What's in a song?

Music has been ever shifting in this country and across the globe. What makes something popular? Why do songs made for no other reason than to "brainwash" America to bad music become popular? Why do we accept it? Because oftentimes this popular music is "okay" to listen to. It's neutral. It more often than not, does not offend people. And tries to keep popular music focused on superficiality.

Popular music in the 1960s ranged from the Beatles, to Creedence Clearwater Revival, and to Bob Dylan. Three artists, among many others, who wrote great songs that were popular. The songs they wrote focused on events at time. Their music had passion and lyrics that actually meant something. The Beatles wrote about love and peace, CCR wrote many political songs about being anti-war, and Bob Dylan captured the folk heart of America and politicized it. At a time I wish I could have lived, I could have seen these artists in their prime. Been in the front row singing along to all the popular music of the time.

A lot of things have changed since then that change how music becomes popular. The biggest thing now is the internet. There are countless ways to download music, whether legally or illegally. iTunes, BitTorrent, and YouTube have all become ways to download music. Then there's the streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, allowing you to access pretty much any music you want anywhere you go. And of course there's still the simplest form of just sharing your music with your friends. Whether that's through Mojo, external hard drives, or Lion OS' Air Drop feature, getting new music has become extremely easy if you're willing to look for it.

I'm devoting this to a few songs that I don't like for different reasons. Some are just because I hear them to much ("Call Me, Maybe"). Another is because the video is weird and no one wants to see a strange-toothed naked Aussie be painted awkwardly while singing ("Somebody That I Used To Know"). And finally, a song I just don't get how people can like ("Pumped Up Kicks").

"Call Me, Maybe". Yeah it's kind of catchy, but when you hear it at every single bar, party, and place around Madison, every time you go out it gets old. Fast. I was sick of this song within the first week people "discovered" it. I'm by no means saying this is a bad song, but hearing it too often really kills the song for me. I'll give it the fact that it is catchy almost like a Ke$ha song, but has lyrics that actually sort of mean something...

"Somebody That I Used To Know". How? Why? What is the sudden obsession with this song. I litrally (said like Chris from Parks & Rec) enjoy every single other version of this song and cannot listen to the original. The first time a lot of people, myself included, heard this song was this video from January of this year. It was genius! This group has done a few covers and they are all awesome. And for those of you who love to go to shows, they're playing Summerfest this year on June 29th. The other cover that stands out to me is the Pentatonix (of The Sing-Off fame) version. Watch them sing it here. Incredible. From their use of dynamics to the range in singing throughout. A five person group, but they make it sound like a full band singing. Fantastic.

Finally "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People. Again, sort of catchy, but overall this could have been written by five-year-olds. And in fact it was written in five hours by the lead singer. How can people listen to a song that's soooooo repetitive? It's a song written about similar tragedies to Columbine in 1999. So yeah the lyrics might mean something, but in the end it's a song that sounds like it will never end and I don't understand how the world has been listening to it over and over again. This band has much better songs on their album and those are the songs people should be listening to.

My professor for one of my classes told us that the best way to be a critic is to talk about the things you like, not the things you don't like. This was one post about things I don't like and I did sort of enjoy it, but I could probably talk about songs that I don't like for awhile. There's just so much crap on the radio nowadays. So go out and discover your own music, don't just let the radio pump you full of these terrible songs.