Year In America July 31, 2008

[koganbot]

Summertime, and the mood is uneasy, which works well among the newbies, I think. Grating catchy Katy stays at number one, "Disturbia" jumps from 15 to 4, "American Boy" from 26 to 16, all propelled more by downloads than airplay.

Big new entry is Shwayze, whose reality show debuted on MTV a couple of weeks ago. And another strong leaper is... well, see below. I was NOT EXPECTING THIS. It's rising on the shoulders of this movie trailer, pulling in the downloads, and I can't find out how much or where, if at all, the song might also be garnering airplay, Mediabase for the moment having reverted to subscriber-only.

Shwayze f. Cisco Adler "Corona and Lime": The big hit of the summer is the clumsy, thumpin', emphatically unsunny and nonidyllic "I Kissed A Girl," yet people still imagine that ease and breeze will reap the summer moolah, and this track might do it. It'd be nice enough except it's not enough. Shwayze's got a friendly sly manner, gives us slinky little clichés, "Girls from Detroit like electro, dance all night until they break their neck, yo," being the extent of the song's wisdom. Nothin' special 'bout the melody either but it works well with the rap. Cisco's singing is the drawback, though, gentle slow tones that manage to grate. I might be coming to like their other hit, "Buzzin'," but this one's NO TICK.

M.I.A. "Paper Planes": Song floats strangely in the summer heat, hooks are gunshots. All she wants to do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG). Some she murders, some she lets go. Will this shimmering fear make it onto the radio? Will the shimmer make it with the fear whited out? Will the record not get played at all? (TICK TICK TICK TICK) (BOOM)

Flobots "Handlebars": Weirdo week continues, with another guy who raps funny. Boy rides bike no hands, dreams of all he can do, that he'll learn the do-si-do, open a thrift store, rise to the presidency, imprison at will, kill some, let some go. Klutzy, obvious, and sophomoric in its foreboding, but I'm inclined to be lenient because of the foreboding and 'cause it ends with a BOOM. (TICK TICK TICK TICK)

Kid Rock "All Summer Long": So distinctively American that it's been stompin' up the European charts while only half getting started here. Still pleasant, still goes weak when I want it to kick, and I still don't care enough to tick it.

Comments

[joshlanghoff.livejournal.com]

Kid Rock's doing better on the country chart than on the pop chart! Which isn't unheard of, because I'm sure Jessica Simpson's doing the same, and probably Kid Rock's done the same in the past, with "Picture" or some other song I don't care about--but I wonder how many other country songs do that well in Europe.

[koganbot]

Well, Jessica is aiming specifically at the country market, whereas Kid Rock is aiming at whatever. I mean, "So Hott" sure didn't get any country play. My guess is that few in Europe define "All Summer Long" as a country song - just rock, Mellancamp/Seger stylings over the "Sweet Home Alabama" riff. And the guitar solo (which is my favorite thing about this, by far) is pushing the envelope even for current country (but then, so does the guitar solo in "Gunpowder and Lead," and that track finally clawed its way into the country top ten, sitting at number 8 even as we speak). Don't think country would have defined this as country until recently, either. For instance, Allmusic doesn't list any Lynyrd Skynyrd song or album having made it to the country charts, ever. (And I doubt that many people who don't pay attention to country (and even some who do) know that there's a rocking country band called Van Zant that's hit the country charts a few times in the last several years.)

Only three Kid Rock songs have made it to the country chart: "Picture" at 21 in 2003, "Single Father" at 50 in 2004, and "All Summer Long" at 21 with a bullet right now.