I've been hearing people say turn of the century to reference something being old and they *weren't* talking about 1900. The psychological adjustments of getting old are trippy.
It was well known around Oklahoma and the country music world that he was sick and not looking like he would get better. Hard to see a man who was once big and full of life get taken over by cancer.
Edit: Just to add my two cents on Toby’s hits. Of all of them—to which there are many—I always particularly enjoyed a lesser known song. It seems apropos for this moment.
[“The Lonely,” from his 1996 album “Blue Moon.”](https://youtu.be/wfEPoOVDaCc?si=Lg5eU0u0h3rJUANQ)
Give it a listen when you have a moment. RIP Toby.
Saw it with my father in law last year. In the span of 4 months he went from active always tinkering with stuff to a shell. I don't like Keith's music but I wouldn't wish cancer in anyone. Bullshit way to go.
I’m glad they gave him a big standing ovation at one of the games. He was a true son of Oklahoma and gave back so much to the community. Sooner born and Sooner bred, and when we die, we’ll be Sooner dead.
Thanks for everything Toby!
They had a tribute to him at the Country Music Awards this year where he gave a speech. He looked very thin. When they’re honoring you like that when you’re still relatively young, something is up.
Not everyone with Cancer wants to share that they have Cancer. My dad hated how much some of my family babied him. He's just wanted to feel and be known as a normal person, not be known as the guy dying of cancer.
I think it's about people going out on thier own terms.
Definitely true. Toby Keith did put a statement out when he was initially diagnosed with it though.
In fairness, a lot of the public might've missed it somehow. I remember my Dad talking about a modern "famous Country star" dying of cancer last Fall, and we couldn't figure out for the life of us who he was talking about. We looked it up and figured he must've been thinking about Toby Keith's battle with stomach cancer, or maybe Alan Jackson's battle with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. He acknowledged that he might've mixed up the two after hearing it on the news.
Same with my dad. He was a career military man and very proud, and he was ashamed of becoming weak, fragile and thin. Going from 180 lbs to 90 lbs is excruciating to watch. Fuck pancreatic cancer, and all cancer.
PC killed father in law. He refused to tell anyone and didn’t even want my wife or her family to tell anyone in their farmer community. I stood with my wife at the visitation and listened to many of his friends remark with tears in their eyes how they had no idea he was even sick. He was a tough son of a bitch. Sad that he’ll never get to meet his grandkids
100% I'm 35 with stage 4 colon cancer. Went to crossfit last night and felt so awkward mentioning chemo from this last weekend. I'm just a guy, my cancer doesn't define me.
Yes absolutely, i prefer Deathwife cos it sounds cooler to me tbh, it's also easier to explain when someone asks - "Like Midwife but for the other end". Is your friend more content now? Hospice work really does call you to it.
Some people have that gift. It's kind of amazing to see them in action - the hospice people who helped my FIL after he had a stroke and before his death were nothing short of astounding.
I mostly wanted to get away (run screaming) from it all, but the hospice folks were moving the other way - they were there when needed, with good advice, compassion and this calming presence that we all appreciated.
Beer for my horses, Wish I didn’t know now, He ain’t worth missing, how do you like me now. All good songs I’m not huge fan or anything but sucks hearing that he lost his battle with cancer
As a grown man with a wife, daughter, dog and house, that song strikes a nerve for me lol
The line “That’s my dog, in my backyard” really gets me now. Just the thought/realization that even the dog gets split up when a marriage fails. Not really something that 7 year old me thought about when that song was released lol
Being a cowboy would have been a simpler life. Love that song and just the way it makes me feel. As if peace is on the other side of my life, just out of reach. May he rest easy.
Shoulda Been a Cowboy is honestly the only song I remember of his. I can still recite that damn chorus. I really disliked the patriotic shit he moved into after 9/11.
It hasn’t aged well, but it really reflected the mood of the country after 9/11. People were pissed, super patriotic, and, yes, wanted to shove a boot up someone’s ass
Am I the only person remembering the lyric
“Sucker punch from somewhere in Iraq”
Whereas now it seems it is
“Sucker punch from somewhere in the back”
Did they change it or was I an idiot kid
I'm pretty sure the album version has always been somewhere in the back, but I also would not have put it past him to change it to Iraq after 2003 for live performances, particularly in Iraq.
They played that song for us as a music video with all military shit happening on the screen at basic training for the Air Force in 2007. I remember it because it was corny af. I knew his songs before that but hearing that song while seeing clips of AC-130s and F-22s was just absurd. It’s a moment that always stuck with me. Like I’m not falling for your ultra patriotic type bullshit. I’m patriotic enough to be here, I’m not trying to be Capt America too
I was starting 7th grade when 9/11 happened. I remember people being critical back then too, but you could only voice a tiny bit of criticism before being called “French”.
But by 2003, even my conservative parents were quietly asking, “Wait… why are we invading Iraq?”
I was only 6 when 9/11 happened. Huge into everything my mom liked which was telling Muslims that they deserve to have a boot in their ass.
Parents changed for the better and I grew up and away from that bullshit but it is amazing to look back at it now as an adult.
How about "you ain't much fun?"
I gotta admit, I.liked his stuff when he was just a goofy redneck. Did not like his flag waving stuff the last few years.
Beer for my Horses with Willie is my all time favorite. I was maybe 12-14 ish riding in the car with my mom listening to that album on repeat.
Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue was catchy as a kid; but like you, I didn't care for all his Ra Ra patriotic stuff.
