Before today, I’ve posted only one Green Day song to the blog, and I started that post remarking that I was surprised I’d made it through 1,555 songs without featuring them. Well, I nearly made it another 1,500.
As I said back then, I’m indifferent to most of Green Day’s music but I really like their rock opera (and eventual Broadway musical) America Idiot. So it’s no coincidence that I like today’s SOTD, which Entertainment Weekly compares to that earlier work.
The next ‘Fresh Song for Fall’ on Entertainment Weekly‘s list is ‘Kids’ by OneRepublic.
Here’s their take:
Ryan Tedder & Co.’s edgiest song ever: It’s got a druggy four-on-the-floor groove, squawking vocal loops, and a rocket-propelled chorus that’s catchy AF. Right, just like that MGMT song.
I guess the MGMT song they’re referencing is one also titled ‘Kids,’ or else I’m not familiar enough with MGMT to get the reference.
One area in which I’ve refused to go digital is magazine consumption. I download my music and read books on my tablet, but I can’t give up on a flimsy magazine that I can roll up, toss in my car to read at stoplights and stack by the dozens until I finally relent and dump them in the recycling bin.
I know that magazine tablet apps have come a long way and give you essentially the same reading experience, but I don’t want to make that leap. I’ll hang on to this one analog experience.
Back in 2012 I counted down my favorite 90s albums and Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Dulcinea landed in the tenth spot.
That feels low to me as I sit here and contemplate the album and its impact on me back in 1994, but when I check out the titles that rounded out the top ten it’s hard to justify moving it up against such stiff competition.
The arc of most artists’ careers is a bell curve — a ramp up to their biggest success and then a gradual (or not so gradual) decline. That’s true even for stars who blew up right out of the gate.
Sheryl Crow’s arc isn’t really an arc at all but a steep downhill slope. Her first album was a smash hit, selling 10 million copies worldwide. Then every one of her next seven albums sold fewer than the last, even as she remained in the pop culture conversation as both a musician and a celebrity.
