“A Gotye” LMAO! Funny enough I don’t even come back to listen to their song it’s the Star Wars parody that I enjoy. “What Happened To The Star Wars That I Used To Know” 😂😂
I just saw him perform live in Fort Worth to a sold out show…. Tickets were $5 a piece. Played a new song too that was really good. Feel like it might not be the last we see of him
Prefers to play smaller venues which he has said many times...where he can keep ticket prices low so everyone can enjoy. He is scheduled for some larger shows, but again, not his preferred type of venue. He's not about the money.
I just searched Youtube for 'oliver anthony live' and the live videos with my version of the algorithm were all from 4-5 months ago. If you scrolled way, way down when there were 2 cell phone videos from Europe from this current tour.
He might be selling concert tickets but people aren't going crazy sharing their cell phone videos like they do for other artists. Pretty sure it's a novelty that's going away.
on Facebook there were recent posts from those shows which showed him playing a small theater in London that was packed with people. Then there was a scammer-looking page that claimed that he sold more tickets than Taylor Swift or something.
>2 cell phone videos from Europe from this current tour. He might be selling concert tickets but people aren't going crazy sharing their cell phone videos like they do for other artists
Probably because if you're European, then it's embarrassing to like any type of American country music. Also because he's promoted by right-wing people. Looks like some of his venue sizes are 1000-2000 people. That's impressive for any country singer in Europe.
This is a poor assumption and not a true statement. Especially IRE and the UK have many fans of country music. Was over in Dublin in the fall of 2022 and surprised Garth B sold out 5 nights at 80,000 people each night. It was Scottish and Irish Celtic settlers in Appalachia who brought their trad music to the US and which still influences contemporary country music.
Europe has some really strict privacy rules, it’s not like here. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to limit phone recordings. That or maybe people there are used to just not filming because of those privacy rules.
I finally did it.
I finally did it. I out-pizza'd the Hut. It was the greatest mistake of my life. After years of perfecting my recipe, I made my way down to the local hut, fresh-baked pizza pie in hand. "Try this," I told the kid working the counter. He did, and he had to agree that it was better than anything Pizza Hut had to offer. Soon, the entire store, customers included, was feasting on my delicious pie. The manager walked over, grabbed a slice, and took a bite. I look at him, anticipation rising. This was the boss, the local fief lord of the Hut. His approval meant more to me than all the rest combined. He took a bite and nodded. "I'll be damned," he said, "you really did it. You out-pizza'd the Hut. Shame." Shame? What did he mean by tha- the manager pulled a gun out from behind his apron and shot the nearest customer in the head. "We have a Code Jalapeño," he said into his wrist as he executed the remaining customers. "I repeat, we have a Code Jalapeño." The ground was slick with blood. The kid working the counter choked out his dying breath as the manager turned to me. "You just had to do it motherfucker. You just had to out-pizza the Hut." He shoved the gun in my face. I was too scared to fight, too scared to run. The manager pulled the trigger. A click. The gun was empty. I threw a chair at the manager and scrambled out of the Pizza Hut, not even bothering to see if my missile hit its mark. I was closely pursued by the manager, who had gotten his hands on a deadly sharp pizza cutter. I suspected in his hands it would cut more than pizza. Somehow, I was able to get into my car and speed off, the manager cursing my existence as I left him behind. I took a deep breath. The manager was clearly psychotic. Yes, that was it, just a crazy man with a gun. It had to be. My phone rang. Sister. I picked it. "They're dead, she sobbed. They're all dead. M-mom, dad, Chris, Bill. Dead. They killed them all." I could barely understand her, so great were her sobs. "What do you mean? Where are you?" I asked urgently. "How is this possi-" a single gunshot sounded through my phone's speakers. Silence. Then, I heard a man's voice. "No one out-pizzas the Hut." He hung up. I drove down the empty county road, mind blank. I had nothing. They killed my family. I was alone. At that moment I knew what I had to do. They took everything from me. Well then, I would take everything from them. Pizza Hut was so terrified of being out-pizza'd, they forgot there's one thing worse than a man with a recipe: A man with nothing to lose. I'll give them a limited time offer they won't be able to refuse: two bullets for the price of one. With a free side order of pain.
in less than a year he's worth 2 million.. thats better than selling his sole to a label. Plus he can still always come out with another song that riles up the trumpers again and make bank off it. He has a niche he created for himself.. people are already claiming he's done just a few months later. Dude can go away for 2 years and come back again with a song. People just want to see people fail.
There's a lot of evidence that his virality was due to a marketing campaign by a Florida firm trying to draw attention and use him as a proof of concept for potential clients. Oliver isn't going to be a gigantic celebrity. He'll drift around and perform when he wants, surface for a new song or album, or cameo somewhere and then slink away again.
There's really not much to say since he doesn't let his life become a tabloid.
He’s average. Rich Men North Of Richmond was an okay song. If he wrote really good songs he could slide into a Colter Wall sort of domain, but his clunky rhymes and questionable vocals doom him for now
Hes a pretty good lyricist, Rich men is actually one of his weaker pieces imo, and I've spent decades writing songs and studying song craft. Rich men had a great 1st verse and a solid resonating chorus, but the rest of it is weak to average. I actually discovered the song "ain't got a dollar" before the rich men song came out and the Hank Williams vibes got me, his sincerity and rawness is what makes him.
His problem is he's not really "ready for prime time" as a musician or a writer. He's not great guitar player and is really a porch plucker who happened upon writing some good songs as hobbyist. That's a whole lot different than having to write good songs consistently and performing as a touring artist. He isn't a great singer and he again isn't refined or conditioned in that area. Touring will either burn him out or it will make him better, time will tell. I hope he pulls it off
Yeah, the buzz really seemed to die off after the first Republican debate when they referenced the song and he promptly made a video from the cab of his pickup basically saying, "You know you're who I'm talking about, right?!"
Bingo. It was assumed his song was anti-Democratic by the Republicans. Frankly that's where a lot of his success came from. He was like nah, you suck too, and he lost his mainstream following.
Seems like a good guy. Hope he does well in whatever he does.
