Julian links to Chuck Klosterman’s list of perfectly-rated bands (that is, bands that are neither under- nor overrated). I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this before, but had forgotten about it. It’s a good list, with one exception:
New Radicals: There are only five facts publicly known about this entity. The first is that 1998âs âYou Get What You Giveâ is an almost flawless Todd Rundgrenâlike masterwork that makes any right-thinking American want to run through a Wal-Mart semi-naked. The second is that nobody can remember the singerâs name. The third is that the singer often wore a profoundly idiotic hat. The fourth is that if this anonymous, poorly hatted singer had made a follow-up album, it would have somehow made his first record seem worse. The fifth is that his album didnât quite deserve to go gold, and it didnât.
This is wrong, except for the bit about the hat. “You Get What You Give” is abysmal. It’s one of those inexplicably ubiquitous songs that force listeners to conclude that the singer must be the son or daughter or lover of a powerful record industry executive. The chorus and the verses blur together, it falls back on percussive vocal delivery to hide how boring the melody is, and the lyrics are intensely banal in the sort of way that only a pop-music sentiment that’s a) two decades old and b) written by Paul McCartney can be. It sounds like Jamiroquai singing tunelessly to himself in the shower and forgetting most of the words. It’s really, really bad.
Also, the stupidity of that hat really can’t be overstated.
Tom, I like you a lot, but you have never been more wrong.
About the song, I mean. I won’t defend the hat.
We’ve found common ground — that’s the first step.
Honestly, though, I’d rate Smash Mouth’s cover of “I’m a Believer” well above “You Get What You Give”.
Oh. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, Tom. That Smash Mouth song is execrable.
I don’t know what to tell you, dude. Ever since I read Julian’s post an hour ago and followed that Klosterman link, I’ve had YGWYG in my head, and every time I arrive, mentally, at the song’s climax toward the end, I get goosebumps. And I want to run half naked through a supermarket.
Don’t try to take it apart–who cars what anonymous guy is actually saying?–just absorb it. If you can’t get into it then, as Chuck K suggests, you must not be a right thinking American. In fact, you are a soulless man-machine. That’s what you get for sticking magnets in your fingers.
i do not like YGWYG. I have, however, been known to love the only other decent song on that album: “Mother, We Just Can’t Get Enough.” I not-so-secretly love that song.
and Tom? i agree with Ryan, Tom: you and I? We’re over, Tom. SMASH MOUTH TOM.
TOM.
I know! That’s my point — I went nuclear.
I wish I’d had magnetic finger back in 1997 — I’d have used them to erase as many New Radicals cassette singles as I could get my hands on/near.
I’m pretty sure YGWYG came out in 99. It was playing during my junior year abroad. The Europeans loved that song. One of the Austrian guys even got the hat.
That was the day I became an “Old Europe/New Europe” neocon.
Let’s not overlook the fact that The G. owns(owned?) the New Radicals album. Clearly this needs to be explored further.
Maybe that explains it–I was in Vienna in the summer of ’99. But I mainly recall all the clubs playing Mambo Number 5 every quarter hour or so, and trust me, I have no special goosebump feelings about that particular song.
Mambo Number 5
Thanks. There’s a song I needed in my head all afternoon.
I’ll bet the g doesn’t really like Mambo Number 5, but there’s this other song on that Lou Bega album she really dug.
the one about having a chick in the Vatican Dome? that one’s hilarious. Apparently it’s this one: I Got A Girl.
Looking at the lyrics, I would guess that I Got A Girl should be sung to the tune of Mambo Number 5.
Suddenly I’ve been inspired to go download some Tripping Daisy albums. Some good has come out of invoking Lou Bega’s name after all!
Ugh, Ryan. And I spent the summer of ’99 in Florence, where Mambo #5 was a def #1 (hate hate hate), followed v. v. closely by Cher’s “Do You Believe.” And that Madonna song from Austin Powers, I think.
Stab stab stab stab stabbystab stab.
PS. I don’t own the New Radicals album. BUT THE N DOES!!!
Also I’m wearing my Tripping Daisy teeshirt to the next BSWW.
Dude, why are you fucking with Tripping Daisy?
No wait. I’m thinking of the Toadies. Continue to fuck with Tripping Daisy as you see fit.
Hey, I’m not fucking with Tripping Daisy. Tripping Daisy is great! And they turned into my favorite messianic pop orchestra.