― Back Like That (makeitpop), Thursday, 29 October 2009 17:57 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
What. Is that the Death Cab guy? He should try to make songs that sound more like Kylie or whatever. None of this halfway stuff.
― bamcquern, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:03 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
yeah but this is currently the #1 song on the Billboard chart
― ADVANCED CHORD CHANGES (HI DERE), Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:03 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
No shit. Never heard it before.
― bamcquern, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:04 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
xp Ha, no, but:
Iain Forrester: True story: I got one of those “sorry you were out” cards through the letterbox yesterday, saying that I had missed a recorded delivery. I got up early today to collect it at the depot, but they couldn’t find it! Apparently postal workers are on strike and we have to make do with unskilled and inadequate substitutes.[2]
― jaymc, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:04 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Also lol @ Wikipedia page:
Numerous neophytes are initially confused over the band's members. Contrary to expectations Owl City does not include the likes of Ben Gibbard.
― jaymc, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:06 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
hahahahaha
― itsybitsyspiderMk2 (some dude), Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:07 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
http://www.billboard.com/artist/owl-city/998477#/charts/hot-100
...yeah
― ADVANCED CHORD CHANGES (HI DERE), Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:08 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Miley covering Jonathan Richman.
― bamcquern, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:15 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Wonder if dude dotted his i's with hearts when he wrote the lyrics to this.
― Sean Carruthers, Thursday, 29 October 2009 18:16 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
Didn't someone post about postal servicio album number 2 going to number one?
― le hague, Saturday, 31 October 2009 05:40 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
I like the video (and the melody)
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 31 October 2009 15:36 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
"cuz i'd get a thousand hugs / from ten thousand lightning bugs / as they teach me how to dance"
so deep, y'all.
― akaky akakievich, Saturday, 31 October 2009 16:01 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
sweet little tune. reminds me a little of electric president
― nicky lo-fi, Saturday, 31 October 2009 16:07 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
― nicky lo-fi, Saturday, 31 October 2009 16:08 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
― akaky akakievich
It's just a pop song not an entry in a poetry competition. But yeah you are kinda right, but I do not usually let lyrics steer me away if I like the rest of the elements of the song.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 1 November 2009 15:08 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
"cuz i'd get a thousand hugs / from ten thousand lightning bugs"
this doesnt make sense UNLESS each bug gives him 1000 hugs. so, ten million hugs. that just seems like too many i dont know.
― rent, Sunday, 1 November 2009 15:17 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
no I uh think it takes ten bugs to make one hug but we should ask someone
― robertwolf8080, Sunday, 1 November 2009 16:29 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
TS: this pap vs. "100,000 Fireflies"
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 1 November 2009 16:36 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
So after seeing this song at #1 on the Billboard chart, I have suddenly started hearing this song EVERYWHERE. Huh.
― (oh PORRIDGE) (HI DERE), Sunday, 1 November 2009 16:37 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
yeah, i think this is a situation where iTunes purchases led the charge, and then radio stations immediately went "huh? OK, put it on the playlist"
really funny finally hearing this, btw. this is an admittedly ridiculous question, but is this the most stereotypically 'indie' vocal ever on a US #1?
― some dude, Sunday, 1 November 2009 16:42 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
guilty pleasure music
― cutty, Sunday, 1 November 2009 17:45 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
is this the most stereotypically 'indie' vocal ever on a US #1?
looking back over the last twenty years, I'd say most definitely
― da croupier, Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:00 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
All-American Rejects didn't hit #1?
― (oh PORRIDGE) (HI DERE), Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:15 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Or REM?
Stipe's voice isn't that 'indie' to me.
― Drag Me to Hull (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:27 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
yeah me either...
― k3vin k., Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:28 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
no and no, dan
― da croupier, Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:35 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
closest competition i really saw was EMF and Plain White T's, though I don't know if I'd call either's subcultural affectations "indie" anyhow.
― da croupier, Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:36 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
there are shitty indie songs that sound like Hey Delilah
― billstevejim, Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:39 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
that's probably why i brought them up
― da croupier, Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:40 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
oh i thought you meant the opposite... my mistake
― billstevejim, Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:41 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
i just meant that, while certainly close on the pop family tree, hot topic whines and effete British sighs aren't quite as stereotypically 'indie' as an outright impersonation of ben gibbard.
