Sunday, January 27, 2008
Songs you can't hear and still be miserable!
Here's a selection from my "Unbearably Cheery" tunes.
If I've got this right (probably not!) the song titles WON'T show up, because I want you to run it as a test. I'm not being obtuse, your reaction when you realise what the song is is what I want to measure. Just listen and see how many seconds into each song it is before you find yourself :
(i) Grinning from ear to ear.
(ii) Singing along.
(iii) Boogieing.
Of course it could be just me that these songs work on, in which case I'm going to look a prize pillock. Give us some feedback on which ones work (or don't) just so as I know whether to do it again.
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20 comments:
1. Big grin
2. nothing on first listen
3.made we want to boogie, maybe would've sang along if I knew it
4.You went too far, I don't hate it now, but it's still too annoying
5.nothing on first listen but it's got potential
6.If it wasn't so late I definitely would be boogieing, or actually jumping.
All utterly mental. This will get me through many grey Monday mornings in the office at the start of 2008. May I suggest a songs which would have it's place in this list - very similar: There she goes - The Las. Same manic jangly guitar intro.
Thanks, both. Sorry for Tk4, ejay, but given the rest of my normal music collection, and how little actual radio I listen too, I think this is a pop classic that hasn't yet suffered from overexposure.
fp: I still haven't sussed out the transfer from .wma to .mp3, or The La's (their incorrecet apostrophe, not mine) would have been a distinct possibility.
Banana fingers, at 10 in the morning? More caffeine required, obviously.
1. raised a smile
3, 4, and 5, left me tepid
6 had possibilities
but
2 had me grinning on the first second, singing along at the third and dancing round the room by the fifteenth. I think it's the only one that would work for me if I were miserable to start with.
Now what I want to know is:
Did the successes work because you already knew them? In other words, is it the song itself, or is it the memory rush that makes us feel good?
I may have heard 1 in a film or on TV before but not sure. The only ones I really knew were 4 and 6. I think 2 and 5 have that potential though.
A welcome relief after all that bereavement music I've been listening to. It's giving me sad dreams.
DD, for WAV to MP3 download EAC (ExactAudioCopy) as well as the LAME MP3 encoder. Both freeware and reputable.
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/
http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php
Um... none of the tracks really got me (i), (ii) or (iii)-ing, No. 6 came closest.
Listening after City's miserable display this afternoon - doesn't work - Mrs C is bogeying along but doing nothing for me!
1: Nothing
2: Took a sec to remember what it was, then a startled 'Blimey!'. Quite pleasant.
3: Stupid big grin instantly and then advanced head bobbing and bum shuffling.
4: Sniggering and then repeated play after I'd checked out the others. Has anyone else been watching Pop Britannia on BBC4? I've really enjoyed the 50s/60s/70s/80s and 90s On Trial, as hosted by one of my faves, Stuart Maconie, and Caitlin Moran (top girl) namechecked this as her favourite pop moment of the 90s. Could Paolo Hewitt have namedropped Noel any more than he did?
5: A "YESSS!" and then singalonga Bop Bop-ing. Reminds me of driving to the Zodiac Mindwarp gig in Lampeter in the summer evening heat wearing a Laura Ashley dress and 18 hole purple docs. *Sigh*
6: Confusion follwed by a pleased smile, but no more. Who is it?
Personally, it's the recognition factor for me. It's got to be a remarkable track to grab me from the intro: last one was We Don't Care...by Peter, Bjorn and John.
Thanks though!
Thanks for that, everyone. I tried to deliberately pick tracks that any one person would know some but not all of. All part of the experiment.
nilpferd: given what I'm learning of your musical preferences, your response doesn't surprise me.
Mnemonic and ejaydee: kinda what I expected.
TracyK: pretty much proved the theory, namely that regardless how catchy and upbeat a song, until you KNOW it it isn't going to get you going. Move over, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, DarceysDad is here!
To fill in any blanks, the songs are:
1. AC/DC - Big Balls.
2. Robert Palmer - Change His Ways.
3. Westworld - Sonic Boom Boy.
4. Hanson - MMMBop.
5. Terrorvision - Oblivion.
6. The Go! Team - Bottle Rocket.
PS - all six tick (i) inside two seconds with me, and (ii) & (iii) depend on whether I'm alone!!
DD- true enough- you'd probably spend a pretty grim day if ever locked up alone inside my living room. The rockier things generally just don't do it for me, with very few exceptions- Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Mahavishnu Orchestra, a few kiwi bands.
Still, things change..
Aha, so that's Bottle Rocket! I found myself coming back to it and thinking it reminded me a bit of the Wee Papa Girl Rappers (crikey...) Ashamed that with my indie cred (?) I'm not as au fait with the scene as I should be these days.
If I'm feeling less than energetic I stick either Maximo Park's Graffiti, Orange Juice's Rip It Up or The Decemberists' live version of Sons and Daughters on the projector in my common room at lunch and they make the kids perk up as well as me. I will brianwash them into being cooler! Already they've gone right off The Kooks and Razorlight...
Brianwash? Jesus...
"Grim", nilpferd? I trust not (and given the open-ended invitation I got at Christmas to go visit my friend in Stuttgart, I'd love to disprove your theory one day)! But as a for instance, if the Kiwi / FlyingNun bands whose guitar music you DO like had happened to be from - say - Durban or Cape Town, would those songs still mean as much to you?
I know Terrorvision's oeuvre irritated the shit out of a lot of people, but the Bradford factor - more local exposure to the off-stage Tony Wright, the sheer joy of their hometown gigs - means they stay firmly the right side of the 'pranksters/w*nkers' divide for me.
Anyway, this week I WILL follow up on your EAC/mp3 tips, so thanks for that. When I get it sussed, my next list is going to be those frequently-RR-nominated DD-faves that no-one else knows and I can't find links for.
Cheers.
TracyK: It's cider down chin time!
Brian? Jesus? Altogether now:
"He's not the messiah: he's a very naughty boy!"
Hope you're feeling better.
G'night.
Drop us a line then, and see for yourself! I promise I won't drag out the MD boxed sets... well, only if you ask nicely..;-)
The NZ music scene was pretty heavily concentrated on Dunedin, where I studied for a while, so gigs and bands were plentiful, that tends to shape your tastes, definitely. Nothing in principle against S.A., I just don't know any bands from there. I like a lot of Oz stuff, just not their rock groups.
I'm certainly getting old...didn't know any of these and only liked no. 2, and even that didn't cheer me up especially. So that fits with part of your theory, DD.
Maybe I'll have to join my dad in the Miserable Old Gits Society.
So I listened to these without reading the comments. Sorry DsD, MmmBop never did it for me, unless murderous ecstasy counts. Completely agree with Bottle Rocket though, does it for me every time, especially when the "2,4,6,8,10" starts up. And hearing Sonic Boom Boy for the first time in the best part of two decades brought a smile, though I didn't manage to last to the end of the song. It did get me thinking of songs from around then that I must seek out now - Swingout Sister, Timbuk 3, Red Box . . .
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