Song Paaaaaale Blue Colored Cleanse
posted by on January 4 at 10:26 AM
It takes a special song to be terrible and catchy at the same time. Catchy might not be the right descriptor. Catchy denotes a liking of the song.
I’m talking about songs you don’t like, but can’t help singing when you hear them.
The song has been burrowed and buried in the deepest darkest song recalling quadrant of your cerebellum. The song sucks, but when you hear it on the radio, you sing right along.
The song has probably been overplayed. The video for the song has probably been over-shown. Maybe you had a carpool driver or a housemate that played the song every single motherfucking morning. The song has been jackhammered into your lobes and cortexes and even though you can’t stand it, you still sing along.
Case in point: Live’s “Lightning Crashes.”
It came on the radio yesterday, I scanned away immediately, but all stations were on commercials, including KEXP. So I was back to “Lightning Crashes.” About a minute in, I was, “Paaaaale blue colored eyes.” And “Forces pulling from the center of the earth again, I can feeeeeeeel it.”
I can’t stand the way Ed Kowalczyk sounds when he sings. It’s like vampire fingernails on a chalkboard. Two hours later, on another station, “Lightning Crashes” came on again. I didn’t try to scan away or go to another station. I was, “The angel opens her eeeeeeeeeeeeyes. Oh now feel it comin’ back again, like a rollin’ thunder chasing the weeeeyind.”
Dr. Golob, is there a cortex cleanse?
Holy Hell--
Ed Kolawazyk, DO YOU REally want to know THe story I have toi SAy about him,? of course not.
So
nevertheless, an ok photo of the bird. is it real? is it yours? is it being prodded by the Allen Institute for Brain Research. Slice up the mutherfukkin bird's brain, gather data under your microscop, go eat your organic lunchtime, come back and repeat the torture
Science is fun, Yes Mr Allen, whatever you say. Don't mind me, I have stock reports to attend to.
If you listened to radio in the late 80s, try replacing it with:
I've got my mind set on you. Set on you. I've got my mind set on you. Set on you. From George Harrison.
If you listened to radio in the late 70s, or classic rock, try ELO:
Can't get it out of my head.
No I can't get it out of my head.
June Bee,
Do tell. If you have a Ed Kolawazyk story, I need to hear it.
Can I get a "What if God was One of Us" ?
Yaaaa, yaaaa, God is good.
Oh! And TLC -
"Don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to."
God DAMN I hate that song, yet I can't ever change the station when I hear it. I sing.
You're right, it's special type of song that falls into this category. Most songs I hate, get the immediate cut off, or channel change. But not these.
The term for this kind of song is not "catchy." It is "sticky."
My vote is for "I want it that Way" by the Backstreet Boys....why does everyone in the world, including myself, know the lyrics to that song?!?!?!
Now "Lightning Crashes" is stuck in my head.
Fuck you Trent.
I need the cleanse too.
live is from an hour south of where i grew up and i can remember the exact moment in 1997 when a then-bandmate was trying to convince me that they were good and i thought to myself "this whole being in a band thing is really not for me".
to me, live is a less-infuriating version of rusted root. rusted root without the extraneous band members, poorly played world instruments, and dreadlocks is essential live (and a large swath of tuned-into-feelings-and-nature rock bands of the mid to late 90's).
I remember Ed Kolwyzkie or whatever his name is had a power braid tribal mullet. All hair shaved but the power braid pony tail coming out the back. Then he sings and it's got the fake eastern mysticism accent during parts.
Trent is right, the vampire has long ass fingernails and they are scraping the power braid chalkboard.
Now Lightning Crashes *and* Waterfalls are both stuck in my head.
Music does something plain old weird to the brain. I'd have to research the answer to your question, but take this tid-bit as a treat:
People with brain damage that destroys the speech part of the brain can still sing, including singing lyrics. There is an entire therapy based around getting people to first "converse" in song, and eventually return to speech after strokes or accidents.
trent,
oh, the stories (anecdotes) aren't scandalous or anything. the band LIVE had a previous name that i knew them as, since we were from a similar area in 80s. i saw their high school team play a few b-ball games. their band played at a dance i went to. mutual aqucainteneances.
i could elaborate more at the Greyskul show tomorrow, are you going? maybe we could turn my skewed Behind The Music into a Stranger article? it would have to be more edifying than making fun of Venus Velasquez.
hey, and kudos to Christopher D. - Ong Ong is a very cool zine. I got a a couple of them at Wall of Sound as well. Funny that the little booklet can pack as much quality as six months of the Stranger. oh well, just my opinion
I hate to say it, but the brain cleanse you are talking is called Nitrous Oxide.
My sticky song is "Hungry Like the Wolf."
"Do do do - do do do - do do do do do dooo do dooo dooo."
That Yes song too is pretty sticky,
"I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way."
There is a Tears for Fears song that does this to me.
"Something happened and I'm head over heals..."
"Don't take my heart don't break my heart, don't, don't, don't throw it away."
heels. Heels!
A tough one. Hmmmm.
For me it's gotta be Neil Young's "Rockin in the Free World." I hate it and sing it every time.
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