― da croupier, Sunday, 1 November 2009 18:46 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
"It's just a pop song not an entry in a poetry competition. But yeah you are kinda right, but I do not usually let lyrics steer me away if I like the rest of the elements of the song."
fair enough, but in this case i don't like any elements of the song. and the vocal delivery probably annoys me more than the cringe-inducing lyrics.
― akaky akakievich, Sunday, 1 November 2009 19:00 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
The vocal more resembles a clean metalcore reject than "indie."
Also, I wrote a bit about the track because I worry over how much it has permeated my head. I fear it may never leave, and I am certain that it does not deserve me as its host.
― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Sunday, 1 November 2009 19:01 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Well, it's at #1, but way down at #28 on the radio play chart (#42 last week). Its ascent to the top had to have been in spite of a lack of radio play.
― timellison, Sunday, 1 November 2009 19:36 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Very much so -- Chris Molanphy at Idolator has a great piece up detailing what happened.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 1 November 2009 20:12 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
lol @ this cover
― umadeus grozart (Curt1s Stephens), Sunday, 1 November 2009 21:55 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
lol @ the star wars font
― GEDDY LEE JAZZ MINT (Future_Perfect), Sunday, 1 November 2009 23:53 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
"Such Great Hoots" = A++ headline writing
― uninspired girls rejoice!!! (Hoot Smalley), Monday, 2 November 2009 00:19 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
says hoot smalley
― cutty, Monday, 2 November 2009 00:29 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Again, I can’t front: on a Top 40 radio dial awash in Black Eyed Peas’ faux-hop and Miley Cyrus’s shrill Autotunage, “Fireflies” is a nice contrast. But it’s basically The Postal Service for Dummies, Chris Molanphy from his nicely done Idolator piece
I can go with this.
Oh, my kid says I-Tunes was giving this song away for awhile, many months back (he does not like it btw).
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 November 2009 15:21 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
garbage
― goole, Monday, 2 November 2009 16:10 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
i don't mind the postal service or ben gibbard in small doses but this guy's voice and delivery grates for a reason i can't quite pinpoint since it's pretty much a carbon copy.
― Roz, Monday, 2 November 2009 16:17 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Here's a theory: "Cool" christian kids will buy anything, so when this guy comes along sounding like the Postal Service but talking about "I follow Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. He is my life, my strength, my all." on his myspace page (captioning a picture of fluffy white clouds no less), he mobilizes a huge market of jesus campers who want credit in the "indie" world without sacrificing their savior (a market that could be more likely to purchase music from itunes rather than rip it, what with that whole "thou shalt not steal" thing).
― fucking in the streets, Monday, 2 November 2009 16:57 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
those christian kids!
― goole, Monday, 2 November 2009 17:06 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Alternate theory: deal with the devil.
― fucking in the streets, Monday, 2 November 2009 17:09 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
i knew the kid was from owatonna but i had no idea he was christian. he sounds like the postal service, there you go. i think your theory is crap.
― goole, Monday, 2 November 2009 17:12 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
if someone who supposedly built their whole following from MySpace prominently declares their faith on their MySpace page then yeah, I don't think it's terribly far fetched to suggest there's a CCM element to their success.
― retrunofthaghmac (some dude), Monday, 2 November 2009 17:16 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
hmm. yeah.
― goole, Monday, 2 November 2009 17:17 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Oh my goodness, so the MySpace guy that Unicorn Kid just supported all round the US is now #1 on Billboard? That makes me happy.
― mike t-diva, Monday, 2 November 2009 22:55 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
(It's cute. And I like the chiptuney elements.)
― mike t-diva, Monday, 2 November 2009 22:58 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
The Christian thing makes this dude's bio make a lot more sense to me. All these mentions of bands I've never ever heard of and if they're all Christian then it kinda crystallizes.
Why can't we live in an alternate universe where Max Tundra is #1 tho? I mean if bleeps and fey Sprechstimme vocals and mad pop hooks are all it takes, why this dude and not MT?
