Then there's better songs, but not by a whole lot. These are songs that sound good, catch fire, but then fall apart after hearing it for the nth time. Think about a popular song that goes to #1 or close to #1. Then you hear it, and hear it and hear it, and hear it in commercials. OMG!!! I think I hear my cockatiel whistling the melody!! Can't think of a song like that now (I stay away from those kind of stations), but "You Light up My LIfe" by Debby Boone comes to mind (anyone around in 1977??)
Another song is "Out of Tears" from VOODOO LOUNGE back in the mid-90s. After playing it on the radio stations, MTV, they played it in soap operas maybe a commercial and OMG, I am so over that song by then!! The point is the first time you heard it, you thought is was ok, the 3rd time you heard it, you don't mind it. But like cars, that song just keeps piling up more and more mileage. Then it hits about 100,000 miles. You've heard the song so much, you immediately change radio stations if you hear the 1st 4 notes! Yes, it's so bad that you don't even have to hear the singer sing the tune. You know the song so well, and we all know "familiarity breeds contempt.". It ran and drove well for awhile, the song sounded good, but after hearing it so much and reaching 100,000 miles, the muffler dropped off, it's timing belt snapped, the engine has no power in it, and the transmission is shot. If you hear that fuckin' song again, you'll start swearing (sorry, I already got that covered). The bottom line is that the song isn't good enough to hear so many times. Like an average car, it's days are numbered after it reaches 100,000 miles.
Then, there's the great cars. Songs/cars that were well designed, put together masterfully, and sold to an adoring public. Some songs are so awesome that they could be 30 years old and still sound as though it was released yesterday.
I loved hearing The White Stripes "Fell in Love with a Girl" back in 2002; I love hearing it now, 9 years later, and will love hearing it 10 years from now. You can say the same about other songs from other bands. Two examples are Led Zeppelin's "Trampled Under Foot" and "Misty Mountain Hop" (but not so "Stairway to Heaven" it's been played oh so much! It's like a car with that 600,000 miles on it. By that time nearly any car would break down!)
There are songs that don't get much airplay on a popular album. They are a vintage car with only a few thousand miles on them. Boston has 2 songs like that. One is "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" from the first album and "Party" from the 2nd album. I like them more than "Long Time' or maybe even "More than a Feeling". Now, More than a Feeling IS A GOOD SONG. But when classic rock stations across the nation play this song 3-5 times a week.........well, it has about 600,000 miles on it...... and you know what happens to cars w/ 600,000 miles on them.
So that is why I am lukewarm about a song like "Stairway to Heaven" but absolutely worship a song like "In My Time of Dying". "In My Time of Dying" is a song that not many people heard, but it sounds every bit as good as "Stairway to Heaven". No, the radio stations don't play "In My Time of Dying", but that just means it's a great car with only 15,000 miles on it!! Yes, those are the songs I love THE MOST!!
