Heavy Rotation: Missy Elliott, Franz Ferdinand, the Vogues

Welcome to a special Primp edition of Heavy Rotation, where we bring you our favorite songs to get dolled-up to. Whether you're headed out to your favorite dive bar or some super-fancy soiree, there should be something here for every occasion. (God, how Cosmo-sounding is that?) Find the Heavy Rotation jukebox on our homepage, get your lip gloss out and strike a pose or something.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Do You Love Me?"
If I were a fashion designer, this would so be my runway song. There's nothing subtle or wallflower-y about this track by my ever-beloved Nick -- it's pure drama, a perfect symbiosis of the sinister energy that Cave brought to the Birthday Party with the literary theatricality of his solo sensibility. That murmuring bassline at the beginning, the stately piano line, those cascading guitar chords -- it just screams a kind of anarchic elegance. I think "anarchic elegance" is a nice thing to strive for in terms of social life, and not a bad thing to have on your side when you're psyching yourself up for the night. (Kat)

Franz Ferdinand, "What You Waiting For?"
I'd actually forgotten about this cheeky little Gwen Stefani cover till I heard it in a rilly, rilly bad store at the mall a few weeks back. I don't know if I've ever actually "primped" to it, though I do know I've jogged to it many many times. And there's something kinda "whaaa?" about the Franz Ferdinand dude telling me I'm a superhot female and a stupid ho, but it's all in good fun. My favorite thing, though, is how it changes into "White Wedding" at the end: Lately I'm all about tapping into the secret genius of Billy Idol. "Hot in the City"? YESSS. (Liz)

Missy Elliott, "I'm Really Hot"
I don't think it's such a bad thing to be so literal in your primping music -- after all, aren't you just reaffirming your hotness when you get up in it? I love the slinky original of this song and have this whole dance to it, but I think this remix by Ratatat is super-rad, especially because it is always this close to busting my speakers when I blast it loud before I head out for the night. I live on the edge that way, can't you tell? (Kat)

Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight"
Um, how you doin', apex of pop perfection? Clearly a killer primping song; it invites its listener to imagine that "you" are the "she" of the title. So as the song blasts and you're applying your fourteenth coat of mascara, you can say to yourself in the mirror, "Well, Tommy & Bobby, tonight I'm going to go hang out at my friend's apartment and maybe watch a movie, walk the dog, eat some food, have a glass of wine, and then take the train home at around twenty to midnight." The moment when Tommy Boyce says, "C'mon, Bobby" near the end of the song fills my heart with glee. I love self-referentialism in pop music, like in "Glass Onion" by the Beatles when John Lennon sings, "The walrus was Paul." Speaking of Paul McCartney, Tommy Boyce is his doppelganger. See? The Beatles relate to everything. (Laura)

R.E.M., "The Wake-Up Bomb"
Like the other track I picked for this entry, this one feels kinda like a parody of a primping song, which is what makes it not completely terrible when Michael Stipe sings that wacky lyric about his jeans. But then it gets all anthemic at the bridge and makes you wanna run around the house, and that's a good way to feel when you're getting ready to paint the town red. Oh, Stipey: so complex! Sometimes I'm so busy being annoyed and bored by him that I forget he's so fabulous. (Liz)

The Vogues, "Five O'Clock World"
There are some songs from the '60s that make me think, "Wow, I wish more than I've ever wished anything that I could have been 22 years old in 1967 and have had the experience of hearing this song for the first time," and then there are songs that make me think, "Wow, this song rules, but if I had been my age when it first came out, I probably would've hated this MOR drippiness as much as 2008 Laura hates Danity Kane or the Jonas Brothers." I've actually never heard Danity Kane or the Jonas Brothers, but I've heard "Five O'Clock World" seventeen billion trillion times. Maybe 1965 Laura would have thought it was losery schmaltz, but 2008 Laura thinks its exciting as hell. (PS: I just found out via the Wikipedia entry for "Five O'Clock World" that it was the theme song of The Drew Carey Show, which makes me feel really lame, but whatevs) (Laura)

Posted by Kat, Liz and Laura in Heavy Rotation
Permalink | Stumble This! | Digg This! | |

+ Contact Us
+ HOME

© K. Asharya, L. Barker and L. Faulds. All rights reserved. All content cannot be reproduced without prior written permission.

;