Have you ever noticed that modern culture seems to suddenly fixate on ideas so wholeheartedly that the idea becomes a cultural phenomenon for nearly everybody in the world for a short period of time? Then, just as abruptly as the fixation began, culture moves on to the next idea. These ideas often are expressed in memes, videos, and occasionally songs.
One example would be the idea of storming Area 51 in fall of 2019. So many memes were created about this one idea. Thousands of people claimed they would be attending. The Storm Area 51 meme became a true social movement.
However before the dates to actually storm Area 51 arrived, internet culture had already moved on. A grand total of about 6000 people arrived of the 30,000 expected attendees.
Of all the memes, one of my personal favorites was the way Lil Nas X capitalized on the event with his already popular song, Old Town Road. A new animated video with a new version of the song featuring additional artists was released. This video detailed the storming of Area 51 in the most 2019 cultural fashion possible: Area 51 raid featuring animated Wal-mart Yodeling Kid, A Thanos Bird, all set to Old Town Road.
The idea of making a song about a cultural phenomenon is not new. Protest songs in the 1960s are great examples of playing off popular culture’s feelings in order to become popular.
Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival is a great example of a protest song.
The 60s was also a big time for hippies and a “free love and peace movement” Which was expressed in popular music of the time.
Get Together - the Youngbloods is a great example of a song playing into the love and peace movement of the 1960s
Making a meme song of our own!
The other day, I was talking to my boss and good friend, radio legend, Ryan Steineckert, when he told me about an idea he had.
Ryan wanted to create spoof songs about our serious shortage of Chick Fil A on SUU Campus.
I thought it was a fantastic idea. The question was, could we recreate the idea of meme culture in a smaller scale. Perhaps an SUU campus sized scale meme?
We decided to record a quick test run, a reimagined version of Last Kiss by Pearl Jam detailing the heartbreaking reality of the continued Chick Fil A closures.
Ryan got the vocals in one take, and Graveey, another famed Radio personality was able to record the guitar backing in one take as well.
With absolutely no experience, I personally laid down a bass line with a guitar and a Whammy Pedal.
We were able to create something truly entertaining and relatable to students and faculty on campus. Only time will tell how successful we really were.
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