Random Thoughts (August 27, 2007)

Three things today:

Number one: After driving through a thunderstorm on Friday night, as well as one on Saturday, I decided that one of my life goals, albeit one of the more dangerous ones, is to witness a lightning strike from close distance. Not that I have any desire to be struck by lightning at any point in my lifetime, as I would imagine the odds of surviving are not that great. It’s just that you really only ever see the beginning and middle of a bolt of lightning, and just once I’d like to see the end, preferably from a safe distance.

Number two: So I began wondering about this over this weekend, although I have yet to put any real amount of research into this. Back in the day, you often had these partnerships from a musical standpoint. I’m thinking along the lines of Sonny & Cher, Jan & Dean, Hall & Oates, Peaches & Herb, The Captain and Teneil. These were often instances where some sort of synergistic effect was seen, in that by themselves, half of the duo might not produce as well, but together they are able to produce a hit single or two. The exception to this may be Sonny & Cher, as Cher has gone on to have an extensive career of her own after the end of that partnership, and, lest we forget, Sonny went on to be a Congressman.

But nowadays, the permanent duo is not something that is often seen, if it is seen at all. The only time you really see anything along the lines of a duet or a duo is when it is a collaboration between an older established artist and a bevy of younger starlets. Tony Bennett comes to mind. I suppose to a certain extent, I can throw Carlos Santana in here, although I may disqualify his past collaborative efforts because I’m not sure that he can carry an album on his own anymore. As far as a permanent couple/duo currently recording, nothing comes to mind. Now I wonder why this might be, and I have a few ideas in mind. One: It’s entirely possible that songwriting is not as good as it was thirty years ago. I would rather image that this fact is entirely true. Two: record labels may have more money to throw at people, and so artists can actively pursue solo careers instead.

If anyone can come up with a relevant, current example, let me know. I’d love to hear it.

Number three: What is the average length of a pop song these days? Granted, there are going to be songs that last longer than three minutes, but for the most part it seems songs don’t eclipse four minutes. Is this because artists, and I use the term loosely in this instance, have by and large failed to come up with more than three minutes worth of material? Or is it just that the average American Top 40 listeners, or perhaps the average American in general, does not have an attention span beyond three minutes? Do we have some sort of national attention deficit disorder or its hyperactive cousin?

It's Really Strange When...

I hear some of my favorite music, which by and large flies somewhat under the radar, as the musical scoring to a network television show. The show in this case is NBC's Chuck, which I suppose can best be described as a spy-comedy. So now, after finishing watching the first three episodes, I've heard both Spoon and The National. While I expected to hear Spoon on television at some point, particularly following Britt Daniels scoring Stranger Than Fiction, it was a surprise to hear The National. There are other songs that I recognized from the show as well, but I really didn't feel like identifying them as I watched the show.

I would liken this to the whole Grey's anatomy thing, only because I've heard rumors about there being songs selected from a similar vein, a la Metric and Let's Go Sailing. Only difference here is that I actually like Chuck. Grey's Anatomy does significantly more pussy-footing around as a show, which is okay in small doses, but can really get annoying. The nice thing about Chuck is that there is an element of action to the show, which gives one license to rock out, as the case may be. Besides, they can always save some tender moment for some sappier song. Although I do admit, I liked the use of The National's Slow Show at the end of the third episode, during a tender moment at that.

I'll be putting up another update following this, although it really only makes sense retroactive to the end of August. Or at least part of it does.

Additionally, I'll be putting up some album reviews this week, so keep an eye out for that.