Pop music relies on several different factors in order to survive. Namely, it has to be catchy. The song has to seize your ears and ask the question, “What is this?” After hearing the answer uttered by a record store clerk or radio announcer you’ll say to yourself, “Of course! I should have known.” Now, it’s time to be honest with yourself. Should you really have known who did that track? Do you benefit? Does the song benefit? Is the artist important to your decision to like or dislike a song?
In his essay, “Death of the Author” Roland Barthes states, “To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text, to furnish it with a final signified to close the writing.” Taking these ideas into account when looking at pop music allows for the over-the-top lives of most of America’s pop stars to be removed from the listener’s perception of a song. Acceptability is important to the success of pop music; the genre’s significance comes from its overarching appeal. By removing the artist the listener enables him or herself to truly understand the implications of a song. The signified is no longer implied by authorship, it is handled by the listener.
Pop music isn’t well known for its originality, but is often lauded for its ability to create a representation of society. “We know now that a text is not a line of words releasing a single theological meaning,” says Barthes, “but a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writing, none of them original, blend and clash.” In this respect, pop music functions as a combination of influences the world over. All of which, without the star, can be heard and understood by a large nation and reflected upon differently. The listener can accept a star and their persona of the moment, hearing a song in various ways– even if a song remains consistent to the one moment of creation. Removing the artist it increases the longevity of a song and enhances the listening experience.
One of the most interesting aspects of pop music is its universal appeal to listeners. It operates in each and every moment differently, and can often transcend time. This is an important fact to consider when removing the pop star. If a song can be looked at individually, without the spectacle that surrounds a star, it can be deciphered and decoded much more accurately. This is helpful when considering that pop music often functions as a reflection of society’s ideals. Consider that after the September 11 attacks, John Lennon’s “Imagine” was one of the most widely requested songs at radio stations. At the time of its original release in 1971, the song’s meaning was drastically different than it was after September 11. The lyrics, “Imagine there’s no heaven / it’s easy if you try… imagine there’s no country/ it isn’t hard to do / nothing to kill or die for / and no religion too” once symbolized a singers ideals and have more recently become an anthem for a nation in mourning. This was a case in which the listener was able to relinquish the star in order to apply their own feelings to a text, and exemplifies why the removal of pop-stardom is essential for a listener’s understanding both of their society as well a song.
Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” is another example of the death of authorship allowing for a new way to experience and understand a song. Regardless of his intentions, the song has become an Independence Day tradition. According to several interviews, the effect was unintentional on Springsteen’s part, but the fact remains that the collective listening public has decided that Springsteen’s intentions aren’t important. What is important is what the listener takes away from the listening experience, and in the case of “Born in the U.S.A.” it’s a sense of pride.
The two above examples came years after the songs were originally released. It may be difficult to imagine “Womanizer,” Britney Spears newest single being anything more than a sugar-coated pop footnote, but by removing Spears’ the performer and accepting the songs steady beat and simple message one may find oneself more open to the song down the road. By removing the stigma that is Spears, the song’s already universal appeal can be broadened even further, effectively selling more records and garnering a better following. There are pop icons who will argue that they are just as important as their creations, that these two things are inseparable. It is that egoism that keeps pop culture from being transcendent and from being truly universally appealing.
When a listener can remove a star’s identity, it allows for the music to speak for itself. With pop music it creates an experience that is shared with a large collective of people. The song is given the capacity to change meaning according to a societies need and the collective listeners are allowed to have their own signified.
In the end, the birth of the listener must be at the cost of the death of the star.
Every city has this radio station — you know, the station that is acceptable to be played at work, the station that generally identifies itself as: “world-class,” “all-rock,” “rock.” These stations, no matter where you are located, are always, in every way, terrible. With a capitol T. Terrrible. See that, capitolized now. They play the same songs, repeatedly, every day, day in, day out, over and over. Vampire Weekend cradles up with Death Cab for Cutie for a funeral service with Peter Frampton and CCR jamming in the background.
