If you namedropJimmy Eat Worldin a casual conversation, people might look at you funny. The name sounds like its origins: two little kids teasing each other. Though fronted byJim Atkins,he is not the “Jimmy” who “eat[s the] world,” but rather it was an insulting picture guitarist Tom Linton‘s little brother, Ed, who drew a picture of his slightly older brother Jimmy looking so fat that he was “eat[ing]the world.” Jimmy Eat World is a band’s band. They are responsible for influencing everyone in punk, pop punk and even hardcore punk in the last 20 years. Best known for their song “The Middle,” a top 40 pop hit, the band spun several singles throughout the years, even today. Their most commercially successful albums have beenBleed American(2001),Futures (2004), andChase This Light(2007).
ARE YOU DIZZY YET? Yesterday, I talked about the burnout I’ve been experiencing lately. Burnout is very common with teachers, and I’m sure that most of us are experiencing it in a time with so much uncertainty. But there’s a dizzy feeling that comes at the end of the school week, especially at the end of the semester. It’s the papers piled on my desk. It’s the documents I forgot to print before class. It’s fifty questions before the lesson starts. It’s the chaos the students can spin the class into as the technology doesn’t work. It’s the “teacher, can I go get my phone to do the Google Classroom assignment,” five minutes before the end of class. It’s the schedule changes because the special programs that just came up. It’s the repeated cancelation, which trains the students “this class doesn’t really matter.” It’s the clicking and grading of classes that all look the same. It’s the Monday to Friday boxed into the routine that if you break it, you fall behind. It’s the deciding if it’s cutting my cleaning time, my study time, my exercise time, or my blog time so that I can get to sleep on time to manage the next day. It’s the feeling that I used to have everything so together, but now I feel like it’s unravelling. It’s dizzying.
JESUS, IS THERE SOMEONE YET WHO GOT THEIR WISH; DID YOU GET YOURS, BABE? In 2014, I was experiencing a similar burnout. At that time, I also started to feel very exploited by the private academy I worked for. Some days it was hard to think of my next step. It seems really hard to get the energy to pick yourself out of a slump. Rather than coming home and revising my resume, my inner critic tells me how pathetic it looks. I’d tell myself, “If you don’t rest up and prepare for tomorrow, you won’t make it through that day. And if you can’t have the energy to improve your condition, you’ll be stuck here forever.” It was a vicious cycle. But there came a point when bitterness gave me the energy to take the steps to move on in 2014, and the next year I began working at my current school. And while I’ve enjoyed teaching my students and working with my coworkers, bitterness with admin, boredom with the same-old-same-old routine, and burnout from the pandemic have given me a spark to look forward to the future. But unlike, “Dizzy,” I don’t wish to go back and undo my “relationship” I have with my career or my job. I do think that a break up is imminent.
In 2010, Far East Movement was the first Asian-American group to top Billboard’s Hot 100 with the dance/hip-hop hit “Like a G6,” a fun track about getting so drunk in the club that you feel like a private plane. The group’s follow up hit, “Rocketeer” stuck with the flying theme. “Rocketeer” peaked at number 7 both on the Top 40 radio charts and the Hot 100, and the group hasn’t released music topping their success. However, the 2010 success of FEM brought light to a hip-hop scene many Americans didn’t even know existed. Far East Movement’s rise to the top of the Hot 100 was a culmination of the career they built in LA’s Koreatown and the Asian-American music scene, collaborations in various areas of the music industry, and the luck of being in the middle of dance/EDM Hip-hop when the wave swept.
WITH YOU RIGHT HERE, I’M A ROCKETEER. LET’S FLY. This song picks me up out of a slump. It’s be nine years since I came to Korea, and in December, it will be 10 years since I graduated college. Before I graduated from university, the world seemed full of opportunities. There was a world out there to see. Having grown up playing Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego as one of the only computer games I was allowed to play, I dreamed of the world that I could fly away to and experience. I envied people in movies for whom travel was a normal thing. For my family, vacation was a trip to visit my grandparents in Florida or a trip to the beach. When I had the opportunity to go to Yap it reignited the Carmen Sandiego travel bug, and going to Korea was a continuation of that bug. But I quickly learned that trans-Pacific flights were not going to be a frequent thing. I never saw myself staying in Korea as long as I have, but until 2019, I really found fulfillment in my work and the years just passed.
