999,807: Annie - I Don't Like Your Band

It's all fun and games talking to that hot musician guy at the party until he asks you to check out his band's myspace. Things can get real weird, real fast after that. There are two ways this can go. The music sucks or it is god awful. He was RATHER cute though, with his shaggy hair, blue sweater and strong arms. Blessedly, he isn't around to see the pained expression on your face when you get around to checking it out online. Even so, at the end of the day, who are YOU to judge some guy's music? You write for Rolling Stone? Probably not.

Annie isn't the kind of girl to silently judge someone behind their back. She's a Norwegian pop star who is actually really cool with street cred and all that jazz. I guess everything is just better in Scandinavia. They have great health care, a high standard of living, an entertainingly scary black metal scene, and Alexander Skarsgard (aka Sheriff Eric from True Blood). Scandinavia's crowning achievement (in my mind) is the alt-pop* music. Annie is a prime example. She's got those ever-so-danceable hooks and pounding rhythms. You can almost smell the sweat flicking off the gyrating bodies in the club. At the same time, the music is intricate and requires many listens to fully unpack. Plus, it's kind of awesome that Annie is calling out the end of the era for old school "bands". Has a drums-bass-guitar act really made its mark in the past 5 years? So, Rock Dude, take note, and buy yourself a motherlovin' sequencer!


*I love the expression alt-pop because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's an abbreviation for "alternative popular." Hmnmmmmm, if something's popular, it's not the alternative. And if something's the alternative, then it wouldn't also be popular. "Alternative" as a way to describe music is pretty wishy-washy as well. Things to think about people.