Denver’s radio station is KBCO. It’s the one you’ll hear in offices, in Saab’s, in grocery stores. I hear it every day at work. Every day I hear the same 150-200 songs, over and over, sometimes at the same time every day — like they want me to equate Death Cab’s newest single with 3:30 or “1234″ with lunchtime. In an effort to rid myself of some demon’s, I’m going to attempt to live blog an entire day’s worth of work while listenening to this shit station. Why? I dunno. I hope it’ll make me feel better. Now than, that being said, I’ll be at work, so don’t expect constant updates, but they’ll be streaming via Twitter for the majority of the day, followed by a roundup up of everything (with bonus spelling corrections!) here.
I might be little behind on this one, as I just heard this on the radio (ugh, I know, it’s terrible… radio? Who listens to radio anymore?) and I like the Boss as much as the next guy — but I’m pretty sure that “Radio Nowhere” sounds way too much like the Tommy Tutone hit song, “867-5309/Jenny.” Listen for yourself, tell me if I’m wrong.
Nanotechnology stops bleeding. People around the world cheer as they no longer have to worry about their band-aid falling off in the shower and looking super gross.
Scarlett Johansson set to release tribute album to Tom Waits. Um, yeah I don’t get it either. I never really understood tribute albums in general, but especially tribute albums to people whom are still alive. Oh, and by an actress nonetheless, an actress with a big lip and sexy last name.
Russia on its way back to the top. ”Awwwwww…… shitttttttttt!” Says Obama, “Fuck!” shouts McCain. They both drop out and King Thor is elected. He then goes to Russia and ice skates with Putin, talks about the upcoming and amazing looking, Stalin vs. Martians. Then we eat ice cream and high five while listening to Bruce Springsteen.
Gore Verbinski (you know, the director who did the craptastical trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean) will be directing the new Bioshock movie. Bioshock was hailed by many as being a narrative masterpiece (Essentially being: a man is in a plane wreck, finds underwater dystopia, fights his way out, innovative, I know… becuase it’s underwater) and to be honest, I only partially agree. I mean the game is alright. It’s nothing mind-blowing. I mean, simply because the writers create and Ayn Rand inspired underwater fright show doesn’t mean the game has a great narrative. It certainly asks question, gives answers and sometimes makes the gamer make a choice — or at least gives the gamer the illusion of choice. If Bioshock gave us nothing else, it gives us a game that seems to recognize that it’s a game, and then subsequently sets out to screw with the player.
Now Microsoft wants to buy Facebook.I’m growing a little tired of Microsoft’s ambition’s to simply purchase everything. Or, more accurately, I’m growing a little weary that Microsoft hasn’t tried to purchase The Republic of Thoronia.
Torrentspy gets a $111 million copyright lawsuit.I still can’t believe that nobody is getting the hint that people don’t want to pay for their crappy music tastes. Maybe the music and video industries should consider just DROPPING the prices. Price drops=more sales. Why the hell does nobody ever talk to me about these things?
College’s are becoming less selective.High prices and dropouts are causing college’s to dig deeper into their wait lists. President Bush comments, “See, I told you that my education plan had a point.” Could this possible be related to the ever increasing cost of going to college that was spiked by Bush’s cut of education funding to pay for the war? Hmm, no, I’m sure this was his plan all along, no?
Nintendo’s WiiWare launched.Fanboys get stoked. XBOX and PS3 owners are confused, since they’ve had indie-centric titles since their upstarts. Whatever, I’m going to go download Defend Your Castle and think about how awesome the Republic of Thoronia game is going to be on a Wii.
Why haven’t I done this yet? Thorin loves making lists and such, right? So why not make a list of how he’s feeling right now? Shut up. I didn’t think of it till just now. I mean, I was too busy looking for a job to make some list. Anyway – Songs for the unemployed, songs for the working.
“Working Class Hero”– John Lennon
John Lennon’s ballad in ode to those of us (re: not me) that work for a living. Something that I’m sure he doesn’t remember all that well — not to say that music isn’t work, just that it isn’t the same type of thing. But we can ignore that and simply rock out eh?
“The River” – Bruce Springsteen
Okay this song is mostly about something else, but the lines, “I got a job working for the Johnstown Company/But lately there ain’t been much work on account of the economy” rings more true today then it did then.
