Day 68: Your least favorite song by an actor turned singer.

“I Should Be So Lucky” – Kylie Minogue

There was a time when I was very closed-minded about music. I would turn my nose up based on how a person looked or if their music fell outside of my well-defined musical boundaries. (Kind of like the radio stations I described in yesterday’s post.) For example, there was a time when I hated today’s song just on principle.

I still hate it, so maybe that’s a bad example.

But I no longer hate it on principle, that’s the point. I hate it because it’s just such a horrible song.

I’m pretty sure this is not entirely Kylie’s fault. Word on the street is that her producers wrote the song in 40 minutes while she was sitting outside the studio waiting for them. That would explain a lot.

Like the crappy lyrics.

And the crappy melody.

And the crappy keyboard voices.

In 1988, when I was on student exchange in Australia this song was everywhere. Thankfully, it was fading from popularity by the time I left for home… just in time for it to peak on the charts in the US. This was not the gift I wanted to bring back from Australia. I’d have been much happier with “Electric Blue” by Icehouse or “Pressure Down” by John Farnham. But alas…

A while back there was a post on a song you change the words to. Until this post, I’d forgotten that I used to sing “God this song is yucky. Yucky, yucky, yucky” whenever it came on. Since Kylie was the darling girl of Oz at the time, this didn’t go over well with some people. Oh well, I’m sure they got over it when they, too, realized what utter tripe it is.

The song is a good example of one thing, though: that many producers have an ear for identifying (and writing) songs that are going to catch the public’s ear, no matter how simplistic or outright bad they are. It’s a sad (but true) fact that the music-buying public loves to be told what they should like, and these guys have a knack for making it and telling the public that it is, in fact, what they should like. “L.A.” Reid and Babyface are two prime examples. Churn out some bad tunes, attach them to good-looking singers, make a sexy video and BAM! Hit song.

This is not to say that the producers and performers are not talented. Like Kylie, in many cases they are (no, I’m not talking to you, Nicki Minaj) even if you don’t happen to like what they come out with. But are they really doing everything they can to grow and excel as an artist, or are they just taking the paycheck and staying stagnant? Doesn’t anyone have any artistic integrity anymore?

Anyway, I’ve grown a little bit myself since 1988 in terms of my musical taste and breadth. I’m a lot more tolerant of different musical types outside of my usual “Rock” comfort zone. That’s not to say I’m going to jump for joy over a bad song, and there are still plenty out there. (Yes, this time I am talking to you, Nicki Minaj.)

Now I’ll at least give something a listen (maybe two) before declaring it utter crap.

For those that may have missed it in 1987, here’s “Electric Blue”…