“I Hate That F–king Song”: The Mid-1990s Country Hit Song Merle Haggard Can’t Stand

Country icon Merle Haggard has never been one to mince his words, although he has been known to cloak them in such veiled metaphor that he would later say he regretted one of his biggest hit singles because of how much people misunderstood the song. But to the credit of the misled listeners who gleaned the wrong message from Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee,” the country singer has plenty of definitive opinions about music he’s heard, too.

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Whether his interpretations were correct or not is largely subjective. Still, that didn’t stop Haggard from quickly name-dropping a mid-1990s country hit song that he can’t stand to hear.

Merle Haggard Couldn’t Stand This Mid-1990s Country Hit Song

Merle Haggard bore witness to some of the most significant changes in country music history. From cutting his teeth in the 1960s to pioneering the outlaw movement of the 1970s to watching the way country music would continue to evolve from the 1980s and onward, he was certainly one of the better-qualified critics of the country music industry by the late 2000s. In 2009, he expressed his filter-free opinion in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

“We don’t have the enthusiasm in music right now,” the country icon lamented. “We don’t even have songs you could date a time period by. You’ve got girls singing about beating up their boyfriends. “Independence Day.” I hate that f***ing song.”

Although Haggard didn’t clarify which “Independence Day” he was talking about, it stands to reason that he meant Martina McBride’s track from her 1993 album, The Way That I Am. McBride released the song the following spring as the third single off the record, quickly cementing the track’s place as one of her signature songs.

To McBride and songwriter Gretchen Peters’ credit, “Independence Day” isn’t technically a song about a woman beating up her boyfriend. But it does paint a picture of a woman who sets her house on fire with her and her physically abusive husband inside, sending their daughter, the song’s narrator, to a county home. “Independence Day” was certified platinum and peaked at No. 12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

The Country Legend Was Outspoken About Modern Music

Of all the record sales that contributed to Martina McBride’s platinum certification for “Independence Day,” country legend Merle Haggard was likely not one of them. The “Mama Tried” singer was often outspoken about his disdain for modern country music. In a 2007 interview with the Washington Post, he argued, “Radio doesn’t want substance. If a song actually had an opinion, that’s the first thing they’d throw in the trash.” As for the stuff that makes it on the radio?

“It needs a melody,” Haggard told the Toledo Blade in 2015. “It needs a melody real bad. Not sure what they’ll have to remember. A song is defined as words put to music, but I don’t hear any music. All I hear is the same band, the same sound, and everybody’s screaming to the ceiling. You stand off at a distance, and you couldn’t tell who they are. They are all screaming for one note they can barely get. I don’t find it very entertaining. I wish I did.”

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