Like A G-6

Although I think my mother might kill me for this, I have to blog about it before I forget it...

About a week ago, Gigi, Bug and I were riding in my Swagger Wagon, listening to tunes. When there are no kids in the car, I prefer the uplifting K-LOVE Christian music station or 106.3, which plays “Old People’s Pop”, according to the boys. But, when Bug or Flea are in the car, they instantly start making their musical demands, like we're rollin' disc jockeys or something!

Most of the time their musical requests involve us putting in a CD by their current musical obsession, which 95% of the time is something we are not thrilled about hearing for the one millionth time.

For about two weeks when Flea was infatuated with Jason Derulo, we were forced to listen to his newest CD, NON-STOP. Sadly, I now know every word to every Jason Derulo song, which would be really impressive...if I were 15.

(Side note: Either Derulo has a very wise marketing team who forces him to sing his own name during every single he releases, or his ego is larger than his bank account. Otherwise, what on Earth would possess someone to sing their own name during EVERY song?! Please tell me I’m not the only one who this bothers.)

Whenever the kids start in with this routine, I think back to the day when Cyprus Hill first came on the scene and I was a young teen. WAY BACK when cars had cassette players, I forced my poor parents to listen to “Insane In The Membrane”, about one million times.

You may be thinking Cyprus Hill was quite an offensive group who used explicit lyrics in every song they released but...Don’t Fret. I had the censored version of the cassette tape, from Wal-Mart! In my little discount store version, half of the song was muted out, leaving the ‘rents unsuspecting and me happily singing along, “Crazy insane, got no brain” like there was no tomorrow.

Geez.

Of course, it’s not always a terrible thing when the boys go through one of their musical phases. While we’ve had our fill of the Black Eyed Peas, Lil Wayne and Bruno Mars on chronic REPEAT, there have been times where their tastes aligned with ours, if even for the briefest moments.

There WAS the six month time frame when Bug discovered Motown and “forced” us to cruise to some of the best harmonies ever created. That was great! I made sure I didn't voice my delight too loudly, in fear they would start hating it just because I thought it was cool. After all, is it physically possible to get tired of hearing the smooth sounds of Otis Redding or The Supremes? I think NOT.

The main problem is, I’m getting old and I now find myself saying things a typical made-for-tv-movie-parent might say, like:

“Is this what you consider music?”
“Do people actually make money selling these ridiculous lyrics?”
“What does this song even mean?!”

Today's pop music confuses me and leaves me wanting SO MUCH MORE. Nevertheless, it was only natural when Gigi, Bug and I were riding in the Swagger Wagon a few weeks ago for Bug to insist we listen to a radio station I feel is likely only appropriate for people 21 and under, and for me to comply.

Of course, as soon as we tuned in, one of the most annoying songs in the world came on. It's called G-6 or something like that. Ok, I just Googled it. It’s officially called “Like A G-6” and it’s by a “lovely” group called, Far East Movement.

If you haven’t heard it, you should probably YouTube it before reading any further. Otherwise, you won’t get why this is so funny...at all.

Anyhow, this song is the prime example of why songwriters like myself typically loathe pop music writing styles. I mean, these people are making millions off of writing songs about nothing. Absolutely NOTHING.

They take 15 minutes out of their day, rhyme a few words, add in a few made-up words currently unknown in the English language (slizzard?!), throw in a few “uhs”...and WAH-LA! A hit is born.

UGH.

This specific song irks me in every way, but Bug loves it so I usually just grit my teeth and let it ride. Somewhat because I love to hear his little voice singing along and somewhat because if I changed the station, I would be forced to listen to much worse...him pitching a TOTAL fit. The song stinks but not as bad as a cranky 7-year-old's hissy fit.

However, on this particular day, something unusual happened. The planets aligned perfectly and this song actually brought a smile to my face. Who knew it was capable of doing such a thing?!

Anyhow, here’s how it went down…

Song Lyrics: Like A G-6, Like A G-6, Now I’m feelin’ so fly like a G-6.
Me: I hate this song. It’s so dumb.
Bug: Like A G-6, Like A G-6, Now I'm feeling so fly like a G-6.
Me: Ugh. I really don't understand this song AT ALL. I can't believe people make money off this crap.
Gigi: Yeah. It really IS a dumb song. I mean, I just can’t understand why they’re singing about cheesesticks.

OH. EM. GEE.

I learned a lesson that day. When you think something is dumb, don’t rush to judge. After all, it could ALWAYS be made into something even dumber! (giggle)

Whitney

"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung." (Voltaire)