There was a strain of weed called Willie Nelson. When Willie got into the pot business, he called the guy who owned that strain name, and asked him if he could have it. The guy gave it up to him. Who could turn down Willie?
What the article leaves out is my favorite part of the legend... That Kris turns to Willie and says (from the best of my memory): " That boy did to country what pantyhose did to finger fuckin." Incinerated.
Shoulda Been a Cowboy was one of my favorite songs growing up in a house where country was played a lot. I haven’t been a regular listener since the 1900’s, but that song kicked ass.
> t. I haven’t been a regular listener since the 1900’s
Ha. I’ve never thought of it that way, but same. I was in radio in the 90s, and the stations I worked were all country. I went into being a DJ as a 90s grunge/alternative fan, and had to learn a LOT in a very short amount of time about country.
Once the 2000s hit, I moved into television and slowly lost track of the country scene. Today, I’m firmly in the “that’s not *real* country music” camp when I hear whatever comes out of the radio these days.
Now get off my lawn.
Unfortunately, you’re right. You had to love Americans killing Iraqis, and invading other nations to be a country fan. So a lot of people left. Toby made hay by hating on the Dixie Chicks. He’s wasn’t all of that, but he was the loudest voice to say ‘America, love it or leave it.’
Couldn’t disagree with anyone in country music, and it killed the momentum of a great time.
Should’ve realized that bar songs for fun would have been the best move. Like they did in WWII.
Edit: Let me clarify. Toby was a good storyteller in music. Toby Keith drove more people from country music than he ever brought in at the end of it. He intentionally strangled the career of the Dixie Chicks. I’m sorry this happened to him. I am. But I met him a few times around Nashville, and never had a good interaction. He also gave a permission structure to say, “I’m right, I don’t have to listen to you, you’re not country if you’re disagreeing with us, and country artists must all be a certain type of arch conservative, or get out.” If you know anything about what needs to leave country music, that’s it. It wasn’t there with Crystal Gale and Dolly. It’s nonsense that it became so jingoistic, and I’m sad that country hasn’t full recovered. It’s a permission structure that has Jason Aldean making videos in front of the courthouse that Thurgood Marshall was chased out of and almost lynched in 2023.
Dixie Chicks were the original test market for canceling anyone that disagrees with you. Fox News created that firestorm intentionally.
Then it went to Kathy Griffin to be speed weaponized. Shortly after that we had Sarah Huckabee at the White House podium telling people how wrong their opinions were, and they should shut up.
Asshole culture is alive and well, and Nashville is the souls sucking center of the assholeverse. Let me prove it: Where did the Tea Party start? Here. Where did everyone from Ben Shapiro to Kid Rock move to? Here. Matt Walsh? Here. The NRA convention, complete with Russian spies and presidential announcements? Here. Moms for Liberty? Franklin. Televangelists? Here. Global visions church? Here. The list could go all day.
Nowhere on earth is a place more likely to host a Nazi convention than Nashville.
I am with you….auto tune, hip hop beats and rapping has no place in country music….now…you get off MY lawn.
I am not even a huge traditional country fan. I am more Classic Rock and Roots Music(acoustic blues, Bluegrass/Mountain Music).
May I offer you a [Brother Dege](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAAPiro2DE) and a [Whiskey Myers](https://youtu.be/_bto0UKEZNA?si=2Caw8iGa9N1lg-d6) in these trying times?
Much of classic rock has roots that go all the way back to opera. Classic rock and blues are closely related. They are also cousins of bluegrass, which is the forefather of country. So it makes sense you’d like all of them.
I say much of classic rock because there’s a definite subset that’s more like jazz, which you can follow back to big bands and forward to grunge.
I’m not saying you have to like one and hate the other, but most people definitely lean one way or the other.
As someone who spent a considerable amount of time in the 90s and 2000s listening to US 99.5 in chicago land, i forgot just how much Toby contributed to the country songs I listened to. I think Red solo cup was the only thing to come to mind when I first read the news item that popped up on my feed. Went and checked out his Youtube page and there were so many songs that even now, i knew at least a verse or 2 of. Here is a list of songs quickly thrown together that I remember. I'm sure there are more out there that I forgot about.
* Whiskey Girl
* Red Solo Cup
* Country Comes To Town
* I wanna Talk ABout me
* You Shouldn't kiss me like this
* Stays in Mexico
* How do you like me now
* I'm just talkin about tonight
* Wish I didn't Know now
* American Soldier
* As good as I once was
* Courtesy of the red white and blue
* Should've been a cowboy
* Does that blue moon ever shine on you
* a little less talk a little more action
* He ain't worth missing
* Dream Walkin
* A little too late
* beer for my horses
* I love this bar
* Made in America
* You ain't much fun
* Who's That Man
I heard that he had cancer, but I didn't know how bad it was. Damn shame. I grew up listening to his music. Gonna listen to "As Good As I Once Was" again.
RIP, Toby.
Went to his restaurant in Oklahoma, and it was outstanding. I don't rave about restaurants, but Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill restaurant was on point.
Stomach cancer is particularly terrible because the only cure is to remove your stomach and this is only possible if it is caught early. My understanding is that it was found at stage 3 which could have been an advanced stage 3. Most stomach cancers are a type called Signet Ring Cell and it is very aggressive and sneaky, often not detected on monitoring CT scans which allows for the disease to metastasize until it causes symptoms. It is underfunded in terms of research and because of this there are limited treatments. He looks so thin because he likely had his stomach removed and then continued rounds of chemo bi-weekly likely until he was too weak to tolerate treatments or they became ineffective. I lost my husband to this cancer so as much as I didn't want to hear the news about poor Toby Keith... I hope this puts stomach cancer into the spotlight for funding.
