Outkast - Hey Ya

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Funny you should say "Frank Black" record. I'd never even thought of that. But now you've got me thinking about how much soul music Frank Black must have listened to.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:16 (twenty years ago) link

i mean i don't won't to be like those clueless fuxx in the focus group who bitch 'caw i'm sick of hearing this one bloody unavoidable innit?' about bep or whatever, so i still say i like 'hey ya' even though i actually don't like hearing it NOW (80 times a day is enough) but i'm hardly gonna decide 'oh now it's a bad song' (not saying airplay won't get me to change my mind about a song but only by getting me to notice something i didn't notice before)(i ain't noticed anything about 'hey ya' i didn't notice the second time i heard it) just becuz radio, and tv, and grocery store pa's, and seemingly every free speaker in this land has blasted the thing.

cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:19 (twenty years ago) link

Would you prefer they blast a song you *don't* like?

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:21 (twenty years ago) link

in a way yes cuz then i wouldn't have already played the thing out myself and i know 'well this will be gone soon enough and that will be that' or i can try to figure out 'why is this song so damn huge?' and maybe grow to appreciate it somewhat or a bit more (this kinda happened with me with 'crazy in love') but with this it just transforms it from a song i liked to a song that's been so overplayed/praised/whatevah that any personal meaning or interpretation the thing might've had once has been eroded by overexposure. it's the same reason i don't really react anymore when i hear 'smells like teen spirit'.

cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:27 (twenty years ago) link

Point taken. I really love "On My Block" by Scarface, but I heard it in a movie trailer tonight. Bleh.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:30 (twenty years ago) link

Kenan OTM.

Plus, this thread was so sad before it was revived. Cultural vacuum! I guess trife is just grooving at those Pow Wows* he attends regularly, eh?

*Sundance? Potlatch? Medicine Wheel? Parse the differences.

Me, I'm white, I like "Hey Ya" a lot, I have mostly white friends, not a choice thing but a cultural accident, but also friends who are Black, Native, Middle Eastern, South East Asian, Indian, Pakistani, etc. I don't choose friends on the basis of race. That would be.... um.... racist? Although, after reading the above shite, my application for Klan membership (an American organisation, btw, ) is now in the mail. Just a hunch, but I think they'll probably turn me down...

IL* is exceptionally bizarre w/r/t race and race issues. Paranoid Zealots R Us?

Relax, maybe? Pick one's battles. Racism is an evil, but so's American world hegemony.

Back to the song: it's great. "In Da Club" is also a very good song, one of the best of '03, but while it's just as self-conscious and self-regarding, it's not quite as garbled and goofy and plain exuberant. But that's an individual taste thing, not some indicator of racial preference, for fuck's sakes.

I mean, ISN'T THIS OBVIOUS!!!???


David A. (Davant), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:56 (twenty years ago) link

david it would help if you would maybe quote the posts you're talking about so i'd know what the hell you're talking about

cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:00 (twenty years ago) link

Everybody in the world loves this song, as far as I can tell

who the fuck are you people?????????

Sonny A. (Keiko), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:03 (twenty years ago) link

If you like Outkast, you hate black people.

Nihilist Pop Star (mjt), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:17 (twenty years ago) link

Blount, just read the entire thread (I know it's long, but there's a whole segment there where the idea of people only liking this song if they're the kinds of people who claim to "have lots of black friends" is bandied around), but here's one very early quote in it, which seemed offensive and judgmental toward the person who claimed they liked the song:

how do you breathe in that cultural vacuum

-- trife (...), September 19th, 2003.

(Ha, I just noticed the name of the original poster is similar to mine... a coincidence, I assure you!)

Otherwise, consider the entire thread as one huge quote.

David A. (Davant), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:18 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.aje.org.uk/daf/graphics/question-mark.gif
where's the love y'all?

Sonny A. (Keiko), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:19 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, I think the flat-out exuberance of "Hey Ya!" is key. There are a lot of singles this year that I like, but none that have put such a wide-ass grin on my face as this one -- and that has nothing to do with innovation or bravery or acoustic guitars or the fact that I'm white: it just makes me happy.

jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:24 (twenty years ago) link

heaven forbid that people like pop music because it is fun and catchy.

Nihilist Pop Star (mjt), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:26 (twenty years ago) link

(jaymc and Nihilsit Pop Star) Exactly.

David A. (Davant), Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:27 (twenty years ago) link

Me, I'm white, I like "Hey Ya" a lot, I have mostly white friends, not a choice thing but a cultural accident, but also friends who are Black, Native, Middle Eastern, South East Asian, Indian, Pakistani, etc.

