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I was an avid follower of contemporary music for many years, certainly from early teens until my kids got to be young adults.
I even worked as a DJ on my college radio station and for several years reviewed new record album releases for The Indianapolis Star. I grew to like pop, rock, blues, jazz, New Age and even classical music. But country music was not one of my faves except for a brief period in the early 1980s, and that’s a separate story not worth getting into here.
For three months of summer 1974, I worked as a local news gatherer for WGLB AM-FM radio, which then was based in Port Washington, Wis. WGLB had a mostly country music format. The exceptions to the country format occurred in late afternoon and early evening. At 6 p.m., the AM station signed off, and the FM band would play pop music before signing off at midnight.
I worked there mostly during daytime hours, so I heard almost nothing but country music. I’m sure it was there that I first heard the voice of George Jones, one of country’s biggest stars. His voice struck me the wrong way; the nasal tones underscored the stereotype I’d become familiar with about the genre from the little bit with which I was familiar.
Fast-forward to 2026, when I stumbled across a George Jones song, He Stopped Loving Her Today, being reviewed by one of what seems like scores of very young YouTube personalities who are making a thing out of posting video reactions to what they claim are first-time listens to popular music from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s that they all say they had never heard before.
First off, Jones was not the first artist I’d come across on one of these YouTube “reaction” videos. I’d looked in on multiple Pink Floyd videos (Comfortably Numb, On the Turning Away, Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Wish You Were Here are very popular among these reactors), and quite a few others videos too many to mention individually here.
YouTube knows what viewers are watching, so if you watch one music “reactor” video, they’ll line up several others — either of the same song or other songs by the artist — for you to click on when you’re done with the one you’re watching. Suffice it to say I finally landed on a reactor’s video reaction to a George Jones song.
Jones’ He Stopped Loving Her Today was released in 1980, so I’m sure I heard it during that brief period in the early 1980s when I was paying attention to country. But the key here is ... I did not pay attention to the lyrics or its story at the time. I summarily dismissed it because, at the time, his nasal vocal tone turned me off.
But when I recently came across the tune from a “reactor” video on YouTube, I decided to stop and give it a listen. A serious listen. Boy, how 40+ years can make a difference.
Jones sings the song tenderly, and I listened to its story closely, a tear-jerker that Jones relates in the third person. By the time I reached the critical lines near the end, I was a bit confused. I listened to the ending again, and I ascertained my suspicion. And it made sense.
The reactor I chose for the watch/listen had the same momentary confusion at the same point I did. He then said he had heard beforehand that He Stopped Loving Her Today is widely considered the greatest country song ever. And I think the reason is that the composer(s) (it wasn’t Jones) wanted the climax to be subtle. And boy, it sure is.
I then watched/listened to about a dozen other “reactors” who chose this song, too, to see how well they could figure out the ending. Only one or two did not get it or responded indifferently. Most stopped the song in horror or dismay during the same critical lines near the end as the light bulb went on. And they gasped in disbelief because, as many of them say, they did not see this coming. (I’m not getting into too much detail as a kind of spoiler courtesy; who knows, perhaps some readers of this post haven’t heard the song.)
But I will join the crowd who think this might be the best ever country song. It’s sad, cleverly narrated and powerful.
Note: The photos in this post were pulled from George Jones’ Wikipedia entry, which states both images are now in the public domain.