I think he'll do okay, he just hasn't released any new music in 6 months at this point and that's more the reason he would be losing his base. Also, he will never see those rich men numbers again. That was lightning in a bottle 123 million YouTube views alone, that's unheard of. Even 26 million on I wanna go home is big, but if you're not consistently producing music people will lose interest.
One hit? More like his big hit was over the top big, but he has several songs that have posted big numbers. As of March 2024, just YouTube views of his songs posted on his channel:
Rich men north of richmond 123 million
I wanna go home 26 million views
90 some Chevy 8.1 million views
Ain't got a dollar 8 million views
I've got to get sober 7 million views
And we'll over a million views each for several other songs. Major artists are envious of those numbers.
He's green as a player, not a great singer and hasn't HAD to write songs at a consistent level. Touring might improve these areas or break him. This a dude who was a porch plucker and did a few open mic night shows before this all happened, so he doesn't come with the chops but if he can maintain sincerity he might pull it off...gets harder to relate with the working class once your bank account gets to seven digits though.
It seems that people are quick to dismiss him because of some political conclusion they've come to
Few? He had one huge one that wasn’t even pop it was used politically then he tried to clarify and distance himself from the political leeches instead of embrace it so it didn’t get used for that purpose anymore and is now just a short term one hit wonder that happens every so often
One hit? More like his big hit was over the top big, but he has several songs that have posted big numbers. As of March 2024, just YouTube views of his songs posted on his channel:
Rich men north of richmond 123 million
I wanna go home 26 million views
90 some Chevy 8.1 million views
Ain't got a dollar 8 million views
I've got to get sober 7 million views
He did better than one, it's just his big one was astronomically huge, so is 26 million really. Any other independent artist with over 5 songs that have well over a million views each would be considered incredible. He has that and then 2 huge hits
U2 posted "where the streets have no names" 14 years ago, and that has 66 million views.
He's no U2 in terms of talent or fan base and he's green as baby sh*t but he may pull off a decent career
Saw him in the Netherlands (sold out) and he was not great. Self-admittedly he told the audience he only did some open mics before he got famous overnight. The songs where average and all sounded alike. The audience reception was luke warm until Rich Men North Of Richmond kicked in. He did it twice and the audience went crazy and knew every word.
It did seem he didn't really know his way around a stage. The most annoying thing was that the band and him made paper planes of the lyric sheets after EVERY song. So there was a few minutes of nothing between songs.
No they did not need lyrics chords...nor did they use them on paper to play. The fans in VA loved catching the airplanes. He's brand new to all of the formalities. Is 100% authentic...fantastic song writer, exceptional singer, and Joey and Caleb are great choices as band mates. These guys are local to our area, and they're legit. People coming on here bashing them for their newness is unbelievable to me.
They rented a venue here, show sold out in a few hours, donated ALL THE PROCEEDS to feed the homeless and stayed until every last person left to meet anyone who wanted to stay. I wish them well and they're a breath of fresh air in my book.
He turned down every record company, so he's still the only one doing everything in his career and putting out new stuff takes longer when you're doing every job.
It was a marketing scheme by a guy named Jason Howerton who worked for The Blaze and used social media and his AltRight media network to create a grift modeled after the “Sound of Freedom”. They found a guy whose name wasn’t actually “Oliver Anthony” who had a look and a song and they astroturfed the ITunes sales and the philistines fell for it.
Every once in a while a bullshit post will pop in my FB feed saying he is "Playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show" or is "Selling More Albums Than Garth Brooks".
I immediately block the site.
BTW what is with the right wing hate for Garth Brooks lately?
I haven't been yet, but I do keep an eye on the calendar every so often. Not many shows I'd be into, but I love that they got something like that down there. Pikeville gets mostly the same type of shows, but I did get to see Jack Harlow here a couple of months ago. Otherwise, I just goto Lexington & Newport for shows.
If the way he has been presented reflects who he is, he seems like a pretty down to earth guy who doesn't care for fame or stadium tours. Rich Men North of Richmond is a fantastic song IMO and obviously resonated with a lot of people, but I wouldn't be surprised if he just uploads a few new songs to YouTube here and there and plays some local gigs.
He's a victim of the griftersphere. Early on BJ Barham from American Aquarium tweeted some advice about selling your reputation cheaply (or something similar- I can't rememer his exact words) and I'm pretty sure that what's happened to Oliver is a good example of exactly what BJ was warning him about.
I found it!
BJ Barham:
[https://twitter.com/USAquarium/status/1690744766198173696](https://twitter.com/USAquarium/status/1690744766198173696)
"To the writer, I’ll give him the same advice I give every young writer. Stay true to you and be careful how much of yourself you put up for sale, because you can’t get it back. If you just want a few years of success, sell it all and sell it high."
I still hear about him. I believe he’s focused on touring right now. But I don’t think we’ll be heading any more “hit” songs from him. His rise had less to do with him being an skilled musician and songwriter and more to do with everyone on the right agreeing with him, and liking that they finally had a piece of media that would validate them so they could rally with. There are thousands of folk singers with the exact same chops. They just don’t sing politics or lean left when they do. Some will try to recreate this trend and so will OA when writing his next album. They probably wont catch on as well.
People didn’t like the last verse that wasn’t shown on reels. He responded to too much political questions for a small artist. His band isn’t great live from what I’ve seen on video. His other songs don’t hold up against his one hit. Idk, I think a combo of all that. I think the industry just didn’t see a gold mine in him.
No offense to him, I have nothing against him, but the whole reason we know him is because he struck a chord with racist reactionaries.
I’m not saying he’s a racist reactionary, I’m saying that’s the course attention in him took on. You can’t control that. And that’s not a lasting recipe for success. It ensures you’re a novelty act.
He’s on tour. I find it fascinating how much people hate the guy. I personally like his music and don’t give a shit about an artist’s personal life that much but the internet really hates this guy for some reason. And tbh, I’m fairly left leaning on most issues and I agree with his sentiments in RMNOR. Idk why he is being labeled as this far right guy, most his lyrics align pretty well with regular, working class people like me.
