It's hard to believe this was 16 years ago. The reason this song is so important is simple. Although not her first single, this Southern Rock inspired cyclone of a country song delivered Miranda Lambert to us. She was around a few years before this having moderate success, but nothing like this. This was her first top ten peaking at #7, which I find staggering since it sold about 3 million copies. There were some misfires after this but this shoved her career into a very high gear. Even though Kerosene was earlier and a mild hit that fans liked, this was the gas her engines had been waiting for. Every single thing she did after this was different and noticed. It's a career record. She also completely dominated the awards shows through various academies for years, Grammy's, ACM, CMA and others to the tune of 192 nominations, with 78 wins, simply incredible. For a generation she was the #1 female act in country music by any measure. She also became a major musical influencer within the format. This resonated with hundreds of thousands of people who dealt with or are dealing with domestic abuse situations and made many feel far less powerless and gave them the voice, the strength, or the resolve to get out of it. I feel Miranda is at her very best when she's in jeans and T-shirts with a guitar and a blazing band behind her with a kick-butt song at the mic. That's what this is, and made everything else possible.
