OT - Michigan Daily piece on "Mr Brightside" phenomenon
One of the coolest moments at a U-M game in recent memory - game result notwithstanding.
As a 40-something 1990s alumnus, I was both delighted and puzzled last year by the spontaneous chorus of the student section during the downpour at the MSU game. I liked the song well enough, but I couldn't quite figure out why it meant so much to the mostly drunk, wholly drenched millennials.
The Daily put together a nice piece on the history of the song and an attempt to understand the phenomenon. Thought I'd share it:
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/arts/coming-out-our-cage-look-ins…
Cool story bro: I had some friends in a band that had just started getting some traction locally and even some radio recognition when Mr Brightside hit.
The name of their band was "The Killers".
They scrambled to find another name (l don't even remember what it was) and struggled to keep momentum after the rebranding, but eventually gave up and started playing emo/punk covers of Waylon and Willie songs instead.
Cool. Story. Bro.
in California called “The News”. Some guy named Huey Lewis threatened to sue them if they didn’t change the name of their band.
Music from the roaring 20's was so much better than the bullshit from the 30's 40's 50's 60's 70's and expecially that crazy shit from the 80's.
Ginger Rogers could've had a career in Hip-Hop had she kept practicing her flow. She definitely had the basics down...
https://youtu.be/Trabvs0aqFM?t=1m27s
It was like this in LA in west side bars when the son came out too
Please let this replace that horrific stake blues brothers hand twirling thing that we do at the start of the fourth quarter. That is so damned embarrassing in front of the visiting fans.
I really love the mr brightside sing along. It feels spontaneous instead of forced like most of the piped in music and preprogrammed antics at the big house
If you're at a Michigan game and feel insecure about how opposing fans judge you, you're kind of missing the point...
That is so damned embarrassing in front of the visiting fans.
If you're actually a Michigan fan and not a troll, wow.
This is exactly the kind of attitude that needs to die out at the stadium. You're at a sports game, dude. Get over your petty anxieties and let yourself have fun.
Ohio State fans can't because they Dot The I, which is lame and cool at the same time.
Penn State fans can't, because they honored Joe Paterno.
Wisconsin fans can't, because they literally jump up and down for 3 minutes, which is also lame and super cool at the same time.
Michigan State fans can't, because good behavior is a condition of their parole.
for the Michigan game last year, and the "jump around" was entirely lame. It looks pretty cool on TV, but is an utter fail in person. Plus the fact the the student section has about 20 police officers watching to make no no more alcohol is consumed after entering the stadium ... was rather lame too. Everyone knows the issues that Wisconsin band has ... well, evidently the students also have issues. Pretty sad that a few "baddies" ruin a great time for everyone.
Go Blue!
Poor initial choice of words on my part apparently. I could care less what OSU fans or anyone else think about us.
I love the other 99% of the Big House experience and tradition. I just wonder each game as they play that blue brothers song and do whatever moves go along with it, "this is the best we've got"? Kind of hoping that Mr. Brightside can become for us what "Jump" is for Wisconsin or "Sandstorm" is for South Carolina. I like it because when it happened at the MSU game it seemed spontaneous and genuinely from students, not something programmed by someone in the athletic or music departments.
Other than that, everything's good. Trust me, I don't go obsessing about this.
I truly enjoy both Blues Brothers and Mr. Brightside. Both are fun.
I am too young to fully appreciate the Blues Brothers reference, but it is part of our tradition. Isn't that what makes college football so different - the quirky and oddball traditions that have a life of their own? The sanitized corporate bullshit pisses me off way more than the stuff like this, that has existed for so long that we don't even remember how it got started or why it has persisted.
"Jealousy, turning saints into the sea"
"Mr. Brightside" is the Tom Brady of songs; initally met with modest fanfare, but defiantly stood the test of time, and excited women and confused straight men ever since.
Greatness doesn't have to be understood, just appreciated.
Username... checks out!
Killer Flamingos would cover Mr Brightside. Enjoyed them many times in AA mostly in the basement of the Millennium Club.
Memories - used to see Killer Flamingoes all the time at 5th Avenue in Novi.
Everyone is really just trying to copy the relationship between The Joe and “Don’t Stop Believin’”. Nothing will ever come close.
I was unfamiliar with that Mr Brightside song so i gave it a listen....If thats what you people consider good music, we wont be hanging out anytime soon .
Music snobbery is one of the least pernicious but most annoying forms of asshattery.
Couldn’t have put it in a more elegant way.
+1, sir.
Where on that list is people who use the word "pernicious" ?
Are you going to share what you consider to be good music? Personally I hink the Killers are one of the better bands of their generation, and I'm significantly older than them.
As another poster mentioned, I liked the whole stadium singing Have You Ever Seen the Rain with CCR. So appropriate during the monsoon that hit the stadium.
Scotty Doesn't Know catches on. It's a classic even your grandma would sing her lungs out to.
This might also have been the last music video I paid attention to. After that, videos, while never a huge part of my music consumption experience, dissipated completely.
Everytime I hear the song, it brings me a lot of joy (like on the verge of tears joy if I'm drunk). It immediately brings back memories of belting out the song with my best friends near closing time at ye ol' Ricks American Cafe
Perhaps an Ode to Joy?
Some songs are just really fun to sing. Baba o riley is a good song but good luck getting anyone to sing it anywhere.
Great song and one I love to sing, but the lead in is WAY too long for a sporting event.
What makes Baba O'Riley great is Townsend's innovative use of synth loops married to Keith Moon's cascading drum fills - while it's great rock music, it's every bit as hummable as the OSU fight song, i.e., not at all.
Now I want to read an article breaking down the deeper meaning behind, long backstory of, and the psychology examining why Sweet Caroline is also a staple at sports venues. How the instruments are arranged, the pacing and studio editing, how that all affects sports fans, and what the song really "means" to its generation.