years, but this one takes the cake. Gary LeVox sounds laughably bad here, as does everything else about this obnoxious, immature, and just plain bad "song". Apparantely country radio agreed, as it missed the top 20. You're better than this guys. - MM

#10
Jason Aldean, "Burnin' It Down"

The only country sounding thing to me in "Burnin' It Down" is Jason's vocals. This is more Pop than Kelleigh's song which is saying something. The production has more of a Hip-Hop and R&B feel than a country one. The lyrics are another look away moment. There's nothing "offensive" or "taboo" about saying "Naked in my bed". But the reason most don't use it, is because it sounds, well, stupid. Probably my least favorite Aldean song but most obviously disagree as it topped the Mediabase and Billboard charts for multiple weeks... - sabre14

#9
Kelleigh Bannen, "Famous"

I know country radio is trending more into the Pop sound as time goes on but "Famous" takes it to a new level. The chorus made me though I had tuned into a Hot AC station when it first came on the radio. Quite the change from Kelleigh's country sounds on her first single, "Sorry On The Rocks". Kelleigh has immense talent but "Famous" masks it. - sabre14

#8
Chris Lane, "Broken Windshield View"

A song about small town pride with an obnoxiously loud chorus? Yeah, that pretty much sums up this song. It's obvious he's trying to cash in on the bro crowd like Cole Swindell and Chase Rice did, but unfortunately, he's a little too late. Try again with a better song next time Chris. - zack97

#5
Joey Hyde, "Get It On"

This is a perfect example of what not to release as your debut single. "Get It On" is uncreative in every way, shape and form. The lyrics are unoriginal. The instrumentation is repetitive, and the production is overbearing. Not a good first step into country radio. - sabre14

#4
Florida Georgia Line, "Sun Daze"

The boys of Florida Georgia Line took it a little too far with this song. Getting stoned is nothing new in country music, but the problem with this song is that the entire song talks about NOTHING other than getting stoned, oh and getting laid (classy). I don't think anyone will be able to forget the infamous "pink umbrella" line. Ugh. - zack97

#3
Dylan Scott, "Mmm, Mmm, Mmm"

We've heard this type of song 100000 times. A guy thinks a girls so hot that he wants to express that by showing how it makes him feel and how country he is. This song is one of the worst examples of this, nothing but cliche country boy lyrics that sound so stupid. The title doesn't even have an actual word in it. - zack97

#2
Tim McGraw, "Lookin' For That Girl"

When I first heard this song, something happened that had never happened to me before - my jaw dropped in disbelief. I couldn't imagine that this was indeed Tim McGraw. It sounded like some awful computerized auto-tune machine sputtering out odd and strange lyrics. I never thought Tim would outdo "Truck Yeah" in the horrendous department but he did so with flying colors. - sabre14

#1
Jerrod Niemann, "Donkey"

I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said a million time about this atrocity. This is embarrassing to Jerrod Niemann, his label, the songwriters, the producer, and country music. Everything about this is just terrible. An absolute no-brainer for my most hated single of 2014. Jaw droppingly bad. - MM

Chris Lane's debut single gets a couple things right, and a lot of things wrong. 

Let's start with the positives: Lane sounds fully committed here, like he really believes in what he's singing, something I greatly appreciate. Furthermore, he clearly has the vocal chops to be an effective artist. 
The chorus is also melodically sound. It's not insanely catchy but little nuggets like "our Friday nights might get a little black and blue" get lodged in your brain for hours.

That's where the positives abruptly stop. Despite the occasional catchy hook, it's yet another bro-song hidden beneath a big title hook. Think of the most average country-pride anthem you can imagine, then think of the most average bro-country song of all time. That is basically what "Broken Windshield View" is.

It doesn't help matters that Joey Moi smothers it with the loudest, most obnoxious production in existence. Yes, there is some token banjo thrown in, but Mr. Moi cranks up the guitars to make sure you can't hear it. Can't have country instruments on a mainstream single now can we.

Chris Lane might have potential to be a decent artist one day, but first he has to ditch Joey Moi and find a different producer, then he has to branch out lyrically. For now I'll file him in with the other Florida Georgia Line wannabees. This is just one big (loud) pile of blah.

Grade: D+
Listen: "Broken Windshield View"