today’s earworms

Hi, strangers. Today: earworms!

“Bust A Move”, Young MC: ah, quintissential pop rap party jam of the 80’s. The parts that I’d like to specifically call out are the lady part that goes “uh, yeah, ohhhh yeah”. Also the “break it down for me, fellas” breakdown with the “unhhh….ohhhhhh”. Those parts just run in repeat in my head.

I can’t embed it, but “Come and Get Your Love”, the Real McCoy: I know this isn’t the real version. It’s a cover of that Redbone 70’s classic, etc. But it’s this specific version that’s implanted in my brain. I have absolutely no idea where this came from or why. I haven’t heard this song in years. I especially enjoy the Snow-like whiteboy rapping involved.

“Babe, We’re Gonna Love Tonight”, Lime: I’ve posted this song elsewhere. But god I love it and I will never stop loving it. I love that keyboard hook, so simple. I love the simplicity of the chorus and how it’s harmonized. I love how this is such a good bridge between that kind of disco-y italo stuff and house.  I love how it’s hard to make the connection between the homely-looking people in the video and the slick voices. Yes, those are the actual people who recorded the song. And did you know they were Canadian? And all this time I thought they were Italian… This song is always in my head in some capacity.

Incidentally, have you ever seen Lime’s album and single cover art? It’s truly terrible in that none of the figures actually follow any sort of anatomy based in the real world, and the airbrushing. Oh god, the airbrushing. That said, if someone made a gigantic wall-size print, I would probably want it.

Welcome. Also, I like Girls Aloud too much.

Okay, so I have too many blog-type-things on the interwebs – Several Blogger blogs that languish without updates, a Twitter that I’ve since given up on, a Tumblog that was fun for about 12 minutes. They’re fun, shiny things that distract me until something else comes along.

However, I’ve decided to get rid of those things altogher, and combine them all into this catchall of the things that I think about, find, and like. And I’m going to talk about one of them now.

If you know me at all, and you most likely don’t, you know that I’ve been kind of an unrepentant, dyed-in-the-wool Britpop kid. Since those days, my love for UK mainstream indie has kind of spilled over into things like British movies, comedy, and, yes, even pop music. I mean, I’ve always kind of had a soft spot for radio pop, despite my more “underground” leanings, but the UK in particular has a little something extra.

God. I love their radio pop. I love how the UK embraces silly, campy, ubergay and ridiculously fun pop, the kind of music I fear would never take off here (with exceptions like, say, Katy Perry). There’s one group I hold especially dear to my heart, and that is Girls Aloud.

Their story is pretty crazy – they began on a TV American Idol style show called Popstars: the Rivals where a pair of girl and boy groups were voted into being, and then competed for the coveted Christmas #1 single. Girls Aloud won fair and square with a song called “Sound of the Underground”. I remember hearing it on Radio 1 or something and being fairly impressed…although a bit shallow, the music was pretty sophisticated and there were no contrived vocal acrobatics involved.

After that, I don’t know what it was…their penchant for churning out dancey, fun, and campy music with kind of crappy videos stole my heart, despite myself. Behold, a video I have often made fun of, but god that song is catchy…

I mean, seriously. The shouty “OH YEAH” parts! The indecipherable lyrics (“jumpin’ on my tutu”)! The immediate gay club appeal! Also the video is ridiculous and looks like it was made for $5. Amazing!

I heart them. Their new single is kind of a grower and is strangely a little too 80’s adult contemporary, like I feel like there’s a Simply Red/Swing Out Sister vibe going on. I might forgive them a little, though.

See?