Torture, thy name is Dennis DeYoung
I discovered jefitoblog this past week. Most MP3 blogs I find either too “Indier-than-thou” or too focused on strange sub-genres to hold my interest. Not so with jefitoblog. It’s not hip, it’s not cool, and I like it that way.
Every Tuesday, he hosts a “Complete Idiot’s Guide to:” segment, systematically assessing the entire recorded output of acts that, in most cases, the critics and public haven’t been kind to. It’s mostly focused on 70’s and 80’s pop/rock, the kind of stuff I grew up with — Genesis, Hall and Oates, A-Ha, Jackson Browne. Some of it is just awful, but a lot of times there’s some depth that I never remember from hearing this stuff as a child. It’s an amusing trip down memory lane at the very least.
This past Monday, I heard Styx’s “Babe” playing in a store in Portland’s Old Port. Instant gag/incredulity reflex, as in “this is so bad I can’t believe it was a huge hit!” Oddly enough, the next day was when I first discovered jefitoblog, and started poring through the Complete Idiot’s Guides like a madman, only to find a recent one about Styx. I read it with a combination of nostalgic dismissal and morbid fascination. Today in the cafeteria (whose radio is perenially tuned to the local “Continuous Soft Hits to the Head” station), what do I hear, but those soft Rhodes tones followed by, “Babe, I’m leavin…”
AAAAAAHHHHHH!
This is my own fault, I’m sure. Regardless, is there a pill you can take for earworms?
Popularity: 7% [?]
December 31st, 2005 at 9:35 am
I will say though that Styx’s “Snowblind” (from Paradise Theater) is one of those cool songs I love that is too often overlooked. “Babe”? Yeah, heard it enough.
I’m totally susceptable to ear worms, and everyone in the office knows it. They’ll drop by my desk, hum “Build Me Up Buttercup,” and the next thing I know I’m ready to poke my eyes out. My bass playing buddy swears the cure to earworms is the guitar riff from Cheech and Chong’s “An Earache My Eye.” It works for me! Seems to clean out the old brain RAM.
January 3rd, 2006 at 8:17 pm
I’m not hip OR cool?
*sigh*
January 3rd, 2006 at 8:41 pm
If not being hip or cool means being able to call stuff like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for what it is (as opposed to the Pitchforkian groupthink present on so many other sites), then I, for one, welcome our new unhip overlords.
I’m digging the Billy Joel, by the way. Can’t wait for the next few parts…
January 3rd, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Many thanks, friend. Welcome aboard!
August 24th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
lol
January 9th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
sometimes, i wonder…