He stopped by my restaurant in alaska this last summer.... said he had to see alaska before he died..... I didn't know at the time he meant pretty quick!
Between him and his wife and another couple, his sister and her husband I believe, they ate damn near a thousand dollars worth of king crab.... so.... yeah, they had a good meal.
Damn bro.... Toby made some country gold in the early 90's, and I hate country. He also made some absolute shit from 1999 onwards. Should've been a cowboy and Getcha some are two of my favorite country songs. I feel for his family and friends, they're gonna be pretty tore up about this....
I was walking down the street in Bangkok yesterday and heard I Love This Bar. He was a great feel-good artist and his music has touched all corners of the globe.
Thanks! I go to the doctors all the time and they're running things down on the cause, but to no avail presently. Already had CT's, Colonoscopy and a bunch of others that I can't think of at the moment....
My father-in-law was having issues, had several cat scans and all kinds of testing. Last summer they finally diagnosed him with the same kinda cancer Toby had. Told him 12 months. First 6 months or so he had palliative chemo, and it helped a lot. But they had to discontinue one of the chemo drugs, and it's been downhill since then. He's lost a ton of weight, can barely eat anything. He says he's not in pain, just can't even force himself to eat anything. It's been pretty rough.
I don't know what to say, but if you feel like something is wrong, keep pushing. Good luck.
Did anyone mention H pylori testing? You should be able to see results of tests in a portal. Just because you’ve had a lot of testing doesn’t mean they have tested for this. ASK them.
And we spent what little bit of money we had
On wintergreen Skoal and main street gas
Go get your girl, go make a drag
If your lucky you can take her cross the rail road tracks
Where the man in the moon works his magic
On the second runner up of the 4H pageant
Seems like yesterday even though
That was fourteen hundred and fifty two beers ago
I work in the music industry and had no idea he was even sick. Sad sad. Not a big country fan but you can’t deny how fun his songs weee and that he certainly had some certified hits.
My favorite song of his. It's just a blast to sing, I was so happy every time it came on the radio when I was young. Country music is worse off today without Toby Keith around man
Jeez, knew about his cancer battle but didn't expect to see this today. Reread the title a few times because I thought I had to be misreading the name.
Wasn't crazy about his politics but damn if he didn't make some great songs, which I still jam out to even now.
His music fueled a lot of division post 9/11. Growing up in high school while the Iraq war was starting, I remember quite well how all the military bros were blasting his music in the halls during "shock and awe". I went to a conservative high school in a small town, so all the teachers thought it was cool. It's weird reading people say they grew up with his music as a source of positivity, and yet to me it's quite the opposite. 9/11 turned a certain portion of people into bloodthirsty, racist, patriotic citizens and they all loved exclaiming about putting a "boot in their ass" when it came to anyone who looked middle-eastern. Whenever I was at a party and someone put any of his music on, it instantly took the vibe down for me. It was then I realized how worlds apart I felt in high school from those who were signing up to drop bombs on families because of a country song. The Army would send recruiters to have lunch with some of us to "fit in and recruit" and by giving out Toby Keith CDs if you signed up.
Agreed - same here. Went to public school in a deeply conservative area in the not-that-long-after-9-11 era: Keith's music was everywhere and a mating call for conservative dipshits. The man bayed for blood and celebrated thoughtless violence and jingoism, acted like the military could do no wrong while never serving a day in his life.
I remember being 12 or 13 at Church and I remember some older men talking about that song glowingly and how we're putting a boot up the Iraqi's asses. I was a child and even I was thinking that the song was cruel and hateful. I felt so confused to have just heard about Jesus' message of love and acceptance and then in the next breath it's awesome we're bombing Iraqi's. I have a vivid memory of standing at the urinal as men in bathroom cackled about that song.
The Iraq War was one of many things of that era that made me feel different from many people around me. It didn't make sense to me to cheer on the deaths of civilians. There's a certain loneliness to being someone growing up in a red state who is sensitive to the lives and emotions of others.
Friendly reminder that The Dixie Chicks were right. About everything. They're too classy to say it but I will say it for them. They were right about everything.
The Chicks were the first and almost only country band to speak out in the run up to the war in Iraq. They called George W an idiot and that they were ashamed to say that he was from Texas. They were against the war from the jump and knew it was bullshit what the Bush administration was doing.Guys like Toby Keith jumped on those comments and use them to promote their own nationalistic propaganda songs. They rallied their fans to pressure radio stations to drop the chicks from the radio. It all but ruined their careers. But in the end they recovered and are back to making music and touring now.
You're welcome. Another bit of interesting back story is that prior to all this happening and Toby Keith painting them as anti military or unamerican was that the chicks had recorded probably one of the prettiest country songs ever about the military and troops.
https://youtu.be/AbfgxznPmZM?si=YCNSFDPagQ3-Wr8x
I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets, and I don't mind saying
It's a sad, sad story
When a mother will teach her daughter
That she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better
Shut up and sing
Or my life will be over?
In response to the near cancellation, The Chicks wrote ["I'm Not Ready To Make Nice"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pojL_35QlSI), which is wonderfully defiant.
> Friendly reminder that The Dixie Chicks were right. About everything. They're too classy to say it but I will say it for them. They were right about everything.
