Harlem Aches - my rant

Do you ever stop to think about the sheer magnitude of excellent, musical talent there is out there?

This is a question I asked a good friend (and fellow music lover) of mine earlier on today. His response was - “I had given it some thought before, but never in a long/medium term sense. Was always just ‘wow, a lot of good albums out at the mo’, then I'd forget, then rinse repeat! It is vast. It’s kind of jaw dropping in fact, to think there are so many endlessly talented people out there making excellent ear porn”.

Well said. 

Now, with this in mind, do you reckon anyone has ever said something similar with the likes of Gagnam style in mind? *Cue the harsh sound of a sudden stop of a spinning vinyl record*

Nope, me neither. I’ll explain why I am bringing Gagnam style into this a little further on.

I spotted a tweet from someone earlier today, which read, “Sound-tracking my Monday afternoon – [insert YouTube link to the animal song he was on about here]”. It got my attention straight away. Love a good song recommendation, me. I clicked through to discover a beautiful tune by a chap called Mike Rosenberg, AKA Passenger, entitled ‘Let Her Go’. It took me all of about 4 seconds into the song to give it the old ‘closed eyes nod and smile’ of approval. And so began quite a chilled afternoon in the office, the playlist for which, was the aforementioned. Thanks to Mike S for that tweet.

As I was working away, another Tweetdeck alert caught my eye. Quite a different sentiment this time, though. Yet another person was wanking on about how "This one is DEFO the best of the 234 Harlem Shake videos I've seen so far… blah, blah, fart" etc [insert YouTube link to brain-cell depleting video of people who appear to be having fits here]. This was probably the 50^th tweet of it’s kind that I had seen in the last 24 hours.

Chalk, meet cheese. Cheese, this is chalk.

I’d like to say that it baffles me, how much airtime mind-numbing tripe like the Harlem Shakes and the Gagnam Styles of the world get, when there is so much excellent creative content out there for us to consume, and enjoy, and share, and discuss, and of course… recreate. But this doesn’t baffle me. I get it. I work in the comms/media industry and I understand the appeal of this kind of thing. I even understand its 'mass' appeal. I understand that you simply cannot compare this kind of thing to, let’s say, a touching acoustic rendition of Black Key’s Lonely Boy. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

YouTube estimates that by the end of last week over 40,000 versions of Harlem Shakes had been uploaded and collectively they have been viewed over 175 million times. The song is currently at number two in the UK charts… and I have been invited by no less than two different groups of friends to be involved in a Harlem Shakes video.

The University of Georgia’s men’s swim and dive team did one under water. The Norwegian army did one. There are (at least) two Star Wars-themed Shakes. There’s also now a Harlem Shake Roulette single-serving site that will pull a series of the videos one right after the other, Chatroulette-style. This is the stuff of internet dreams, people. Is it, though? IS IT?!?!

*Giant face-palm*

Whilst I am happy with the thought of Harlem Shakes becoming yesterday’s news quicker than you can say the words, “New Pope celebrates appointment with Horsemeat sandwich and PS4 tournament”, what remains is the lurking feeling that something else will come along to fill the void. And at this rate, god only knows what that will be.

Nice words

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that may never come true, goals that were never achieved, and the many disappointments life has thrown at you.

When something wonderful happens, you cannot wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting, or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself.

Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are.

The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of a daily life. A phone call or two during the day helps you to get through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face.

In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to your mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon.

You open your heart knowing that there is a chance it may be broken one day and in opening you heart, you experience a love and a joy that you never dreamed possible. You find being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life."

.... Bob Marley. Who knew?