3 Country Music Scandals That Defined the 20th Century

No genre of music is without its controversy, and country music is no exception. Even before the age of the internet, plenty of scandals rattled the country music world. Let’s look at just a few instances.

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Note: This list of country music scandals from the 20th century is far from exhaustive. We just think these three events are noteworthy.

1. “The Pill” by Loretta Lynn

Country music scandals are often political in nature, and Loretta Lynn shook the country world by delivering this iconic song in 1975. “The Pill” is, as you probably gathered already, a song about birth control and the freedom it brought women at the time.

The song was banned by conservative radio stations for a while, but Lynn never apologized for it. In fact, she celebrated it. According to the legendary singer herself, a doctor once told her that the song had done more to educate women in rural America about birth control than any literature out there at the time.

2. Jerry Lee Lewis’ 13-Year-Old Wife

This bit is an unfortunately unavoidable entry on our list of country music scandals from the 20th century. Country-rock crooner Jerry Lee Lewis was no stranger to controversy during his time, but his worst offense had to be marrying his 13-year-old cousin.

It looked like Lewis tried to keep the whole thing a secret. However, during a tour of Great Britain in 1958, a reporter learned about his third wife, who happened to be his first cousin and was only 13 years old when they were wed. Lewis was 22 years old at the time. The publicity landed Lewis in hot water, and his tour was abruptly canceled.

3. Johnny Cash Causing a Wildfire

He may be one of the most beloved figures in country music, but one can’t deny that Johnny Cash had his issues. Those issues mainly revolved around substance abuse, which likely resulted in this controversial event from country music history.

Back in 1965, Cash caused a wildfire in Los Padres National Forest in California. The details are a bit vague, but we do know that the fire was caused by Cash’s faulty camper, according to the FBI. The camper was stuck on the side of the road and shot out sparks that eventually started a pretty devastating forest fire. Some believe that Cash was extremely high at the time, but we’ll likely never know for sure. The fire destroyed 508 acres of forest, Cash paid around $80,000 in damages, and Cash’s lack of remorse left a bad taste in fans’ mouths.

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