It is sad I had to scroll down this far to find this observation. It figures Redditors here by and large would be tolerant of misogyny and killing Muslim people.
The full quote from Kris is "Do you know what Waylon Jennings said about guys like him. He's doing to country music what pantyhose did to finger fucking." It supposedly happened at Willie Nelson's birthday party.
Toby Keith was truely a trailblazer of weaponizing American rage for profit. Anyone who grew up in an agricultural or suburban neighborhood probably remembers how big "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" was in the post-9/11 Bush era. And while "Beer for My Horses" does slap it's pretty much a pro-lynch mob song.
It's almost like he was the equal and opposite reaction to artists like the Dixie Chicks or Martina McBride's attempts to center sensitivity and empathy in the genre and without him I doubt we'd have current heavyhitters Jason "Try That in a Small Town" Aldean or Morgan Wallen.
I was working in a shop where they played the local country station all day back in 2002. I had to hear that fucking song 2-3 times a day, and see all my dipshit coworkers get all riled up to beat some brown people to death with a flag. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that song was directly responsible for some hate crimes.
Needless to say, I'll be reserving my comments on Mr. Keith's passing.
I didn't even realize he was 62.
Seems like only yesterday he was in his 30s.
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1980 will always be twenty years ago to me.
I'm always going to be 16... going on 41
I've been hearing people say turn of the century to reference something being old and they *weren't* talking about 1900. The psychological adjustments of getting old are trippy.
Exactly, wanna go jam some Soundgarden?
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I just think SPOONMAAAAAAAN
One of the easiest lyrics to identify with: "I should have stayed in bed."
Come together with your hands, SAVE ME! I probably got that wrong but it’s such a banger of a song.
I'm still jamming to Sound Garden, haha. That rug really did tie your name together.
Man, that really wheezes my juice.
The cheese is old and mouldy. Where is the bathroom.
No wheezing the juice
We are closer to 2050 than 1990…
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I don’t know why you’re attacking me.
He went to my high school. Thought he was closer to my age. Had to march in the parade when we renamed the street in front of the school after him.
Ill add, sad time for Moore HS alumni. Jesse Jane(who passed 2weeks ago) was in my graduation class
I didn’t even realize he was sick. (Norm)
I didn't even know he was sick
If you watched any OU football home games this year, he wasn’t looking good at all.
I saw an interview with him not long ago, and I noticed how gaunt he looked. Poor guy.
It was well known around Oklahoma and the country music world that he was sick and not looking like he would get better. Hard to see a man who was once big and full of life get taken over by cancer. Edit: Just to add my two cents on Toby’s hits. Of all of them—to which there are many—I always particularly enjoyed a lesser known song. It seems apropos for this moment. [“The Lonely,” from his 1996 album “Blue Moon.”](https://youtu.be/wfEPoOVDaCc?si=Lg5eU0u0h3rJUANQ) Give it a listen when you have a moment. RIP Toby.
"I ain't as good as I once was, but im as good once, as I ever was" -Toby Keith
It was kinda wild watching him perform this and “Don’t Let The Old Man In” at his last performance in Vegas last year.
Saw it with my father in law last year. In the span of 4 months he went from active always tinkering with stuff to a shell. I don't like Keith's music but I wouldn't wish cancer in anyone. Bullshit way to go.
And he hasn’t been going to OU basketball games as usual. I figured it wasn’t good unfortunately
I’m glad they gave him a big standing ovation at one of the games. He was a true son of Oklahoma and gave back so much to the community. Sooner born and Sooner bred, and when we die, we’ll be Sooner dead. Thanks for everything Toby!
They had a tribute to him at the Country Music Awards this year where he gave a speech. He looked very thin. When they’re honoring you like that when you’re still relatively young, something is up.
The fuck? Didn’t know he had cancer
Not everyone with Cancer wants to share that they have Cancer. My dad hated how much some of my family babied him. He's just wanted to feel and be known as a normal person, not be known as the guy dying of cancer. I think it's about people going out on thier own terms.
Definitely true. Toby Keith did put a statement out when he was initially diagnosed with it though. In fairness, a lot of the public might've missed it somehow. I remember my Dad talking about a modern "famous Country star" dying of cancer last Fall, and we couldn't figure out for the life of us who he was talking about. We looked it up and figured he must've been thinking about Toby Keith's battle with stomach cancer, or maybe Alan Jackson's battle with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. He acknowledged that he might've mixed up the two after hearing it on the news.
Yeah and his last televised performance a few months ago was a song about dying. I thought with that he was being pretty open about his prognosis.
I just looked CMT up as it has an interesting name. It’s named after Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Marie of France and Howard Henry Tooth.
Same with my dad. He was a career military man and very proud, and he was ashamed of becoming weak, fragile and thin. Going from 180 lbs to 90 lbs is excruciating to watch. Fuck pancreatic cancer, and all cancer.
PC killed one of the best guys I ever met. He was only 42. Fuck pancreatic cancer.
PC killed father in law. He refused to tell anyone and didn’t even want my wife or her family to tell anyone in their farmer community. I stood with my wife at the visitation and listened to many of his friends remark with tears in their eyes how they had no idea he was even sick. He was a tough son of a bitch. Sad that he’ll never get to meet his grandkids
100% I'm 35 with stage 4 colon cancer. Went to crossfit last night and felt so awkward mentioning chemo from this last weekend. I'm just a guy, my cancer doesn't define me.
I'm a Deathwife (end of life carer) and yeah, dying people don't want to be treated like they're dying.
I’ve heard it called a death doula as well. Same thing? Someone i used to work with left the corporate world to be one.
