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When Was Southern Culture the Most Popular Nationally?
Posted on 4/25/17 at 6:07 pm
Posted on 4/25/17 at 6:07 pm
This is a little random, but I was wondering at what point (let's say "recent" history, so post WWII) was Southern culture most popular nationally?
The south has always had a culture that is distinct from the rest of the US and has often been looked down upon by the rest of the country. When has traditionally "southern" culture been the most popular and embraced by the rest of the US?
Music: In the 50's and 60's rock and R&B/Soul had a lot of southern influence and performers (Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, etc). In the 1970's southern rock was very popular: The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc. Much of the music for the british invasion was based on old blues stuff, though performed by folks from England. Southern Hip-Hop was huge in the early 2000's. And of course throughout its history country music has always been largely southern.
TV: through the years there have been tons of shows based in the south: the Andy Griffith Show, the Dukes of Hazzard, In the Heat of the Night, Matlock, Dallas, The Golden Girls, Designing Women, Friday Night Lights, True Blood, Duck Dynasty, The Walking Dead, Nashville. And of course WCW back in the 80's and 90's.
Sports: the Braves and Cowboys (if you consider Dallas southern) have had huge regional and national fanbases. Of course SEC football had an age of domination, college basketball is huge in North Carolina and Kentucky, and NASCAR is traditionally thought of as more southern. 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Every year the Masters and Kentucky Derby are huge.
Politics: lots of very important southern politicians have helped shape our country, mostly I'm thinking of presidents like LBJ, Jimmy Carter, H W Bush, Bill Clinton, and W Bush, but also other politicians like Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell.
Literature: a lot of the most important southern lit was pre-WWII, but even after that there have been some heavy hitters such as Harper Lee, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, and of course the popularity of John Grisham.
Misc: Houston and Cape Canaveral got a lot of publicity during the space race. CNN brought a lot of attention to Atlanta.
So what does everyone think? At what point did (or is it now) southern culture have the most impact on the rest of the US?
The south has always had a culture that is distinct from the rest of the US and has often been looked down upon by the rest of the country. When has traditionally "southern" culture been the most popular and embraced by the rest of the US?
Music: In the 50's and 60's rock and R&B/Soul had a lot of southern influence and performers (Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, etc). In the 1970's southern rock was very popular: The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc. Much of the music for the british invasion was based on old blues stuff, though performed by folks from England. Southern Hip-Hop was huge in the early 2000's. And of course throughout its history country music has always been largely southern.
TV: through the years there have been tons of shows based in the south: the Andy Griffith Show, the Dukes of Hazzard, In the Heat of the Night, Matlock, Dallas, The Golden Girls, Designing Women, Friday Night Lights, True Blood, Duck Dynasty, The Walking Dead, Nashville. And of course WCW back in the 80's and 90's.
Sports: the Braves and Cowboys (if you consider Dallas southern) have had huge regional and national fanbases. Of course SEC football had an age of domination, college basketball is huge in North Carolina and Kentucky, and NASCAR is traditionally thought of as more southern. 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Every year the Masters and Kentucky Derby are huge.
Politics: lots of very important southern politicians have helped shape our country, mostly I'm thinking of presidents like LBJ, Jimmy Carter, H W Bush, Bill Clinton, and W Bush, but also other politicians like Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell.
Literature: a lot of the most important southern lit was pre-WWII, but even after that there have been some heavy hitters such as Harper Lee, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, and of course the popularity of John Grisham.
Misc: Houston and Cape Canaveral got a lot of publicity during the space race. CNN brought a lot of attention to Atlanta.
So what does everyone think? At what point did (or is it now) southern culture have the most impact on the rest of the US?
10
Posted on 4/25/17 at 6:36 pm to GumBro Jackson
70s
Posted on 4/25/17 at 7:49 pm to GumBro Jackson
When Billy Beer was a thing
Posted on 4/26/17 at 5:19 am to GumBro Jackson
When you mention southern literature, and you talk about John Grisham without mentioning William Faulkner, it distracts me to the point that I cannot focus on the question.
Posted on 4/26/17 at 5:29 am to No Colors
When Talladega Nights was released.
Posted on 4/26/17 at 8:01 am to No Colors
quote:
When you mention southern literature, and you talk about John Grisham without mentioning William Faulkner, it distracts me to the point that I cannot focus on the question.
Of course Faulkner is the undisputed king of southern literature, but my question is about recent/post WWII culture. Most of Faulkner's most important works were before the war, so I didn't mention him specifically, though I did make reference to that absence when I said that much of the most important southern lit was pre WWII.
Posted on 4/26/17 at 8:19 am to GumBro Jackson
70s.
Posted on 4/26/17 at 8:25 am to GnashRebel
Smokey and the Bandit
Posted on 4/28/17 at 6:32 pm to GumBro Jackson
When was the start of "southern culture" in your opinion, OP?
Posted on 4/29/17 at 11:03 am to GumBro Jackson
1950s when conservatism dominated the nation.
Posted on 4/29/17 at 11:29 am to GumBro Jackson
Late 70's.....was the height of Southern Rock, Jimmy Carter, Smokey & the Bandit and movies like it
Posted on 4/29/17 at 3:30 pm to GumBro Jackson
1856
Posted on 4/29/17 at 6:46 pm to GumBro Jackson
(no message)
This post was edited on 4/29/17 at 6:49 pm
Posted on 4/30/17 at 1:01 pm to AUstar
quote:
When was the start of "southern culture" in your opinion, OP?
Probably as long as there have been people here. Native American tribes in the south were different than tribes in other parts of the country. As soon as European settlers first came to the US there was a difference in the culture in the southern colonies from those in other colonies. Different demographics, different economic bases, different food, music, etc.
I'm wondering about relatively modern times, which I'm calling post WWII.
Posted on 5/1/17 at 2:39 pm to GumBro Jackson
I would say that southernism in the last 5 years has been really hot, specifically southern cuisine, music and food traditions. "Soul" food and blue plate and southern cuisine all got huge in the major metropolitan areas a few years ago, about the same time as craft cocktails and all that jazz. The whole indie-folk music scene was also somewhat southern in its appropriation of rural, agrarian clothing and instrumentation. The advent of Garden and Gun is sort of a testament to the popularity of the South.
I think it's waning quite a bit now, though.
I think it's waning quite a bit now, though.
This post was edited on 5/1/17 at 2:41 pm
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