Like a Rock In Our Country; Or, How Chevrolet Ruined My Appreciation of Classic Rock

Congratulations to Mr. Peter Pope for correctly naming "Hook" by Blues Traveler as the Tuesday Song of the Day.

I generally shy away from blanket statements*. With that said, I'm pretty sure that if you played a sample of the chorus from Bob Seger's "Like a Rock" to someone from my generation, they would, be it a man or a woman, almost undoubtedly think of one thing: a Chevrolet truck carrying heavy things, tough-looking people, and appearing as though it might win a battle with a Bradley fighting vehicle.

I suppose that's the point of marketing, generating a connection between the message and product in the mind of the recipient, but whenever I hear that song, I cannot, for the life of me, get the image of a Chevy truck out of my mind. I'm a big fan of Pandora radio, and today, as I was listening to the "Bruce Springsteen" station, "Like a Rock" came across the playlist, and even before the first lyrics, I was already humming along "I was as strong as I could beeeeeeeeee."

In that moment, I was not experiencing feelings of anger at Chevrolet or Bob Seger, but a feeling of connection with my childhood, probably not unlike people experience when they put on a vintage slap-bracelet or some M.C. Hammer-esque parachute pants. I felt like I was 10 years old again, at least for a few minutes.

On the other hand, a song I did not hear today has the capacity to make my ears bleed. I respect John (Cougar) Mellencamp, and I suppose I must since he, along with my father, is a native Hoosier, but "Our Country" is the audio edition of the ebola virus.

It has been written about ad nauseam on the interwebs that Chevy has managed to drive the most dedicated television viewers from their HD-infused perches by playing that fateful tune ad infinitum, but it bears asking: Will kids today look back at "Our Country" as wistfully as my generation (likely) does with "Like a Rock", or instead, will a future-school shooting be attributed to that deranged kid who heard "Our Country" one too many times the night before as he watched the World Series on Fox?

If so, maybe we can name Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as co-conspirators for agreeing with the kid to overplay the song, simply to send him over the edge, and that, my friends, would be good for "Our Country."

*Did you see that? I used "generally" instead of "always". Again, shying away from all-encompassing blanket statements. I'm a master.