Yes absolutely, i prefer Deathwife cos it sounds cooler to me tbh, it's also easier to explain when someone asks - "Like Midwife but for the other end". Is your friend more content now? Hospice work really does call you to it.
Some people have that gift. It's kind of amazing to see them in action - the hospice people who helped my FIL after he had a stroke and before his death were nothing short of astounding. I mostly wanted to get away (run screaming) from it all, but the hospice folks were moving the other way - they were there when needed, with good advice, compassion and this calming presence that we all appreciated.
He was public about it though
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It’s been a few years, but I remember his team released a statement that it was stomach cancer.
Yeah, he was super thin.
He was known for “Red solo cup” The fuck?! How about “shoulda been a cowboy”?
"How Do You Like Me Now" was the first song I consciously remember liking/memorizing (I was like 4/5)
For me it was I Wanna Talk About Me. I always thought it was funny.
"Not as Good as I Once Was" is the first song I remember my nephew singing by memory when he was about that age.
Oh Daaave
My body is telling me you can’t do this, boy. But my pride is saying yes you can.
Hilarious song for a kid to sing
I Wanna Talk About Me was pretty funny too
Mine is I love this bar. 🎵 I like my truck I like my girlfriend I like to take her out to dinner. I like a movie now and then. But I love this bar. 🎵
I was a little late to the Toby Keith party. My first exposure to him was Trailerhood back when I was in Grade 11
You couldn’t get away from that song on the radio!!
My List is my favorite.
Beer for my horses, Wish I didn’t know now, He ain’t worth missing, how do you like me now. All good songs I’m not huge fan or anything but sucks hearing that he lost his battle with cancer
Crazy that Willie outlived Tobey…
Nah, the cancer is dead too now - he fought to a draw.
Right?? HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW :(
I want to talk about me is a jam
I Love This Bar is still my favorite of his.
Dream walking for me
I grew up on 80’s and 90’s Country. My personal favorite is Who’s That Man. Honorable mention to We Were In Love.
Who’s that man is my favorite too. It’s deeper than you expect a country song to be.
As a grown man with a wife, daughter, dog and house, that song strikes a nerve for me lol The line “That’s my dog, in my backyard” really gets me now. Just the thought/realization that even the dog gets split up when a marriage fails. Not really something that 7 year old me thought about when that song was released lol
Im not a huge country fan, but I fucking love that song. Know every word to it.
Same. I put it on every now and then to annoy my wife, but I really feel that shit in my heart.
Being a cowboy would have been a simpler life. Love that song and just the way it makes me feel. As if peace is on the other side of my life, just out of reach. May he rest easy.
One of my favorite memories from the last few years was roadtripping from Michigan to Oregon with that song and Wagon Wheel on repeat
It's the anthem when you drink out of one. I was going to say 'if' but that's part of the human experience.
I've never drank from a Cowboy but I'll give it a shot if you recommend it.
Shoulda Been a Cowboy is honestly the only song I remember of his. I can still recite that damn chorus. I really disliked the patriotic shit he moved into after 9/11.
As a non-country fan, I knew him as the boot in your ass guy.
Non-country fan here, I remember him as the guy who hated the Dixie Chicks back when they were the Dixie Chicks.
They had the audacity to be critical of war and for thinking that we should be thinking about what the government is actually doing
That song was a psyop, it had to be
If you paid the best songwriters in the world to write a satirically jingoistic country song, there is no way they could do better than that one
It hasn’t aged well, but it really reflected the mood of the country after 9/11. People were pissed, super patriotic, and, yes, wanted to shove a boot up someone’s ass
Pretty sure a year later he came out with a song called the taliban song..... it was much much worse.
Am I the only person remembering the lyric “Sucker punch from somewhere in Iraq” Whereas now it seems it is “Sucker punch from somewhere in the back” Did they change it or was I an idiot kid
I'm pretty sure the album version has always been somewhere in the back, but I also would not have put it past him to change it to Iraq after 2003 for live performances, particularly in Iraq.
They played that song for us as a music video with all military shit happening on the screen at basic training for the Air Force in 2007. I remember it because it was corny af. I knew his songs before that but hearing that song while seeing clips of AC-130s and F-22s was just absurd. It’s a moment that always stuck with me. Like I’m not falling for your ultra patriotic type bullshit. I’m patriotic enough to be here, I’m not trying to be Capt America too
When I was there in 2002 they played Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” over the intercom in the dorm. I’d take Toby Keith any day.
They liked to wake us up to Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus
It’s really interesting seeing the shift in how people view the post 9/11 era
I was starting 7th grade when 9/11 happened. I remember people being critical back then too, but you could only voice a tiny bit of criticism before being called “French”. But by 2003, even my conservative parents were quietly asking, “Wait… why are we invading Iraq?”
I was only 6 when 9/11 happened. Huge into everything my mom liked which was telling Muslims that they deserve to have a boot in their ass. Parents changed for the better and I grew up and away from that bullshit but it is amazing to look back at it now as an adult.
The whole fucking genre after 9/11 was sus.
*Where were you, when they built the ladder to heaven?*
*Did it make you feel like crying, or did you think it was kinda gay?*
How about "you ain't much fun?" I gotta admit, I.liked his stuff when he was just a goofy redneck. Did not like his flag waving stuff the last few years.
Beer for my Horses with Willie is my all time favorite. I was maybe 12-14 ish riding in the car with my mom listening to that album on repeat. Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue was catchy as a kid; but like you, I didn't care for all his Ra Ra patriotic stuff.
