The Bad Songs Constantly on the Radio are Actually Pretty Good

Leave the dial be and give into joy

So, for all of my posts this week, I wanted to try something a bit different. My wife and I were talking the other day and she told me that I should argue a point that I don't necessarily agree with. All five posts this week will be topics given to me that I have expressed a dislike for to, either my wife or everyone who reads my blog, but I have to give the opposite view. I have to explain why these things are actually true, or that they at least have some good qualities. This is going to be a weird, but also very fun, and maybe even a bit difficult, but I'm up to the task.

Topic number three from my wife, "the only songs worth listening to are the ones on the radio that you can sing along with in the car".

This is going to be tough. I am not a fan of the music played on the radio, for the most part. It's bubble gum garbage music that is just one earworm after another. I've made it clear that I don't like pop music on the site, but, I do see what my wife is getting at, and I'm pretty sure I can make a compelling argument. So, let's do it.

When a "hit" song comes on the radio, it is put there for many reasons. The artist or the band had a stroke of genius and wrote a very, very catchy song. The band or artist label makes sure that this one song is the first song that will be heard by the masses. The radio stations then pick it up and play it on repeat until pretty much everyone at least knows the chorus. Let's look at a song from a few years ago as an example.

By now, a lot of people have already forgotten about an artist named Gotye. But, he had a massive hit song, that I can still sing along with if it comes on the radio. That song was called "Somebody That I Used to Know". Everyone knows this song. The song was odd, but catchy. The video made the song even better, but you should not watch videos in your car if you are driving - safety first, so the music video gets left out of the debate. But, when Gotye and Kimbra wail that chorus, "but you didn't have to cut me off" and "you didn't have to stoop so low", if I am by myself, or with my wife and kids, I wail just as much as they do. I may not have liked the song when I first heard it, but after hearing it hundreds of times, not only did I love it, I knew almost every single word to that song. Gotye hasn't had a hit since, but I will forever remember him.

Then, there's the first time I heard Carly Rae Jepsen. There is not one single thing I should like about her music. It is everything I dislike about music, but "Call Me Maybe" is a very fun song to yell sing when I am in my car. Again, that chorus is so god damn catchy. I mean, "hey, I just met you/and this is crazy/but here's my number/so call me maybe" is pretty fun to sing along with. Then, when I saw it on the video game Just Dance, I liked it even more. I could dance and sing along with this song?! What a treat. I know that she has made some newer, halfway decent music since "Call Me Maybe", but that is all the Carly Rae Jepsen I will ever need.

No matter how much I dislike and am sick and tired of hearing Ed Sheeran, when his song "Thinking Out Loud" comes on, I can't help but sing along in the car. The song, for what it is, is a pretty beautiful song with very nice lyrics. It is a perfect wedding song, or a song to put on a mix tape for your partner. The chorus is the winner, of course. It's catchy, sweet and even a little moving. "Thinking Out Loud" is not a terrible song. It's definitely a fun song to sing along to in the car, that's undebateable.

I know that I have only mentioned solo acts, but even some bands get into this conversation. I'm not a Maroon 5 fan at all, but "Payphone" is an almost impossible song to not sing along to. The moment Adam Levine comes in with, "I'm at a payphone/trying to call home/all my change I spent on you", I'm singing it as high pitched as I can, trying my best to sound like Mr. Levine. Then, we get, "all these fairy tales are full of shit/one more stupid love song I'll be sick", the band is trying to be funny, but it is too catchy. Everyone I know, knows those lyrics and can sing along with them. Maroon 5 may be trying to make fun of love songs, but "Payphone" is one hundred percent a love song that is very enjoyable to sing along.

The band A Great Big World falls into the Gotye category of, a very great singable song, but hasn't done anything since that song, "Say Something". This song is absolutely heartbreaking, but, it is also great to wail when it came on the radio. When the singers would yell sing the chorus, I was right there with them. That song is brutal, but it is also wildly singable. That's the one thing that A Great Big World will always be remembered for. They had this huge hit, that was about tragedy, but damn if that isn't one catchy tune.

Even rappers are falling into this. Sure, they are all pop rappers, but some of the stuff that Wiz Khalifa has done with Charlie Puth and Maroon 5 is very singable. He was featured on "Payphone" and his verse is decent, but, and I'm going to use my buzz word for the day, catchy as hell. Then, he does those "One Call Away" and "See You Again" songs with Charlie Puth. Damn, are those songs so very easy to sing along too, and Khalifa's verses are very easy to get and rap along with. There is also this new Flo Rida, which is the worst rap name ever, song called "My House", that is played so much, my son, who is 4, can sing along with. I guarantee that everybody has heard "My House" at least once. It is always on the radio and TV shows are using it in their ad campaigns now.