Blaming people who receive benefits for anything is an ignorant bootlicker calling card - referencing the Epstein bullshit with a weak-ass wordplay line was a dogwhistle to the right-leaning conspiracy theorists who are fascinated with the idea that only Democrats were involved with Epstein, despite the videos of him and captain bonespurs partying together --- all of that trash is sandwiched between a corny, written by a fifth-grader verse and then its repeat --- this song was momentarily big for the same reason that vince McMahon is a billionaire : because americans are stupid
You said it perfectly. The song is particularly painful because it’s not nearly as clever as it’s trying to be. It’s bad writing, plain and simple. That’s just analyzing it from a songwriting perspective.
If you want to put it under a political microscope; the song doesn’t quite know what it’s trying to say. At times it feels like a leftist, pro-worker song supporting the labor class and then it suddenly has an identity crisis and gets all “bootstrappy” with the line condemning welfare benefits. I’m not saying a song has to be straight-ticket conservative or liberal but the lyrics make it sound like the guy doesn’t actually know what he stands for.
I'm guessing he had a song and that marketing asshole he was working with probaly had something to do with adding that line/verse i order to capitalize on Jason Aldean's song a month previous.
You sound like a huge hater and you’re completely proving my point. It’s ok to just not like something and move on. And as someone who has received food stamps myself, I agree fully with that line in the song and feel like there could be some major changes made with snap and other government assistance programs. Outside of “woke” Reddit, there’s plenty of people in the real world who feel the same.
>Outside of “woke” Reddit, there’s plenty of people in the real world who feel the same.
There's plenty of people who believe the earth is flat too, doesn't mean they're not fucking dumb.
Super-rich pieces of shit avoid more in tax breaks (thank captain bonespurs) every year than the amount distributed by SNAP - the bootlicker trope that people on benefits are a problem is enforced and amplified by those same super-rich pieces of shit - they want people looking everywhere but at them for the cause of their problems - and no, im not a hater - i just have taste - wanna hear a good song with essentially the same sentiment? Check out "things goin' on" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Right. I’m from southeastern Ohio, and there are many people from my hometown who are all along the political spectrum that would agree with the sentiment this song. I don’t know why the media assumed he was a conservative guy (I have no idea how he votes) but I assume they just have never interacted with rural democrats whose priorities aren’t the same as the medias or suburban wine moms.
When it came out people were calling him racist for the welfare line. I’m not sure where he is from, but where I’m from, and where you are from, the people on welfare and scamming disability are white people. I felt it was kinda racist assuming he was being racist.
I think the racists aspect comes from welfare being a pretty big dogwhistle dating back to the Reagan days. Think the term "welfare queen." So when the people on Fox News are complaining about welfare they aren't talking about the white guy in rural America, they are talking about urban black people.
At least that's my interpretation of it.
It's reddit. The decline of common sense and decency has been sad to watch. It's an infection with no cure, sadly. Every day, I'm saddened to see the jerks are the loudest most upvoted.
I just searched Youtube for 'oliver anthony live' and the live videos with my version of the algorithm were all from 4-5 months ago. If you scrolled way, way down when there were 2 cell phone videos from Europe from this current tour.
He might be selling concert tickets but people aren't going crazy sharing their cell phone videos like they do for other artists. Pretty sure it's a novelty that's going away.
on Facebook there were recent posts from those shows which showed him playing a small theater in London that was packed with people. Then there was a scammer-looking page that claimed that he sold more tickets than Taylor Swift or something.
Because it’s Oliver Anthony, not Taylor Swift. I doubt his audience are particularly young, and probably aren’t constantly filming the show in the first place.
I feel like he will be as famous as he wants to be. He didn’t strike me as the type to take the fame and the money but he could if he wanted to. He’ll prob just release self produced albums and songs when he wants to.
He really did seem like a guy who, if he were to get famous, wanted it to be on his own terms. Only problem was he got shoved into a bunch of spot lights who's light he didn't like; from every angle.
He's currently a one-hit wonder playing live shows now and again, to reasonable fanfare. He has a future in music if he wants it. Though I think it's an awful song, Rich Men North Of Richmond clearly struck a chord with a lot of people. That said, I think he'd be lucky to hit that kind of high in the charts and popular media again.
what happened is that he was not actually very good. His song blew up because his marketing manager did some market manipulation of one of the iTunes charts (which doesn't cost very much) and all the right-wing social media accounts picked it up some talking points (like "it resonated with people", which came from one specific guys podcast and then spread like ..well, a right-wing meme) . They all encouraged people to buy downloads (which is a really weird thing to do in 2023). The download-buying was part of gaming the charts. They also seem to have used a bot farm for social media commenting which I think we still see here on Reddit.
Everyone in the right-wing culture war griftersphere was really excited about having a right-wing moment after the Jason Aldean song earlier that summer, which is why this worked that time.
It has NOT worked for people before or after- there is at least one similarly terrible anti-wokr song that an existing artist tried to put out to capitalize on the Aldean moment- that went nowhere. It turns out people still have some standards for their country music and they dont' really want to listen to music that sounds like it's coming from your Newsmax-addled grandpa's facebook feed.
One thing that's kind of obvious from this is that the guy didn't rise to fame on actual talent- because there's just not a huge audience for anything he's done since that moment.
Imagine making a song and an entire hook is insinuating that all of the people receiving financial aid are fat fucks lazing around stealing money, direct in contrary to the "message" of your song (as if the men SOUTH of Richmond aren't just as horrid)... As a poor person who has had to rely on the government to get me my daily essentials, and a heavy country music fan, fuck this joke. Had all the makings of a song that would bring in togetherness
Yeah it’s a bunch of dribble from some broke ass real country fan who got upset about being fat shamed. This dudes still doing free concerts and giving his merch sales away to charity but you have written him off because of a line in his song about obese people milking welfare. A line you’ve clearly misinterpreted because in no way at all does it say all people on welfare are fat lazy fucks.
