Songoftheday 4/16/24 - Someday I'm gonna be famous do I have talent well no, these days you don't really need it thanks to reality shows...

 

 

"Celebrity" - Brad Paisley

from the album Mud On The Tires (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 6

 

Today's song comes from country singer/songwriter/guitarist Brad Paisley, whose appropriately-titled sophomore album Part II saw to of its tracks cross over to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "Wrapped Around" and "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)", as well as one of his best songs that missed the mark, "I Wish You'd Stay". In 2003 Brad retturned with his third album, Mud On The Tires, with the lead single following the comic footsteps of the top-40 hits from his last set. "Celebrity", written by Paisley and produced by Frank Rogers, sees him politely taking the piss out of fame and show business. The first two lines are more prophetic that even he probably realized 20 years ago, as the idea of having fame with no talent is more the norm now (thank you, Kardashians!). There's some major shade thrown, from suing their dad (LeAnn Rimes) to marriages that last a month (Kenny Chesney) to community service lawbreakers (Tim McGraw) without naming names, save for Barbara Walters checked for the "crying interview" (Courtney Love among others). But he's able to do it with such an affable spirit that you simply can't get mad at him. The real prize in this is the music video, which spoofs the reality show empire that was revving up at the time and features someone who despite having talent found his own self in the tabloids, William Shatner...

"Celebrity" became Brad's fifth single to reach the top-40 on the Hot 100 in August of 2003. The song spent four weeks at #4 on the Country Songs airplay chart, ending up in the top ten of Billboard's year-end list. The Mud On The Tires album, released in July of that year, peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and topped the Country Albums list for two weeks, spending two years on both and going on to sell over two million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2004, "Celebrity" was nominated for Best Country Song, losing to last Thursday's SOTD, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere". Another track from the album, "Spaghetti Western Swing", was also nominated for Best Country Instrumental Performance, which went to bluegrass queen Alison Krauss and Union Station's "Cluck Old Hen". 

Brad and the Mud On The Tires album will be back to the series.

(9/10)

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Here's Brad and John Mayer performing the song on their CMT Crossroads episode...

Up tomorrow: One of Paisley's possible marks disobeys the restaurant signs, possibly.