Take One for the Team

Sometimes songs get stuck in your head, and you loathe yourself for it. I no longer listen to much radio with music anymore (what a sad condition when all FM signals suck, but NPR, FTW!), so I can't say I have the Black-Eyed Peas in my head or Lady Gaga in my head. Cuz let's face it. That would be an utter lie. I have, however, been hearing a lot of Eddie Vedder in my head lately. (Serious sidenote: "The Fixer" slays me, and don't deny that it has the same effect on you. IT DOES.)

But sometimes, when songs get stuck in your head, you want them to be there. Like, over and over. Sometimes, when a particular song strikes the right chord with me (no pun intended), I keep hitting the back button on my iPod to hear it over and over and over. My Last.fm count gets all messed up, and I have some kind of infectious disease that causes interdependence to a certain 3 minutes of music.

It happened to me accidentally this summer. The problem this time, though, extends longer than one season. I have found a song that I enjoy so much that it keeps re-appearing in my life. It's like a bad friend that keeps ditching me for cooler friends, but then finds it absolutely necessary to call and redeem his/herself every few weeks - JUST so I don't think he/she/it is a bad person.

OK OK! I forgive you for being a crappy friend, or an infectious song, or.... ughhh I don't know. I've lost sight of what I'm talking about.

One For the Team - Best Supporting Actress

This band comes from Minneapolis, and the lead singer has an awesome blog that found its way into my google reader. They took seemingly simple chords and structures, and then exploded them with a ton of sugar. You will learn all the words by heart because a) they are easy, and b) you feel like you can relate to them, even if they have nothing to do with you. The electric guitar seems to jump out of the song. It's not just ordinary electric guitar; they make it sound like a nice electric guitar. It is offstandish and non-confrontational and quite pretty, instead of implying violence or power or evil male domination. And the innocence of the vocal harmonies has the same effect; one of pure, alluring aptitude.

Summary: download this song, check out this band, and revel in the whole song-stuck-in-your-head-for-months thing. I challenge you to find me a better song right now. Can you?

Photo: www.jcm-photo.com