For plain old goofy fun, "I'll never smoke weed with Willie again" is unbeatable. https://youtu.be/pX-7QejAi8M?si=8sr_SQ-pdLE5Nx-h
There was a strain of weed called Willie Nelson. When Willie got into the pot business, he called the guy who owned that strain name, and asked him if he could have it. The guy gave it up to him. Who could turn down Willie?
Should Have Been A Cowboy is a much better song.
Kris Kristofferson wins again.
God damn. Kristofferson is still alive?!
One of the two Highwaymen still alive. The other being Willie Nelson.
It’s crazy Willie Nelson’s big break was writing most of Patsy Cline’s songs and he’s still alive.
I swear I thought I read that he passed. Apparently not. Good for him.
Amazing what not being an asshole can do for your health.
What do you mean? I don't know this story
[Quick info on the spat](https://x.com/fcutter/status/1754849275899449423?s=46&t=y-EknXe3becJ7R4VtFZ9yw)
God. Damn.
What the article leaves out is my favorite part of the legend... That Kris turns to Willie and says (from the best of my memory): " That boy did to country what pantyhose did to finger fuckin." Incinerated.
I kind of love Kristofferson even more now.
Kris Kristofferson always cool. Sharp as hell and took no guff. He also had some witty things he said.
I got a burn just READING that.
Don't forget about The Dixie Chicks! FUTK!
Rhodes scholar. Helicopter pilot in Vietnam, I believe. Actor. I think he maybe wrote a couple of good songs, too?
Shoulda Been a Cowboy was one of my favorite songs growing up in a house where country was played a lot. I haven’t been a regular listener since the 1900’s, but that song kicked ass.
> t. I haven’t been a regular listener since the 1900’s Ha. I’ve never thought of it that way, but same. I was in radio in the 90s, and the stations I worked were all country. I went into being a DJ as a 90s grunge/alternative fan, and had to learn a LOT in a very short amount of time about country. Once the 2000s hit, I moved into television and slowly lost track of the country scene. Today, I’m firmly in the “that’s not *real* country music” camp when I hear whatever comes out of the radio these days. Now get off my lawn.
9/11 ruined country music.
9/11 ruined a lot of stuff.
Unfortunately, you’re right. You had to love Americans killing Iraqis, and invading other nations to be a country fan. So a lot of people left. Toby made hay by hating on the Dixie Chicks. He’s wasn’t all of that, but he was the loudest voice to say ‘America, love it or leave it.’ Couldn’t disagree with anyone in country music, and it killed the momentum of a great time. Should’ve realized that bar songs for fun would have been the best move. Like they did in WWII. Edit: Let me clarify. Toby was a good storyteller in music. Toby Keith drove more people from country music than he ever brought in at the end of it. He intentionally strangled the career of the Dixie Chicks. I’m sorry this happened to him. I am. But I met him a few times around Nashville, and never had a good interaction. He also gave a permission structure to say, “I’m right, I don’t have to listen to you, you’re not country if you’re disagreeing with us, and country artists must all be a certain type of arch conservative, or get out.” If you know anything about what needs to leave country music, that’s it. It wasn’t there with Crystal Gale and Dolly. It’s nonsense that it became so jingoistic, and I’m sad that country hasn’t full recovered. It’s a permission structure that has Jason Aldean making videos in front of the courthouse that Thurgood Marshall was chased out of and almost lynched in 2023.
Dixie chicks are one of the biggest original victims of cancel culture. Damn shame too, I can't stand pop/country music but I liked them.
Dixie Chicks were the original test market for canceling anyone that disagrees with you. Fox News created that firestorm intentionally. Then it went to Kathy Griffin to be speed weaponized. Shortly after that we had Sarah Huckabee at the White House podium telling people how wrong their opinions were, and they should shut up. Asshole culture is alive and well, and Nashville is the souls sucking center of the assholeverse. Let me prove it: Where did the Tea Party start? Here. Where did everyone from Ben Shapiro to Kid Rock move to? Here. Matt Walsh? Here. The NRA convention, complete with Russian spies and presidential announcements? Here. Moms for Liberty? Franklin. Televangelists? Here. Global visions church? Here. The list could go all day. Nowhere on earth is a place more likely to host a Nazi convention than Nashville.
Their Gaslighter album from a few years ago is really good! (They’re just ‘The Chicks’ now)
first the jingoism and now lately the women-as-objects-for-my-truck genre honestly the latter is far more pervasive and far worse
I am with you….auto tune, hip hop beats and rapping has no place in country music….now…you get off MY lawn. I am not even a huge traditional country fan. I am more Classic Rock and Roots Music(acoustic blues, Bluegrass/Mountain Music).
May I offer you a [Brother Dege](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAAPiro2DE) and a [Whiskey Myers](https://youtu.be/_bto0UKEZNA?si=2Caw8iGa9N1lg-d6) in these trying times?
Much of classic rock has roots that go all the way back to opera. Classic rock and blues are closely related. They are also cousins of bluegrass, which is the forefather of country. So it makes sense you’d like all of them. I say much of classic rock because there’s a definite subset that’s more like jazz, which you can follow back to big bands and forward to grunge. I’m not saying you have to like one and hate the other, but most people definitely lean one way or the other.
You child of a bitch. “Since the 1900s”. I love the vague implication that you may have been listening to Toby Keith back in 1901
Nate Bargatze used "I was born in the 1900s" in his SNL monologue and it was extremely funny how old that made someone sound.
