It happens to the best of us. We try to avoid it, we deny it, and we lie about it. But everyone has done it. It may happen while you are shopping at the mall, washing your hands in a movie theater bathroom, or driving your car. All of a sudden you find yourself unconsciously singing the words to a song you hate, by a band you hate, who is symbolic of everything you hate about modern culture.
Record company executives, radio station bigwigs and MTV bosses decide what music the public will hear. And hear. And hear again. There are actually many songs out that I liked on first hearing, but after the tenth or twelfth time hearing them in one day, I am ready to rip the knobs off my stereo. Of course, nothing can really be done to stop this.
I do not listen to radio stations that play N*Sync yet somehow my subconscious has managed to learn all the words to “Bye Bye Bye.” I have given up pondering exactly how this happens. Maybe I sleepwalk in the middle of the night, turning on MTV from 2 to 5 a.m. Maybe satellites are orbiting the earth and beaming the words directly into my brain. Maybe it’s just God trying to amuse himself by playing these songs in my head. However it happens, it happens.
In the box-office disaster “Josie and the Pussycats,” a band finds out that their record company is putting subliminal messages in their music, things like “orange is the new pink” and “I want a Big Mac.” Perhaps the reason that this syrupy-sweet movie didn’t make it was because executives in the entertainment industry were afraid that viewers would realize that it was touching on something real. The public is a flock of sheep.
I hated the movie “Titanic.” I even knew, before I saw it, that I would hate it. I thought that the concept of taking such a huge tragedy and turning it into a bittersweet love story with pretty actors and Celine Dion’s obnoxious love melodies was wrong. Yet I still saw the film. Why? Because, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m a sheep. Everyone said, “see it,” so I did. Now, I feel a certain pride that I did hate the movie. But I did watch it, and that makes me just like everyone else in today’s society. The music we listen to, the movies we watch, the television programs we just can’t miss one episode of – these are all programmed into us by a small, select group of industry big shots. Well, I think it’s time something was done about this.
The next time I catch myself singing Christina Aguilera’s latest hit or watching a movie on cable whose premise makes my stomach turn, I’m going to poke myself with whatever slightly pointy instrument I can find near me. You should try this too. Hey, it worked for Pavlov’s dogs, so maybe it’ll work for us.