Why did you start your "Hey Ya"-defending post with this and then become angry and say that the song has nothing to do with "I have black friends" people?

heaven forbid that people like pop music because it is fun and catchy.

Sterling's cultural-regression-as-radical-subjectivism to thread! ("Oh get off it, I don't like Skrewdriver for any reason, stop analyzing everything all the time, its just good music")

A.M., Sunday, 14 December 2003 09:44 (twenty years ago) link

Well "In Da Club" makes me feel physically sick, so "Hey Ya" definitely wins on that stance.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Sunday, 14 December 2003 10:43 (twenty years ago) link

I was bored w/"In Da Club" before it even finshed first time I heard it. I like the intro, tho.

Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 14 December 2003 10:49 (twenty years ago) link

50's slurred speech salvages "In Da Club" for me, while "Hey Ya" leaves me cold. Single of the year is obviously "Crazy In Love" though. Horns, people, horns.

Iam Anonentity, Sunday, 14 December 2003 11:06 (twenty years ago) link

I like both "In Da Club" and "Hey Ya!", but I'd take "Ignition (Remix)" over both.

John Fredland (jfredland), Sunday, 14 December 2003 13:47 (twenty years ago) link

I GET WET I GET WET

Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 14 December 2003 13:49 (twenty years ago) link

Wait a second, In Da Club is a great beat and all, but when and how did it become 'innovative'?

Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 15 December 2003 00:18 (twenty years ago) link

When it became popular. *rethinks this*

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 December 2003 00:19 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not a fan of the 50 cent slurring. He sounds like he's about to fall asleep.

David Allen, Monday, 15 December 2003 00:38 (twenty years ago) link

I'm kind of surprised how nobody seems to be reacting to "Hey Ya" as anything more than SOUND. Part of the reason why its one of the more affecting songs I've heard this year is the sentiments of it. He's gently breaking up with somebody while the music acknowledges that hey, the beat goes on (not to mention that there will always be caddies, commas, beyonces and lucy lius). I love "In Da Club," which probably sounds better every time I hear it, but "Hey Ya" is frikkin' BITTERSWEET in a way that I rarely hear on the radio (at least tied to music so joyful).

And when did Frank Black ever mix such naked emotion with a beat (and bass - which is just as important as the damn acoustic guitar here) this insistent? If this is a Frank Black number, it's probably the best one ever. I guess I shouldn't be surprised nobody's talked about this any differently than they would an igneous rock since rarely does ILX fess up to any emotional reaction to the music.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 15 December 2003 00:53 (twenty years ago) link

Compared to last year's everybody-puts-it-at-no.1-or-else single "Work It," Andre 3000 stays relatively focused lyrically. For all of her come-on's in the first two verses, she'd all but forgotten us in the third.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 15 December 2003 00:55 (twenty years ago) link

And I'll take "Young And The Hopeless" and "Go With The Flow" over "Hey Ya" for singles of the year. Maybe "Crazy In Love" if not for Jay-Z's time-filling if relatively harmless interlude.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 15 December 2003 01:04 (twenty years ago) link

that has nothing to do with innovation or bravery or acoustic guitars or the fact that I'm white: it just makes me happy.

It has to do with all those thing for me (save perhaps for being white, although I guess that influences my perception of everything in one way or another), that's why it puts such a grin on my face. If I were just going for catchy, I'd pick "Toxic" as the best of the year. Nevermind that it's not a single. Fuck all that radical subjectivism stuff. I'm capable of it, sure, but seeing as how it's radically subjective, it's not much worth talking about. I mean, if I can't put my finger on why I like it, then I'm just assuming that you trust me. And let's face it, you don't. ("You" being ILM, I guess.)

And Anthony OTM. It is a great lyric, too. A perfect song! Wha'd I say?

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 15 December 2003 04:45 (twenty years ago) link

Okay whether or not you agree with the sentiment this trife post is more enjoyable than anything on the Outkast album:

"all the 'i have black friends' ppl ive ever known have been straight racists, usually saying that to defend their batshit racist plan to dismantle welfare or end affirmative action or make hiphop sound like the flaming lips"

so fuck y'all.

(also "shake it like a polariod picture" is growing on me as a smart smart line about regret and sex)

Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 15 December 2003 07:03 (twenty years ago) link

i recant everything i said above as i now hate this song with a flaming passion shared with few others.

fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 15 December 2003 07:04 (twenty years ago) link

Very few.

Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 15 December 2003 07:06 (twenty years ago) link

Oh sorry Sonny A. btw, I thought you were Doomie

Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 15 December 2003 07:50 (twenty years ago) link

Even though I am oldest of old ILM I still like "Hey Ya!" but no way is it my favourite single this year. Unlike Blount I think ubiquity is as good a reason as any to dislike a track - Hey Ya isn't nearly as ubiquitous here though. Anthony picking up on the bittersweet emo content of it would involve for me listening very hard to something I am enjoying as a Junior Senior style party track - that's not to say there's not a lot of emotion in JS so maybe I'd better find another example.

Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 15 December 2003 08:45 (twenty years ago) link

I've never heard toddlers sing along with "In Da Club". Plus it's very hard to make a song with so much emotional turmoil and it still be so fun and accurate; this song is that smirk-hiding-the-tears, the night-out-dancing-with-the-ladies-to-try-to-forget-the-one-that's-breaking-your heart. I've heard very few songs in my lifetime that capture the tears-over-a-smile complexity of happysadness so well. "In Da Club" is not one of them.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 15 December 2003 14:54 (twenty years ago) link

In what universe is EITHER "Hey Ya" or "In Da Club" innovative? For fuck's sake, make some black friends.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 December 2003 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

These songs aren't even innovative in music-made-by-white-people land!

nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 15 December 2003 15:31 (twenty years ago) link

People generally don't like really innovative music though, from what I've noticed.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 15 December 2003 15:33 (twenty years ago) link

I listened to British radio for the first time last night and within an hour I heard "Hey Ya!" Not that this proves anything. And Tom, you don't have to listen hard at all! It's in the verse lyrics! right there. Nothing lasts forever...we know we're not happy here.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:10 (twenty years ago) link

In Da Club, like Ignition (Remix) DOES NOT CARE whether you like it or not, it is a titanium death machine, incredibly popular and ubiquitous and monstrous and gruesome and fucking ace. It no longer matters what anyone thinks about In Da Club, it is bigger than thought or opinion.

Hey Ya is good but is a whimpering puppy in comparison.

Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:15 (twenty years ago) link

Dan is very otm. And so necessary. Ronan too, but Beyonce still shits on Fiddy.

Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:25 (twenty years ago) link

Also, I've developed the nagging feeling that 'Hey Ya!' is getting action in hip hop/house/both (and esp. the 'townie'/'city' types, I guess) clubs b/c the DJs need to make some point about 'diversity'.

This is not necessarily true, but it's gotten to the point that I find it weird, as a multi-genre enthusiast (let alone a black one, if I cared what my Idiot Brother thought or what I once inferred from another friend), that I suspect stuff such as this or the occasional mash-ups I hear. I could blame mash-up suspicion on oversaturation though.

Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:29 (twenty years ago) link

I do like the song, but I'm putting 'Ghettomusick' in my best singles list instead for sure.

Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:32 (twenty years ago) link

Barima OTM. "Ghettomusick" >>> "Hey Ya".

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:42 (twenty years ago) link

It's nice to see that some people still actually buy singles. "Hey Ya" (b/w "The Way you Move") has actually gone gold, ie., sold more than 500,000 units. It is the only single in the Billboard top 50 to have done so.

o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:46 (twenty years ago) link

I'm starting to feel almost Geir-like about 'innovation'.

N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:51 (twenty years ago) link

In what universe is EITHER "Hey Ya" or "In Da Club" innovative? For fuck's sake, make some black friends.

That's not fair. If I say "I have black friends" then I'm one of those guys. I can't win.

And I think I was using "innovative" differently than you are. I know it's essentially a mash-up of at least three distinct and pre-existing styles of music. It's the combination that sounds new to me. Maybe "innovative" isn't the word. Fresh? I don't mean in that Kool and the Gang way... except kinda... oh, I give up.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:52 (twenty years ago) link

Sounds like the Chambers Brothers to me, who were pretty innovative -- IN 1968!!!!

(NB I like the song.)

Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:57 (twenty years ago) link

I agree with you Kenan, but then I don't have any black friends anymore.

N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:57 (twenty years ago) link

You didn't kill them, surely?

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:59 (twenty years ago) link

He's a member of Death In June.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 21:59 (twenty years ago) link

NB. I think Belle & Sebastian and the Rapture are innovative - one of my bete noires is thick headed people so desperate to say 'x sounds like a fifth-rate y ripoff' to prove their musical knowledge that they miss all that is joyfully new in the way a record is... phrased?

N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 22:01 (twenty years ago) link


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