Recession Anthem, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #92

September 7, 2010 Arthur Tebbel 1 Comment

Dear Art,
I’ve got an odd problem.  A couple weeks back I had a new single leak on to the Internet.  It was a monster hit.  We rushed a release to digital outlets and we debuted at 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 despite not having any physical release.  You’re probably wondering how this qualifies as a problem.  My song has had no radio play; probably due to its title.  The song is called “Fuck You!” which is also the center lyric in the hook.  We’ve recorded a radio version called “Forget You!” but it has gotten dramatically less attention.  What can I do to save this song?
-Cee Lo Green

Cee Lo,
Start working on “Fuck You FCC!” your smash hit follow-up?  I mean sure the censors have pretty much ruined your song for terrestrial radio but you’re burning up satellite radio and the Internet.  You could be the “Snakes on a Plane” of music.  Hm bad example.  Maybe you’ll make money off of this.

You could be the person who finally breaks free of the traditional model.  You could move records outside of standard distribution methods and build hype away from radio.  You could lead a revolution of people all singing “Fuck You!” and topple our traditional way of life.  I know this all sounds unlikely but it’s infinitely more likely than a song that’s blown up for its catchy hook getting Top 40 airplay with a butchered hook.

A lot of music has made it without significant radio play.  I looked into it and no one played any Mozart on the radio for nearly 200 years after his death.  Almost 100 years for Beethoven.  Every one’s heard of both of these guys.  Certainly in the next 200 years we’ll have gotten over saying fuck on the radio.  You can be huge in the retro movement led by the hipsters on Mars.  They’re a lot like hipsters now in that they’ll be living in a place that you couldn’t imagine white people living before they got there.  I hope we don’t discover life up there because they will drive the rents up like crazy.  The Martians would end up having to move out to Neptune.

Look you’ve accomplished something fantastic.  You’ve written what could very well become the anthem of the recession.  There are certainly a lot of people out there right now that can sympathize with the notion of not having enough money and being pissed off about it.  Hopefully all of those people still have $1.29 to spare.