Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss pop music and karaoke etiquette with Samantha Martin and Andrew Unterberger from the site Pop Dust.
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While I don’t have anything to say particularly about this episode, although I did enjoy it and the folks from Pop Dust were fine guests and I feel like I may have had something to add at some point but now I don’t recall, Andrew’s list of Justin Timberlake songs did remind me of a particularly ambitious list plan I once considered of ranking every episode of The Simpsons. I may still do it some day, perhaps after this season is done, because these are bold times, so I must be a bold man.
What’s the #1? Is it “A Streetcar Named Marge”? It’s “A Streetcar Named Marge”, isn’t it?
It’s not. I actually have a slight head start on this because I once wrote a detailed top 50 for a personal blog, but I’ll probably end up tweaking it when the time comes. I don’t recall whether or not “A Streetcar Named Marge” was on the top 50, but I have to imagine it was. It is certainly the best Simpsons episode largely revolving around the production of a Tennessee Williams play.
Musical ADAPTATION of a Tennessee Williams play.
Wait, Tegan & Sara are for four-year-olds? C’mon, now. Singing about parental abuse and stalkers isn’t quite four-year-old material.
Songs getting stuck in your head: http://www.themarysue.com/song-stuck-in-head-research/
I think if a discussion of pop celebrities and image includes Adele, she’d need to be discussed as an exception proving the rule, which is basically how Andrew did it, but there’s a huge chunk of that missing that I’d like to add. Body image is a key dimension for her. The pseudo-positive press she gets because she isn’t a twig is a really important part of her identity as a celebrity and role model, because the way she gets questioned about it perpetuates the anti-fat mentality of the overall collective of pop culture consumers- interviewers act surprised and incredulous that she’d be comfortable in her skin and, Heaven forbid, actually believe she’s beautiful inside and out, or at least that she doesn’t really care or aspire to be thin. Yet, she’s able to turn it around to her advantage when she chooses to actually answer the questions about something so deeply personal. And part of what makes her sophisticated is her ability to call that crap like it is, get a little snarky and not hide her slight irritation sometimes when people do that to her on the air or whenever. Here’s an example of an interview where she’s less snarky, but the point still comes across: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvLN8buEgpM
Like Andrew said (and she says in the video), her music basically speaks/sings for itself, sells itself, and that’s the ideal for anyone selling music. That’s not a very frequent thing in Top 20. A song being catchy and whatnot isn’t the same as it being genuinely complex and high quality- and I’m not arguing an objective line for either. But what I’m saying is that the image constructed of Adele by society is one of a fat chick that made it despite being fat, but what she sees herself as and what it should really be is an image of a talented singer that sells a crapton of records every time she releases something because she’s so bloody talented. (And no, I’m not saying I’m under the impression anyone on the podcast was implying the former- I’m saying that if her image is discussed, I feel like this should be part of the convo.)
I have my own karaoke etiquette question: I’ve been in situations where the lyrics to a song I’m doing aren’t right, but I’m familiar enough with the song to spot it. If you’re with people that aren’t as familiar with the song, though, and thus wouldn’t know you’re actually singing it correctly, should you still sing the right words?
Have any of you done an entire song as Harvey? Eh?
Overall, really great episode, folks. Yay Samantha, too!
I’m torn on the issue of repeat karaoke performances. I mean, I can totally nail “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” – I can even get maybe half the lyrics right without reading them – but I try to only do it once per venue in part because once you’ve done it, doing it again ceases to impress people.
On the other hand, there are other less showoffy songs that I don;t mind doing more than once at the same place, particularly if it’s with a certain DJ. And I should REALLY ask her about the Ignition problem.