The Encroaching Ubiquity of I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas

I got a feeling vs. all my friends

not gonna make that poll cause I make too many polls lately but

that EJO version reminds me of Maher Shalal Hash Baz.

and yeah I scrolled down this thread to find where the new comments began, before scrolling all the way up to find that the whole thing was new. It does pain me that this song won't go away.

"Hung Up" has the same structure and dynamics (long into, double-feature structure, slight mellowing out to catch your breath in the middle before driving through to the end), but it's all about longing, dancing through pain. You don't want that at a kid's birthday party.

well, if popularity's any yardstick, i'm not alone in that...

― a CRASBO is a "criminally related" ASBO (contenderizer), Thursday, July 29, 2010 10:27 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no, you're definitely not. i find myself disagreeing with the general population on a lot of #1 singles.

The days of the week aren't filler when folks are dancing to it. If anything, that's the part where the lyrics become a double-time beat, kind of the climax to the song.

Yeah, I agree insofar as I love them rhythmically but just wish they were doing more in terms of lyrical content. Sort of an "Ob-La-Di" moment, you just go "how much better would this song be if those were actual (and good) lyrics?"

It would be hard to come up with something as rhythmic and repetitive, and so satisfying for a crowd on the dancefloor, as ___DAY ___DAY ___DAY ___DAY

I mean, I was at a friend's (lol) 40th birthday party a few months ago. He married 10 years ago, is a fundraiser for non-profits, lives in a tony but urban neighborhood, and his neighbors made up most of the 30 or so guests. When this song came on, everyone rushed the dance floor. When it was about two and a half minutes in, everyone was kind of winding down, as if the song was going to end, and then the song went back to its original momentum with those days of the week adding a big extra oomph, so that we were all happy and spent when the song finally did end.

i know this is a very me thing to say, but i really do find it incredibly odd that this song rivaled MC's "We Belong Together" in terms of weeks at #1. very odd.

I think the real beauty is how the beat drops out on some Black Sheep "engine engine number nine..." shit but actually drops out for A WHOLE VERSE so when it comes back it's like wowowowow

ugh i love this song. there was one shot in the video with some girl who looked like she was drunk and stumbling in her heels (although i'm probably imagining it) that always made me feel like the song was secretly a little tragic.

^^^ yeah

makes an appearance at 1:16 of "lightweight jamming": THAT'S LIGHTWEIGHT JAMMIN'

some ppl really despise this song. i remember rev & lex raining hate down on it in the 2009 trax poll.

it's the kind of song that tends to pale in comparison with other super-hits because of its simple-mindedness, but it's also the kind of song that people love because of its simple-mindedness, so it's no surprise that it is divisive.

I don't despise this song. It's like a 4/10, prob won't change the station if it comes on the radio joint. I get why it's popular, I just don't get why people here are falling all over it.

The comparison with "Celebration" is apt. And I love both songs, and hope and plan to hear both at my son's bar mitzvah someday!

Note: I'm coming to this from the "I never hear any chart pop" position. But heard this (at a bar mitzvah, natch) and had the same reaction as contenderizer -- wow, WHAT IS THIS THING?

also, cosign w/ iatee re the brilliant deployment of "Mazel Tov."

Guys it is NOT a brilliant deployment of "Mazel Tov", it was a cold and calculated move to make sure it gets played at bar mitzvahs!

this song panders so much to the wedding/bar mitzvah crowd, and people eat it up. pretty banal song.

'ate this song

"wedding/bar mitzvah crowd" equals, um, the kind of human being who loves pop music? You seem to think the fact my grandma can dance to this song is a strike against it instead of the glorious miracle that it is.

If this were easy to do wouldn't Kool and the Gang have been knocked off before now?

