Going Soft
I can rarely explain why I like the music I do. When I try to apply logic, or critical analyses, or patterns or formulas to compare the seemingly random tunes sitting on my iPod, I just end up flummoxed. "Check On It" has a funky beat and a catchy melody, so by that logic I should like "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, but I just...don't. (Partly because every radio station on the planet seemed to play the fucking thing every 10 minutes, and partly because Ceee-Lo's wailing drives me batshit, and partly because I hate critical hype of every flavor because the artist in question never, ever lives up and I wind up disappointed by default, but still.)
And now I'm at even more of a loss, because as it turns out, I genuinely like "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects. Yes, AAR, the mall punks for a new generation of angst-ridden teens. (My generation, of course, dined out on Sum-41 and Blink-182 before we grew up and moved on to greener pastures. Like, ahem, Coldplay. And the Killers.) I don't know if it's acceptance by submission (the song is on ALL THE TIME), or if I'm going soft in my old age, or what. But I likey. It's catchy, it's inoffensive, it has a good drum part in the bridge. And it's not a fluke - for the first time in years, I'm actually listening to pop radio on a semi-regular basis; like sometime between my 18th and 20th birthday, once all the bullshit of high school was over (and Ashanti was blessedly booted from the airwaves), I just stopped giving a shit about what was authentic and artistic and honest and let myself be moved by whatever spoke to me. If what spoke to me was "Hollaback Girl", which I had on repeat for a good month and a half, so be it. It's a refreshing paradigm shift, and I wholeheartedly recommend the adoption of the same freeing attitude to anyone still concerned about what music they "should" be listening to. You know who you are.
(That said, is it acceptable yet to seriously enjoy Justin Timberlake? Because I'm almost a little embarassed by the fact that "My Love" is at the top of my iTunes Most Played list. Almost.)
And now I'm at even more of a loss, because as it turns out, I genuinely like "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects. Yes, AAR, the mall punks for a new generation of angst-ridden teens. (My generation, of course, dined out on Sum-41 and Blink-182 before we grew up and moved on to greener pastures. Like, ahem, Coldplay. And the Killers.) I don't know if it's acceptance by submission (the song is on ALL THE TIME), or if I'm going soft in my old age, or what. But I likey. It's catchy, it's inoffensive, it has a good drum part in the bridge. And it's not a fluke - for the first time in years, I'm actually listening to pop radio on a semi-regular basis; like sometime between my 18th and 20th birthday, once all the bullshit of high school was over (and Ashanti was blessedly booted from the airwaves), I just stopped giving a shit about what was authentic and artistic and honest and let myself be moved by whatever spoke to me. If what spoke to me was "Hollaback Girl", which I had on repeat for a good month and a half, so be it. It's a refreshing paradigm shift, and I wholeheartedly recommend the adoption of the same freeing attitude to anyone still concerned about what music they "should" be listening to. You know who you are.
(That said, is it acceptable yet to seriously enjoy Justin Timberlake? Because I'm almost a little embarassed by the fact that "My Love" is at the top of my iTunes Most Played list. Almost.)
This entry was posted by Darryl, on
Monday, December 4, 2006.
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