Too Much of a Good Thing

The Perils of Music Licensing

It's safe to say that all the co-authors are rather big fans of the band Spoon. And what's not to like? We can all get behind well-crafted songs with spastic guitar solos, I imagine. If one of us was to throw on a record like Kill The Moonlight in the car, not one of us would raise an objection--we'd sit there and nod, congratulating the fine choice. Spoon was even one of the better concerts I saw last year, even if they didn't play "Sister Jack" (I mean, how can you not enjoy a song that starts out "Always on the outside, always looking in/I was in this drop-D metal band we called Requiem"). But dammit if Spoon hasn't begun getting on my nerves.

That's because I'm beginning to hear Spoon everywhere these days. And oversaturation kills even the greatest creativity.



It started out innocently enough. Promos for the movie Stranger Than Fiction would feature occasional instrumental snippets, which made sense since Portlander Britt Daniel did the score to the movie. Plus, it helps that in retrospect that the it was a damn good (if overlooked) film. However, marketing executives seemed to pick up on the band, and began using their music in countless ads, most notably "My Mathematical Mind". If anything was in any way tangentially related to "math" or "science", you were going to hear that song as backing music, as it was done (most obnoxiously) for that recent shitfest, 21. I thought I was done being tormented by a formerly-loved song, but alas, it is now the background music to a nationwide car commercial.


The thing is, it's not even totally Spoon's fault. At this point, there are apparently session players that are being told by Marketing Execs to "give my that 'Spoon' sound", resulting in car commercials with music that sounds suspiciously like "I Turn My Camera On". I also can't fault Spoon for looking to get a little extra money through licensing--I'm not even sure if they've had a gold record, so I'm not going to hold it against a consistently artistically brilliant band to earn some well-deserved compensation for their efforts.

So I write this in order to just ask for a moratorium on the use of Spoon in commercials for the next 18 months, so I can go back to enjoying a band I love in the manner that it was meant to--through the album. But since I'm sure my request will fall on deaf ears, I'll just put a smile on the viewer's face with this 90's nostalgia throwback:

Well That Was Unexpected

The Difference A Week Makes


Just a few days ago, this humble author was walking around in a mood that Downward Spiral-era Trent Reznor would have been wary of. "Yeah, I created the most depressing album ever, but I wouldn't want to be that low" would be a good approximation of his probable reaction. I mean, I was so down that I was using Elliott Smith to try and cheer up. But here we are, seven days later, and I'm so goddamn giddy that I'm making nonsensical musical analogies in a flailing attempt at humor. In other words, we're pretty much back to normal around here.

I had the one-two stomach-punch combo of LSU losing in heart-breaking fashion to Ar-Kansas and the dread of the upcoming LSAT examination to deal with. When my mind wasn't busy trying to find the fallacy of (purposefully) shittily written arguments about the potential economic feasibility of niobium/germanium superconductors or figuring out which goddamn fruit went into which basket*, it was off pondering what could have been for my beloved Tigers. During a period in which I was struggling to find a job, attempting once again to face my failure and attempt to get into law school again, and being devoid of nearly all human contact, at least I had my Tigers to look forward to each weekend. More so than any other year, I had become attached to this team (it certainly helped that I didn't have "commitments" occupying my precious time, like the (apparently) worthless pursuit of an education).


So I was preparing to write a short essay on all the various things that made this loss harder to take than any other that I could remember--the timing of it, which would deny us the opportunity to play for the championship, or the way we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (4th and 10!!! We had them!). But then Saturday happened. I was up early, taking the aforementioned LSAT and doing a generally decent job--the verdict will come in a few weeks, but I wasn't in the most confident of moods afterwards (a week of several difficult practice tests will do a lot to put doubt in one's mind). After dealing with several delays at the testing center, I got home around the start of the second quarter, and settled in for the game. It was up-and-down for the Tigers, but in the end they pulled it out when it truly mattered.

I was ready to just settle in for the rest of the day and relax--without the LSAT weighing on my mind, I was free to just chill and watch football all day. I was just happy that LSU didn't blow it and was going to be in the Sugar Bowl, not thinking about anything beyond that. But then the unthinkable began happening. Pitt got a lead against West Virginia, and despite several attempts by the refs to screw them over, they held on despite having been 28 point underdogs. Then number 1 Missouri got their asses handed to them by Oklahoma, and all the pieces had fallen into place for LSU to pull off what was unthinkable, even just a week ago.



I had to wait until Sunday to find out LSU's fate. However, it seemed like I was going to get screwed once again. The power went out at my house early in the afternoon, so it looked like I was going to be shit out of luck in finding out where LSU ended up. I had to figure out a way to find out, and resolved to drive to a sports bar. However, I was foiled by an un-openable garage door, since I could not find a handle to pull it up manually (I was later informed much later that, hey, dingus, use the damn rope in the middle to pull it up). I was then about to text Joe Reefer to overcome his intense hatred of all things college football to do me the favor of watching the selection show for me, but lo and behold, the power came back on a mere ten minutes before the show began.

My good luck didn't stop there, as everyone knows--LSU found a back-asswards way to get into the National Championship game. And you know what, I'M SO GODDAMN HAPPY RIGHT NOW. I guess this kind of sums up my mood:



Hell, instead of considering canceling my LSAT score, with the way my luck has been going, I'm pretty goddamn sure I got a near-perfect score. I'm downright giddy.

*once again, actual LSAT problems dealt with this