Never the less, there are three reasons why I DVR every new episode of SNL (and then watch, at most, about 15 to 20 minutes of the program).
1) The opening skit is occasionally amusing (this week was not).
2) Weekend Update is usually amusing (even when spewing Leftist propaganda).
3) SNL is my one remaining connection to the world of pop music. Usually, this segment only causes me to shake my head at what passes for talent these days. But, on very rare occasions, I find something at least marginally impressive (or, if not impressive, at least fresh, original, creative, unique or otherwise intriguing).
Last week, the country music group Lady Antebellum was enjoyable. One thing I appreciated was a very attractive female performer who -- unlike most these days -- was NOT dressed like a $2 hooker. Their song -- Just a Kiss -- was sweet, innocent and charming. Their other song -- We Owned the Night -- was also a good one.
This week, the musical guest was “Foster the People”. The name was familiar. But, I had never sampled their music. They performed their most popular song - “Pumped up Kicks”.
The music -- composed before the lyrics -- is catchy, upbeat dance music (with a carefree whistling interlude). The lyrics are dark as hell -- getting inside the mind of a homicidal Columbine style perp. It makes for an intriguing contradiction (and style point #1).
SNL being SNL, my expectation was that there was some gun control message lurking in there somewhere -- apparently not.
Mark Foster is quoted to say:
“To me the epidemic isn’t gun violence; the epidemic is lack of family, lack of love, and isolation.”That sounds like a family values assessment any Conservative could agree with.
perform “Pumped up Kicks” on SNL:
Click here for the official music video.
Click here for another live version (Austin City Limits).
Is the ACL audience a little too into the chorus? Disturbing?
Do they all get it? Is it a massive display of irony in action?
Or, just dumb kids mindlessly regurgitating a catchy chorus?
The second song from Foster the People -- Houdini -- featured a nice soprano sax solo from Kenny G, but did not grab me as much. That said, the lyrics seemed to me to address free speech principles (apparently, trampled upon by MTV), property rights and the virtue of striving to be your best -- again, Conservative values. But, that’s just my interpretation.
One entry submitted to The Urban Dictionary describes “pumped up kicks” as “shoes that are very expensive” and/or “the latest and greatest apparel items”.
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder if the idiom did not originate as a description of Reebok Pump (and the shoe envy that came to be associated with them).