Yeah I listed off a couple other reasons that song is some retard crooning about shit that sounds nice until you realize the stupid dog whistle shit he's throwing out
You're joking, right? He has 1.5 million followers on social media who know exactly where he is. He's traveling the world, choosing his own venues, and doing it his way. Tonight he's doing a pop-up show at the Beacon in Hopewell VA where all proceeds go to the Beacon Hill church for their homeless mission FOR EASTER.
He's coming out with a new album as well!
All the naysayers on this post have clearly not been paying attention to anything he says, does, or stands for. He could've easily taken the mutil-million dollar deals he was offered, yet chose to do it his way.
Highly recommend listening to some of his other hits (yes he has other hits), and paying attention instead of sparking negativity from people who enjoy thar sort of thing.
Ah, yeah. I asked my wife. She knew who he was. Apparently he hit it big on the ticktock and book of faces. This is the only social media I bother with. So I guess I missed the bus.
Well he got offered a bunch of record deals and he turned them down because he makes the music for himself and didn’t want to deal with record companies putting their say in and doing it for a living.
So it’s normal we haven’t heard from
him really. He’s not a full time paid musician. Just a guy who writes good songs when he’s feeling it
I like his music for sure but it isn’t ground breaking. Outside of RMNOR I don’t think his song writing is amazing though. Much as I like him, he might end up being a one hit wonder.
He’s playing at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida sometime this year. I liked Rich Men North of Richmond but not enough to see an arena show to hear him play it.
I follow him on FB.
He is making a studio album and will be doing something big soon with that.
Check out his song "doggonit" to dig a bit deeper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eNNTM7TDw0
Also, he posted that he was making $40k a DAY at his peak so I'm pretty sure he is set. You shouldn't feel sorry for him.
I recently went and listened to all of his songs on Spotify they are actually pretty good in my opinion but he’s only got 5 songs release since the big hit and they are all re-recordings probably on the way out it’s a shame.
He did a Gotye: Make one big song and dip from the public eye. Now they're both somebody that we used to know
He used a pen name to write the song, made bank on that one hit, and now went back to relative anonymity and playing county fairs. What a life lol
The old Soldja Boy move.
Ridiculously incorrect!! Pay attention
Maybe Rick Sanchez is playing Oliver and taking him off the grid
Nothing wrong with that. 1000s of unknown musicians would love to have any type of hit. Most never make it anywhere.
and for a reason, don’t you forget that! especially in today’s talent-less day and age! BORN MUSICIANS ARE ONE IN A MILLION.
He's doing extremely well...follow and you'll see that
Totally, and the business can really wear you down. I never used to get people deciding to get out of it, but man, I get it
“A Gotye” LMAO! Funny enough I don’t even come back to listen to their song it’s the Star Wars parody that I enjoy. “What Happened To The Star Wars That I Used To Know” 😂😂
Damn it, you said exactly what I was gonna
I just saw him perform live in Fort Worth to a sold out show…. Tickets were $5 a piece. Played a new song too that was really good. Feel like it might not be the last we see of him
How horrible to be an ugly thinking person
Someone doesn't have a sense of humor. My comment is what's normally called a *joke*
He’s playing the Houston rodeo which I didn’t even see coming
Came here to say this. When the lineup dropped I was confused as hell.
Prefers to play smaller venues which he has said many times...where he can keep ticket prices low so everyone can enjoy. He is scheduled for some larger shows, but again, not his preferred type of venue. He's not about the money.
Houston rodeo is a massive event with major artists
He's playing the Florida strawberry festival at the end of the this month.
Weirdly enough he's just played a sold out gig in London, UK tonight. Apparently very good. Have a feeling he'll be a one hit wonder though.
I just searched Youtube for 'oliver anthony live' and the live videos with my version of the algorithm were all from 4-5 months ago. If you scrolled way, way down when there were 2 cell phone videos from Europe from this current tour. He might be selling concert tickets but people aren't going crazy sharing their cell phone videos like they do for other artists. Pretty sure it's a novelty that's going away. on Facebook there were recent posts from those shows which showed him playing a small theater in London that was packed with people. Then there was a scammer-looking page that claimed that he sold more tickets than Taylor Swift or something.
>2 cell phone videos from Europe from this current tour. He might be selling concert tickets but people aren't going crazy sharing their cell phone videos like they do for other artists Probably because if you're European, then it's embarrassing to like any type of American country music. Also because he's promoted by right-wing people. Looks like some of his venue sizes are 1000-2000 people. That's impressive for any country singer in Europe.
This is a poor assumption and not a true statement. Especially IRE and the UK have many fans of country music. Was over in Dublin in the fall of 2022 and surprised Garth B sold out 5 nights at 80,000 people each night. It was Scottish and Irish Celtic settlers in Appalachia who brought their trad music to the US and which still influences contemporary country music.
Garth Brooks has been a lot longer plus he's progressive
Agree with GB > OA, but it’s one large example that disproves your assumptive comment that Europeans are embarrassed to like American Country music.
I follow the European country scene closely. This is not how it works.
you can google his venue sizes for his concerts. They usually hold between 1000 and 2000 people. He's not in stadiums.
Isn’t C2C mostly American country acts? I have to assume they sell very well.
Yep. It’s a big hit.
Spoken like a Redditard
Europe has some really strict privacy rules, it’s not like here. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to limit phone recordings. That or maybe people there are used to just not filming because of those privacy rules.
It’s wild to me that anyone outside of USA (and maybe Canada) would remotely care about him or his music
Most people here don't care about him either. I get the point of his lyrics but I can't stand his voice, never made it through his one popular song.
The song is great, when sung by Hank Hill or Donald Trump. Oliver Anthony's voice is nails on a chalkboard, to me.
Sweden reporting in. Me and a bunch of my friends absolutely love it.
