I've been asking Kevin Krauth to write my first guest blog entry for a while now. Kev writes like he talks ... it's exciting, introspective AND provides me the rare opportunity to brush up on my SAT words! In addition, this song is PERFECT for Kev; it combines his love of One Republic while pushing aside his everything's-great-and-nobody's-happy tendencies (see: Angry Square blog posts). Thanks Kev for, once again, giving in to my demands (or as you would say - acquiescing to my musical demagoguery!). Miss you. - Cristina
A disclaimer: being neither a writer nor a musician, I feel that I am gloriously ill-suited for the task of creating a blog entry commending my own perhaps misguided taste in music to an audience I know little to nothing about. Still, like most efforts of folly, this task is being done almost entirely on impulse, which, in my experience, has been the one shared ingredient in both what I consider to be the most enjoyable and the most embarrassing moments in my short life.
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, on to the matter at hand: “The Good Life” by OneRepublic. Technically speaking, the song is probably not appropriate fodder for this blog considering that Teeba likes to pretend that she is on the cutting edge of musical zeitgeist (“Stake a flag in it so Teeba can’t claim it!”), and this song is neither a nostalgic throwback, nor an off-the-beaten-path indie rag. Nevertheless, in light of the fact that “Apologize” reached number 1 in 16 countries (thanks, Wikipedia), “The Good Life” has flown pretty low on the radar of uber-pop success, and it’s “play on repeat”-ability is pretty undeniable.
Toeing the line between Teeny-Bopper Sensation and Gen-X Trendy, “The Good Life” has a great balance of catchiness and feel-good philosophy while only mildly dabbling in cheesy platitudes, all of which combined create a recipe for a song that appeals to the masses.
What really sets the song apart, though, is the onus it puts on the listener to take a good hard look at your life and say “Crap… I guess I have it pretty good.” Spitting in the eye of Ben-Folds, Ryan Tedder makes you realize that being male middle class and white really isn’t so bad. Because no matter how much I watch Entourage and dream about living the life of Vince and the gang, deep down I know that 1) It’ll never happen, and 2) It’s for the better.
“The Good Life” is all about being happy where you are. I mean, who hasn’t woken up on a train to Picadilly trying to piece together the events that put you there by looking through the clues on your phone? That’s also why I think the song has more geographic shoutouts than a Ron Artest interview, because let’s face it, you can find happiness anywhere… Well, except maybe Cleveland… Or Detroit.
If you’re still not convinced, consider this: if you’ve heard the song, chances are it was either while listening on your iPod or on the radio, and if you own either one, that puts you in the wealthiest 1% of the world’s population. It wouldn’t be a stretch either to assume that when you did hear the song it was playing through the stereo of your car. And if you have a car, that means you can basically go where you want when you want, without a moment’s hesitation. Finally, if you’re reading this, that means you have a computer (or at least access to one), and that computer is connected to this internet.
So, knowing nothing more about you than that you listen to music and read blogs on the internet, I’ve deduced that you are an independent, affluent individual with more information than you could ever possibly ingest in your lifetime at your disposal should you decide to take advantage of it. So, to Ryan’s question, “Can someone please tell me what there is to complain about?”