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
― twice boiled cabbage is death, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 14:22 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
yeah this sounds nothing like max tundra
― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 15:12 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
I have in mind the bridge/middle 8 of Max Tundra's "Number our Days" if I must defend my pipe dream further. Tundra can do sugary-sweet when he feels like it, but his structures are more capricious, hence, yeah fine, he sounds nothing like Owl City. Because Owl City is sugar piled onto honey with added treacle and saccharine and a side of twee sauce. I get why people hear this as a Postal Service clone, but damn it makes the Postal Service sound like Meshuggah by comparison.
― twice boiled cabbage is death, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 15:16 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
bands coming out of nowhere and having big pop hits that sound like stuff cult indie acts have been doing for years happen because they're on different career tracks with different goals and different promotional methods, not because we live in a mysterious and unjust world
― et tu, omas? (some dude), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 15:21 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
otm
― 51 sent (The Reverend), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:40 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
no guys we live in a mysterious and unjust world come on work with me (hi my name is drew daniel by the way)
― twice boiled cabbage is death, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:41 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
oh hey dude what's up you're not pygmy squirrel anymore?
― et tu, omas? (some dude), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:42 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
nope, switched up my style / got new laptop and had to re-register and thought why not
― twice boiled cabbage is death, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 16:48 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
― et tu, omas? (some dude),
But with many top 40 stations owned by the same companies, and such stations following the directives of certain radio programmers, couldn't those programmers suggest act X instead of act Y?
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:13 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Once upon a time Lee Abrams in creating the Album Oriented Rock format decided that certain bands fit and others (Ramones) did not.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:17 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
of all the people that might have an effect on whether a song becomes a mainstream hit, radio programmers working at top 40 stations must rank somewhere in triple digits
― et tu, omas? (some dude), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:21 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
I mean radio programmers elsewhere who tell the stations what to play. Do any top 40 stations these days make their own decisions on songs to play? I'm guessing it is rare
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 17:47 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
I can only imagine how much the publishing cos and labels have made from "Pocket Full of Sunshine" and other retail-ready songs, so I can understand why they'd push this one to the top.
― (nutty nuggets at HEB) (Eazy), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 18:19 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Top 40 is kind of by definition the radio format with the least amount of autonomy, and is kind of dictated by what's already charting or being released by established stars, or being requested by listeners. Genre-specific formats are where songs still at least have a fighting chance of bubbling up from grassroots or semi-underground movements without music industry machinery behind them, and even there it's not very easy.
― the tuppence takes manhattan (some dude), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 18:21 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
fruityloops is not chiptunes
― But no hope for norwegian posters, sorry. (Curt1s Stephens), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 18:33 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
no, there's a circuit-bending app now
― the tuppence takes manhattan (some dude), Tuesday, 3 November 2009 18:33 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
I'm not saying chiptune sounds are unachievable in fruityloops, but I don't hear anything w/a grainy low bitrate in owl city
― But no hope for norwegian posters, sorry. (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 01:55 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Inside dope: he is a reason user FYI
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 04:04 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
this song wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't for the cloying furryness of it.
― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, 4 November 2009 06:02 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
reason makes even more sense
― But no hope for norwegian posters, sorry. (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 06:11 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
― But no hope for norwegian posters, sorry. (Curt1s Stephens), Tuesday, November 3, 2009 5:55 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
it's quite possible that you have no idea wtf you are talking about
― swagless price (The Reverend), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 07:42 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
fucking christ...OWATONNA. i'm literally...wow....what a shithole town.
― my gangsta ain't NEVER been on trial (M@tt He1ges0n), Wednesday, 4 November 2009 22:59 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
lol i learned of this song today only after gf and i heard it in the car over the weekend and debated whether it was postal svc or not
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 5 November 2009 16:17 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
what was that thing punks used to snarl...something like "this is music for students"...that was my reaction to this song.
