Archive for the 'Pop Music' category

10 Song Lyrics Featuring Outdated Technologies

May 30 2012 Published by under Music, Pop Culture, Pop Music, Technology

I was listening to the radio on the way back from lunch, heard a song on Sirius featuring a throw away line that made me think about all the songs that reference technology and quickly become champions of the obsolete.  So hear here, without further adieu, is a list of ten such songs, and the technology that makes them so awesomely outdated.

10.Bawitdaba – Kid Rock  (1999)

The candid freaks, cars packed with speakers
The G’s with the forties an’ the chicks with beepers.

9. Listen to the Eight Track – Ian Hunter (1981)

Oh get out into the car park, sitting in my own Buick Skylark in the dark
Oh, ‘n I’ll listen to the eight track

8. I Like That – Richard Vission and Static Revenger (2009) – (a double whammy for outdated audio and camera tech)

Oh let me shake it shake it
I’ll polaroid it shake it  …

I like that 8-track
It takes me way back

7. Mix Tape – Brand New (2001)

This is the first song for your mixtape.
And it’s short just like your temper,
but somewhat golden like the afternoons we used to spend before you got too cool

6. Casette Tape – Katie Costello (2011)  – (the newest song to make the list, it uses outdated tech as a metaphor, but much of the audience it would appeal to has either never heard of casette tapes, or long forgotten them)

I wish there was a social excuse to make you a cassette tape
I’d teach you all about my life from side B to side A
Fast forward, rewind…Whenever or never mind

5. Technologic – Daft Punk (2005)- (another double whammy for including both faxing and formatting, which although not strictly obsolete is not nearly as common in usage as it once was thanks to WYSIWYG directory navigation like Finder and Explorer)

Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax – rename it,
Touch it, bring it, Pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start - format it.

4. Video Killed the Radio Star – The Buggles (1979) - (this is included not just for it’s unspoken reference to a time when MTV actually played music, but for the specific mention of VTR)

In my mind and in my car, we can’t rewind we’ve gone to far.
Pictures came and broke your heart, put the blame on VTR.

3. I’m My Own Walkman – Bobby McFerrin (1984)

When you’re walking down the street
And you got your walkman and you’re walkin’ to the beat
And you got your walkman and you’re walkin’ to the beat
Say what?

2. 45 RPM – The Alarm (2004) – (45 RPM, for younger readers, was the speed at which vinyl singles like these spun when played on a turntable. If I have to explain turntables, why are you reading this?)

a spiral scratch
gave me my life back
a vinyl solution
ended my confusion
I heard a voice in the noice pollution
45 rpm

And last, but certainly not least, my number one pick.  It is especially ironic because it was about outdated technology, but featured outdated technology.  Remember portable CD players?

1. AM Radio – Everclear (2000)

Wanna Get Down In a Cool Way?
Picture yourself on a beautiful day
Big bell-bottoms and groovy, long hair
Just a-walking in style with a portable CD player – No!
You would listen to the music on the AM radio

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Jackson Browne’s Desperate Cry For Attention

Aug 25 2008 Published by under Celebrities, John McCain, Music, Politics, Pop Music, Radio, Republicans

While driving to get a haircut with T2 yesterday, I was listening to the radio. The DJ on the stationtook off on a tangent about Jackson Browne and that, of course, led to him talking about the McCain ad over which Browne sued the campaign, the RNC and the Republican Party of Ohio.

First, the campaign didn’t make the ad, and neither did the RNC. Browne clearly needs to stick to songwriting because he’s no lawyer (and apparently, neither are his lawyers). Suing McCain and the RNC for an OH GOP ad is like suing McDonald’s because you got a bad cheeseburger at Wendy’s – based on the theory that they all make hamburgers and therefore share in the liability.

All three of these groups are separate legal entities. Suing one for the actions of the other is not legally supportable unless you can prove collusion, which is unlikely (and I’m not even sure that would support anything other than an FEC violation).

Second, Browne’s suit is clearly politically motivated. You don’t sue organizations that had nothing to do with the ad unless you’re trying to make a political point. Browne could have sued the Ohio GOP, but he knew that wouldn’t make news. So they named the RNC and McCain as well. This is about politics and the alleged infringement is BS.

Third, very telling about Browne’s suit is this passage:

The 59-year-old singer claims his reputation has already been damaged and is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

Browne released “Running on Empty” ‚Äî the song and an album by the same name ‚Äî in 1977. According to the lawsuit, the album has sold more than 7 million copies.

So Browne is suing over a song that’s 31 years old. He’s claiming $75,000 in damages. It seems likely to me that Browne’s sales as a result of this little publicity ploy should result in more sales of the album/song than he has seen in years otherwise.

