In the meantime, however, reader MBowen has graciously clued us to what is quite possibly the Worst Single of the Year.
For those keeping score at home, that's The Airborne Toxic Event(!) and the insufferable "Something Around Midnight."
"Boy meets girl, girl blows him off for another guy, and then the end of the world ensues while the band plays outtakes from The Joshua Tree. I didn't think it was possible for a person to take himself so seriously without collapsing in on himself like a neutron star -- Eddie Vedder and that bloated idiot from Smashing Pumpkins are Laurel and Hardy compared to this guy."
Uh, don't mince words, M -- tell us what you really think.
11 comments:
Wow, I made it through a minute. The cheesy fake strings at the beginning were a tip. While the song sucks, at least what I could make it through, the video "acting" was so horrid I could not make it through the music. I will have to try to listen without watching and see if it limps past the truly banal without the visuals.
Trey
Fake strings, huh? Wow, I'm even more impressed now with Anna's performance during their live shows. I wonder if her viola is made out of paper mache? Amazing!
Julie
It’s sure enough comically, even pathetically overwrought – so long as you’re more than 36 years out from being dumped by the coolest & hottest young woman in the world. I have to say, however, if I’d seen this in January 1972, I’d of said, eh, sounds about right. So I think the lyrics are more of an age thing than anything else.
I'd say there's some cribbing from Bowie's "Heroes" in there too.
Geez Steve~ Really?? Sounds like your reaction is a little over the top. I can see how you wouldn't like this music... you are a big fan of Metal and consider books a thing of the past... hmmmmm... Perhaps this hit too close to home...
Personally, I think it's brilliant and they are even better live.
Jane, the intro REALLY sounds like a keyboard. Maybe there is one violin in there, but either it is doubled with a low bit rate digital source or there is some synth doubling it and playing an octave under it.
Do those strings sound natural to you Jane? Do you find the intro remarkable of particularly tuneful?
I am not trying to step on your favorite band, but I don't find this particularly good. Without the visuals, it is not offensive, just overwrought and fluffy.
But those "strings" in the intro could peel paint.
Trey
Steve reads books.
I saw the photo.
Trey
C'mon..admit it.
You feel happy, don't you?
Perhaps I was lucky; back when I was of an age to get all bent out of shape when a girl didn't recognize my inherent wonderfulness there were brand-new, edgy, almost radical-sounding (at the time) singers who encapsulated my feelings, guys like Elvis Costello and Graham Parker (and their kid brother, Joe Jackson). I recognize that "young adult hurt-feeling-athons" (the ever-brilliant Scott Miller's description of some of his early works) have been staples of rock music since the days when the Beatles and Bob Dylan sold lots of 45s, and that ignoble emotions have produced some of the greatest works of rock'n'roll - "Like A Rolling Stone", anyone?
There are different ways to respond to not getting the girl (or boy) that work well in pop music. You can take the guileless approach. You can be wistful, sarcastic, or just plain sad. You can be a suave motherfucker or a pitiless bastard. You can make a joke of your self-pity. The smartest thing to do, of course, is to make the best out of the bad, just laugh it off. But in this song, the narrator just keeps his poor widdle hurt feelings higher and deeper until he collapses into a puddle of thermonuclear goo, while chords march by with all the spark and unpredictability of the North Korean People's Army, along with all their rhythmic flair. The whole enterprise trundles along like some unholy union of Nirvana and Meat Loaf.
Props to M Bowen. Get that man a blog.
I didn't vote that day - there was no one to vote for.
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