Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Lesson In How Stoopid We Iz

I was listening to the 90's station on satellite radio on my way home last night when C+C Music Factory came on. It was a song that I had almost completely forgotten about titled "Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)". About one minute into it, the thought that had been sitting quietly in the back of my head jumped up front in a very loud fashion.

HEY! YOU'VE HEARD THIS SONG BEFORE!, it shouted at me.

Of course I have. It's from 1990., I calmly replied.

NO, YOU MORON! YOU'VE HEARD THIS SONG BEFORE AS A DIFFERENT SONG!, it retorted.

And you know what, that voice was right. I had heard this song before as a different song. From the same musical group.

This isn't just a case of lazy songwriting. This is a case of lazy, we-think-you-are-all-clueless-consumer-roboticons songwriting. And you know what? They were right. "Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)" was the second single from their debut album and it peaked at Number 3 on the US pop charts. It didn't do as well as the song from which it was blatantly ripped. But Number 3 as the second single of the same song is a pretty damned good con.

C+C Music Factory skooled us, kids. And they skooled us well.

Here is the music video for "Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)":



And here is the lead-off single they cannibalized:



Same. Mother. F*cking. Song.

Damn.

2 comments:

The Knowledgemonger said...

Wow!

ArrBee said...

I know right! I seriously had an internal argument with myself until I played both songs back-to-back. Then I felt so snookered.