It was the summer time:
school was out, and at 13 years old I would spend all day bored in our hot
house. Summers were always so boring, and my sister Claudia and I would have to
come up with our own entertainment, since we only had a certain amount of TV a
day. One day in particular, I remember my dad playing the Dr. Demento CD for my
sister and I in our family room. Dr. Demento is a radio personality with his
own radio show, and he played silly, ridiculous, funny, and sometimes strange
songs. We loved the CD, and soon
brought it with us on long car trips, laughing and sometimes snorting, when one
song was funnier than the last. Claudia’s favorite song on the album was “Gimme
That Thing”, because of it’s silly falsetto lyrics and ragtime swing, and
although I really liked the song “Amos Moses” due to its funny narrative and
twanging guitar riffs, “Fish Heads” was the song my sister and I both obsessed
over.
Back then, all those
summers ago, I felt so cool and proud to know all the words to the song, and I
pressed the repeat button on my little purple boom box without shame. Now if I
happen to hear the song or it gets stuck in my head, it is beyond irritating. I
now feel that the song is so bad, I can never mention it to any people that I
regularly associate with. But what brought about this complete turnaround in
opinion about “Fish Heads”? What is behind the solid, matter-of-fact opinion
that this is now a “bad” song? To find out, several ideas need to be explored.
The first idea is
expressed in the following article’s title: “What is Bad Music” by Simon Frith.
Simon Frith writes that bad music is really a matter of taste, production, the
societal background of the listener, and the history behind the music. In other
words, bad music is not necessarily “bad,” it is merely judged or viewed as bad
by the listener. This might mean that any piece of music could be categorized
as “bad” music, if in fact the listener has the experience to deem it as such.
I know that I realized that I no longer liked the song when I was listening to
my mp3 player, and automatically skipped the song when it came on. I have found
that the same situation is present for other songs from the Dr. Demento Radio
Show. Songs that I used to love annoy me and I have no interest in listening to
them at all.
However, it is hard to ignore
popular taste or demand, because if a majority of the population views a song
as good, there may be some truth to it. In an interview with Billboard
magazine, Dr. Demento (whose real name is Barry Hansen) states, “I've played
'Fish Heads' for 22 years and still get dozens of calls every week. So things
on my show have a lifespan even if they're funny." Although I look back at
my “Fish Head” obsession with a wince and a red face, many people are working
to keep the fish heads “alive,” so to speak. Perhaps what the question really
is, is whether music can really be judged good or bad by anyone, or is there a
direct authority on the matter?
But what if a song is
meant to be bad? What if the attraction to or novelty of the song is for it to
be humorous or comical? In “Humor, Fun and Novelty in Song” Carl Swanson
describes the ways a song can be funny. “[These] songs, just like any comedic
performance, take many forms: intended, unintended, silly, novel, parody,
subtle, broad, urbane, bawdy, witty, satirical, slapstick, or dry. Indeed, just
about any song can be performed in a humorous way. Songs that were written to
be serious can become humorous when the singer adds props, facial nuances, or
other nonmusical features.” So, how long until these types of songs lose their
novelty? When is a “funny” song no longer funny? To answer this, we must first
know what does make a “funny“ song funny.
Peter Kay explains the process in a matter of sentences. He writes, “Amusement arises from our
realization that we are confronted with a situation or outcome that we have not
previously considered possible…Also, the situation or outcome must not be so
similar to our previously established pattern that it goes without significant
notice–that it evokes some level of surprise. Amusement does not imply
comprehension. Instead, it is the pleasant feeling born from the discovery of
possibilities.”
That being said, it is
safe to say that when a song no longer surprises us, is no longer new, exhausts
the possibility for any new discovery,
it becomes predictable, and we no longer find the song amusing or funny.
Simon Firth also refers to these types of “funny” songs, in which he states,
“Bad music here means essentially ridiculous music…tracks that feature sound
gimmicks that have outlived their charm or novelty.” From playing the song over
and over, I ruined the song for myself, thus judging it as a “bad” song, which
I no longer find funny. In other words,
bad music is not necessarily “bad,” it is merely judged or viewed as bad by the
listener.
Work Cited
Bessman, Jim. "Dr. Demento Marks 30 Years Of
Funny Music With Rhino Set." Billboard
112.9 (2000): 11. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 21 Sept. 2012.
Kay, Peter.
“Music and Humor: What's So Funny?”
Music Reference Services
Quarterly. Vol. 10. Iss. 1, 2006
Swanson, Carl. "Humor, Fun, And Novelty In Song."
Journal Of Singing 66.3 (2010): 319. Supplemental Index. Web. 21 Sept. 2012.
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