"wedding/bar mitzvah crowd" does not equal an insult, but it definitely does not simply equal "the kind of human being who loves pop music" eitha

glorious miracle is a bit much. it's catchy enough, but i get bored with it after about 20 seconds.

i didn't realize your grandma loves pop music so much

I don't get it, who doesn't dance at weddings? I am not trying to be difficult, it's that I truly don't understand what group of people you mean "the wedding/barmitvah crowd" to exclude!

lolllllllllll "glorious miracle" i didn't even see that

i'm sorry but that's good

ohh come on eephus everybody knows that there are certain songs that are better-suited for a wedding/bar mitzvah

it's not just like any pop song

The wedding/bar mitzvah crowd was not meant as an insult! This song was designed to have the broadest possible appeal, from 6 year olds to 80 year olds. Music that has to appeal to such a mass audience is usually really simple. Sure it's fun to hear at said event, but I don't want to hear it anywhere else.

correction - "wedding/bar mitzvah crowd" not an insult to those people (which is pretty much everyone), more an insult to the song

this song was made so little kids and old people can dance together
it's gonna be kind of stupid and bouncy

― ghee hee hee (La Lechera), Thursday, July 29, 2010 4:17 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

lol i'm trying to imagine RIDE at a bar mitzvah

this song's ubiquity is STILL ENCROACHING???

haha where have you been?

Avoiding being encroached.

i think i've been to maybe two weddings as an adult and never been to a bar mitzvah

the "mazel tov" line never sticks out or seems like an important part of the song, don't know why people talk about it so much.

also this song is WAY less calculated to always be played at certain events than the other biggest new wedding staple of the past couple years, "Single Ladies"

the mazel tov line isn't important to the song, it was stuck in there to make it a bar mitvah staple. that's what makes it calculated.

i agree that "single ladies" has become a new wedding staple, but i feel like it was unintentional, whereas "i gotta feeling" was written from the start for this purpose. "single ladies" doesn't have that multi-generational appeal that's gonna get granny on the dance floor.

as cynical and calculated as the whole BEP enterprise is, I really have a hard time believing the line wasn't thrown in there as just a funny thing to say, as opposed to will.i.am stroking his chin and saying "y'know, our music is already played at almost every kind of celebration in America, but we really need something to break into that elusive Jewish rite of passage market."

After which he directed his hologram to visit Mars and check out what song the annual fhlurg-zaxchler ceremony would fall for.

I was at a wedding last weekend and IGAF trumped 'Single Ladies' easily. Nowhere near the nights' big winner which was Tony Christie's 'Is this the way to Amarillo' which had about 80% of the room up and dancing.

when i got married a couple years ago the only relatively recent pop hits i played during the dances were "Step In The Name of Love" and "Rock Your Body." the last wedding I went to a few weeks ago, though, "Single Ladies" and Gaga were big. can't remember if "I Gotta Feeling" was played but it probably was.

lol some dude

total celebration domination

Saying this song is for the "wedding/bar mitzvah crowd" is like saying "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is for the baseball crowd or "Taps" is for the funeral crowd, or Carmina Burana is for the window-into-the-underworld crowd. They're songs for occasions, not folks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnzCyIQ5Qy0

you guys realize that maybe 20% of all pop hits are about partying and celebrating and can be generically applied to just about any kind of upbeat gathering?

yeah but how many of them say L'CHAIM

i don't think it's intentionally "we gotta break into this jewish market" but rather it seems like they wanted to capture as wide an appeal as possible for "generic celebration song". they're the BEPs after all. two of them just bop around and don't even sing.

"Why is this good night different from all other good nights?"

I haven't heard this but I know it's absolute fucking terrible shit that you should all be ashamed to like even if you can't help liking it sincerely

I like IGAF when it came out but I didn't really love it until it made the spine to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNzrwh2Z2hQ

btw that was a post very much in character and I am sorry if it caused offence

you guys realize that maybe 20% of all pop hits are about partying and celebrating and can be generically applied to just about any kind of upbeat gathering?

― The chickbad from the ludicrous 'ludacris' song (some dude), Friday, July 30, 2010 2:31 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

but not all songs about partying and celebrating can be applied to any upbeat gathering.

Saying this song is for the "wedding/bar mitzvah crowd" is like saying "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is for the baseball crowd or "Taps" is for the funeral crowd, or Carmina Burana is for the window-into-the-underworld crowd. They're songs for occasions, not folks.

― gato busca pleitos (Eazy), Friday, July 30, 2010 2:22 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

same difference.

bottom line is there are certain upbeat, celebratory songs that fit these occasions more than others. and again, this isn't a negative thing necessarily. i think the "mazel tov" was included for humor, but i also think it must've registered how convenient it would be to have it as a party shout-out.