Since I am currently in Florida, there will not be Trivia Tuesday today. Sorry. Instead, I have a question for any fan of music from the late 1980s/early 1990s that was posed to me by WahooJ.
Why does the song "Epic" by Faith No More (featuring the chorus "You want it all, but you can't have it.") still receive regular radio airplay while comparable song, "Everything About You" by Ugly Kid Joe (chorus: "I hate everything about you.") does not?
I have a theory, but I'd like to see what you think...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Random Question of the Day
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6 comments:
Because they've re-united and are releasing a new studio album soon....
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/faith_no_more_reunion_in_2009.html
linear soul child
... or because the ugly kid joe song appealed more to pop music fans who were perfectly content to replace it with whatever came along next... epic's appeal was more intrinsic to its fans and so the song has more staying power?
but probably linear soul child...
Late 80s early 90s was the hey-day of the music video and Epic's was a far more memorable video than Ugly Kid Joe's, resulting in more people watching it, becoming familiar with it, and still wanting to hear it because they can still picture that fish flopping out of water and the piano exploding.
Ugly Kid Joe was a joke band from the onset -- their name was a goof on "Pretty Boy Floyd" and their music was super-fucking-terrible. Faith No More, on the other hand, totally ruled. Have you seen this video? With Bjork's fish flopping around outside its bowl? I rest my case.
The reason "Epic" gets constand airplay is because of Faith No More's regrettable role in spawning nu metal/ rap metal. Since modern rock radio seems to ignore anything that isn't grunge or nu metal and Korn and Limp Bizkit still are in constant rotation, it makes sense that "Epic" would be in there, too.
I remember "Epic" as spawning the commercialization of "alternative" rock in the 1990s, paving the way for the acceptance of Nevermind a year later. Obviously, there are musical roots further back, but my memory is that Epic was the first MTV hit of its kind, allowing the cheerleaders in the gym and Soundgarden's melting Barbie dolls to take center stage the following year.
I just realized that I never answered my own question. My theory is the same as Nichole's: the video. You remember the exploding piano, the flopping fish and the eye in the hand. I have no recollection of an Ugly Kid Joe video.
In addition, Epic is a much better song that Everything About You!
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