30 Day Song Challenge -- Day 16

Day 16: A song that you used to love but now hate.

Another case of strong word choice here that I don't necessarily agree with. I couldn't think of a song that had passed from one extreme to the other, no song that I had soured on so thoroughly over time. But sure, there are songs I used to like a lot more than I do now. Something from that list will fit the bill here.

I'm finding these days that a big influence in changing my opinion of a song is Rock Band. There are songs that I don't like to listen to that I find quite enjoyable in game. There are songs I love to listen to that just don't have compelling gameplay. There are songs I come to respect all whole lot more -- or less -- for their sheer craftsmanship, by experiencing the way all the parts of the song work together.

A band that has really dropped in my esteem because of this is The Police. Rock Band has pointed out to me that basically every Police song ends with a minute-and-a-half of chanting the same single lyric over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. One of the worst offenders is "Can't Stand Losing You" (see 2:10 through the end of the song):



But I should point out that while experiencing The Police in Rock Band made me think much less of Sting as a songwriter, it made me appreciate the group's drummer, Stewart Copeland, a lot more. This guy is incredible. His drumming is nuanced, loaded with oddball syncopation that demands incredible limb independence. And yet it simultaneously manages to never be showy, to never call attention to itself or distract from the natural feeling of the song. For my money, he was by far the best musician in the band.

If, for whatever reason, I had to make a non-Rock Band-related selection in this category, I'd go for "O Fortuna," the opening of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. You may not know this song by name, but trust me... you know this song. That's because there was apparently a law on the books in Hollywood for a while that required at least 1 out of every 4 commercials/TV shows/movies/trailers to use it. (And for at least 1 of the remaining 3 to use a sound-alike.) Somewhere along the way, the song got retired in favor of "Hall of the Mountain King," but my original enthusiasm for the piece has never recovered.