I don’t care about the young folks either
I don’t actually have a problem with the ubiquity of “Young Folks” — the fact that, in the last week, it’s turned up in episodes of Dirty Sexy Money, Gossip Girl, AND Journeyman would seem to point to a scorching case of music-supervisor hivemind (and that’s just the ones I know about), but I like the song a lot so it’s fine by me.
But Jacob’s hilarious characterization of the song’s mitochondrial penetration of the culture, linked above, actually came true today on 5th Ave. in the Slope when, standing on a corner waiting for Bean and Co. to arrive for brunch, I heard a dude whistling it. Emo guy, too-short skinny jeans and Cons, tooling down Degraw and texting and whistling.
Somewhere, Peter, Bjorn, and John are in a soundproof water tank, writing a note of apology and vowing to go to law school.
Tags: city living music
I am so tired of people talking about PB&J as anything other than a major-label pop act. I get that they were pushed through to our consciousness in what is being called an exciting, new way, because they were indie first, but, they’re a pop act. They’re being marketed as one. They have ties to major labels. No one should be surprised that their music is everywhere. Evincing surprise at that fact is basically the same as being surprised that Umbrella gets played a lot.
The song is great, though; I do think that it is all Victoria Bergsman, but what can you do.
OMG, this song is the bane of my existence! At the cafe I used to work at, this song was on the store iPod, and it would play ALL DAMN DAY, and my coworkers and I would all catch ourselves randomly whistling it and freaking out about getting sucked into the earworm trap.
Now, I hear it everywhere, and all I can think about is the damn cafe! Drives. Me. Nuts.
When I was at the OMWF Singalong a few weeks ago, an excessively pierced guy next to me asked how to play the kazoo. Once we showed him, his first suggestion was that we play “Young Folks.” So we did.
I didn’t realize it was so omnipresent!
Oy, it’s EVERYWHERE this season.
They even used a knock-off version of it (same beat, minus the whistling) on “Californication.”
Sadly, I own the CD, so I have contributed to this phenomenon in some small part.
Most of us emo’s have had that whistling stuck in our head for over a year now. It’s not our fault you finally heard a good song.
Good one!
As usual, “How I Met Your Mother” is ahead of the curve: they used it in the Superbowl episode that aired in February. (Damn, I love that show!)
“Young Folks” is the new “Hallelujah.”
Feist is also becoming ubiquitous. I mean, I like Feist and all, but…enough already.
You know, I don’t really listen to the radio or watch tv, so I haven’t heard or thought about that song since my friend gave me their cd last spring. But now I’ve been humming it for two days straight. Thanks!
Grey’s Anatomy used it awhile back as well…
Call them a major label pop act if you like. I’m not ashamed to admit owning the cd. It holds up well and there are far better tracks on there than Young Folks… Don’t ask me to whistle any of them though!
Ever since they first discovered it a few months ago (a little while after my husband showed me the video on YouTube), the two guys outside my office get a yen, about once a week or so, to play it from their computers, whistling along with it, in between working on other things, over the course of ALL DAY. They change it up with a couple of different mixes they have discovered.
I like(d) the song and all, but… I’m good for a couple of years now, thanks.
I’m… the only person alive who doesn’t know this song, aren’t I? *sigh* now I’m going to have to go LOOK IT UP so I know what you all are on about.
Yes I live under a rock. A rock called My Ipod Therefore I Never Ever Turn On The Radio Also My Ipod Is Filled With Nothing But MxPx And Firehouse Because I Am A Freak.
Yes I said FIREHOUSE. WHAT OF IT.
Oh, Jenn. You are brilliant. “Young Folks” is the new “Hallelujah.” Hee! I was listening to KFOG online and they had a really cool mix of that song, with whistling samples from all sorts of movies and other songs, like Bridge Over the River Kwai, etc. That was the first time I’d heard the song, so I downloaded it and was pretty disappointed that the KFOG mix wasn’t the actual song.
Ug Thank You! I spent all premier week scrolling through the recaps on TWOP expecting someone to snap/comment on the ubiquitous whistling and general Grey’s Anatomy music editing emulating happening. The most egregious example being when it was used in basically the same place in both Dirty Sexy Money and Big Shots (which highlighted how shitty the latter is to the former). I’m not surprised it has permeated the streets of Brooklyn, but I am sorry.
Yeah, I hear that song a lot, but not nearly as often as I hear “Hey there delilah” which plays CONSTANTLY. I probably hear it about five times a day. I used to like it but overexposure has ruined it for me.
iTunes strikes again. What song came up as I was reading this post? Young Folks, of course.
I love “Young Folks”, but I knew it hit saturation when I heard it this week over the loudspeakers at my local Home Depot. (I also heard it used last week on “Las Vegas”, and I am not ashamed to admit that I watch that fine piece of television.) But how can you NOT whistle along?