While I may not care for these particular artists or bands, I cannot deny the fact that these songs are popular, catchy and a whole hell of a lot of fun to sing along to in my car. I bet most of you out there would agree with my wife on this one.

Ty with a little help from his wife

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Sometimes on the podcast the editor has to yell/sing "you didn't have to cut me off". Hey this is crazy, but you should follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: What is Hip and Cool is Always Changing

So, I never really thought I was getting old until very recently. Now, I'm not old by any means. I'm 33 and I'll turn 34 near the end of 2016. But, working with younger kids has made me feel kind of old. I will reference players that I assume everyone knows, even if that everyone includes children that were born in 2010. I made a reference to Shaquille O'Neal and Shawn Kemp during basketball season, and the kids, especially the 5 and 6 year olds stared at me blankly. I didn't realize they have no idea who those guys are and Shaq is a sure fire hall of famer. But, the younger players only know of LeBron James and Steph Curry. At least most know who Michael Jordan is, even if it only means they know about his sneakers, they at least know the name.

But, sports aside, I am getting pretty old when it comes to pop music and music played on the radio. I recently sat down with my 12 and 9 year old nieces, you'll hear them on the podcast tomorrow, and the people they were telling me about, I maybe knew 1/3 or even a 1/4 of their names. I looked at them as blankly as my young athletes looked at me. I consider myself a pretty hip and knowledgeable person when it comes to music. But, with that being said, I do not care for pretty much all of modern pop music. There's a few people I enjoy. I like Hozier, I've written about Alabama Shakes and I'm a humongous Black Keys fan, but I was also told by my nieces that those aren't really pop bands and musicians. Their music is more rock they said.

This was the exact moment when I felt old.

This must have been what my parents felt like when I was listening to Puff Daddy and Mase and I told them that their music was old and stuffy and uncool. I finally understood what they said to me back then. I would get older one day, and what I like will not be popular anymore, if it ever was. I thought they were crazy, but they were right, as they always have been. My nieces threw some bands and singers at me and they may as well have been speaking a foreign language. As I said, they will name all these people on the podcast, but I still don't remember the names. I know of people like Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and One Direction, which the 9 year old rants about, but those people weren't even really on their radar anymore. They've already moved on from these bands and found new singers and bands to adore.

While this makes me feel old, I also feel like this is a big problem with modern pop music. No one sticks around that long anymore. Sure, some will have two or even three hits, but the majority are new versions of "one hit wonders". There's so many bands and singers that have one hit song, but they never do anything after that. At least nothing that's played on the radio. This doesn't make them bad singers or bad bands, it just means they capitalize on one song and on a very young fan base who's musical taste isn't fully developed yet. This is not meant to be a slight, I just said I listened to Puff Daddy and Mase, but then I grew up and, in my opinion, I got way better taste in music.

I also listened to what my dad said and listened to the music he lent me the older and more mature I became. My dad introduced me to Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Robert Johnson, among many, many others. This makes me hopeful that my nieces parents will do the same. Their dad is my oldest brother and he and I have similar taste in music. I hope he does what our dad did for me, but I also know that he plays good music, like Radiohead and TV on the Radio in their house, so the girls are being exposed to good music, they just don't recognize it yet, just like I didn't when my father was playing good music in the house.

I know they will come around at some point, with urging from their parents, but it was equally fascinating and upsetting at their knowledge of modern pop music. They both really do listen to everything they can, that's great and very fascinating. They devour as much pop music as they can. It's awesome that young kids still listen to so much music, even if it's stuff I don't care for. But, it's also upsetting because this is the first time that I have truly felt old. I just had no idea of what they were talking about at times and I was that old man berating young kids and their music these days. I feel like I will try and listen to some of the stuff they mentioned, but I know I won't like most of it, even before I listen to it. Modern pop is just not for me, but it has its many fans and its many fans are very young.

Both my nieces give some wonderful insight and they make me happy because they truly do love music. Music makes everyone happy and there is something for everyone. You will get old and young kids music will sound weird to you, but just think of how you felt when you were a kid and your folks wanted to listen to their music. It took me 33 years, but what I thought would never happen happened. I felt old, but it's not that bad. That's what's supposed to happen. As we get older things change and change can be odd and weird, but you will always have your thing and your music. That will never change.

