Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Status Quo Wednesday Whoops And Whoa Ohs

MIZUCON RECAP? ALREADY?
Yeah, weird, right? First, I'd like to thank the con chair for being such a chill guy and hooking me up with a show!

After I got a monitor so I can hear myself, the show went well, and the new song I've been playing (so far) only at cons has been really fun to play, and has gone over big! I don't plan on keeping it "live only", but I think playing it first to a much smaller crowd (i.e. Not The Internet) helps work out some of the kinks.

A group of people I see at a lot of South Florida cons and events is/are The 3000 Brigade. I didn't know what they were for the longest time, whether they were a podcast, an indie studio, a creative collective ala Chaotic Neutral, etc. However, I was able to catch their stage show Saturday night, a Super Smash Bros themed Telethon.

I learned two things that night:
1. They only play once a year at Mizucon, which is why a lot of the jokes were about the stage quality and low ceiling
2. They put on a damn good show with music, choreography and costumes, for what is essentially gonzo crossover fanfiction.
3. #DicksOutForToad

Mega Ran also performed that night, and as a rare treat was joined on stage by YTCracker. My only regret is that I didn't have something silly on hand for Ran to freestyle rap about.

FUN FACT: While Mega Ran was the first rapper licensed by Capcom, who were the other two to come later?

THIS WEEK'S JAM:

How did I go so (12 days) long with out mentionin Green Day has a new song?

It's all right. Heavier than their usual fare, got a kinda Sex-Pistols thing going on.

Now, what I'd like to draw your attention to is the name of Green Day's new album: Revolution Radio, which comes out October 7th.

There was a similar album released October 9th last year with a similar title...

YOU DIRTY MOTHERFUCKERS.

WHOOPING LIKE A MILLENIAL:
Normally any news article with Millenial in the title wants to make me punch my monitor and crack the spine of the old motherfucker who wrote it like I'm Bane:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Bane_breaks_Batman.png

However this article I think warrants some discussion, because the shift from the switch from the fifth to the third, or as the author calls it "The Millenial Whoop" is one of those things that once you notice it, you see everywhere.

"Whoa-oh Whoa-oh". Click the link to hear what I'm talking about, but it's a lot quicker than pop-punk whoa-ohs. Here's a supercut that's kinda what the author's talking about:




Though it's unfortunate that the example used is The Lonely Island's song, "Fuck Off" is the most clear (and catchiest) usage. There are a couple good examples he lists, like Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and Owl City/Carly Ray Jepsen's "Good Time", but the rest that come up aren't as solid. Some are songs made by people who came before millennials.

Overall, while it's an interesting trend, I'm not entirely convinced it's a Millennial Thing or a Whoop. It's more of a vocal HOPO (Rhythm Gamer term y'all!) then something that can be properly established.

Still, I'd love to see if there's something similar in previous generations where there's a similar vocal shift used in a lot of the same songs if there's any social externalities or influences from other popular genres outside the Top 40.

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