How Mix 100.7 effects my everyday life, or how I feel old as hell at twenty-three

Well yes, I have started a new job - I pack things into boxes for a living now, and I punch numbers into a computer, which tells you what you've bought and, when I hit the enter key, how much money you should pay me for the items that I just rang you up for. It's on the little screen, on top of the pole, to your left... like in the big stores.

Lenny and Vinny's didn't have that price pole thing. I was kind of convinced that you were some awesome stuff if you had a customer price pole, if that's even what you call it - no, you have a price pole thing and you hook it into a computer. And then you have a price pole. Easy, huh?

Either way, and all the way, I've been forced to put up with a gross change in my daily musical programming. Back at L+V's, I had a selection of music that was fine-picked - at least, to Jeremy's taste. He ran the kitchen, after all. But... it was nearly constantly something that I dug the hell out of. I mean, REALLY dug - let's see, the Zombies, that Florida funk compilation, the Beatles, My Morning Jacket, etc. etc. etc. etc. (i.e., 98% of Jeremy's Ipod, give or take a Belle and Sebastian or Yo La Tengo album track or two. Love you, Jer).

But now, even though I generally like packing things into boxes and hitting buttons that translate into numbers that tell me what you've bought and how much you should pay for it (Hey! Look at that price pole, kid!), I am now generally forced to listen to Mix 100.7 all day, every day that I work in that place.
Am I upset? I was, the first couple days. But.... now.... I actually kind of like it.

........
(that's the silence that you're giving me - what, you don't understand? Now I've got to explain? Ah well - here we go:)

Take Colbie Caillat, for instance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PWfB4lurT4&feature=related

They deign it totally right to play this girl's two singles constantly - "Bubbly" and "Realize". I'm thinking that this girl has some kind of subliminal message buried in all her soft, soulful delivery, because her music is actually incredibly hypnotizing. I can't explain it. Her songs feel like Velveeta shells with bacon, on a breezy summer day.

Am I going crazy?

(I just spent the last ten minutes trying to find a screen grab of Charlie's "Pepe Silvia" monologue on the new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I was unsuccessful, which is sad, considering that it would illustrate this point great.)

Jesus Christ.

........................
(Jim Rome pause)

"Realize" plays constantly. Like, five times a day. "Bubbly" is the more interesting, with its slightly amusing rhyme scheme, but they're pushing "Realize" like it was candy on Halloween, and Halloween was done fifty-four minutes ago. So I'm listening to "Bubbly" as I type this. I feel like packing boxes with objects wrapped in bubble wrap.

Yep!

So, back to the point of this blog, to which I alluded to in the title - see, the other reason I find myself liking Mix 100.7, other than hypnotizing new pop music from blond girls who play guitars, is the fact that they play songs from my youth - well, my relative youth. I'm only twenty-three, and that's not too old, I think. But still, I got into music at a pretty young age, and once I noticed Nirvana, I started noticing every piece of music around me. This lead to liking weird things like Fastball. It also lead to gaining a kind of sentimentality for the music of that era. You know what I'm talking about - 1996 to 2001, buddy.

Look at the price pole!

Stuff like this:



Remember when this song was awesome? This was all over the radio - it was the "Realize" of its day. Warm 94.9 had a fucking field day with it, complete with a tug-of-war and lemonade stand. However, a lot of the people who dug this song moved on. I never did. It still makes me feel all pensive. And Mix 100.7 plays it all the damn time. So, I listen. And I appreciate, not only because it's a finely-written pop song, but also because it reminds me of 5th grade. And of when MTV was good - remember that? (grabs walker)

But, I'll admit, it's pretty sad when I look forward to this, for the same reasons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLqOwiZ8n5I

That's right... the Wallflowers.
I didn't even like this song when it came out. But now, I look forward to it. Why? Because it reminds me of being twelve. And I'd rather think about being twelve than have to consider that Santana with Chad Kroeger single. I hate it.

And they've never even played this one. I thought they would have, by now, but alas:



For a good pop single, this is hard to beat. 1998 represent.

And, to sum up, Mix 100.7 makes me feel ashamed for liking Hootie and the Blowfish ("Let Her Cry"? Totally look forward to that one too, when they play it every day), purely because (a.) most of the music surrounding it is sub-par, and (b.) it makes me feel incredibly ancient, because most of your hip kids these days don't care who Sixpence None the Richer is, or could give a fuck that Tom DuMont is an awesome guitarist, even though No Doubt, as a band, was just alright.

Curmudgeonly yours,

-Shane.