Hey y’all! I finally got around to posting the answers to the iPod Quiz from a few weeks ago. They’re in the comments section. Sorry about the delay.
And now, our latest brain tickler!
The Rules: I have put my iPod on shuffle. After the jump, I will list 30 lines from the first 30 songs that it plays. You provide artist and title. (Note: I will not necessarily list the first line of the song.)
Please don’t look up the lyrics on the web. That’s lame.
And please don’t provide more than three answers per day. That way, more people can play.
The Answers: Will be posted in the comments section of this post next Friday.
Thanks to Tommy from Levity Is the Soul of Wit for tipping me off about this clip of Ozzy Osbourne. I don’t think I’ve ever found a heavy metal star more endearing.
Guten Tag meine Damen und Herren! Ich bin von Deutschland und die Niederlande zurückgekommen!
In other words… I’m back from Germany and the Netherlands. Woot-woot!
Since my jetlag has been getting me up and ungodly hours this week, I’ve been using the extra time to catch up on the season finales of some of my favorite television shows (or “stories.”)
I have lots of thoughts on lots of series, so today I’m going to deliver quick-hit responses to the series-closing episodes of Lost and Law & Order.
As a culture connoisseur, I’ve experienced everything from Ibsen to Austin to Atom Egoyan, but not all of my favorites are so high falutin’. My guilty pleasures are many, ranging from Howard the Duck to Billy Ocean, and one of my greatest loves has always been the horror movie. I’m not talking about modern-day torture porn trash like Hostel or glossy “reboots†like the revamped Prom Night, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street releases, but old-school, low-budget horror films.
I’m a completist when it comes to these foundling efforts, and so have made it a mission to catch as many of these C-grade flicks possible. There actually is a hierarchy of those that tower above the rest. Favorites include Chopping Mall (for the title alone!), Happy Birthday to Me, and the original Black Christmas, which was the first film to apply the “phone call from the madman is coming from inside the house!†gambit.
Ever since country singer Chely Wright came out in last week’s cover story in People magazine—making her the first mainstream country artist to publicly acknowledge his or her homosexuality—I’ve heard the same thing about her over and over again. Not “Can you believe it?†or “I thought so,†but this: “Who the hell is Chely Wright?â€
An understandable reaction, I suppose; Wright hasn’t even had a minor hit in nearly a decade. But I’ve been a fan of hers for even longer than that, and have always held a special place for her in my heart. I listen to the music from the heyday of her career fairly often, and a while back, I realized that her greatest songs actually contributed quite a bit to the soundtrack of my college career. So below, I give you a primer on her music:
Well, I’ll be damned, y’all. I like Ke$ha’s new single. I’ve been hearing “Your Love Is My Drug” on the radio for a while, and when I saw the video, which got released today, it cemented my impression that the song is sweet and fun and effortlessly cool.
Notice that I put the emphasis on the word “effortlessly.” Because while I can’t deny the catchiness of “TiK ToK,” Ke$ha’s ubiquitous first hit, and the follow-up “Blah, Blah, Blah,” I can still say those songs annoy the hell out of me.
That’s primarily because they rely on forced brattiness. They’re like a preacher’s daughter’s impression of what rebellion is like, with their snotty attitude that’s just a little too studied and their random pop culture references that are just a little too random.
From what I’ve seen and read, Ke$ha herself reinforces that perception. That damn dollar sign in her name, for instance, is challenging the period in India.Arie for pop music’s most pretentious punctuation mark. And then there’s fact that Ke$ha tells stories about her wild and crazy life, but she acts like she’s not that impressed with herself. You know what I mean, right? She’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, I was at Paris Hilton’s house and I threw up in her closet, but whatever. I was just gettin’ wasted!” You know, like the story is really about drinking and not hanging out with a star.
I hate that bullshit. If you want to brag about yourself, fine. Just own up to it. (Sidebar: This is one reason I like Kanye West.)
It delights and surprises me, then, that “Your Love is My Drug” turns the brattiness down a notch and focuses on breezy songwriting, a playfully naughty central metaphor, and relatable emotion. And I appreciate that the video, though it implies Ke$ha’s love is sending her on a Sgt. Peppers-inspired acid trip, also makes her seem like a halfway normal person. There’s something about her performance in the clip that just seems… natural.
And I’m not saying I need my pop stars to be “real” all the time. Certainly not. But since I find Ke$ha’s “performed personality” so unappealing, I’m throwing my support behind this iteration.
Nineteen years ago this week, Roxette reached number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 with “Joyride,” their fourth (and final) chart-topper and the lead single from their second U.S. album, Joyride.
For me, the timing of this anniversary is oddly perfect, because it was just last week that I fully comprehended my love for Roxette’s music. It started when their brilliant ballad “Spending My Time” popped up while I was creating our latest iPod Quiz. Identifying the song, Critical Condition reader K. mentioned how much she listened to Roxette back in the day, and it made me realize… I did, too.
But really, I’ve never stopped listening. Unlike other acts I loved in the early nineties, I’ve never taken enough of a break from the Swedish duo to rediscover them. They’ve always been there, power popping as I drive to work, ride on the train, or cool down at the gym with some overblown ballads.
In short, based on the amount of time that I’ve spent listening to them and the amount of pleasure their music has given me, I think Roxette may be one of my all-time favorite bands.
So let’s spend some time with their music, shall we? And let’s reflect on how singer Marie Fredriksson has recently proven herself to be an absolute badass.
Every week, I’ll count down the Top 5 moments from the most recent episode of this wonderfully wackadoo series.
Oh, and of course, I’ll discuss the plot. Because even tough I would never nominate Happy Town for a Peabody Award, I still love watching it. Sure, parts of my love are ironic, but other parts are sincere… because underneath its “girl, no she didn’t” moments, it contains a pretty compelling mystery.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
And in case you want to watch, I’m embedding last week’s episode, “I Came to Haplin for the Waters,” right here:
