The Postal Service vs. Owl City: A Comparative Essay

            I’ll listen to just about any music featuring a synthesizer. I also enjoy the novelty of hearing new things. This leads to a lot of YouTube surfing looking for my newest musical infatuation (AdBlock being a must for this). This essay isn’t about an infatuation though. Recently I found something different.

            The Postal Service (TPS) was originally introduced to me in a Todd in the Shadows video, where he referenced it as music that was difficult to dance to. As someone who doesn’t do much dancing, I was intrigued. I hit up their top tracks, and while I didn’t dislike it, I wasn’t captivated either. Before long I’d moved on and mostly forgotten about them.

            Sometime later, Let Em Riot was on the Beyond Synth podcast (yes I know this is a lot of namedropping, and yes I’m okay with it), and TPS was brought up as a synth band with strong lyrics. Owl City (OC) was then mentioned as being similar yet inferior (this comparison is not an original idea of mine). Likening TPS to my favorite synth act was a surefire way to get me interested again, but I also wanted to know what OC was about. What I found was a fascinating example of what I value in music.

            The best way to proceed may be a direct song to song comparison. Take “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” (“District”) by TPS, and “Vanilla Twilight” (“Vanilla”) by OC. First off, those song titles. Ironically, while “District” explicitly references sleep, “Vanilla” is the one that renders me unconscious through explosive boredom. In a contest for banal and generic song titles, it would give it all my votes.

Anyway, I picked these songs because they cover related subjects. I can only say related, because while “District” seems to be about longing after a failed relationship with regret and reluctant acceptance, “Vanilla” is about vaguely missing someone. Same theme, different scopes. Those description also say a lot about the depth and richness of the content.

Moving on to the music then. TPS is an example of what I really like about synth music. “District” is built on drums, a subtle keyboard baseline, and some nice electric quirks. Mixed in are some stings, guitar, and those scales (which were an amazing combination of whimsical and haunting). The music stays interesting throughout the whole song, plus the way the layers increase and the tempo picks up give the song a sense of building emotion. “Vanilla” feature a simple keyboard melody with what sound like stock synthesizer samples mixed in. The “big” solo at the end is the same keyboard melody, but some knobs were twisted to get it to sound a little different. I was not very impressed.

How about the lyrics? The vivid imagery and metaphor in “District” was great. They show a story rather than simply tell it. For example: “I’m barely listening / to last demands / I’m staring at the asphalt wondering / what’s buried underneath”. I can see that relationship ending due to the mental absence of the narrator. OC’s lyrics… they tend to be trite, derivative, and filled with treacle to the point where I want to vomit. And never before have I seen such a perfect example of how rhyming can take all the poetry out of lyrics. I will admit that there are a few lines I like, such as “Cold nostalgia chills me to the bone” and “waist deep in thought”. Sadly, any ground gained was instantly lost by “The silence isn’t so bad / ‘til I look at my hand and feel sad” or “As many times as I blink / I’ll think of you / Tonight”. Ending a verse with a draw out “tonight” is just the absolute worst thing ever.

If not lyrics, then maybe the vocals compare better. Again, covering TPS first, I like their vocals. The mix is very clean. The two voices harmonize well together. The sort of distance in the backup vocals is good. I don’t really have the words to express exactly why I like these vocals, I just know I do. So, what about OC? What I want to know is; is that reverb an after effect or does his voice just sound that way? I don’t like it. Also, he doesn’t really emote. There’s just this constant mix of whiney and pleading in his voice that I find off-putting. I’m going to have to go for a thumb down on the vocals in “Vanilla”.

Let’s try the music videos. They operate on a whole different artistic medium, and may contrast differently. The clear 1980’s inspirations in the “District” video won me over right away. Those projections onto the bed are very “Burning Down the House”. But there’s more than just that. The video tells a story which is almost completely unrelated to the rest of the song, which I like. And the ending where the alarm clock displays the album title is super classy. And the “Vanilla” video? Well, mildly good-looking people gaze at a literal interpretation of a vanilla twilight while he plays his keyboard in a lighthouse. I also guarantee that the (lame) CGI in the “Vanilla” video cost more money than the entire “District” video. “District” has props literally made out of construction paper, and it looks like they just invited some friends over to be in it (I just want to be pals with that guy in the blue suit jacket with the beard, and I’m not sure why). Shaq is in the “Vanilla” video. This actually makes me like Shaq less, and that is just completely unforgivable.

Is it just the beard?

Faces are certainly a thing that both singers have. I can’t possibly get upset over that. To be honest, my facial recognition isn’t the best, and when I first saw him I actually mistook Adam Young of OC for Ben Gibbard of TPS. I figured maybe the explanation for OC was just a misguided solo project. It turns out that isn’t true, and they’re different people. I still think they look fairly similar except that Young’s face is a lot more punchable. On a separate note, while doing my Google image search of faces, I found that Gibbard had a relationship with Zooey Deschanel and Young had one with Taylor Swift. Surprisingly, I don’t have an opinion one way or the other about this. I just found it interesting.

Ben Gibbard

Adam West

Well, what if these songs are just atypical examples of the artist's work? Further research doesn’t support that hypothesis. “District” is not my favorite TPS song (“We Will Become Silhouettes” is), nor is it my favorite music video by them (which is “Such Great Heights”). I feel safe in saying that “District” is not an anomalously good effort by TPS. For OC, I haven’t dug quite as deep in to the discography (for reasons), but “Vanilla” may be the least infuriating song I’ve found. Seriously, how can you get one thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs? Either one thousand bugs are hugging you while the other nine thousand simply spectate, or you’re somehow implying that it takes ten bug to make one hug, and that is just patently absurd.

Ugh. It’s not that I enjoy trashing Owl City. Actually, that’s a lie; I’m enjoying this more than I should be. It’s that I feel a little guilty for tearing down something that some people like, misguided though they may be. I don’t even think I really hate the music, or else I wouldn’t be able to listen to it. The problem is that it makes me feel nothing, and this is a state too unsettling to be allowed. My mind has to create this disgust just so it can feel something. It’s both terrible and compelling.

Another Ten (Twelve) Music Videos

            I’m doing another list of music videos because I just really like music videos and found more that should have been on my original list. I like some of these videos more than previously ranked ones, so I’m going to Dewey Decimal them into the old numbering.

1.5  Harden My Heart – Quarterflash

            I’m really ashamed that I missed this one on the first list. This is one of the most dream-like videos that I’ve ever seen. I just wish that my dreams were this good. Rindy Ross in a unitard, 80’s Peter Dinklage, running into younger versions of yourself, and saxophone solos (also featuring Rindy); what I wouldn’t give for a dream with any one of those. Don’t forget dudes in tuxedoes on dirt bikes and an ending where a bull dozer knocks over the set and then someone (also in a tux) lights it on fire with a flame thrower. This is probably the greatest thing that has ever been accomplished in a gravel pit.

2.5  Parking Lot Nights – Ghosthustler

            A Power Glove wearing misanthrope physically assaults people in a parking lot after dark. Beyond the Power Glove it has a lot of other nice 80’s touches; VHS quality, a NES set up on an 80’s TV, breakdancing, lasers, and great music. A hidden gem to be sure.

4.5  Music Is My Radar – Blur

            Synchronized dancing by people dressed to look kind of like robots (body suits and bike helmets) while everyone else doesn’t react to it. The dancing is just hypnotic and great. British talk shows look boring during the not commercial break parts. I like other Blur videos, but this is my favorite

6.5  Taking This Town – Icehouse

            I’ll just start out by saying that I prefer Iva Davies without the mullet. My favorite part of the video is probably the crazy dudes in the colored outfits riding motorcycles through whitewashed ruins, but the crowd rushing out to jam in front of the stage and the painted guys in underwear dancing on the scaffolding were good touches as well. This was the golden age of male homoeroticism right here. Featuring the Fairlight CMI is a nice 80’s touch.

7.5  Take on Me – A-ha

            I was tempted not to do this one because it’s just too obvious, but I think it still deserves recognition. The whole pencil sketches that come to life are great but there’s more than just that. There’s evil Fins, a romance story, cuts to Norwegians playing instruments, and an ending that might be ripping off Altered States.

12.5  Love is a Battlefield – Pat Benatar

            Pat is just such a rebel. She leaves home to strike out on her own on the mean street of City I Don’t Recognize, but when some sleazy dude is bothering a girl in a bar, she and all the other punked out chicks unite and intimidate him with some choreographed dancing (I would be freaked out too if a bunch of women spontaneously started doing that chest shake move at me). When he tries to dance back she throws a drink in his face and then all the chicks dance out of the bar and into the sunrise.

14.3  What Is Love – Haddaway

            Haddaway is being chased around a haunted mansion by some scantily clad, club dancing vampires. It has some decently cool backwards effects and snap zooms into people’s crotches. It’s got something for everyone!

14.7  Playing With the Boys – Kenny Loggins

            This one is special because I actually like two videos for this song. The official one is about a “battle of the sexs” volleyball game. It has lots of high fives, 80’s chicks, an underdog victory from behind, and Kenny Loggins jumping into frame to sing directly into the camera. It's pretty much an entire 80's sports movie in under five minutes. It's easy to read in all the necessary character; the main character who is basically perfect in every way but has confidence issues (red, white, and blue girl), her wise cracking best friend (pink and white), the one with unrestrained sexuality as a primary trait (blonde hair, white top), a quirky foreigner (dark blue top and pony tail, who I read as Swedish), a single black character (black girl), and the duchy/date-rapey bully (guy who does finger pistols). The other video I like is just a series of Top Gun clips, which is hard to beat. You could play any song with scenes from Top Gun and I would like it, but Kenny just takes it over the top. It’s true that “one of life’s simple joys is Playing with the Boys”.

15.5  Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go – Wham!

            Never has the mood of a video matched the song so perfectly. It’s basically the most cheerful thing ever, and that’s even before everyone gets into pastel clothes (which is before the black light scene!). The audience of young women ogling George Michael in his short shorts makes me feel kind of bad for George, but he’s just so happy in the video that this soon passes.

17.3  Physical – Olivia Newton-John

            It got classy 80’s fitness stuff to start out. Then Olivia antagonizes some fat dudes, but when she takes a shower they got really fit. Plot twist when the guys are so fit that they get turned on by each other and they forget about her. She end up playing tennis with another fat guy, so a happy ending I guess. Olivia just oozing sex the whole time is a plus too.

17.7  Ballad of Bilbo Baggins – Leonard Nemoy

            Words fail to describe, so you should probably just watch it. I will say that Leonard Nemoy can add dignity to literally anything. This song is set for a comeback with the new movies and all.

19.  Don’t Look Back – Fine Young Cannibals

            This is the epitome of an 80’s music video for me. I just imagine someone learning the new art of video effects, finding some stuff that looks cools, and making a music video out. The technology was so new that they had no choice but to be original. The video is basically just the band performing the song, but with some well used blurs, smudges, and flashing images they make something that’s fun to watch.

If anything is to be learned by this list it’s that I really love the 80’s, appreciate the 90’s, think the greatest thing you can do in a music video is have the vocalist jump into frame and sing directly into the camera, and enjoy videos with more creativity than budget. I cooled it a bit with the links on this one (I got a little carried away last time).

Jurassic Park: Characstravaganzabrationpaloozaness

                Mhhhhhh, I love the characters in this movie so much. They are all so great. This may just be a symptom of seeing a movie a few dozen times but I just feel like even the minor characters are full of depth and personality. I going to run through my favorites one at a time starting with the more minor ones and moving up to the major one.  This mean no Alan Grant or Ian Malcolm this time, because anticipation.

                I don’t even know the name of the first character I want to look at. I don’t want to know his name, and all I can say about him can be captured in a single frame, so here it is.

 

You could have pulled a gun on him

                Now for one of my personal favorites, Lewis Dodgson. Basically Dodgson works for a rival genetics company and he want to steal some (viable) embryos from Jurassic Park. He is basically the person that creates the human against human conflict of the movie. I really like how he is in no way the stereotypical dark and sinister evil businessman, and he actually come across as a dork. He is nervous and uneasy during his clandestine meeting, and only looks comfortable when he gets to bust out his shaving cream / embryo storage gadget. Nedry has to call him over, which makes me think he has poor facial recognition, which is a sign or poor social skills. I just imagine him as being the head of a department at his company, and nobody there likes him. I also notice for the first time while watching the movie for this post that he stiffs the cabbie that delivers him to the scene, which is just one of those little details that I enjoy.

 

Dodgson, Dodgson, we've got Dodgson here

                Ray Arnold is the coolest engineer in a movie ever (not that he has a lot of competition). This is in my opinion, Sam Jackson’s best role. He really nails the master computer nerd who can use a mouse and keyboard to solve problems with aplomb. He never loses his cool when the situations get out of control, because fixing things is his job and he doesn’t believe that any dilemma is bigger than he can handle. He gets move disheveled as the plot progresses, but I see this not as someone falling apart, but someone getting comfortable and into their element. Arnold is the one who drives all the conflict resolution. I am pretty sure they had to have him get eaten just so some of the other characters could get a change to fix stuff (they had to kill him off-screen because any scene of him losing was just too unbelievable). He knows the answers to all the questions, smokes cigarettes into the filters, and has a stupendous catch phrase, what more could you want?

 

I wish I was half the engineer as this guy

                I’m not supposed to like Donald Gennaro, but I still do. I don’t think the audience was meant to sympathize with this character. Mainly because he is a lawyer, and not the cool courtroom type of lawyer but the lame one who works for a corporation and his job is telling people what they aren’t allowed to do. He spends most of his time being mocked by the other characters, and then gets the most violent death of the film. Donald is relegated to the background in most scenes and almost all of his lines are whiny or incompetent. I don’t care about all that and I like him for that moment when he slips on the rocks outside the amber mine.

 

Can't pull off shots

                Dennis Nedry is the primary human antagonist of the movie. He is greedy (for both money and candy), and misanthropic (as clued by his Oppenheimer photo and programming booby-traps). I also get the feeling that he is a bit of a victim as a private programming contractor who gets stuck in a bad contract with an unsympathetic corporation (although it is really hard to say who is at fault in disputes like that). Nedry is the kind of person who is good at planning (“I’ve got an 18 minute window”), but rubbish in the execution. He is also a terrible liar, as seen in the whole “Does anybody want a soda” monolog. By far my favorite Nedry scene is when he is out in the rain after crashing his Jeep, because he just has one classic line after another. “I can afford more glasses” (not new but more, so I get the idea of him buying a hundred pairs just because he’s rich), “You can do it, come on Dennis” (because self-motivation in a crisis situation is important), “I have no food on me” (I suspect that he actually does but he is keeping it for himself), and “I’m going to run you over when I come back down” (revealing his dark nature). In the end Nedry is an example of why you should always pay programmers well, because they can make your life hell.

 

This was a slick move regardless of his other blunders

                Lex Murphy is the good hacker (interactive CD-ROM are cool) of the film, showing that hackers aren’t necessarily evil and it is more a matter of how power is wielded (which I think could use some more emphasis in the media). Sure she only navigates a file structure, but it was a crazy 3-D interface and in the early 90’s computer skills were more of a big deal. She and her younger brother Tim were sent to visit their grandfather (Hammond) at the park while their parents went through a divorce. She is probably the least interested in dinosaurs of anyone in the movie and I get the feeling that she only went along to look after Tim. She may tease him a lot but in the end she saves his life by distracting one raptor, and again by helping him lock another in the freezer. She also helps fill the quota for romantic subplots in the film, since she clearly is in love with Alan Grant (and who could blame her). Lex is one of only two named female characters in the movie, but she fails to have a conversation with Sattler, so Jurassic Park only passes one third of the Bechdel Test. All in all, I really respect her for sticking to her vegetarianism in a stressful situation, but I also think that a vegetarian should know what an herbivore is (I think she was in it for animal sympathy reasons though due to the “I like cows” line).

