Friday, June 04, 2010

Musical Aged

Three years ago, in a blog far, far away, I dissected the musical choices of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. This past weekend, I set out to reprise that conceit for the G:TB community. What happened instead shone a bright light on my failing as a consumer of popular media (and possibly, on my advanced age).

Things began innocently enough, as leadoff hitter Cole Miles came to the plate to the classic Manfred Mann tune, 'Blinded by the Light'. Ironic choice, this, given that Miles had lost a popup in the early evening glare during the top of the first inning. Low marks for the song itself, at least in the context of at-bat music. What batter wants to be blinded, by the light or anything else? Given Miles' career .687 OPS, perhaps a change of motivational music is in order.

Dan Nelson followed Miles, and I had no earthly idea what song played. Generic hip hop of some sort. Travis Jones and Mike Jones were next, and again and again I whiffed. Snoop, maybe? My wife was no help, nor were my children. Desperate, I turned to Shazam to identify Calvin Culver's music, and voila, 'Forever', by Drake, featuring Kanye West, Little Wayne, and Eminem.

Jesus Sucre left the on-deck circle to a pulsing reggaeton beat. Daddy Yankee? Shazam to the rescue again, telling me that I was close: 'Hasta Abajo' by Don Omar featuring Daddy Yankee.



No problem, then. I could fake my way through this post by consulting my iPhone for the entire lineup, and nobody would be the wiser. Hell, I might've even convinced a few people that I know more than three hip hop acts not promoted by Mark and the zman. Alas, there is no joy in Myrtle Beach; the mighty Shazam struck out on the remainder of the lineup, and I was left without a hook.

There was a time, before the advent of satellite radio, Pandora, blip.fm, and iTunes, when I had a grasp on the most popular songs of the day, even if they didn't often match my personal taste. But in an era where the finale of Lost attracted 10 times fewer viewers than did the last episode of M*A*S*H, where no fewer than four XM Radio channels are dedicated to the alternative bands I generally prefer, where I can get to Greasetruck with one click, my entertainment mindspan isn't nearly as wide.

In all this lies a lesson, I'm sure. And it's probably that old people, when confronted by a wide range of choices, tend to stick with what they know. Also, that minor league baseball players have relatively shitty taste in music.

42 comments:

Marls said...

Wait just a second. When you get older, you get more out of touch with popular music!?!? I am shocked!

Is this the first in the long awaited "Rob's Turning 40" introspective series?

rob said...

get off my lawn, marls.

rob said...

drogba broke his arm yesterday. dagger.

http://tinyurl.com/285m9ax

zman said...

I thought the iPhone wasn't that great until someone showed me Shazam. It's cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot sauce.

rob said...

shazam's the bees knees

T.J. said...

So's "Kazaam".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116756/

Clarence said...

"classic Manfred Mann tune, 'Blinded by the Light'"

Somewhere on the rebel side of heaven, Evan's just shaking his head at you.

Mark said...

But is Shazaam cooler than a polar bear's toenails?

rob said...

fair point, though it was the manfred mann version.

Clarence said...

Shazam is indeed awesome. Its kid brother, SoundHound is pretty cool as well. WunderRadio is also a good music app -- you can pick up virtually any radio station in the world. Still trying to find Zman and the Teej on the Morning Zoo.

T.J. said...

Mark, Zman...gift:
http://bit.ly/cKqAXF

T.J. said...

rob doesn't know about Jerry Overdrive?

Greg...where are you?

zman said...

Speaking of Shaq and music, I read an article about how under-rated Shaq's albums are. He had enough pull to get Michael Jackson, Phife, Def Jef, Jay-Z, Biggie, and Rakim to appear on his albums. Not sure I buy it though.

zman said...

Holeee shit! Did the Teej just bring the sneaker game to G:TB? A whole new world opens before me.

Marls said...

They can be found at 690 on you AM dial.

T.J. said...

The Teej did indeed.

Clarence said...

I'm randomly listening to a college radio station that's in Galway, Ireland. (Flirt FM 101.3)A lad and a lass just spent five minutes bashing the US for Americanizing imported things like movie titles, words, and what-not. They made me chuckle when they spoke of the US changing "The Madness of King George III" to "The Madness of King George" because dumb Americans would think it was the third in a trilogy.

But then these DJ's started to sound lame when they kept going --first asked how they were supposed to take a country seriously that produced Miley Cyrus, then launched right into "Here Comes Your Man" by the Pixies. I guess all our music doesn't suck so bad, does it, stupid Micks??

zman said...

What have the Irish done for modern music? U2, Sinead O'Connor, My Bloody Valentine, and ... ?

T.J. said...

IGOR!!!

T.J. said...

I had no idea this company was still in business:
http://www.zubaz.com/

rob said...

npr.org has the new blitzen trapper release available for a free listen. it's a little bit 70s.

T.J. said...

And made up.

rob said...

zman, how could you forget the pogues?

Professor G. Truck said...

i love this post-- obscure sports team, meta-pop cultural analysis, and a greasetruck reference-- what more could anyone want?

zman said...

Are the Pogues really modern though?

zman said...

I, for one, would like more naked ladies in body paint. But otherwise I agree that this is a fine post.

T.J. said...

http://bit.ly/cDWhy7

Clarence said...

The Pogues are more modern than Sinead O'Connor. I saw them in DC in 2006. Fantastic show.

Greg said...

I just saw "Slaughterhouse Five".......I guess it would have made more sense if I had seen Slaughterhouses 1through 4.

Clarence said...

Don't get me started on The Magnificent Seven.

zman said...

Or the Seven Samurai.

Marls said...

Is Slaughterhouse Four the one where Vonnegut fights the Russian?

T.J. said...

Or the Dirty Dozen

zman said...

Or Ol' Dirty's Return to the 36 Chambers.

Michael said...

Greg wins the funny contest. awl

Michael said...

Nice find, TJ. I'm jsut upset that they are not still carrying my favorite t-shirt of all-time that I owned. The Buffalo Bills zubaz t-shirt with the statement "Dare To Be Different" printed on the front.

T.J. said...

That rivals your Collie t-shirt as "Greatest. T-shirt. Ever"

T.J. said...

Hey, Mr. Walrus, why don't you take your glass onion, turn that sumbitch sideways, and shove it straight up your candy ass.

http://bit.ly/bVOj5V

If you smell what the Teej is cooking...

zman said...

The Zubaz photo gallery is outstanding. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of my high school gym teachers rocked Zubaz pants on a daily basis. He would pair them with a matching jersey. For instance, a Kenny Anderson jersey with orange-and-black Zubaz pants, or a Mark Bavaro jersey with blue-and-red Zubaz pants. And various gold chains. And a fanny pack.

Squeaky said...

So was the epicenter of the zubaz wearing population the metro area of NYC? I can't imagine people wearing that stuff anywhere else. Well, maybe Florida.

Clarence said...

Uh, Squeaky -- there's a town called Philadelphia whose residents might consider those fightin' words. Of course, up there, pretty much anything in Webster's construes fightin' words.

Clarence said...

And Teej, for a guy who asked me in a bar a few years ago which ones -- Democrats or Republicans -- were the conservative ones and which were the liberals ones, you certainly have some developed some strong political opinions very rapidly.