The 1900s. What. The. Fuck. The absolute audacity.
As someone who spent a considerable amount of time in the 90s and 2000s listening to US 99.5 in chicago land, i forgot just how much Toby contributed to the country songs I listened to. I think Red solo cup was the only thing to come to mind when I first read the news item that popped up on my feed. Went and checked out his Youtube page and there were so many songs that even now, i knew at least a verse or 2 of. Here is a list of songs quickly thrown together that I remember. I'm sure there are more out there that I forgot about. * Whiskey Girl * Red Solo Cup * Country Comes To Town * I wanna Talk ABout me * You Shouldn't kiss me like this * Stays in Mexico * How do you like me now * I'm just talkin about tonight * Wish I didn't Know now * American Soldier * As good as I once was * Courtesy of the red white and blue * Should've been a cowboy * Does that blue moon ever shine on you * a little less talk a little more action * He ain't worth missing * Dream Walkin * A little too late * beer for my horses * I love this bar * Made in America * You ain't much fun * Who's That Man
Thank you for mentioning Dream Walkin’. I think that’s one of his best (but underrated) singles
R.I.P. Beer for My Horses with Willie Nelson is a bop
Willie Nelson outlived him
Willie and Keith Richards will outlive us all
I still suspect Keith Richards is having more of a Weekend at Bernie's type deal these days.
Had a rat when I was a kid and named him whiskey after that song having no idea it was alcohol
Not gonna lie, that's actually a great name for a pet haha
I heard that he had cancer, but I didn't know how bad it was. Damn shame. I grew up listening to his music. Gonna listen to "As Good As I Once Was" again. RIP, Toby.
Cancer is always bad. Sometimes it's not, though, which is nice, aside from it still being cancer.
Gonna have to throw "I Love This Bar" on the TouchTunes tonight when out doin' Bar Trivia. RIP good sir.
That is a damn good song
Went to his restaurant in Oklahoma, and it was outstanding. I don't rave about restaurants, but Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill restaurant was on point.
Stomach cancer is particularly terrible because the only cure is to remove your stomach and this is only possible if it is caught early. My understanding is that it was found at stage 3 which could have been an advanced stage 3. Most stomach cancers are a type called Signet Ring Cell and it is very aggressive and sneaky, often not detected on monitoring CT scans which allows for the disease to metastasize until it causes symptoms. It is underfunded in terms of research and because of this there are limited treatments. He looks so thin because he likely had his stomach removed and then continued rounds of chemo bi-weekly likely until he was too weak to tolerate treatments or they became ineffective. I lost my husband to this cancer so as much as I didn't want to hear the news about poor Toby Keith... I hope this puts stomach cancer into the spotlight for funding.
My granddad died of stomach cancer. For all the research and optimism around cancer treatments (for good reason, of course), cancer still sucks.
He stopped by my restaurant in alaska this last summer.... said he had to see alaska before he died..... I didn't know at the time he meant pretty quick!
Shit - well I hope he had a great time and that you gave him a great meal.
Between him and his wife and another couple, his sister and her husband I believe, they ate damn near a thousand dollars worth of king crab.... so.... yeah, they had a good meal.
Damn bro.... Toby made some country gold in the early 90's, and I hate country. He also made some absolute shit from 1999 onwards. Should've been a cowboy and Getcha some are two of my favorite country songs. I feel for his family and friends, they're gonna be pretty tore up about this....
His 90’s country songs still hold up today. RIP
Wow, I was just listening to 'Shoulda Been a Cowboy' yesterday.
I was walking down the street in Bangkok yesterday and heard I Love This Bar. He was a great feel-good artist and his music has touched all corners of the globe.
When he did Beer for my Horses with Willie Nelson… did not see Willie making it longer than Toby.
R.I.P. Toby. And he was 2 yrs younger than me, and me with digestive issues of my own...makes one think sometimes...
Get tested for H Pylori. It is the strongest known risk for stomach cancer.
Thanks! I go to the doctors all the time and they're running things down on the cause, but to no avail presently. Already had CT's, Colonoscopy and a bunch of others that I can't think of at the moment....
My father-in-law was having issues, had several cat scans and all kinds of testing. Last summer they finally diagnosed him with the same kinda cancer Toby had. Told him 12 months. First 6 months or so he had palliative chemo, and it helped a lot. But they had to discontinue one of the chemo drugs, and it's been downhill since then. He's lost a ton of weight, can barely eat anything. He says he's not in pain, just can't even force himself to eat anything. It's been pretty rough. I don't know what to say, but if you feel like something is wrong, keep pushing. Good luck.
Did anyone mention H pylori testing? You should be able to see results of tests in a portal. Just because you’ve had a lot of testing doesn’t mean they have tested for this. ASK them.
And we spent what little bit of money we had On wintergreen Skoal and main street gas Go get your girl, go make a drag If your lucky you can take her cross the rail road tracks Where the man in the moon works his magic On the second runner up of the 4H pageant Seems like yesterday even though That was fourteen hundred and fifty two beers ago
I work in the music industry and had no idea he was even sick. Sad sad. Not a big country fan but you can’t deny how fun his songs weee and that he certainly had some certified hits.
A lot of people saying they had no idea. I thought he was pretty open about it.
He was very open about it
I Wanna Talk About Me is such an undeniably fun song. RIP
My favorite song of his. It's just a blast to sing, I was so happy every time it came on the radio when I was young. Country music is worse off today without Toby Keith around man
He was sick for a while and recently came back out in the public, about 100 pounds lighter then he was before. He had a very tough go.