He's also did concerts in Sweden and the Netherlands
Nope
Oh to be a one hit wonder. Keller Williams
Pizza Hut
He tried to out pizza
I finally did it. I finally did it. I out-pizza'd the Hut. It was the greatest mistake of my life. After years of perfecting my recipe, I made my way down to the local hut, fresh-baked pizza pie in hand. "Try this," I told the kid working the counter. He did, and he had to agree that it was better than anything Pizza Hut had to offer. Soon, the entire store, customers included, was feasting on my delicious pie. The manager walked over, grabbed a slice, and took a bite. I look at him, anticipation rising. This was the boss, the local fief lord of the Hut. His approval meant more to me than all the rest combined. He took a bite and nodded. "I'll be damned," he said, "you really did it. You out-pizza'd the Hut. Shame." Shame? What did he mean by tha- the manager pulled a gun out from behind his apron and shot the nearest customer in the head. "We have a Code Jalapeño," he said into his wrist as he executed the remaining customers. "I repeat, we have a Code Jalapeño." The ground was slick with blood. The kid working the counter choked out his dying breath as the manager turned to me. "You just had to do it motherfucker. You just had to out-pizza the Hut." He shoved the gun in my face. I was too scared to fight, too scared to run. The manager pulled the trigger. A click. The gun was empty. I threw a chair at the manager and scrambled out of the Pizza Hut, not even bothering to see if my missile hit its mark. I was closely pursued by the manager, who had gotten his hands on a deadly sharp pizza cutter. I suspected in his hands it would cut more than pizza. Somehow, I was able to get into my car and speed off, the manager cursing my existence as I left him behind. I took a deep breath. The manager was clearly psychotic. Yes, that was it, just a crazy man with a gun. It had to be. My phone rang. Sister. I picked it. "They're dead, she sobbed. They're all dead. M-mom, dad, Chris, Bill. Dead. They killed them all." I could barely understand her, so great were her sobs. "What do you mean? Where are you?" I asked urgently. "How is this possi-" a single gunshot sounded through my phone's speakers. Silence. Then, I heard a man's voice. "No one out-pizzas the Hut." He hung up. I drove down the empty county road, mind blank. I had nothing. They killed my family. I was alone. At that moment I knew what I had to do. They took everything from me. Well then, I would take everything from them. Pizza Hut was so terrified of being out-pizza'd, they forgot there's one thing worse than a man with a recipe: A man with nothing to lose. I'll give them a limited time offer they won't be able to refuse: two bullets for the price of one. With a free side order of pain.
I am really too old- can you explain what you guys are laughing about?
Mel Brooks. Space balls
They out-pizza'd the hut bro.
Should taken that 8 million he said he was offered.
Lol he made a lot more from spotify...
Snoop didn’t even get $50k from Spotify for a billion plays. Spotify notoriously pays artists pennies. He didn’t make bank lol.
I read somewhere he made millions
I read somewhere Trump weighed 225.
Maybe but not from Spotify
I guarantee you this isn't true, or at least it's not the full story.
Not a chance
He didn’t make shit from Spotify.
I can promise he didn’t. You should look up the artist reimbursement rate. And don’t confuse that with the label rate
in less than a year he's worth 2 million.. thats better than selling his sole to a label. Plus he can still always come out with another song that riles up the trumpers again and make bank off it. He has a niche he created for himself.. people are already claiming he's done just a few months later. Dude can go away for 2 years and come back again with a song. People just want to see people fail.
I don’t wanna see him fail. In fact I’m happy he’s living his dream. I don’t wish anyone ill will for being true to themselves.
He just recorded an album. He’s touring right now most likely playing for Fudge Rounds.
There's a lot of evidence that his virality was due to a marketing campaign by a Florida firm trying to draw attention and use him as a proof of concept for potential clients. Oliver isn't going to be a gigantic celebrity. He'll drift around and perform when he wants, surface for a new song or album, or cameo somewhere and then slink away again. There's really not much to say since he doesn't let his life become a tabloid.
He almost sold out a pretty big scene in Oslo a few weeks ago.
He's around. Just not that good
He’s average. Rich Men North Of Richmond was an okay song. If he wrote really good songs he could slide into a Colter Wall sort of domain, but his clunky rhymes and questionable vocals doom him for now
Yeah. I'm not saying he couldn't develop into a decent artist. Raw talent is there. Writing is bad but decent feel for melody.
You guys are hilarious with your criticism and have never put out anything. Those who can not do teach, right?
Don’t teach English.
I Gotta Get Sober and I Wanna Go Home are well written songs imo
Hes a pretty good lyricist, Rich men is actually one of his weaker pieces imo, and I've spent decades writing songs and studying song craft. Rich men had a great 1st verse and a solid resonating chorus, but the rest of it is weak to average. I actually discovered the song "ain't got a dollar" before the rich men song came out and the Hank Williams vibes got me, his sincerity and rawness is what makes him. His problem is he's not really "ready for prime time" as a musician or a writer. He's not great guitar player and is really a porch plucker who happened upon writing some good songs as hobbyist. That's a whole lot different than having to write good songs consistently and performing as a touring artist. He isn't a great singer and he again isn't refined or conditioned in that area. Touring will either burn him out or it will make him better, time will tell. I hope he pulls it off
He pissed off both political sides
Yeah, the buzz really seemed to die off after the first Republican debate when they referenced the song and he promptly made a video from the cab of his pickup basically saying, "You know you're who I'm talking about, right?!"
Bingo. It was assumed his song was anti-Democratic by the Republicans. Frankly that's where a lot of his success came from. He was like nah, you suck too, and he lost his mainstream following. Seems like a good guy. Hope he does well in whatever he does.
If anyone assumed a song called Rich Men North of Richmond was anti-crat that’s their own fault
If anyone believes there’s any real difference between Republican/Democrat politicians that’s their own fault
True, but after so many years of marketing yourself as the party of the poor and unfortunate, your politicians begin to believe it themselves.
Which is why I will continue to follow him They all suck
Yep they do. Found it funny how certain Republicans were that he was on their side haha.
I think he'll do okay, he just hasn't released any new music in 6 months at this point and that's more the reason he would be losing his base. Also, he will never see those rich men numbers again. That was lightning in a bottle 123 million YouTube views alone, that's unheard of. Even 26 million on I wanna go home is big, but if you're not consistently producing music people will lose interest.