― Euler, Thursday, 5 November 2009 16:20 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
it's basically postal service for ppl that were put off by how heavy and raw postal service was
― my gangsta ain't NEVER been on trial (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 5 November 2009 16:49 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
lolllll
― k3vin k., Thursday, 5 November 2009 16:54 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
It's Postal Service for people who are too young to remember Postal Service! Owl City's fanbase is firmly teenage.
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 5 November 2009 16:54 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
i am actually almost impressed by how closely he mimicked ben gibbard's singing mannerisms
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 5 November 2009 16:58 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
tbh i think the vocal similarity is a little overhyped -- there are Death Cab songs i had a harder time distinguishing from Built To Spill than i did telling the difference between OC and PS
― some dude, Thursday, 5 November 2009 17:01 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
It's only Postal Service-y until the middle bit where he gets out the stadium rock guitars. I can never make it past that point in the song.
That link that Ned posted above is quite interesting, though - in that it tries to make some political point about how under represented white indie males are in the pop charts, boo hoo hoo.
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 5 November 2009 17:45 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
― GEDDY LEE JAZZ MINT (Future_Perfect), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:00 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
owl city adult onesie
Is this the moment that owls in pop culture jump the shark?
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:04 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
I very much doubt Chris was trying to make that point.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:12 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, November 5, 2009 12:45 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
there's absolutely no "boo hoo hoo" tone in that article, and you accusing someone else of having an obsessive gender politics agenda when talking about music is fucking rich (xpost)
― the goondock saints (some dude), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:13 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
BTW, guys, the "boo hoo hoo" bit was a joke?
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:16 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
oh man if this turns into pitchfork thread mk III i am going to start banning peeps from this thread left and right
― PHEAR MY POORAPULT (jjjusten), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:18 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
it tries to make some political point about how under represented white indie males are in the pop charts
does he, really?
My point in deconstructing all this is to designate “Fireflies” as a truly rare bird, a huge boy-pop hit without a home format. When a song by a solo female scales the Hot 100, that’s notable but less surprising — Top 40 is the most female-centric of radio formats, and so their gender there is a help; if they’re Beyoncé or Mariah, they have urban radio helping out, too. Most male acts live on either rock or urban radio, where they dominate. But Adam Young somehow has scored a Hot 100 chart-topper with little to no assistance from the big “guy” formats, and without American Idol.
It leaves us with one inescapable conclusion, whether we think the Postal Service wuz robbed or that “Such Great Heights” sucked and “Fireflies” is worse. People really just like this song. Hey, occasionally, it happens.
no, he doesn't.
― goole, Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:20 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
here's an idea, why don't we all be even more po-faced about hyperbole
― The Dance at the Crossroads (HI DERE), Thursday, 5 November 2009 18:28 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
you can't appreciate this song, a shameless rip off of postal service/death cab, until you realize that its on the soundtrack to the reboot of 90210, a shameless derivative of the oc. and the main character of the oc's favorite band was, who else, death cab.
i like to think that adam young realized this and fireflies is some sort of joke in this context
― killah priest, Thursday, 5 November 2009 19:47 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Morning show on the local MOR station ripped on Owl City for sounding like the talent show conclusion from "Revenge of the Nerds:"
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 November 2009 20:15 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
minus Lamar's awesome rap
― Euler, Thursday, 5 November 2009 20:18 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Yeah, I mean, we can't have everything! A perfect world would spoil us too much.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 November 2009 20:21 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
It sounds like The Muppets singing a sped-up Creed song?? (Not production-wise.)
― billstevejim, Friday, 6 November 2009 01:21 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
― swagless price (The Reverend), Wednesday, November 4, 2009 2:42 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
I don't? you tell me where the chiptunes sounds are in owl city.
― But no hope for norwegian posters, sorry. (Curt1s Stephens), Friday, 6 November 2009 03:00 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
mr. smarty pants
On the night before my 16th birthday I ate too many mushrooms and was convinced I'd gone Insane For Life as the darkness of my bedroom filled up with thousands of tiny, singing Popples.
I was reminded of that night after hearing this on Mix 106.5 on the way to work today.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 20 November 2009 15:46 (Yesterday) Permalink
Insane For Life.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 20 November 2009 15:47 (Yesterday) Permalink