I also would like to thank my nieces for talking to me and trying to open my mind to new music. It didn't work, but they put out an excellent effort. Listen to the podcast tomorrow because it's was a delight to record and I know everyone, be they 80 or 8, will really enjoy the two conversations I had with my two nieces. They were funny, insightful and a lot of fun to chat with, even though they made me feel old.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Like Grandpa Simpson, Ty was once cool, but what was cool to Ty just changed, and now it is scary. Listen to the X Millennial Man Podcast tomorrow to hear the tale, and make sure you follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Do you know what stinks? Radio really stinks.

Back when I had true choice over the music playing

I want to take my time today to talk about the state of pop music currently playing on the radio.

It's terrible and way too repetitive. I swear, they're playing the same songs from a year ago. I guess there's very little in the way of new pop music. On the rare occasion they do play a new song, it's from a band from last year and their new song sounds exactly like every other song they play. I know not a lot of people still listen to the radio since we have ipods, iphones, androids, windows phones, so on and so forth, but, some people still do listen to the radio in their cars.

My wife and son are two of these people. I can't really listen to a lot of the stuff on my devices because I'm a stay at home dad and I have my son with me 99 percent of the time. I listen to a lot of hip hop, so the curse words make it impossible for me to listen while he's in the car. He does like some of the rock music I listen to, but it's usually the same couple of songs over and over again. A lot like the radio. My wife only likes about half of my music, so when we are all in the car together, I'm not going to make the two of them listen to my music, it's not fair to them. This leaves us listening to the radio.

I've had it up to here with song selection and the DJ's that host their respective shows. Most of these DJ's are just terrible. The song selection is just as bad, if not worse. I'm sick and tired of hearing the same Taylor Swift songs over and over and over again. I don't like her as a musician AT ALL and as far as her personal life goes, she's a terrible girlfriend to her many different, famous musician boyfriends. I swear, she only dates these poor guys so she can get new writing material for her next album. She's a bad person and really annoying. If I have to listen to a "pop" star on the radio, I'd much rather hear Meghan Trainor. At least Meghan Trainor's music is fun and danceable. I'm sure she's a better person too. Taylor Swift is UNBEARABLE!

Which brings me to one of her ex boyfriends, whose songs have been playing on the radio for over a year now, and I'm done with them, they're awful. I'm of course talking about Ed Sheerhan. I swear, if I have to hear "Thinking Out Loud" or "Don't" one more time, I'm going to rip my stereo out of my car. Those songs are very, very bad and have been played WAY too much. I feel like George Ezra, the new "pop" star, song "Budapest" is heading towards Ed Sheerhan level. This makes me upset for him. George Ezra has a unique voice and he writes his own stuff, but "Budapest" is getting into the repetitive play on the radio, and I'm getting sick of this song already. The single came out about 3 to 4 months ago, but just recently it's getting over played. The other day, while in the car for less than an hour, I'm pretty sure I heard "Budapest" three times. THREE TIMES IN LESS THAN AN HOUR! THAT'S TOO MUCH!

Lastly, I'm so done with the band Maroon 5. Every single one of their songs sound exactly alike. I can't tell the difference between, "Sugar", "Animals", or any other song they may have on the radio right now. Adam Levine is no Freddie Mercury, no matter how much he might think he is. His band looks like a bunch of rejects from the Foo Fighters. The Foo Fighters also happen to be a much better band than Maroon 5. Dave Grohl is ten thousand times cooler than Adam Levine. He's a much, much better musician too. Oh, by the way, I'm not even a fan of the Foo Fighters. It upsets me that a band like the Black Keys, equally as famous as Maroon 5 or the Foo Fighters, has grammy awards, plays arenas, just like those two bands do, get little to no air play. Their songs are way better and different. Their songs actually make an album because, each song is unique in it's own way. Each song doesn't sound the same. Revelatory, right? But, if you're just a bit different, play your own instruments and write your own songs and have your own style, no radio play for you because you don't fall in line with the rest of the pack. You're unique and radio stations are afraid of that. Another band, TV on the Radio, falls into this unique territory. They write and play songs that are radio friendly, but do they get air play? Of course not, they're too different and that scares these dumb ass radio execs. That's a crying shame. I just hope in the future, for my son's case, radio changes it's way and starts to get some original people with original ideas working there.

Diversify and you will get new listeners. The very same listeners who are fed up with your playlist right now.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing. He is this close to paying for a streaming music service, but is afraid they will pull the same crap as traditional radio. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.