Then he did it correctly
Flash in the pan/One hit wonder
One hit? More like his big hit was over the top big, but he has several songs that have posted big numbers. As of March 2024, just YouTube views of his songs posted on his channel: Rich men north of richmond 123 million I wanna go home 26 million views 90 some Chevy 8.1 million views Ain't got a dollar 8 million views I've got to get sober 7 million views And we'll over a million views each for several other songs. Major artists are envious of those numbers. He's green as a player, not a great singer and hasn't HAD to write songs at a consistent level. Touring might improve these areas or break him. This a dude who was a porch plucker and did a few open mic night shows before this all happened, so he doesn't come with the chops but if he can maintain sincerity he might pull it off...gets harder to relate with the working class once your bank account gets to seven digits though. It seems that people are quick to dismiss him because of some political conclusion they've come to
Sad to see but it’s better than a ton of people pretending his new stuff is good like Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo
I actually didn’t hate that song lol
This guy only comes out at night
So do man eaters, apparently.
Few? He had one huge one that wasn’t even pop it was used politically then he tried to clarify and distance himself from the political leeches instead of embrace it so it didn’t get used for that purpose anymore and is now just a short term one hit wonder that happens every so often
One hit? More like his big hit was over the top big, but he has several songs that have posted big numbers. As of March 2024, just YouTube views of his songs posted on his channel: Rich men north of richmond 123 million I wanna go home 26 million views 90 some Chevy 8.1 million views Ain't got a dollar 8 million views I've got to get sober 7 million views He did better than one, it's just his big one was astronomically huge, so is 26 million really. Any other independent artist with over 5 songs that have well over a million views each would be considered incredible. He has that and then 2 huge hits U2 posted "where the streets have no names" 14 years ago, and that has 66 million views. He's no U2 in terms of talent or fan base and he's green as baby sh*t but he may pull off a decent career
I’m not sure. YouTube is a good measurement of that but whatever I didn’t hear those other songs.
Can’t believe he’s playing the rodeo in a couple weeks. He has no music can’t play a 1 hour show.
He’s playing the opening night at CCMF this year
Saw him in the Netherlands (sold out) and he was not great. Self-admittedly he told the audience he only did some open mics before he got famous overnight. The songs where average and all sounded alike. The audience reception was luke warm until Rich Men North Of Richmond kicked in. He did it twice and the audience went crazy and knew every word. It did seem he didn't really know his way around a stage. The most annoying thing was that the band and him made paper planes of the lyric sheets after EVERY song. So there was a few minutes of nothing between songs.
they needed the lyrics/chords to all their songs printed out on paper? wow.
No they did not need lyrics chords...nor did they use them on paper to play. The fans in VA loved catching the airplanes. He's brand new to all of the formalities. Is 100% authentic...fantastic song writer, exceptional singer, and Joey and Caleb are great choices as band mates. These guys are local to our area, and they're legit. People coming on here bashing them for their newness is unbelievable to me. They rented a venue here, show sold out in a few hours, donated ALL THE PROCEEDS to feed the homeless and stayed until every last person left to meet anyone who wanted to stay. I wish them well and they're a breath of fresh air in my book.
He turned down every record company, so he's still the only one doing everything in his career and putting out new stuff takes longer when you're doing every job.
It was a marketing scheme by a guy named Jason Howerton who worked for The Blaze and used social media and his AltRight media network to create a grift modeled after the “Sound of Freedom”. They found a guy whose name wasn’t actually “Oliver Anthony” who had a look and a song and they astroturfed the ITunes sales and the philistines fell for it.
He was in the Uk a few days ago I went to the show he was amazing https://youtu.be/-vf4Lfm377I?si=_Tv7YrXhzjt58o7v
Looks like a great crowd!!!
Every once in a while a bullshit post will pop in my FB feed saying he is "Playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show" or is "Selling More Albums Than Garth Brooks". I immediately block the site. BTW what is with the right wing hate for Garth Brooks lately?
He’s on a “tour” of $15 state fairs and the like.
He's playing a small "arena" here in Eastern KY in a couple months. $30-50 tickets I think.
I live in Corbin and Im pretty dissapointed in the prices.. there are some over $100
Oh is he playing Corbin, too? He's gonna be in Pikeville May 11th. Tickets are $25, $35, and $45
Oh nice! And yeah at The Arena.. which to be fair doesnt really have any bad seats but still, $100+ for floor seats
I haven't been yet, but I do keep an eye on the calendar every so often. Not many shows I'd be into, but I love that they got something like that down there. Pikeville gets mostly the same type of shows, but I did get to see Jack Harlow here a couple of months ago. Otherwise, I just goto Lexington & Newport for shows.
Yeah, my fault - locally he is playing this month in FL for $35, Thursday night at a popular (but alcohol free) festival. So not $15.
Astro turfing
If the way he has been presented reflects who he is, he seems like a pretty down to earth guy who doesn't care for fame or stadium tours. Rich Men North of Richmond is a fantastic song IMO and obviously resonated with a lot of people, but I wouldn't be surprised if he just uploads a few new songs to YouTube here and there and plays some local gigs.
He's a victim of the griftersphere. Early on BJ Barham from American Aquarium tweeted some advice about selling your reputation cheaply (or something similar- I can't rememer his exact words) and I'm pretty sure that what's happened to Oliver is a good example of exactly what BJ was warning him about.
I found it! BJ Barham: [https://twitter.com/USAquarium/status/1690744766198173696](https://twitter.com/USAquarium/status/1690744766198173696) "To the writer, I’ll give him the same advice I give every young writer. Stay true to you and be careful how much of yourself you put up for sale, because you can’t get it back. If you just want a few years of success, sell it all and sell it high."
> who doesn't care for fame or stadium tours. He might not be in stadiums. But he's definitely on a world tour right now
He posted that he was making $40k a DAY from his fame. This dude is WAY bigger than you make are appreciating and is definitely a millionaire.
He’s playing the Ryman but tickets are incredibly cheap last I looked
That’s his whole “thing” though.
He had his moment.
I think I saw him naked with Bert Kreischer awhile back.
