Friday, February 17, 2006 If you're happy and you know it... Top ten songs featuring handclaps: Part One By Sean Mihlo student life editor smm4Bo@pstLedu Over the past few years, I've grown a bit tired of college and yearned to drop out, find some friends to write a dozen sappy my-boyfriend/girlfriend just-dumped-me-now-I'm-so-lonely love songs, and dedicate my life to recording the perfect pop album with just handclaps. No guitars, no drums, no bass, no keyboards, just palms and fingers slapping together for thirty minutes straight over sugary sweet lyrics. Okay well, I guess I wouldn't have to drop out of school to do that, but whatever. So until that day comes, I'll continue to keep searching the shelves for the best songs with handclaps. While this list isn't a comprehensive catalog of the hest handclapping tunes ever, it is an eclectic look at how the handclap standouts in many genres. - . 'i . : If P • .4. • • . The Raveonettes "Noisy Summer" This is the new wave. With a sound and style that exudes 'sos and '6os pop and fashion, guitarist Sune Rose Wagner and bassist Sharin Foo are music's modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. Forget Beyonce and Jay-Z: The Raveonettes write and sing about the wicked, wild and dark side of love, lust and sex. Taken from their major-label debut, Chain Gang of Love, "Noisy Summer" is a fuzz-frenzied, bubblegum-pop masterpiece. Echoing handclaps only open the song; then, twenty seconds in, the drums pick up where the clapping leaves off while American Idol wins the gold Both the Winter and Summer Olympics have been very popular on television for decades; however, the Winter Olympics have always lagged behind in popularity compared to the Summer Olympics. This year, the Winter Olympics might even lose out in the ratings war to FOX's "American Idol." February is one of the primary sweeps months. November. February and May are the three months when networks pull out their best material to air because advertising rates are set during these three periods. The more viewers a network attracts, partic ularly in the valuable 18 to 24 male demographic, the more money that the network can charge for advertising time. "American Idol" is one of FOX's top rated shows, while the Winter Olympics air ing on NBC have become an increasingly unpopular television event. Media analysts are predicting that "American Idol" will likely beat the Winter Olympics in the ratings for the month of February. The Winter Olympics and "American Idol" will air against each other four times: at 8 p.m. on Feb. 14, 15, 21 and 22. Even though "American Idol" is now in its fifth season, the ratings for the show Back FR_ With . large pizza _ purchase at !I menu price • TUESDAY ONLY For a Limited Time Oi By Justin Plansinis copy editor jjp2d2@psu.edu HD ['LEI frr' j IT r' 1 ~ the Danish duo harmonises with happy-go-lusty lyrics ("Chewin' on a whip / Your little dress is tight / Gonna make me burn / Gonna make it right") over eardrum-shattering distortion. If pain is your pleas ure. this is your remedy. ....... , ,, e ,;,— , 7* li t , i 1:1.-, iiiiir " 4 : A ! toila „Aka i iAs' Ellie Greenwich I Want You To Be My Baby' One of the twentieth century's most prolific Brill- Building songwriters. Ellie Greenwich has written some of pop's finest tunes including "And Then He Kissed Me, - - Be My Baby," and "Chapel of Love" among many others. In 1968, she released her own album, Composes, Produces, and Sings, which fea tured the single "I Want You To Be My Baby." Her raspy voice on the track is stunning - she yells, she screams, she begs for her baby, all while maintain ing a clear, persistent and sassy vocal delivery. While the handclaps are slightly lost amongst the drums and brash horn arrangement, their presence is completely evident via call-and-response vocalists who (as I like to visualize) are jerking their hips and slapping their hands together in the background whilst Greenwich belts the lyrics out like it's all just another Saturday night at the hop. Stay tuned next week for part two of the top ten songs featuring handclaps! are still holding and, in fact, gaining momentum. The Winter Olympics have managed to win every timeslot since it started; however. they barely heat ABC's Sunday night lineup of "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy." "American Idol" is an even more formidable beast than either of those two shows. so NBC executives are predicting trouble. Idol has already taken the gold for Tuesday night. Nielsen rat ings show that FOX averaged a 13.5 rating/20 share in primetime with NBC in second place with an 11.3 rating/18 share. Interestingly enough, Tuesday saw the beginning of the men's fig ure skating competition. This portion of the Olympics draws a huge number of young female viewers, and that is the same demo graphic that makes up the largest portion of the American Idol audience. The averages for both programs indicate that "Idol" should def initely win out over the Olympics during every competing times lot. The Winter Olympics have gradually declined in popularity over the years leading to a significant drop in ratings. New sports such as snowboarding have been added in recent years in order to draw in the extreme sports audience, but the results have been less than successful. What does this mean for the future of the Olympic Games? Some students on campus think that the Olympics should take pri- 0 S For a Limited Time 0 1 11 111*. 