CMT Blog: Achy Breaky Heart

“You can tell your friends just what a fool I’ve been/And laugh and joke about me on the phone.”

People all over Music Row laughed and joked — and gnashed their teeth — over Billy Ray Cyrus and “Achy Breaky Heart” when he shot out of a cannon with that novelty hit in 1992. It propelled him to instant superstardom, and simultaneously laid the groundwork for his undoing as a commercially successful artist.

I’ve often thought of Billy Ray as two different singers: There’s the vocalist with the tough-guy growl and the shy boy with the sensitive, apologetic delivery. We’ve all got multiple facets to our personalities, and his seem to come through quite distinctly. A lot of people had trouble getting to that part of his artistry, though, because of the “Achy Breaky” hangover. Music executives reviled it, the media sneered at it, fellow artists pointed to it as an example of everything that’s wrong with commercial music.

I never quite understood why. It’s a stupid song — even its writer, Don Von Tress, acknowledges that — but not every piece of music needs to be socially relevant. This one is incredibly infectious: a simple guitar riff, nonsense words that fit together nicely, and that pumping beat are unavoidable. In fact, 15 years ago this week (March 23), Bruce Springsteen shocked an audience in New Jersey when he ripped off his shirt and lit into “Achy Breaky.” “Everybody gets a giggle out of it,” he said, “but that tune is just damn good.” If it’s good enough for the Boss… well, it’s too bad it took Hannah Montana for the masses to figure out that Billy Ray Cyrus is indeed a worthy artist.