This isn’t about a musician who was grievously injured by the misuse of one of his songs by a politician he does not support. It is much more likely that Browne suing McCain was more about getting his name in the paper and moving some units of an old song that was likely to remain largely forgotten otherwise.

Need further evidence that Browne’s political activism has hampered his sales, leading to his latest publicity outing? Try this from Billboard.com

With his first four albums, Browne built a loyal following that helped him break into the mainstream with 1976′s The Pretender. During the late ’70s and early ’80s, he was at the height of his popularity, as each of his albums charted in the Top Ten. Midway through the ’80s, Browne made a series of political protest records that caused his audience to gradually shrink…

Browne hasn’t released a new album in six years, instead pursuing “intimate (read: small), acoustic shows around the globe”.

Unable to draw an audience, and unable to sell his unique brand of burned out hippy protest albums, Browne is left with only one option: strike out in a ridiculously frivolous lawsuit at a campaign that has nothing to do with your claim in a desperate attempt to get attention.

Well, Jackson, you’ve succeeded.

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The Greatest Rick Roll of All Time

Apr 07 2008 Published by under Craziness, Memes, Miscellany, Music, Pop Music

If you’re a fan of the Muppets and Rick Astley, you’ll love this.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

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What Came First? The Music Or The Misery?

Jan 28 2008 Published by under Miscellany, Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Pop Music

Thought of the day from the opening scene of the movie High Fidelity:

What came first? The music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns and watching violent videos, we’re scared that some sort of culture of violence is taking them over. But nobody worries about kids listening to thousands — literally thousands — of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss.

Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable, or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

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O.J and Oh, Britney. The Week In Celebrity Shame

Sep 17 2007 Published by under Cable, Celebrities, Craziness, Crime, Miscellany, Music, Pop Culture, Pop Music, Programming, Rap/Hip-Hop Music, Self-Promotion, Sex, Society, Stuff That Sucks, Television

It’s been a bad week to be sick. With so much celebrity embarrassment on parade, not having the energy to trash them is really troubling.

Let’s set the wayback machine for the VMAs last week. This show had it all – award winners trashing the network that hosts the awards, has-been rockers duking it out over whored out former TV stars, single moms trying to whore themselves out (but nobody was buying), and militant rappers getting peeved that the awards weren’t rigged for them to win. Your entertainment dollar was simply not going to go farther than the 2007 VMAs

Britney was supposed to warm up the audience, but left everyone feeling cold. Blame it on the hair, the lip-synching, the magic act that wasn’t, the drinking, the allergic reaction to eye drops (what?), or any of another 100 oft-repeated excuses for the train wreck we witnessed, the sad reality is we want to see a nubile 20 year-old in skin tight leather dancing like a tramp or tongue kissing Madonna (actually, skip that last part). The fact is, Brit is now a single mom who, with every public appearance, reminds us of the line from Sweet Home Alabama.

Look at you! You have a baby! In a bar!

Here’s some advice Brit. Put on some clothes, write/sing a grown-up song, and stop trying to convince us that you’re the hot little vixen of Baby One More Time. That ship has sailed. You were used up by a douchebag, and the only guy that still wants you is this loser.

Next up… Kid Rock and Tommy Lee. Even with Britney and Kanye melting down at the VMAs, this is probably the most pathetic story of the night. These two guys get into a brawl over a woman who, by her own admission, paid off a poker debt with sex. Yup. That girl is a class act that is worth fighting for. Go get her, guys.

Speaking of Kanye, I don’t think I could sum this one up any better than Joel McHale (host of The Soup). After recapping Kanye’s choice words about his perceived snub at the hands of MTV, McHale said, “Geez. 50 Cent didn’t whine that much when he got shot.” True dat!

In our last glimpse backward at the VMAs, perhaps the one shining moment in the telecast came when Justin Timberlake (surrounded by the vapid cast of The Hills) excoriated MTV for filling its programming with non-stop reality TV and begged them to actually play music occasionally. It seems Timberlake may be one of the few people who owes his soul to MTV, and at the same time feels bad because he’s old enough to remember that MTV used to stand for Music Television.

Finally, back in the present, let’s dip into the overflowing cup of comedy gold that is O.J. Simpson. The same week that his book (If I Did It) comes out, and the world may read his claim that he’s not a criminal (at least not a murderous one), he gets arrested for storming into a sports memorabilia show with armed accomplices and trying to steal pieces of his life. It’s not clear whether he actually owns any of what he tried to steal. And it’s not clear if he was armed, but a tape of the incident clearly demonstrates his anger and rage as he barks out instructions that no one is to be allowed to leave.

Wow, O.J., armed robbery and taking hostages. That’s a hell of a good way to prove you’re not a killer. Maybe next time you could sacrifice a small puppy on national TV and tell people your killing is limited only to the animal kingdom. By the way, aren’t you supposed to be out there trying to catch the real killer?

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