4 • Lumidee was a sweet-faced teenager from Spanish Harlem when this, her first single, blew up the charts in 2003. Her sparse, echoing, soft voice is the perfect compliment to the song's diwali rhythm, a Jamaican dancehall-influenced beat laced with the catchiest polyrhythmic handclaps you've ever heard. Although it's true that the claps found within the rhythm are mechanical, they're still completely irresistible and infectious. Other songs have incor porated the diwali rhythm such as Sean Paul's first major hit "Get Busy" and Wayne Wonder's slow jam "No Letting Go," but neither has pinpointed the pop sensibility of the handclapping-influenced beat quite like Lumidee. y . * 111 No, . „ I IRP As the foremost new wave all-female band of the late 70s and early 80s, the Go-Go's had everything, from top-10 singles to $3OO-a-day coke habits. And while those drug and alcohol addictions eventually faded into obscurity, Beauty and the Beat, the group's debut LP from which "We Got the Beat" was culled, remains one of the greatest rock n' roll pop albums ever. "We Got the Beat," produced by Pizza - $5 $5 'ge Pizza $7 $7 $7 Lumidee "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh)" The Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" unity!! 400 1 Pizza with 3 Toppings ec Your Choice of Bread Item I Medium $ 1 099 111 Pizza Large zza For a Limited Time Only ri -nrni 11.1 the legendary Richard Gottehrer (who also wrote one of handclapping's finest tunes, 1963's "My Boyfriend's Back" by ,the Angels), embodies all characteristics of the Go-Go's: energy, efferves cence, vintage girl-group charm. Almost two min utes into the song. the bass and guitars drop out completely, while the unstoppable drumming keeps a pulsating beat over the other hand members' call out lyric: "We got the beat. - Then, in perfect pop fashion, handclaps join the drums in unison while Belinda Carlisle, the group's lead singer, wails: "Everybody get on your feet / We know you can dance to the beat. - And the kids still do today. Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn is her name, and 10-fi indie pop gems are her game. The first time I heard this song, it was the middle of the summer, and I was in my friends' apartment in Brooklyn. A few days later. I found myself humming it on the sub way to and from work, singing the chorus inside my head over and over. "Oh! September" carries hints of doo-wop (with Mirah and hacking vocalists actu ally chanting "doo-wop" throughout the song). twee-pop and those ever-enchanting girl-group har monies. Her lyrics are cute and catchy ("Meet me at the back shack baby / You'll bring your little ukulele"), and the on-off handclaps (they're only present during choruses and near the end) just add to the song's overall sweetness. It's the perfect tune for an all-out dance party or a late summer evening sitting on the porch sipping lemonade watching the, sunset with a few good friends. in ratings war ority. "People should be watching the Olympics." said A. M. Gray, Creative Writing 06, "They should he cheering for their country." For some students, commercials provide the answer to viewing both. "Every commercial I just switch hack and forth between `American Idol' and the Olympics." says Sabina Medilovic, History and Political Science 05. With VCRs and TiVo in wide use, the networks are probably going to he more worried about this than the viewers. The Winter Olympics and "American Idol" appeal to the same fan base and have a lot in common. Both judge the performances of talented (or in the case of "Idol," some not so talented) individ uals. The Winter Olympics are hardly in danger of being can celled or anything like that, but the decline in their popularity may be cause for concern. Interested in writing for the Beacon? Let us hear it! E-mail us: editorinchief@psu.edu. $12 99 : The Behrend Beacon I `Oh! September' Ell Ell MN 111111 Mil 111 MI Ell I 1 Large 1 I Topping Pizza and 10 Piece Chicken Wings for $13.99 For a Limited Time Only 1111 IN 1111 111 NI 1111 NIIII 111
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