GOT A JETPACK WITH YOUR NAME ON IT. Teaching in the pandemic has me really fatigued. It doesn’t help that vacation was screwed up last year to interfere with my recovery. Working more hours with fewer teachers has me switching from my normal problem-solving self to a much more cynical shadow of my former self. I used to look at teaching at my school as puzzle to solve. It was fun trying to figure out which strategies would be most helpful to the student. It was stressful to figure out how to work around the obstacles and obstructions from supervisors. But I was always able to do it. But in the COVID world, I’m not feeling like doing my best. I’ve become so burnt out, but a few weeks ago I was inspired to take some time off for my master’s degree. It’s what I had wanted to do for some time when I had paid off my student loans. Thanks to a federal pause on interest, a steady job, and a pretty boring lifestyle, I’m almost paid up. It may be soon time to pursue a future. This is both exciting and terrifying. The sky’s the limit, but where should I take the jetpack? And more importantly, is it safe to fly?
Yellowcard belongs on a soundtrack for my teenage summer, but today’s track is not a typical sounding Yellowcard song. In 2004 one of my summer songs was “Ocean Avenue” from the band’s major label debut of the same name. They became known as the pop-punk band with the crazy electric violin, especially in their first three records. The band was a massively successful Florida punk band that impacted pop and rock radio, following in the footsteps of bands like Good Charolette, Simple Plan, and New Found Glory. The band’s success with mainstream radio and MTV faded and they started to lack originality by their third record. However, the band’s second act saw more complex lyricism and instrumentality. The band remained in the scene until breaking up in in 2018, releasing their self-titled record in 2016. “Savior’s Robes” is track 9 of 10 on the album whose artwork seems to be anti-sun/summer and good times music found in the early days of Yellowcard.
I WONDER IF YOU CAN RECALL MY NAME. Opening with a heavy distorted guitar and drums and an uncharacteristically angry sounding lead singer Ryan Key, “Savior’s Robes,” sounds like it’s a dis-track to some bad blood in the band’s history. Yellowcard had a series of member shake-ups, some of which were bitter. The reference to “a devil in a savior’s robes” sounds eerily religious. Key had been a member of the Tooth & Nail band Craig’s Brother, and as a Florida band in punk/pop-punk had been around a lot of the early 2000s Tooth & Nail bands, according to Key’s interview on Lead Singer Syndrome. Interestingly, Yellowcard’s plan to call it quits seemed to echo fellow Florida rock band Anberlin, who also released a farewell album and performed a farewell tour in 2014. Anberlin’s drummer, Nate Young, performed on the final two Yellowcard albums. This collaboration turned me be back on to Yellowcard after deleting their third album from my Apple library years ago. Today’s song is fun, aggressive, and not all what to expect as a first song in a playlist. It’s long. It seems to end before picking up speed. It sits well as a middle album track. But just as it’s not a typical opener, it’s not a typical summer. It’s cloudy and COVID is making us forget what normal is.
YOU TOOK MY EDGE, SHARPENED IT IN CASE. This song reminds me of the grungier days of RadioU. Christian music seemed to skip grunge’s first wave with the exception of Skillet’s first album and maybe some old Third Day, but there were a few examples for grunge’s second wave: Since October, Lucerin Blue, East West. This song sounds more like it’s channelling that sound than the upbeat teens on Ocean Avenue. One line I found interesting: “You’re a devil in a savior’s robe / Made it easier to let you go / I never should have let you get so close.” It’s easy to let a devil go once you realize they are one, but the savior’s robe allows that person to get close. Is this a metaphor for a friend who betrays or literally about an experience with someone who uses piety as a way to draw others in. Is it the music industry? Is it the “cool Christian” youth groups? Is it the festivals that the band played alongside Christian bands? It’s a very icky feeling when you’re swindled by the oily Bible salesman. It’s quite a common story, and I have quite a few from working for a church school. Still, it’s an even ickier feeling when they try to swindle people who don’t believe it. It’s actually quite embarrassing, or at least it was. No wonder why people are so programed against religion.
