{"id":15,"date":"2006-04-10T15:16:12","date_gmt":"2006-04-10T04:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/?p=15"},"modified":"2008-03-21T08:33:07","modified_gmt":"2008-03-20T21:33:07","slug":"the-touch-of-good-lyrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/2006\/04\/the-touch-of-good-lyrics\/","title":{"rendered":"The touch of good lyrics"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the sec\u00adond time in 4 years I\u2019ve found a boy band song that I like. I heard this one at work, and on the way home after\u00adwards I was jok\u00ading with Michael that I\u2019d found a new pop trash song to com\u00adpete with his Bey\u00adon\u00adc\u00c3\u00a9; remix\u00ades and mid-80\u2019s remakes. It\u2019s actu\u00adal\u00adly much worse than that: It\u2019s Incom\u00adplete<\/em> by the Back\u00adstreet Boys.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael detests it.<\/p>\n

I did\u00adn\u2019t pick the boy\u00adband con\u00adnec\u00adtion; there\u2019s one vocal line, repeat use of the word \u2018baby\u2019 is at a min\u00adi\u00admum, and it\u2019s got a rock\u00ad\u2019ish back\u00ading track instead of pop syn\u00adthe\u00adsiz\u00ader effects.<\/p>\n

Appar\u00adent\u00adly the band\u2019s re-formed (reformed?) after they broke up a while back (they broke up? News to me. I don\u2019t pay much atten\u00adtion to bands. The last break-up I was wor\u00adried about involved Evanes\u00adcence). Now I feel trapped between not sup\u00adport\u00ading man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtured music and the fact that it\u2019s actu\u00adal\u00adly quite a good song, even with a few iffy lyrics.<\/p>\n

Me lik\u00ading this song is an excep\u00adtion to the rule that includes Nick\u00adel\u00adback\u00ad\u2019s Far Away<\/em> and Fig\u00adured you out<\/em> even though the rest of Nick\u00adel\u00adback\u00ad\u2019s songs sound iden\u00adti\u00adcal. I feel like a hyp\u00adocrite after singing<\/p>\n

this is how you remind me
of all your oth\u00ader songs<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

so many times in the car, but am I still a hyp\u00adocrite if they make a unique-sound\u00ading song and I like it? I acknowl\u00adedge that Nick\u00adel\u00adback\u00ad\u2019s singer has a great voice. I just doubt\u00aded the band\u2019s abil\u00adi\u00adty to escape the same four tones. It\u2019s a pity that Far Away<\/em> had to be more pop than rock to do it, though. I\u2019d like to hear an acoustic ver\u00adsion that\u2019s more rock, in a dark\u00ader tone like A Per\u00adfect Cir\u00adcle\u2019s live Philadel\u00adphia per\u00adfor\u00admance of 3 Libras<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Incom\u00adplete<\/em>\u2019 has its prob\u00adlems, but it\u2019s the lyrics in this case. The open\u00ading line<\/p>\n

emp\u00adty spaces
fill me up with holes<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

made me laugh when I first read the lyrics. But in the same breath I can say that I like<\/p>\n

But I am swim\u00adming
in an ocean all alone<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

for some vague, unde\u00adfined reason.<\/p>\n

The track still exploits a lot of pop tech\u00adniques that I find mar\u00adgin\u00adal\u00adly abhor\u00adrent. I have a hob\u00adby in col\u00adlect\u00ading these kinds of things. My favourite is the \u201craise-octave\u201d tech\u00adnique, used post-sec\u00adond-cho\u00adrus, usu\u00adal\u00adly about two-thirds through a song. It involves mov\u00ading the entire track (includ\u00ading vocal) up one octave, to make it sound fresh and emo\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly ampli\u00adfied even though you\u2019ve been hear\u00ading the same cho\u00adrus for two min\u00adutes already, like a debater yelling his pre\u00advi\u00adous argument.<\/p>\n

Although the author of Against Pop<\/a> ram\u00adbles on seem\u00ading\u00adly for\u00adev\u00ader, I agree with most of the state\u00adments there\u00adin. Music is ter\u00adri\u00adbly sim\u00adpli\u00adfied in our main\u00adstream cul\u00adture. Although it may not be an exam\u00adple that the author would con\u00adsid\u00ader, it\u2019s what defines for me the dif\u00adfer\u00adence between Tool\u2019s Third Eye<\/em> as music<\/strong> and Evanes\u00adcence\u2019s Bring me to life<\/em> as a song<\/strong>. There\u2019s a whole lev\u00adel of sophis\u00adti\u00adca\u00adtion miss\u00ading in the lat\u00adter. Some\u00adthing like Black Eyed Peas\u2019 My humps<\/em> I would clas\u00adsi\u00adfy as the low\u00adest com\u00admon denom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtor, a track<\/strong>. It uses voice and some kind of instrument.<\/p>\n

Maybe the biggest dif\u00adfer\u00adence between music and songs is the emo\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adnec\u00adtion. A good peice of music takes the lis\u00adten\u00ader through a series of emo\u00adtion\u00adal highs and lows, where\u00adas songs tend to take aim at a tar\u00adget long before we hit the cho\u00adrus. Peo\u00adple cry at clas\u00adsi\u00adcal music for its com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion\u00adal beau\u00adty, the way it car\u00adries them from one emo\u00adtion\u00adal land\u00adscape to the next. Those who cry to Bon Jovie or Sha\u00adnia Twain do so because they ampli\u00adfy one emo\u00adtion \u2014 usu\u00adal\u00adly loss, love, heartache, need. That\u2019s a pret\u00adty mon\u00adstrous simplification.<\/p>\n

But on the upside of this, some\u00adtimes peo\u00adple don\u2019t feel like invest\u00ading their entire soul. Some\u00adtimes I don\u2019t want to be affect\u00aded, just have some\u00adthing to sing along to. You have to cater to those peo\u00adple dri\u00adving to the beach on a sun\u00adny day. Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal music isn\u2019t \u201cfun\u201d in that sense. Not every\u00adone wants to be on the emo\u00adtion\u00adal roller\u00adcoast\u00ader all the time. Tech\u00adno is a great exam\u00adple of that. On the whole, it\u2019s the gross\u00adest sim\u00adpli\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of bass and excit\u00ading heart\u00adbeat mod\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion<\/a>. Top-of-the-field remix\u00aders like DJ Tiesto attempt to build a big\u00adger pic\u00adture from pop, but it\u2019s not gran\u00adu\u00adlar enough to match some\u00adthing com\u00adposed from scratch.<\/p>\n

I have to run \u2014 I\u2019ve got a meet\u00ading at 3pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the sec\u00adond time in 4 years I\u2019ve found a boy band song that I like. I heard this one at work, and on the way home after\u00adwards I was jok\u00ading with Michael that I\u2019d found a new pop trash song to com\u00adpete with his Bey\u00adon\u00adc\u00c3\u00a9; remix\u00ades and mid-80\u2019s remakes. It\u2019s actu\u00adal\u00adly much worse than [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xhva.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}