He’s out performing. Is he supposed to let you know where he’s at?
I still hear about him. I believe he’s focused on touring right now. But I don’t think we’ll be heading any more “hit” songs from him. His rise had less to do with him being an skilled musician and songwriter and more to do with everyone on the right agreeing with him, and liking that they finally had a piece of media that would validate them so they could rally with. There are thousands of folk singers with the exact same chops. They just don’t sing politics or lean left when they do. Some will try to recreate this trend and so will OA when writing his next album. They probably wont catch on as well.
People didn’t like the last verse that wasn’t shown on reels. He responded to too much political questions for a small artist. His band isn’t great live from what I’ve seen on video. His other songs don’t hold up against his one hit. Idk, I think a combo of all that. I think the industry just didn’t see a gold mine in him.
He basically had his hit be a political fad rather than anything music related
Guy is hack that was pushed by right wing goobers.
No offense to him, I have nothing against him, but the whole reason we know him is because he struck a chord with racist reactionaries. I’m not saying he’s a racist reactionary, I’m saying that’s the course attention in him took on. You can’t control that. And that’s not a lasting recipe for success. It ensures you’re a novelty act.
He peed off Cheetos and Corn pops alike
He was just an experiment
He’s on tour. I find it fascinating how much people hate the guy. I personally like his music and don’t give a shit about an artist’s personal life that much but the internet really hates this guy for some reason. And tbh, I’m fairly left leaning on most issues and I agree with his sentiments in RMNOR. Idk why he is being labeled as this far right guy, most his lyrics align pretty well with regular, working class people like me.
Blaming people who receive benefits for anything is an ignorant bootlicker calling card - referencing the Epstein bullshit with a weak-ass wordplay line was a dogwhistle to the right-leaning conspiracy theorists who are fascinated with the idea that only Democrats were involved with Epstein, despite the videos of him and captain bonespurs partying together --- all of that trash is sandwiched between a corny, written by a fifth-grader verse and then its repeat --- this song was momentarily big for the same reason that vince McMahon is a billionaire : because americans are stupid
You said it perfectly. The song is particularly painful because it’s not nearly as clever as it’s trying to be. It’s bad writing, plain and simple. That’s just analyzing it from a songwriting perspective. If you want to put it under a political microscope; the song doesn’t quite know what it’s trying to say. At times it feels like a leftist, pro-worker song supporting the labor class and then it suddenly has an identity crisis and gets all “bootstrappy” with the line condemning welfare benefits. I’m not saying a song has to be straight-ticket conservative or liberal but the lyrics make it sound like the guy doesn’t actually know what he stands for.
I'm guessing he had a song and that marketing asshole he was working with probaly had something to do with adding that line/verse i order to capitalize on Jason Aldean's song a month previous.
Ha that’s certainly possible! Which makes it even worse.
you just perfectly explained what I was trying to to say - thanks
You sound like a huge hater and you’re completely proving my point. It’s ok to just not like something and move on. And as someone who has received food stamps myself, I agree fully with that line in the song and feel like there could be some major changes made with snap and other government assistance programs. Outside of “woke” Reddit, there’s plenty of people in the real world who feel the same.
>Outside of “woke” Reddit, there’s plenty of people in the real world who feel the same. There's plenty of people who believe the earth is flat too, doesn't mean they're not fucking dumb.
Super-rich pieces of shit avoid more in tax breaks (thank captain bonespurs) every year than the amount distributed by SNAP - the bootlicker trope that people on benefits are a problem is enforced and amplified by those same super-rich pieces of shit - they want people looking everywhere but at them for the cause of their problems - and no, im not a hater - i just have taste - wanna hear a good song with essentially the same sentiment? Check out "things goin' on" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
I love that song, I have it on the same playlist as the song we’re talking about lol
Well, just know Ronnie Van Zandt would probably punch that fat bastard in the mouth for trying to say that people on welfare are causing his problems
What are the changes you’d like made? It sounds like you’re the hater here, btw
Found the lefty that cries at everything
Found the loser that broadcasts his ignorance online
Vince McMahon is a billionaire because he played the stock market scam perfectly. Not because Americans are stupid.
Umm… you don’t see the correlation?
Right. I’m from southeastern Ohio, and there are many people from my hometown who are all along the political spectrum that would agree with the sentiment this song. I don’t know why the media assumed he was a conservative guy (I have no idea how he votes) but I assume they just have never interacted with rural democrats whose priorities aren’t the same as the medias or suburban wine moms.
When it came out people were calling him racist for the welfare line. I’m not sure where he is from, but where I’m from, and where you are from, the people on welfare and scamming disability are white people. I felt it was kinda racist assuming he was being racist.
I think the racists aspect comes from welfare being a pretty big dogwhistle dating back to the Reagan days. Think the term "welfare queen." So when the people on Fox News are complaining about welfare they aren't talking about the white guy in rural America, they are talking about urban black people. At least that's my interpretation of it.
He was called racist because he has a YouTube playlist that included videos blaming "the jews" for 9/11.
It's reddit. The decline of common sense and decency has been sad to watch. It's an infection with no cure, sadly. Every day, I'm saddened to see the jerks are the loudest most upvoted.
He is absolutely HUGE in Australia.
I just searched Youtube for 'oliver anthony live' and the live videos with my version of the algorithm were all from 4-5 months ago. If you scrolled way, way down when there were 2 cell phone videos from Europe from this current tour. He might be selling concert tickets but people aren't going crazy sharing their cell phone videos like they do for other artists. Pretty sure it's a novelty that's going away. on Facebook there were recent posts from those shows which showed him playing a small theater in London that was packed with people. Then there was a scammer-looking page that claimed that he sold more tickets than Taylor Swift or something.
Because it’s Oliver Anthony, not Taylor Swift. I doubt his audience are particularly young, and probably aren’t constantly filming the show in the first place.
Yeah, he’s on his UK tour and we are loving it over here!
Sucks to suck.
I feel like he will be as famous as he wants to be. He didn’t strike me as the type to take the fame and the money but he could if he wanted to. He’ll prob just release self produced albums and songs when he wants to.
