Check out my article in Gelf about the practice of name-dropping indie bands in rock music criticism.
I interviewed lots of music journalists about the topic, including New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones, Blender music editor Rob Tannenbaum, Pitchfork contributor Matt LeMay, Washington Post critic Josh du Lac, Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot and RollingStone.com editor Caryn Ganz. Post your thoughts either on this blog or at the Gelf site itself.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
What's your favorite nonsense word in pop music?
And the nominees are...
-The Doo-Doo
Third-Eye Blind's "Semi Charmed Life"
Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner"
The Police's "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"
The Rolling Stones' "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)"
Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson"
Some pretty solid candidates and memorable choruses. "Semi-Charmed Life" is, for better or (more often) worse, the standard by which all others are measured, though "Tom's Diner" always holds a special place in my heart for taking about 10 years to figure out the name to. YOU try asking all of your friends about "that song that goes "doo doo doo-doo, doo doo doo-doo...", and see how that goes...
- The Na-Na
Wilson Pickett's "Land of a Thousand Dances"
Cake's "Short Skirt, Long Jacket"
J. Geils Band's "Centerfold"
The Beatles' "Hey Jude"
The Counting Crows' "A Long December"
The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"
This might have to be the winner in terms of pure quality. Where the Doo-Doos have a couple bad apples in the bunch - the Stones tune is from the critically-assailed Goats Head Soup, and let's not try to pretend that "Semi-Charmed Life" isn't unbearably annoying about 75 percent of the time - but you can't argue with the Liverpool Four or Wilson Pickett, and even that Crows tune ages pretty well.
(I'm not the only one with a thing for the Na-Nas...)
-The La-Las
Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me"
Van Morrison's "Caravan"
Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" (noticing a trend?)
ATC's "All Around the World (La La)"
Kylie Minogue, "Can't Get You Out of my Head"
HONORABLE MENTION: Ashlee Simpson's "La La (You Make Me Wanna)"
An eclectic mix of old-school and new-crap, from Dylan's most joyous song to date, a couple of solid hits from Van and a couple of naggingly catchy electro-pop goodies. I don't even know what making someone want to "la-la" really means, but I'm intrigued and hoping that Ashlee will enlighten me....
The Others
-Hey!: Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part II (The Hey Song)"
-La-Da: Jack Johnson's "Bubbletoes"
-Yeah!: The Flaming Lips' "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"
-Fa!: Guster's "Fa Fa"
Can you think of any others in these categories? Johnson's frequent "Da"s skew very closely to the aforementioned "Do"s, and I'm sure I'm missing more. Usher's "Yeah" could qualify, though he doesn't really repeat the word like Wayne Coyne does. You'd think there would be more "Heys," wouldn't you? Which brings me to the double-espresso of the bunch...
Extra credit goes to star pupil...
Steam, for "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye", which manages to swing both a "na na" and a "hey hey" into its chorus.
Where does your vote go? What songs am I missing? And isn't there something refreshingly cheery about a song that doesn't feel like it has to resort to these inane, loaded "words" that everyone else subjects us to?
-The Doo-Doo
Third-Eye Blind's "Semi Charmed Life"
Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner"
The Police's "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"
The Rolling Stones' "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)"
Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson"
Some pretty solid candidates and memorable choruses. "Semi-Charmed Life" is, for better or (more often) worse, the standard by which all others are measured, though "Tom's Diner" always holds a special place in my heart for taking about 10 years to figure out the name to. YOU try asking all of your friends about "that song that goes "doo doo doo-doo, doo doo doo-doo...", and see how that goes...
- The Na-Na
Wilson Pickett's "Land of a Thousand Dances"
Cake's "Short Skirt, Long Jacket"
J. Geils Band's "Centerfold"
The Beatles' "Hey Jude"
The Counting Crows' "A Long December"
The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"
This might have to be the winner in terms of pure quality. Where the Doo-Doos have a couple bad apples in the bunch - the Stones tune is from the critically-assailed Goats Head Soup, and let's not try to pretend that "Semi-Charmed Life" isn't unbearably annoying about 75 percent of the time - but you can't argue with the Liverpool Four or Wilson Pickett, and even that Crows tune ages pretty well.
(I'm not the only one with a thing for the Na-Nas...)
-The La-Las
Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me"
Van Morrison's "Caravan"
Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" (noticing a trend?)
ATC's "All Around the World (La La)"
Kylie Minogue, "Can't Get You Out of my Head"
HONORABLE MENTION: Ashlee Simpson's "La La (You Make Me Wanna)"
An eclectic mix of old-school and new-crap, from Dylan's most joyous song to date, a couple of solid hits from Van and a couple of naggingly catchy electro-pop goodies. I don't even know what making someone want to "la-la" really means, but I'm intrigued and hoping that Ashlee will enlighten me....
The Others
-Hey!: Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part II (The Hey Song)"
-La-Da: Jack Johnson's "Bubbletoes"
-Yeah!: The Flaming Lips' "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"
-Fa!: Guster's "Fa Fa"
Can you think of any others in these categories? Johnson's frequent "Da"s skew very closely to the aforementioned "Do"s, and I'm sure I'm missing more. Usher's "Yeah" could qualify, though he doesn't really repeat the word like Wayne Coyne does. You'd think there would be more "Heys," wouldn't you? Which brings me to the double-espresso of the bunch...
Extra credit goes to star pupil...
Steam, for "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye", which manages to swing both a "na na" and a "hey hey" into its chorus.
Where does your vote go? What songs am I missing? And isn't there something refreshingly cheery about a song that doesn't feel like it has to resort to these inane, loaded "words" that everyone else subjects us to?
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