Last month when I wrote about Sam Tsui, Max, and Kurt Hugo Schneider’s cover of Neyo’s “So Sick,” I talked about how Tyler Ward was my gateway drug to the world of YouTube cover artists who eventually branch out and write and produce their own music. I discovered Tyler Ward when I was bored in my dorm room and watching pop music videos–ironically of course–and saw that Ward was covering artists like Katy Perry, Far East Movement, Ke$ha, and even oldies like Oasis and Goo Goo Dolls. Starting in 2007, Ward released original music, but was mostly covering songs by the end of the ’00s into the early ’10s. Ward’s first album stylistically flirts with rock and piano rock; however, when Ward started recording original music again, his sound was solidified as a pop singer with a penchant for non-twangy country. “Teenage Summer” is pretty typical of Tyler Ward’s sound–uplifting and light.
‘CAUSE WE WERE RAISED ON THESE REAL GOOD, FEEL GOOD SOUL SONGS. I remember somehow Ward came up in a conversation about music with my roommate. I said in pseudo-disgust, “I hate this guy. He plays guitar and produces his own music on YouTube. He makes pop music sound so cool and respectable. He’s a cool, good looking guy. And he even has my name!” I was jealous and enchanted. I even purchased some of his covers, downloaded a few others from YouTube, and bought his album Vol. 1. Yes, some of the songs were a little cringy, and sometimes the production sounded awkward, but I couldn’t get enough of the guy. His somewhat mysterious/ambiguous connections to CCM including collaborations with long-forgotten singer Rachel Lampa, his air of confidence and smile when he sang, making it feel like he was your best friend, his dirty blond/light brown hair, his past as a football player. I couldn’t vocalize it then. It was like a ’90s sitcom crush with the punchline being, “I’m not gay!” In fact, I wouldn’t dwell on it much, but yeah, my obsession with Tyler Ward in college makes a lot more sense given what I know about myself now.
GOT TEN WEEKS TO DO WHAT WE WANNA. “Teenage Summer” is a nice nostalgic track for youth. Today, Memorial Day, is often called the unofficial start of summer, and for Americans, it seems that summer, though cancelled last year, is back, baby! For South Koreans, however, summer vacation is short, lasting from mid July to mid August. Winter vacation is much longer in Korea. Still, when the weather gets warmer, I’m reminded of my teenage summers–11th grade and the summer after graduating. I remember getting my driver’s license and working, teaching guitar lessons/gigs and other odd jobs and taking community college classes. A few times, I made a few mixtapes for driving, but my car’s CD player was old and hated burned CDs. But my teenage summers were pretty mild. I had an old car and a guitar, and no girlfriend. I thought my teenage years were pretty lonely. However, I was hoping to start a musical career, maybe getting into session work as a guitarist or keyboardist. I could make money on playing wedding gigs as a classical guitarist, teach lessons, and my career as a musician would make up for not having a normal “teenage summer.” Well, that didn’t work out.
Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is the disco of the day. These days, pop charts are filled with DJs and features; however, in the age of disco, the featured singers often went uncredited. Today, though, in the age of powerful pop singers, a feature for a DJ can be mutually beneficial. It can either boost an up-and-coming DJ or boost and up-and-coming singer. Today’s song is not one of the most popular DJs or features. The song hit number 20 on the US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in 2019. It was featured on the second To All the Boys Netflix film. ILLENIUM and Bahari are not household names, but there is something intoxicating about this smooth, repetitive pop jam, problematic lyrics and all.
IT’S LIKE CHAMPAGNE/ FEEL IT POURING IN MY VEINS. When I came to Korea, I found a very conservative environment with the other missionary teachers. Just like when I chose “the most conservative (accredited) Adventist university,” I had taken a leap of faith in coming to Korea. It was God’s calling for my life at that point I believed. In Korea, I was a bit of a liberal with my love of rock music, Christopher Nolan movies, and Thomas Hardy. I believed that it was important to understand the people of the world by understanding their culture. The group of missionaries whom I worked with were more about personal holiness and shielding yourself from temptations. If they were significantly older, I would call it an age divide, but they were around my age. I had noticed Adventist youth and young adults getting more radical in their devotion, attending events like GYC (Generation of Youth for Christ) and listening to a new wave of Adventist speakers who recycled the old legalistic messages of Adventism with an end-times urgency, specific for millennials. I had avoided people like this before coming to Korea, but it was the reality when I came to my small town in Gangwon-do.
