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My iPod #412: OK Go – Get Over It

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“Get Over It” was the first single OK Go released as a band in 2002. And what a way to introduce yourselves. The track is fun as hell and catchy as anything, and gives a lesson concerning ‘getting over’ the silly little things in life that shouldn’t really matter. It’s one of the most poppy tracks the band have ever done before changing to a more indie-rock style for “Oh No”.

It wasn’t until 2006 that I began listening to OK Go, so when I decided to look them up on the web and saw that they “Get Over It” had actually done quite well in the UK (it got to #16, which ain’t too shabby) I thought why not see what the song and video’s like. Maybe I had seen it before, and just forgotten about the track as time went on. It turned out that I had in fact not heard the song before.

The video is just as fun too. This is before the band went out to try out spectacular record-breaking stuff in their music videos, and instead just focuses on them playing the track as the camera zooms in to random objects that are mentioned in the lyrics. And ping-pong occurs for about 3 seconds. Damian Kulash, Jr. also looks very, very young in it, even though he was about 26/27.

My iPod #411: Nine Black Alps – Get Even

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“Get Even” is a B-Side that can only be found on the vinyl single of Nine Black Alps’ song “Not Everyone”, released in 2005. Due to the track only being released on the vinyl format, it is very very hard to find this track anywhere. It’s not on iTunes, not Spotify…. nothing. Well, unless you go to the band’s official website. It can be found there on their music player on the homepage.

Its format of release also causes the track to have somewhat of a mono-aural mix where everything you hear is in the centre channel rather than the regular ‘stereo’ mix. Dunno why that really matters, I just thought I should tell you.

The track does sound like it could fit right in to “Everything Is“, obviously being recorded around the time the album was being worked on it would do. Though I think it’s a good song, the only thing problem I have with it is that it isn’t as thrilling or powerful as the twelve tracks on that album. Maybe it’s the mono mix that takes its edge off a bit, I don’t know. But even if it was in stereo, I don’t think it could have matched up to the songs on the final tracklist. The band probably knew this too.

Still, it is one to hear if you’re into Nine Black Alps. It is a hard song to find.

My iPod #410: Fall Out Boy – Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

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Honestly, I liked this track much more in the past than I do now. If I had the same attitude towards it like I did then, I would have provided the song’s full title, but that is just too much. I’m tired and burned out. Not to say that this track is bad, ‘cos I’m gonna write about it anyway. It has lost its effect on me, that’s all.

“Get Busy” is a very bitchy track. It appears to be from the perspective of a guy used for sex, and eventually dumped by a girl who he really had feelings for. The guy’s understandably pissed, but feels that justice is served when the girl’s ‘secret’ (what it is, we don’t know) comes out and rubs it in by telling her that the secret was shit anyway. He’s over her. She don’t matter no more.

I have always liked the music on this track. The palm-muted guitars add a very sinister tone to the song’s atmosphere, and the track also showcases Patrick Stump’s vocal talents. He doesn’t just sing on here, but he also (kind of) screams along with Pete during the bridge, adding a real harshness on his voice. It did take me a while that it actually was him who was doing that and not just a guest vocalist from another band they knew.

Pete Wentz also reads out a poem as the final chord is struck and fades out. To this day I don’t know what it’s about, but as he continues reading it his delivery rises in intensity as the guitar fades in again until coming to a sudden stop. That ending’s always made me feel a bit uneasy. But it’s a good lead in to “XO”. Very similar to what they did with “20 Dollar Nose Bleed” and “West Coast Smoker” on Folie á Deux.

A shame I don’t feel as excited by the song as I used to. But those were some good few years I had when I was.

My iPod #409: The Beatles – Get Back

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A track about two fictional characters who have initial thoughts about themselves which are actually not true, “Get Back” is a solid track grounded by a firm bass which plays one note for the majority of the track and pounding drums. Its sound too is also enhanced by the fancy finger-work on the keyboard provided by Billy Preston, adding a soulful flavour to the steady rock beat.

The first time I actually ever heard the track was when Paul McCartney played it in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall for Children in Need in 2009. I was not there. Was just on the television. But as you may or may not have read already that year was when I suddenly started listening to anything The Beatles had ever created, so what better chance was there than to see one of the main songwriters performing the songs himself?

Judging by the number of people singing along to the words and clapping in unison with complete joy on their face, it looked like “Get Back” had been quite the popular track. But funnily enough, I’d forgotten how the track actually went until I watched the “Let It Be” film a few weeks later. Silly, silly me.

What was meant to be the song to signal The Beatles’ return to their rock and roll roots without the fancy production and lavish instrumentation they had used in the preceding years turned out to be the band’s swansong, the last track on the group’s final album “Let It Be” from 1970. Even if “The End” was meant to be the true last track of the band’s work, I am content with “Get Back” taking its place as that role. It might not be as extravagant as that song, but it does bring a sense of closure in its own way.

My iPod #408: Yuck – Get Away

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Yuck are a four-piece indie rock band that originated the grand ol’ land of England. Specifically in the capital of London. Originally members of the more poppy indie group Cajun Dance Party, Max Bloom and Daniel Blumberg went on to form Yuck as Cajun gradually ran its course. For the self-titled album, the first and the one “Get Away” opens, the group utilised their guitars to create a wall of sonic fuzz and feedback, burying the vocals right into the mix and letting the melodies and noise do all the talking. The soundscape gives off a very 90s lo-fi, shoegaze feel reminiscent of bands such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and My Bloody Valentine.

The soundscape is also established from the very moment the album starts. With a strike of the snare, “Get Away” steadily moves with a gnarling guitar riff that swirls in and out of itself and is eventually joined by the higher lead guitar riff provided by Bloom. I think the lyrics are from a perspective of a person trying to write a song with a guitar at the ready, but just can’t seem to get the right ideas going. All this bother prevents this person from going outside into the “summer sun” but the inability to “get this feeling out [their] mind” prevents them from doing so. I adore that chorus. If the “I can’t get away” phrase isn’t a chorus in itself, then the “summer sun” part definitely matches the typical chorus description. Just brings a feeling of euphoria when that change comes in.

I’m glad I started listening to Yuck. Had I known that two of its members were from Cajun Dance Party earlier than last year, I feel I would have appreciated their music a lot more. But at least I know now.