Ukeleles and Glockenspiels
On the worst arranging trend of the 21st century
I promise you I am a nice, gracious guy, and the Rearranged podcast is very positive, and it's ultimately about the joy of listening to music and connecting with people through music and how no matter what terrible things are happening in the world or in your life, music is always going to be there to offer joy and beauty and connection.
Today, though, I need to write about something that sucks.
This sound hijacks you and drops you at a fork in the road. At this road, there are two signs: "Skip Ad" and "Pay Now."
Forced Jollity
The thing that sucks is a sound. You know it. You're watching something on YouTube, and an advertisement cuts in, and suddenly you hear someone strumming eighth notes on a ukulele with the vigor of someone swabbing a ship deck. A glockenspiel joins in, sprinkling the sprightly strums with a melody that...that...
That wants you to fucking buy something.
It's in every YouTube ad. And it's spreading. I saw a collection of whimsical short videos about dogs this past weekend, and there it was. Chunkachunkachunka, deet doodeedoo. The shallower and Instagrammier the story, the ukelelier and glockenspielier the music.
This music wants us to be cheerful. But not for cheerfulness's sake. Your ears hear it, and your face aches, resisting the rictus of forced jollity. This sound hijacks you and drops you at a fork in the road. At this road, there are two signs: "Skip Ad" and "Pay Now."
It is library music for the soundtrack to your dream of being locked in a shopping mall forever. It is hold music playing from a phone that is superglued to your ear.
Music devoid of personal expression
How did this particular arranging style take hold? Was it borne of market research? Did someone send a memo saying, "Please replace the piano and guitar with ukelele and glockenspiel, we have discovered it generates a 12 percent increase in our ROI"?
Music devoid of personal expression can engage your mind. Furniture music, ambient music, the kind of library music from the 70s that actually thrilled the musicians making it.
This is not that.
This is something for which you drop 46 bucks and get this:
This uplifting and happy song featuring Ukulele, Glockenspiel, Strings and light guitar is the perfect match with corporate or business video or web site, commercials, adverts, infomercials or all kind of TV program. This catchy melody is positive and will make you feel well!
If someone wants to pay me to report it, I will track down the source for a short cultural history of this wretched arranging tic.
The Joy of Listening: Tomorrow!
Okay, I will adjust my attitude by tomorrow morning, when the first episode of Rearranged premieres. Really, at its heart the podcast isn't about arranging or anything terribly technical, but about the joy of listening and the richness of experience when you listen in a particular way and the transcendence of the human connection made when we listen together.
I just finished a long radio interview about the podcast, and I described Rearranged as very much like a great hang with a good friend where you realize it's 3am and there are album covers all over the floor. After the interview, there was a moment at the end where the host and I just got kind of calm and remarked how grateful we are that music is always there for us.
Lucky us.
But the YouTube Ad arranging style really has to go.
See you in your podcast feed tomorrow! You can subscribe and leave a review at Apple Podcasts. (You can also subscribe on Spotify, the subject of a book I am very much looking forward to reading.)
Take it easy, and listen hard.
Lawrence