 

Young love

                If I was inserted into this movie I would be Tim Murphy. He was the only character around my age, and he had a boyish love of dinosaurs and adventure. Ironically, being the youngest character, Tim endures more hardship in this movie than anyone else. First he is rudely snubbed by his idol Dr. Grant, abandoned by Gennaro during a crisis, trapped in a vehicle that gets thrown over a cliff by a Tyrannosaurs Rex, nearly crushed as that vehicle crashes down a tree (enacting the classic movie trope of running straight away from something instead of to the side and out of danger), witnesses the violent devouring of a gallimimus (“Look how much blood”), dies for a little while after an electric shock launches him to fall about 20 feet, has to outrun a cheetah speed predator on ice while suffering from a case of Ankylosaurus, and on top of all that his parents are getting divorced. The next sequel should just be adult Tim dealing with his post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

He also made poor nutrition choices, just like me at that age

                Robert Muldoon steals every single scene that he is in. His line delivery is so intense that basically everything he says is a classic quote. He is a grizzled big game hunter who has “hunted most things that can hunt you”, and rocks the khaki accordingly (dude probably shaves with a Bowie Knife). The person who understands the dinosaurs best, and has the most respect for how dangerous they are, Muldoon is disregarded as “an alarmist” by Hammond, who happens to be his boss.  He is also the person that Hammond sends to bring back his grandchildren when things go wrong, and Muldoon goes out with nary an “I told you so”. He is the man of action, out there driving Jeeps, shooting guns, and tranquilizing Triceratops. I have an attraction to shotgun in movies and video games, and Muldoon is clearly a fan of the SPAS-12, which happens to be one of the coolest shotguns ever, so I’m a fan of that too. His main character trait is probably his hatred for the Velociraptors, which is understandable after Jophery was killed in his arms during the intro. This eventually drives him to go out to face the raptors mano-a-mano, but the raptors fail to fall for his hat on a log trick, and using group tactics eat him. I think that he understood this to be the probable outcome, and was only trying to provide Sattler with enough time to reset the breakers, which he did, so it was a noble sacrifice.

 

Can pull off shorts

                Take an out of touch billionaire idealist and combine him with a doting grandfather and you have John Hammond. Jurassic Park is his life’s work, and likely his last chance to create something that captures the world’s imagination. He has an all-consuming desire to create something magical, and has to watch as his creation falls apart with him and people he cares about trapped inside. This is the character with the most meaningful development in the film, and is carried by Richard Attenborough, who is the most legitimate actor in the cast. His “melting ice-cream” scene with Laura Dern (second best actor in the film) is such a powerfully executed non-action scene that it seems a bit out of place in this movie. It is the point where Hammond realizes that his work is a failure and all he can do now is try to get everyone out alive. His reach exceeded his grasp, and in his rush to “spare no expense” his creation turned into a monster. Certainly a tragic character.

 

He really loves the dinosaurs

                I recently developed the habit of analyzing female characters more critically, but I think Ellie Sattler continues to hold up. She is strong (physically and emotionally as seen in her survival of the raptor attack), competent (top of her field in paleobotany), and has an important role in the plot (finds Malcolm, restarts the power, kind of helps Grant hold the door). She may not be the main character but I still think that she is a good character. She is portrayed as being a feminist with lines like “Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the earth” and “we can discuss sexism in survival situation when I get back”, but I don’t feel qualified to say if this was a good thing or a bad thing. She did get stuck with the stereotype of trying to manipulate Grant into liking children, and they didn’t follow up on her storyline of figuring out why the triceratops was sick, so not an uncontested victory for women in film. All I know is that she pulls off the scariest scene in the movie (in the bunker with the velociraptors) very well.

