War Rocket Ajax

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[  Currently: Listening to In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, by Neutral Milk Hotel ]
Just using the title "Sister Christian" put that classic Night Ranger gem into your heads, didn’t it?

If you aren’t familiar with the tune, I suggest finding a copy of Midnight Madness, bust out some light beer (your choice) and the barbecue, and have a time warp in your backyard this summer. Crank it loud enough and some neighbors might stop by to join you and share stories from 1983.

If you’re feeling lazy and introverted, rent Boogie Nights and enjoy one of Alfred Molina’s finest performances. Hell, the whole movie’s great IMO, but the climactic scene comes together with the aid of that great ’80s power ballad.

Why am I stuck on the song? What makes it so damned catchy? What put it in my head, anyway? These are questions that, in a roundabout way, lead me to another question: Why is the album I’m listening to now (another relic from a different bygone decade–the ’90s this time) just as ingrained in my synapses as that hit from Blades, Keagy, et al?

Stylistically they couldn’t be farther apart. One, a straightforward pop/rock amalgam that can still be heard on finer "classic rock" stations nationwide. The other you’ll be lucky to hear a snippet from on the most diverse college radio station in the most liberal town.

Musically, they have nothing discernible in common. "Sister Christian" is a simple song clocking in at five minutes, two seconds, with a bizarre chorus line that no one I’ve known (save Wikipedia, apparently) could decipher the real meaning of (and not for lack of trying, usually while drunk).

"In The Aeroplane Over The Sea," is close to 40 minutes of at times perfectly odd pop, other times almost jarring musical cacophony that, taken as a whole album experience (indeed, the songs run one into the next a la Pink Floyd’s "Dark Side of the Moon"–and the similarities end there), is sonically blissful and filled with emotion in raw form.

Both are what I think my friend Tracey would call essentially good pop. They both have hooks your brain will imbibe and resuscitate when you least expect it. Tey get into your head and become either a cloying annoyance or joyous fun when they arrive.

You’ve probably heard the former, so go out and sample the latter. Share your opinions here.

Next time, I’ll stray closer to the SF in my entry. Maybe CJ7 will be out by then…