FEELING OUT OF CONTROL WITH YOU CHEMICALS. I remember one conversation with my friend at the time, Abram. It was a conversation after a Sabbath school (like Sunday school, only on Saturday). The lesson study had been about a verse, possibly Titus 2:11-12. Andrew said, “The problem with most people today is they aren’t sober-minded. They may not drink, but they are so caught up in their daily life that they can’t listen to God.” He went on to talk about all the ways that the church, and specifically other church members were caught up in the trivial things that distract us from God, whether it was smart phone notifications, noraebangs, church social events, shopping–often necessary things distract us from our higher calling, spreading the Gospel. Conversations like this reminded me that being a Christian, being a real Christian that is, is hard work. Sabbath afternoon conversations with a wiser, older spiritual brother eventually wouldn’t cut it a year and a half later, but if I could only commit myself to a sober, Christ-like existence, if only I could be more perfect, I would be fulfilled. But perfect was never perfect enough.
After several members of the Christian Rock band Something Like Silas dissolved, some of the members came together to start a new indie rock project. The band’s name was taken from a C.S. Lewis poem of the same name. Debuting in 2007, Future of Forestry has gained acclaim from music critics and the group has a modest following. They have not been hit producers; however, their music has shown up in numerous TV shows and movies. Fronted by classically-trained composer and multi-instrumentalist Eric Owyoung, who now operates the band as a solo project, Future of Forestry’s music is layered and undeniably artistic. However, I just wish they would learn the rules of where to put apostrophes.
YOUR HEART HAS BROUGHT YOU TO THIS LAND WHERE YOUR LOVE IS STRONG AND BOLD. “So, you’re about to graduate. What are you doing next?” I asked a friend in college. My being a super-senior made me have this conversation every semester with classmates who were going on to brighter days before me. “I don’t know. I’d like to travel. Maybe go to Korea and teach English for a year. I want to connect with my father’s side of the family,” River said. Recruiters for the missionary academy came to my college every year. Another friend said he wanted to teach in Taiwan so that he could learn some Mandarin. I knew from my time in Yap that hot places weren’t for me. I get so sluggish when I’m in the heat. River was the girl I traveled to Yap with, and I had stayed with her family for a few days before going to Yap. Her parents had met in Korea. Her mother had been taught for a year and her father had been one of her mother’s business English students. He wrote to her years later when she had returned to America, and the two eventually got married.
THE DAY THAT YOU ARRIVED YOU KNEW THAT YOU COULD RIDE ON A GIANT’S SHOULDERS. The year after asking River what she was going to do after graduation, I was in the same predicament; figuring out what to do. River ended up getting married and working for Adventist publication. Korea stuck in my head. “I’m not sure about going there to work as a missionary because I heard that they make you teach Sabbath School, and I don’t think I could teach school and teach on Sabbath, too,” River said. When my student teaching experience soured, I reached out to a friend who was teaching there. She said be very cautious. The institute hours were long. But the adventure of it intrigued me. Going away to another country where I could be anyone I wanted. Another colleague was teaching with EPIK (English Program In Korea) in public school. I saw the Facebook pictures of drinking and barbecue, and I realized that I had to work for the church. It would keep me safe. How could I fall away from the relationship with God I had cultivated? I could be free to be anyone I wanted, and yet I chose the most restrictive path. Dear past self, it’s okay to be yourself.
In 2017 Season 2 of the highly successful Produce 101, a reality show to make a Kpop group, premiered on South Korean broadcasting channel Mnet. Music competition shows have been popular for ages, but only on rare occasions does the group or artist translate to real-world success. Season One of Produce 101 took 101 female contestants and whiddled the candidates down to eleven group members of the highly successful girl group I.O.I. For the second season, the concept changed. This time 101 male Kpop trainees would compete to be part of Wanna One. The result was not only a more successful season two but the creation of the third most successful Kpop act of the 2010s and the band only lasted for 2 years.
THE MOMENT OUR EYES MATCH, UNBELIEVABLE THINGS HAPPEN. One of the stipulations of Wanna One’s contract was that the band would record for a year and a half and play shows for two years. In January of 2019, Wanna One played their final show, freeing all 11 members from their exclusive obligations with Wanna One. The group was formed as a temporary band, fanfare to the reality show they were a part of, and though Season 3 didn’t produce a group as successful as I.O.I or Wanna One, keeping all iterations of the show going might have crowded the Kpop scene. Still, the money that could have been made! With 11 cute young men to choose from, Wanna One earned middle school girl’s allowance money, and could have continued collecting it, just as older acts like EXO and BTS are still selling albums, posters, and special editions.