Can definitely pull off shorts

                Ten down, two to go. I have a hard time thinking of many other movies that have this many memorable characters. Next time I will examine the eternal grudge match between Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant.

Top Ten (Six) Dinosaurs

1. Parasaurolophus - I have a preference for duck-billed dinosaurs naturally. This is my favorite due to the head crest.

2. Tyrannosaurus Rex - If you had jaws that were capable of crushing everything, you wouldn't need big arms either.

3. Ankylosaurus - Armor plating... check, tail club... check, name that makes a good pun about sour ankles... check.

4. Diplodocus - My favorite sauropod. I can't really say for certain why, but it might be because the name is fun to say.

5. Stygimoloch - A pachycephalosaurid, which means that it has a thick skull meant for ramming, which I like. The Stygimoloch had really sweet horns, hence the devilish name.

6. Thalassomedon - A plesiosaur, so Lock Ness Monster material. This genus had a 39 ft length and a 20 ft neck, and I just like those proportions.

Top Ten (Eight) TV Show

1. Mystery Science Theater 3000 - So simple yet so hilarious. Sarcastic robots watching B-movies is one of my favorite things ever, and the humor cuts me straight to the bone.

2. Monty Python's Flying Circus - I love British comedy, especially from these guys. Some of the most absurd sketches I have ever seen and the loose continuity between sketches was sweet. I am a big fan of the Palin/Cleese duo.

3. Star Trek - The first great science fiction TV show in my opinion, and still one of the best. The Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic was solid and a little Scotty never hurt anyone. William Shatner is the man.

4. Entourage - Basically a TV show of the male fantasy life. I prefer the first few seasons when they didn't have any serious problems.

5. Firefly - Another great science fiction show. It has a sort of steam punk feel which I like and it was very well cast. Shows about flying around in space are just generally very appealing to me.

6. Band of Brothers - Technically a mini-series but I'm counting it. Quality World War II story from the same team that brought you Saving Private Ryan.

7. Insomniac with Dave Attell - A travel show about late night goings on. Dave Attell is my favorite comedian so that's a bonus.

8. The Twilight Zone - A show that could be about anything, and always tried to make you think. The Rod Sterling intro's were always stupendous.

Top Ten (Eleven) Novels

1. Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson
A book that truly makes nerds into heroes. From hackers to cryptographists, the characters in this novel kick asses, but do it using their heads.

2. Ubik by Philip K. Dick
My favorite PKD book, and worth reading just for the clothing descriptions. Doesn't disappoint with a great ambiguous ending.

3. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The funniest book I have ever read. The universe created in this series is the best I've seen.

4. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
The space marine book in my opinion. All the Robert Heinlein goodness without the free love stuff that generally weirds me out. Not very similar to the movie.

5. Ilium by Dan Simmons
Combines the Iliad with science fiction, and a little Shakespeare for flavoring. This and its sequel Olympos are great epic sci-fi.

6. Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong
Romanticized history about the Three Kingdoms Period in China. A massive story about warfare, tactics, and politics. I learned about it from a video game.

7. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
A book about human stupidity that only Vonnegut could write. I don't think anybody writes irony as well as him.

8. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
More science than the movie and all the plot stuff that only a book can contain. A little lacking in the Jeff Goldblum department though.

9. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
A book about children so probably best read at a younger age, but still philosophical enough for any age. A very different perspective and war and alien cultures.

10. Fools Die by Mario Puzo
All the great Vegas, Hollywood, and New York greed and corruption that Mario Puzo is know for, but with an author as the main character instead of a gangster.

11. Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Redwall series was one of my favorites as a child. Something I would definitely want to read to my kids. I still think animals with British accents are great.

The Greatest Song that Exists for Me in this Universe

                My favorite song is unashamedly “One Night in Bangkok” by the most talented Murray Head, which was released in 1984 (four years before I was born). On a historic note, the song was composed as a part of the musical Chess. It was written by the guys from ABBA (named Björn and Benny in the great Scandinavian naming tradition), and Tim Rice, who is apparently a big deal in musicals. But the history isn’t why I like this song. It is hard to quantify all of the reasons I love this song, but I will do my best.