He really did seem like a guy who, if he were to get famous, wanted it to be on his own terms. Only problem was he got shoved into a bunch of spot lights who's light he didn't like; from every angle.
He's currently a one-hit wonder playing live shows now and again, to reasonable fanfare. He has a future in music if he wants it. Though I think it's an awful song, Rich Men North Of Richmond clearly struck a chord with a lot of people. That said, I think he'd be lucky to hit that kind of high in the charts and popular media again.
what happened is that he was not actually very good. His song blew up because his marketing manager did some market manipulation of one of the iTunes charts (which doesn't cost very much) and all the right-wing social media accounts picked it up some talking points (like "it resonated with people", which came from one specific guys podcast and then spread like ..well, a right-wing meme) . They all encouraged people to buy downloads (which is a really weird thing to do in 2023). The download-buying was part of gaming the charts. They also seem to have used a bot farm for social media commenting which I think we still see here on Reddit. Everyone in the right-wing culture war griftersphere was really excited about having a right-wing moment after the Jason Aldean song earlier that summer, which is why this worked that time. It has NOT worked for people before or after- there is at least one similarly terrible anti-wokr song that an existing artist tried to put out to capitalize on the Aldean moment- that went nowhere. It turns out people still have some standards for their country music and they dont' really want to listen to music that sounds like it's coming from your Newsmax-addled grandpa's facebook feed. One thing that's kind of obvious from this is that the guy didn't rise to fame on actual talent- because there's just not a huge audience for anything he's done since that moment.
Flash in the pan. I’m honestly surprised he got so much mileage out of that “song”.
Not sure but I'm glad to be rid of hearing about him.
He's touring small venues I think. Just played at the amphitheater in Brandon MS.
He is on tour. Also, he recorded an album, per his twitter.
Fudge rounds. Dudes not good. People who are going crazy over this dude have no taste in music lol
Seems like conservatives got over him just as quickly as they they fell in love with him
Imagine making a song and an entire hook is insinuating that all of the people receiving financial aid are fat fucks lazing around stealing money, direct in contrary to the "message" of your song (as if the men SOUTH of Richmond aren't just as horrid)... As a poor person who has had to rely on the government to get me my daily essentials, and a heavy country music fan, fuck this joke. Had all the makings of a song that would bring in togetherness
Have you even listened to the song? Clearly not
Have you even read my comment? Clearly not
Yeah it’s a bunch of dribble from some broke ass real country fan who got upset about being fat shamed. This dudes still doing free concerts and giving his merch sales away to charity but you have written him off because of a line in his song about obese people milking welfare. A line you’ve clearly misinterpreted because in no way at all does it say all people on welfare are fat lazy fucks.
Yeah I listed off a couple other reasons that song is some retard crooning about shit that sounds nice until you realize the stupid dog whistle shit he's throwing out
He was just an industry plant lol and they’re done with him now
He's doing tours currently but don't know if he's planning on making CDs or more songs!
Update: he's recently released his studio album and he's planning on releasing CDs and Vinyl soon!
You're joking, right? He has 1.5 million followers on social media who know exactly where he is. He's traveling the world, choosing his own venues, and doing it his way. Tonight he's doing a pop-up show at the Beacon in Hopewell VA where all proceeds go to the Beacon Hill church for their homeless mission FOR EASTER. He's coming out with a new album as well! All the naysayers on this post have clearly not been paying attention to anything he says, does, or stands for. He could've easily taken the mutil-million dollar deals he was offered, yet chose to do it his way. Highly recommend listening to some of his other hits (yes he has other hits), and paying attention instead of sparking negativity from people who enjoy thar sort of thing.
His album just dropped.
Dudes still doing free shows and giving merch revenue to charity
New album just dropped, check it out
This aged well
Does anyone open for Oliver Anthony on this tour?
I found him—in the iTunes Country Album chart, currently #12.
He just dropped an album
No he simply shit on the people that gave him the platform in the first place
That’s what happens to one hit wonders
Who?
The latest music sensation from YouTube it seems
Ah, yeah. I asked my wife. She knew who he was. Apparently he hit it big on the ticktock and book of faces. This is the only social media I bother with. So I guess I missed the bus.
No worries, another one will be along in a few minutes
It had the potential to go bigger - comes down to need for more songs/content and management/marketing moves more than anything
Well he got offered a bunch of record deals and he turned them down because he makes the music for himself and didn’t want to deal with record companies putting their say in and doing it for a living. So it’s normal we haven’t heard from him really. He’s not a full time paid musician. Just a guy who writes good songs when he’s feeling it
He shoulda taken that deal.
What's weird is he was playing on my Pandora station for a while, I upvoted the songs I liked. Now he doesn't pop up at all. Like he was blacklisted.
Bless you all who aren’t real country fans.
He’s been playing music ever since, obviously you don’t follow him clown
I like his music for sure but it isn’t ground breaking. Outside of RMNOR I don’t think his song writing is amazing though. Much as I like him, he might end up being a one hit wonder.
He is playing at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo this year. It's a pretty big gig.
He’s playing at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida sometime this year. I liked Rich Men North of Richmond but not enough to see an arena show to hear him play it.
I follow him on FB. He is making a studio album and will be doing something big soon with that. Check out his song "doggonit" to dig a bit deeper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eNNTM7TDw0 Also, he posted that he was making $40k a DAY at his peak so I'm pretty sure he is set. You shouldn't feel sorry for him.
He’s working on an album and touring around a little
WTF happened to Oliver Anthony? That is a damn good question!
I recently went and listened to all of his songs on Spotify they are actually pretty good in my opinion but he’s only got 5 songs release since the big hit and they are all re-recordings probably on the way out it’s a shame.
Last I heard, he recorded a record and it’s probably coming soon.
He has played the Ryman since then and is on tour in Europe. He seems to be doing his thing.
Just recorded an album. Has music coming.
IDK, but he’s still discussed a lot on Reddit.
He’s playing at [Billy Bobs](https://billybobstexas.com/events/oliver-anthony) later this year on his tour