I’M WAITING FOR THE DAY WE’LL MEET AGAIN. Located in the center of the group’s final album, today’s song, has infectious early ‘90s soft rock harmonies. Cheesy? Yes, but the soft rock sound makes me nostalgic for my childhood, like playing legos on a rainy day and listening to the radio. I’ve been looking for that nostalgic sound a lot lately. It reminds me of when I could just coast through life. It makes me think about going back and doing it again with what I know now, growing up without wasting time trying to live for people who don’t even matter now. I makes me wonder what other possibilities I could have chosen. This, of course, is pretty pointless because we can’t hit the rewind button. The best I can do is focus on making the right decisions moving forward and teaching the next generation to live without regrets, if such a thing is possible. The kid sitting on the floor playing legos while listening to the radio will grow up alright. Life won’t be exactly as he pictured it, but he find love.
Tim Be Told was an indie CCM band made up of mostly Asian Americans. The band toured, released singles, and got some acclaim. Founded by keyboardist and singer Timothy Ouyang, the band now is a solo act with Tim being the only remaining member. After the other musicians split in 2015, Ouyang came out as gay and Ouyang uses his project, Tim Be Told, to write songs about faith, love, and telling his stories about discovering his sexuality. Last year, Tim released his most authentic, autobiographical album under the Tim Be Told moniker, Love & Happiness and he told his story on Matthias Roberts’ podcast, Queerology.
YOU NEED KNOW IF I BELIEVE IN ME AND YOU. “Me to You” starts out feeling like a praise & worship song. It seems like the formula I heard on CCM stations when I listened to that genre, and of course, Ouyang is well versed in that writing style. However, when says “Felt a little rush / Then our fingers touched,” that line hit me. This song is about falling in love in all of its innocence. That human moment about falling in love, gay or straight or anywhere on the spectrum, is so relatable: when you realize that your feelings are reciprocated. Many will have this happen in their teenage years, the subtle moments leading up to an awkward laugh or maybe a kiss, when you’re not quite sure logically what is happening, but you let yourself fall into it. Some of us it happens much, much later. Some of us it’s a Tinder match or a message on a dating site.
I TRIED TO FOLLOW EVERY RULE. I certainly didn’t want to end up chopped up in the back of someone’s car and that was one of the reasons I would make profile and quickly delete it. I would make a profile and say I lived in another part of the country and then set search parameters for closer to home. Once I even made an OKCupid account and said I was an American ex-pat living in Spain. But then I’d get worried about being a victim of serial killer or freak out that someone might recognize me or I’d start to feel guilty about it because of my relationship with God. Then I thought about the places I could drive to. Teens and young adults are supposed to rebel and take the car, staying out all night. The places I could have meet interesting strangers. The places good Christian boys don’t go. Then there was the cold that ran through my body when I thought about what it might if I saw my fantasy to completion. I called it the Holy Spirit. Softly and tenderly it called all the sinners home to a cold shower and off to bed. But the nights were lonely drowning in the blueness of the screen. I was the hypocrite and my sins would certainly find me out. “Me to You” offers a much less lonely path to love.
On February 7, 2021, the 55th NFL Super Bowl sent mixed signals from a divided nation. You all know the story of March and April and May of 2020. There was a virus. There was a lockdown. There was a brutal murder that everyone saw. There were riots. There was a demand for change. And there was push back. As many ordinary white Americans became aware of the realties of the hardships of people of color, companies scrambled to be on the right side of history. The revolution of 2020 brought light to the realities of racism, but in many cases it seemed to be an attempt to pass the buck. Cancel culture aimed to scrub pop culture of its racist history, while companies that had first targeted white audiences started to think about incorporating diversity.
I’M GOING THROUGH WITHDRAWALS. Abel Makkonen Tesfaye is one of the biggest artists today. Better known as The Weeknd, Tesfaye has been called as the Michael Jackson of this generation. He is the most streamed artists on Spotify. While his latest album, After Hours, was snubbed by the Grammys, he was otherwise decorated with Billboard Music Awards and MTV Video Awards, including video of the year for “Blinding Lights” (and the video is incredible). While he may not have been the music playing on adult contemporary radio stations by white soccer moms, The Weeknd’s streaming success and overall feel-good (with sad lyrics) pop-R&B-indie-emo-’80s nostalgia was a great choice for the halftime show, particularly a show that has been historically tone deaf. Maroon 5 sparked controversy in 2019 when artists boycotted the league for their condemnation of Colin Kaepernick. In the midst of a pandemic and a movement for social justice and despite a highly controversial election, The Weeknd gave a stellar performance. Synth pop, choirs, imagery of Sin City, and some surrealist dancers made his medley of hits feel like they were being canonized in a post modern American Songbook.