                First off, is my incalculable love of 80’s music. The 80’s seemed to be a time of rampant creativity in music among other things. The new tools available to musicians, such as synthesizers and music videos were being explored and experimented with to great effect at the time. Musicians weren’t afraid to be different, and there was no formula to what made a hit song. The songs are typically so packed to the gills with intensity that I can’t resist getting into the mood of the music. 80’s musical also has the super convenient feature that all of the bad music has been filtered out in the intervening years, and only the very best samples still circulate today (not to say that there aren’t plenty of good songs that don’t get radio time). To be completely honest I may also like 80’s music, and 80’s culture in general, because of some subconscious desire to be different and shun popular culture of my own time. Clinging to the culture of the past is an easy way to do that, but I’m not a psychologist so this is only speculation (like my self-diagnosed case of Asperger’s). Not only does this song fall into my favorite genre of music, it is also in a couple of my favorite sub-genres.

Murray is having none of it

                One Hit Wonders have a very special place in my heart. The fact that a song is a band’s only hit typically ensures that it is high quality. Many mediocre songs have become hits just based on the artist’s reputation (I’m looking at you “Say Say Say”). For a song to come out of nowhere and become popular across the world means that it has to be something special. “One Night in Bangkok” is just such a wonder.¹ Even I will admit that I don’t like any of Murray Head’s other songs, but that just makes “One Night in Bangkok” even more amazing. Many bands that are called One Hit Wonders had other popular songs (see Two Tribes, or I Wanna Rock), but they just happened not to hit the American Top 40, so they aren’t technically hits. “One Night in Bangkok” is fairly stylistically different from anything else that Murray Head did, so it's like he condensed all of his raunchy 80’s goodness into one song and got solid gold. To specialize even further, my favorite One Hit Wonders are the ones from European artist. Thomas Dolby, The Boomtown Rats, and Nena are all among my favorite musicians, all of them European One Hit Wonders (the Nena thing is probably due to the fact that I have a huge crush on Nena herself, possibly even more than I like Sheena Easton). Murray Head just happens to have being British going for him, which is nice. If you reduce my favorite music down as far as you can go, you will get “One Night in Bangkok.” In other words, it is my atomic favorite song.

Nena: still being sexy to this day

                I don’t just like “One Night in Bangkok” because it is the single best representative of what kind of music I like. The song itself is also an excellent analogy for my whole life. The song tells the story of an American Chess player who finds himself at a world class chess match taking place in Bangkok, Thailand. The American continuously states that he's only interested in chess, while a chorus repeatedly describes the pleasures of Bangkok that he's missing out on. This parallels my life story in the aspect that I prefer to follow intellectual pursuits, while seemingly everyone around me pushes the importance of physical pleasures. My chess game just happens to be activities like reading about philosophy or playing video games at home, and my Bangkok is the much humbler night life of South Dakota. It may just be the common plight of the nerdy introvert, but this song really speaks to me. When I hear the American’s annoyed tone at having to explain why he's happy with what he's doing, I know exactly how he feels. The whole song can be summed up in my favorite line, “I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine.” I will quote that line at the drop of a hat, since it expresses my lifestyle perfectly, and has a much better ring to it than “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t like casual sex, but I do like science fiction novels.” The song also has other great lines and great rhymes. Other favorites are “This grips me more than would a; muddy old river or Reclining Buddha” or “I’d let you watch, I would invite you; but the queens we use would not excite you.” There are also an epic intro buildup, some good Thailand puns, and Murray’s American accent is entertaining all by itself. Basically, what is not to love about this song? I rate it a Chess King.

[1]          Authors Note: While doing research for this post I found out the Murray Head another hit song with “Superstar”, from Jesus Christ Superstar, that made it to #14 in the U.S. in 1971. That was way back in the 70’s though, so I’m still willing to call “One Night in Bangkok” a One Hit Wonder within the boundary of the 1980’s.