“Flint (For The Unemployed And Underpaid)” –Sufjan Stevens
Although Sufjan Stevens is always making songs about himself, even when he’s trying to ode to whomever — the lines “Since the first of June/Lost my job/Lost my room” are still thoughful.
“I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)” – Tom Waits
Tom Waits has had a lot of jobs in his life, and credit to this one for naming th eworst attributes of all of them — and bonus points for using the word “copacetic.” I love Tom Waits because you can find one of his songs for nearly any type of theme mix.
“(Antichrist Television Blues)” – The Arcade Fire
The Arcade Fire is taking a cue from punk bands of old as they chant on, “I don’t want to work in a building downtown.” It’s true, when you work in one of the buildings downtown the most exciting aspect of the day is when you go to lunch at Chili’s.
“Working In A Coalmine” – Devo
“When the work day is over/I’m too tired to have some fun.” Man, that sounds painfully familiar. Stupid bike courier job.
“This Place” –Descendents*
This song actually reminds me a lot when I worked at Secondspin. Maybe even when I worked for Denver/Boulder — “This place sucks/I haven’t found a single friend in three long years.” I played this on my last day for the last song when I worked at Secondspin. It was great.
“Career Opportunities” –The Clash
I was always a fan of the line, “I won’t open letter bombs for you.” Mostly because I really like the picture of Joe Strummer standing with goggles and tongs opening letters while the Queen of England stand over him looking over his shoulder.
“Steelworker” – Big Black
“See I’m a steelworker/ I kill what I eat.” Nuff’ said.
“Clocked In” –Black Flag*
I’ve been unemployed long enough to find sympathy in the opening lines of “Clocked In,” “I tried to apply/ I can’t get loose/My day is to myself/Put my brain in a noose”
“I Pity the Poor Immigrant” – Angels Of Light/Akron Family
Hmm… Michael Gira scares me a little bit.
“There Is Power In A Union” – Billy Bragg
Good old fashion working man’s song. Get with the union!
“Uptown” — Crystals*
Talking about how her man can work uptown and come home for some good lovin’… or something. I don’t actually know.
“Step Into My Office, Baby” — Belle & Sebastian
Okay, this song is about something else — but it can be applied to work.
“Spoken For Mix” – DJ Shadow
This is part of the soundtrack to the movie Dark Days — which if you’ve seen you understand why its here.
“Invisible Man” –Public Enemy
Hmm, Public Enemy, always so happy to be tackling issues and such.
“Clockwork” –Blackalicious
See, you can be a rapper for a job!
“Protect Ya Neck” – Wu-Tang Clan
I honestly don’t remember why I put this on here now… oh well, I’m sure it applies.
“Sixteen Tons” –Tennessee Ernie Ford
This is one of my favorite country songs of all time. And it’s pretty obvious why its on the list.
“9 to 5? –Dolly Parton
Also obvious. It’s about working, ya’ know. From 9 to 5. Except that is easy, not a day is 8 to 5 or longer. Way to go America.
“Maggie’s Farm” – Bob Dylan
“I ain’t gone a-work on Maggie’s farm, no more…”
“Factory” – Bruce Springsteen
What, I can put two Springsteen songs a mix about UNEMPLOYMENT AND WORKING. It’s Bruce Springsteen, who else sings about this stuff all the time?
“Oney” –Johnny Cash
The first time I ever heard this song I was actually at work. It made my frustrating day so much better.
“Bill Morgan and His Gal (My Name is Morgan But It Ain’t J.P.)” – The New Lost City Ramblers
A good working man finds himself a wife that wants to buy buy buy.
“Marie” – Townes Van Zandt
This is the most fitting and perfect song for this mix.
“Poor Places” – Wilco
This one is a bit of a stretch, but nothing says unemployment like the line, “I’m not going outside.”
“Work Is a 4 Letter Word” –The Smiths
And that 4 letter word is… “work.”
“Plea from a Cat Named Virtute” – Weakerthans
I’m not sure what the Weakerthans are actually going for with this tune, but describing a cat is likely describing a lonely, bored, unemployed dude who’s unsure whether he even want to get up every day let alone do anything.
“I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore” – Woody Guthrie
This just seemed like the best way to end this mix.
