"Music that comes out of an enclosed, close-knit world is qualitatively, profoundly different from music that comes from a very diverse, open world."

"That’s the essence of the difference between country and rock ’n’ roll. I use the example of the saddest country song of all time to talk about how it could never have been a rock ’n’ roll song. Rock ’n’ roll is just incapable of speaking that kind of emotional language."

Says Malcolm Gladwell. He's teasing an upcoming podcast, and he doesn't name the "the saddest country song of all time." I haven't listened to country music all that much over the years, but I immediately assumed the song is "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

I guess I should wait until I can hear Gladwell's full argument about the difference between country and rock ’n’ roll, but his generalizations kind of irk me. I think what bothers me is the us-them of it and how it feels so much like the political liberal's distancing from the "deplorables" — those bitter clingers in their enclosed, close-knit world, those little people, so different from us — we who are thriving and flourishing in a very diverse, open world.

The Gladwell interview is mostly about something else, and I'm going to use that in the next post, so please, in this comments thread, only talk about the quote about the difference between country and rock ’n’ roll. Did it irk you too? For the same or a different reason? And is there any question that I've named the saddest country song?