This idea comes to me from my friend John Quiring, who took minutes I am sure to develop this complicated and precise measuring tool.
The way it works is simple: is it better or worse than 38 Special?
That is to say, when you listen to a song, is that particular song better or worse than something that 38 Special performed. This particular litmus was chosen because, while they aren't particularly great, they aren't really that good either. To make the point, when you hear 38 Special come on the radio, normally you aren't happy to hear the song, but is it really bad enough to bother changing the channel? Normally, no. You just endure the song for the approximate three minutes that it will be on.
Let's look at an example shall we? Say that the song Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice were to come on the radio. Go ahead and say it, I'll wait.
Now that you've said that, imagine it happening. The first thing that you would do is change the channel--while screaming, naturally. But if Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles comes on, you would stay on the channel and sing along. Well, you would if you had taste, anyway.
But what about, say, Jeremy by Pearl Jam? Is that bad enough to change the channel, or just not bad enough to bother with? Well, that's where you decide: is it better or worse than 38 Special?
Only you can decide the final fate of any song, but at least now you have a measuring stick. Good luck.
2 comments:
ding ding ding da da ding ding...
But in my case, I dislike 38 Special pretty much, and I think that Vanilla Ice might rank higher. Then again, almost everything would rank higher. It's like trying to use absolute zero as a median...
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