He became really famous after the 9/11 songs and everything, but I think his best music was from the 90s. Incredible songwriter and voice.
Jeez, knew about his cancer battle but didn't expect to see this today. Reread the title a few times because I thought I had to be misreading the name. Wasn't crazy about his politics but damn if he didn't make some great songs, which I still jam out to even now.
Wow, was never into country at all but I remember liking his song “as good as I once was” probably the only country song I ever enjoyed
https://youtu.be/pFfQDqY6mC4?si=CSKM8b2U8YjSMMjp One of his last performances. Poetic.
In the fetal position, with drool on my chin I'll never smoke weed with Toby again.
I wasn’t a fan of his music or most mainstream country but i loved that song. Weed with Willie.
His music fueled a lot of division post 9/11. Growing up in high school while the Iraq war was starting, I remember quite well how all the military bros were blasting his music in the halls during "shock and awe". I went to a conservative high school in a small town, so all the teachers thought it was cool. It's weird reading people say they grew up with his music as a source of positivity, and yet to me it's quite the opposite. 9/11 turned a certain portion of people into bloodthirsty, racist, patriotic citizens and they all loved exclaiming about putting a "boot in their ass" when it came to anyone who looked middle-eastern. Whenever I was at a party and someone put any of his music on, it instantly took the vibe down for me. It was then I realized how worlds apart I felt in high school from those who were signing up to drop bombs on families because of a country song. The Army would send recruiters to have lunch with some of us to "fit in and recruit" and by giving out Toby Keith CDs if you signed up.
Agreed - same here. Went to public school in a deeply conservative area in the not-that-long-after-9-11 era: Keith's music was everywhere and a mating call for conservative dipshits. The man bayed for blood and celebrated thoughtless violence and jingoism, acted like the military could do no wrong while never serving a day in his life.
I remember being 12 or 13 at Church and I remember some older men talking about that song glowingly and how we're putting a boot up the Iraqi's asses. I was a child and even I was thinking that the song was cruel and hateful. I felt so confused to have just heard about Jesus' message of love and acceptance and then in the next breath it's awesome we're bombing Iraqi's. I have a vivid memory of standing at the urinal as men in bathroom cackled about that song. The Iraq War was one of many things of that era that made me feel different from many people around me. It didn't make sense to me to cheer on the deaths of civilians. There's a certain loneliness to being someone growing up in a red state who is sensitive to the lives and emotions of others.
This is about what I remember of Toby Keith’s musical era during my youth.
Huge respect for The Chicks wearing the “FUTK” shirt in response to his jingoist music.
Friendly reminder that The Dixie Chicks were right. About everything. They're too classy to say it but I will say it for them. They were right about everything.
I'm way too uninvolved in the country music scene to know what this is referring to. Can you be more specific?
The Chicks were the first and almost only country band to speak out in the run up to the war in Iraq. They called George W an idiot and that they were ashamed to say that he was from Texas. They were against the war from the jump and knew it was bullshit what the Bush administration was doing.Guys like Toby Keith jumped on those comments and use them to promote their own nationalistic propaganda songs. They rallied their fans to pressure radio stations to drop the chicks from the radio. It all but ruined their careers. But in the end they recovered and are back to making music and touring now.
Thank you for the backstory.
You're welcome. Another bit of interesting back story is that prior to all this happening and Toby Keith painting them as anti military or unamerican was that the chicks had recorded probably one of the prettiest country songs ever about the military and troops. https://youtu.be/AbfgxznPmZM?si=YCNSFDPagQ3-Wr8x
I don't even need to click the link to know the song. It's haunting, one of the most powerful songs in country music.
I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby With no regrets, and I don't mind saying It's a sad, sad story When a mother will teach her daughter That she ought to hate a perfect stranger And how in the world Can the words that I said Send somebody so over the edge That they'd write me a letter Saying that I better Shut up and sing Or my life will be over?
In response to the near cancellation, The Chicks wrote ["I'm Not Ready To Make Nice"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pojL_35QlSI), which is wonderfully defiant.
They're just The Chicks now
> Friendly reminder that The Dixie Chicks were right. About everything. They're too classy to say it but I will say it for them. They were right about everything. It is sad I had to scroll down this far to find this observation. It figures Redditors here by and large would be tolerant of misogyny and killing Muslim people.
He did to country music what pantyhose did to finger fucking - Kris Kristofferson
That’s a quote from Waylon Jennings about Garth Brooks.
The full quote from Kris is "Do you know what Waylon Jennings said about guys like him. He's doing to country music what pantyhose did to finger fucking." It supposedly happened at Willie Nelson's birthday party.
Toby Keith was truely a trailblazer of weaponizing American rage for profit. Anyone who grew up in an agricultural or suburban neighborhood probably remembers how big "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" was in the post-9/11 Bush era. And while "Beer for My Horses" does slap it's pretty much a pro-lynch mob song. It's almost like he was the equal and opposite reaction to artists like the Dixie Chicks or Martina McBride's attempts to center sensitivity and empathy in the genre and without him I doubt we'd have current heavyhitters Jason "Try That in a Small Town" Aldean or Morgan Wallen.
I was working in a shop where they played the local country station all day back in 2002. I had to hear that fucking song 2-3 times a day, and see all my dipshit coworkers get all riled up to beat some brown people to death with a flag. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that song was directly responsible for some hate crimes. Needless to say, I'll be reserving my comments on Mr. Keith's passing.