I’M DROWNING IN THE NIGHT. But one performance isn’t enough. An episode of Straight White American Jesus broke down the hidden message behind Super Bowl 55. The host Brad Onishi argues that messages of unity in this year’s Super Bowl were about uniting behind the establishment, rather than forging ahead in human rights. One particular message that Onishi talks about at length is a commercial in which Bruce Springsteen talks about a chapel that invites all to join. The argument that Onishi has with this Jeep commercial is that Springsteen is imposing a Christian unity. In other words, being American means being Christian. This does nothing for the person of another faith or of non-faith. As an American, it’s time to challenge our notion of what is American. It should be a diverse picture where everyone regardless of color, race, religion or non-religion, sexuality, or gender is free to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s a land where the police don’t hunt a certain race of people. It’s a land where all can mix and mingle. It’s a land that we can see representation of everyone in the media and in society in every walk of life. It’s a land where we don’t forget our racist past, but we certainly don’t glorify it. We learn from it. We know that Black Lives Matter. We proclaim that Black Lives Matter. We live out the true meaning of the American Creed.
“Weird Al” Yankovic is the king of the parody. From his early self-produced tune in of the late ’70s hits on Doctor Demento to topping the Billboard albums sales chart with his 2006 masterpiece Straight Outta Lynnwood, Weird Al has stayed relevant for over 40 years, evolving with the sounds of the decades, whether it was Michael Jackson parodies in the ’80s, grunge and alternative parodies in the ’90s and the pop parodies of every generation. But arguably, it’s Yankovic’s hilarious takes on Hip-Hop that have kept the 60 year old artist up with the times. “Gangsta’s Paradise”? Nah, let’s rap about the Amish. “Ridin’ Dirty” becomes “White N’ Nerdy.” And the hedonism of T.I.’s 2008 hit “Whatever You Like” keeps its title, but instead, it gets a 2008 recession lyrical modification.
THRIFT STORE JEANS FOR SALE, HALF PRICE. Let’s first look at the piece that Yankovic based this song on. The T.I music video, you see a waitress’s fantasy of meeting the singer. He buys everything for her as if she’s a princess. The look on her face as money solves all of her problems and makes her wildest dreams come true left me waiting for the catch. Indeed, if T.I’s only condition is “I want yo’ body / I need yo’ body / Long as you got me you won’t need nobody.” Just like when you party with the Gatsbys, someone ends up dead in the pool, it seems that this fairytale will come to an end–maybe a bitter divorce when the rich prince finds another princess. Still, some of us want to play with Jay Gatsby if we have a chance. There’s a reason why people watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians and other gross displays of wealth. We’d like to fantasize about solving all of our problems with a platinum card. But what if “Whatever you like” is a choice between Mac & Cheese for dinner or ordering out for pizza? What if your choice of entertainment is watching the clothes spinning in the laundromat or playing board games? What if you could visit your cousin next Sunday in your boyfriend’s Hyundai?
YOU KNOW OUR ECONOMY’S IN THE TOILET.When I first heard this song, I was laughing through my tears. A writing exercise I sometimes have my student do is to write a letter to someone saying that they love that person (or hate that person). The only rule is they can’t use the words, “I love you.” This forces them to think about other ways to describe their feelings. In a similar vein, “Whatever You Like” is a brilliant way of saying I’m practically broke, without ever saying it. But, if I must be honest, I relate to this song on a bit of a deeper, somewhat painful level. When I was growing up, my family was on food stamps until my dad became a truck driver. We ate from the church’s food pantry as a supplement to the government programs. My sisters and I wore secondhand clothes, but never underwear like in this song! I used to envy the kids who could have “whatever they liked,” which at the time was a world not much bigger than the options listed in Weird Al’s parody. I envied kids whose parents didn’t buy the generic brands or whose parents could take them out to Burger King or McDonald’s whenever they wanted to go. But in the end, what did it matter? I grew up healthy. I didn’t need to wear brand new clothes or eat the non-store brand potato chips. Now, I can pay a few cents more for the name-brand if I must, but really, aren’t you just paying for a more attractive bag with virtually the same salty treats inside?
Mixtapemotions 