Number Ones - Foster The People 'Pumped Up Kicks'

I never paid much attention to 'Pumped Up Kicks' and as a result completely dismissed it as some airy Peter Bjorn and John festival-vibes rip-off track. I had no idea it was about a high school massacre, stealth hippy indeed. This is an amazing article Tim.

I once described Pumped Up Kicks as "vanilla being painted beige in the halls of Purgatory". That's what you get for not listening to the lyrics. High school massacre indeed.

Foster the people is over http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE4fz8cwL9c

To be honest, I too assumed the song was a bit of fluff until about a week ago, when my girlfriend heard a snippet of the song and said, "is that song about killing people?"

I really enjoyed reading this article but I can't help but think i've heard this song before. The problem with the scornful eye you cast over these people - although subtly and passively - is that you've posted it here where those very people come to learn. Unfortunately, for you (and I), the masses will not care enough to look deeper than Foster The People's best try at Otis Redding, and that includes your readers. And that will ring true for 'Pumped Up Kicks' as it will the next review you write. But, I also can't think that them making a fleeting allusion to a handgun makes them 'deep'. Since Dylan onwards, music rags and pop culture arbiters have always projected ideologies and meaning onto musicians as if they were some perspicacious sages sent from above no matter how esoteric or convoluted their lyrics may be. I doubt you'll ever truly find anything profound in most music, let alone something that was in the Australian(!) top 40. I do enjoy reading these articles, but ultimately they're ironically written to debase a social structure which in it's very essence is 'hipster'. Wow, that's meta-on-meta irony. I went to a meeting and they said that's very "meta", and i'm like "what the f*ck?", it turns out it's a comedy term. Here I am in comedy and I don't know the term..." - Norm MacDonald

I really enjoyed reading this article but I can't help but think i've heard this song before. The problem with the scornful eye you cast over these people - although subtly and passively - is that you've posted it here where those very people come to learn. Unfortunately, for you (and I), the masses will not care enough to look deeper than Foster The People's best try at Otis Redding, and that includes your readers. And that will ring true for 'Pumped Up Kicks' as it will the next review you write. But, I also can't think that them making a fleeting allusion to a handgun makes them 'deep'. Since Dylan onwards, music rags and pop culture arbiters have always projected ideologies and meaning onto musicians as if they were some perspicacious sages sent from above no matter how esoteric or convoluted their lyrics may be. I doubt you'll ever truly find anything profound in most music, let alone something that was in the Australian(!) top 40. I do enjoy reading these articles, but ultimately they're ironically written to debase a social structure which in it's very essence is 'hipster'. Wow, that's meta-on-meta irony. I went to a meeting and they said that's very "meta", and i'm like "what the f*ck?", it turns out it's a comedy term. Here I am in comedy and I don't know the term..." - Norm MacDonald

fyi, the quote from norm starts at "I went to a meeting...", I didn't realize you couldn't space out posts.

Cirsumvrent, I wasn't aware that ultimately my articles scornfully/ironically debase a hipster social structure! Should I shave off my hipster beard? To me, the fact that Pumped Up Kicks is at #1 this week means that a large bunch of people found enough meaning/purpose in it to buy it. There is usually something interesting to say about that (to do with lifestyle aspirations and advertisements, in this case), but I'm not trying to imply that the artists are 'perspicacious sages'. That the lyrics of a #1 single are about a schoolyard massacre says more about how little people listen to lyrics and less about the deepness of Foster The People's take on society.

Oh don't get me wrong Tim, the implications of those lyrics or in the context of society I was highlighting isn't directed at you. More what people's paradigm for 'good' music is and what they're projecting onto that music when they're listening to it, if anything. You raised their history of advertising that preceded their number 1 song. Which I find is ironic given that you can trace a lot of the hipster movement back to being cultivated by pure advertising, with a musical attachment growing later which was an amalgamation of all(!) musical influences. But as I said Tim, i think you're one of the good guys. But, also, there is a sense of ironic(I know I keep using that word, but I find it appropriate and can't think of anything else) detachment in these type of articles which serves to highlight people's superficial tastes and debase them - there has to be, there's no other reason to dedicate 2000+ words to LMFAO's latest enlightening output. And I know you're filling web space, it's your job. And i'm just an anonymous poster harping on a pointless argument, really. But we've all gotta pass the day I suppose.

God it bugs me when every granny and her cat catch up with some tune you got bored with over a year ago. It's exasperating.