Song of the Night - Just Jack "Starz in Their Eyes"

Another night, another installment of Song of the Night.

To a certain extent this is kind of a meta song, media making fun of media, this guy if he's looking to be big kind of has to bow down to those that would excrete the kind of crap that he hates. It's just a bitter world of dog eat dog.

Allow me, for a moment, to spiel on my thoughts of reality tv.

It's a strange concept of people who want to become famous. We all seem to feed off this idea of becoming it, but what's more, we (as a society) obsess over the fall. No one wants to watch a show where people get along and really learn life lessons about each other. We'd all rather watch skanks duke it out for some douche that'll just find another harem of desperate women in a couple of months. Oh wait, that was last year's thing. This year was mostly rocked by a train wreck of New Jersey-ians. What's coming up in the pipe-line is something far more demeaning.

There are times when reality TV will really warp reality and come to that line where it threatens to cross it, and then it does. What I'm talking about is a show called Bridalplasty. A show where women who have low self esteem about themselves battle to have cosmetic surgery done to themselves before their wedding. The winner is treated to an ultimate wedding spectacle and a complete plastic surgery overhaul to their body. All the while, the groom never sees his wife for 4 months, until the final day.

There's never a "He'll love you no matter what" kind of message in the show and neither is there a "you're beautiful as you are" kind of response from the grooms either. It really is about as cut throat and shallow as it sounds. This isn't a show that furthers our understanding of our selves; this is the fall of our fellow humans as we watch them burn for entertainment. We might as well watch a couple homeless people battle it out for money so their kids can eat. Will they get to feed their kids baloney today?

Anyways, enough of my views of reality TV. This song asks the question to the producers of such programming as to why they would pressure people to try and become famous. The vocalist then turns back to the poor saps competing and then sympathetically treats them human. He warns them about the consequences of fame at the cost of dignity and human self worth. Like the girl who's waiting in line for american idol to get her shot at the big time, through the rain, only to be called up, made into a joke and then spit out. Throughout American Idol's entire seasons, it wasn't any of the contestants that made it big, it was the judges. Simon Cowell leaving American Idol has had a bigger impact on the show than any of the contestants. That's sad when the heart of the show is someone who doesn't dole out the love.

Sorry, I went back to ranting about it again. As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of reality shows.

Back to talking about the song:

I like how the very beginning almost sounds like it's going to be some kind of upbeat coldplay song comming up and then immediately transforms into an indie-hip hop mix with some droll brit rap. Don't get me wrong, the droll brit-rap does wonders for the song because of the whole jaded view the singer has.

The drummer really pulls through, using the entirety of the set to build such a full sound of precussion to complement the funky bass line while the guitar kind of just keeps the rhythm and pace up.

Notable Lyrics:

"Remember they said you'd show them all
Emphasise the rise but not the fall
And now you're playing a shopping mall"

"And now the tabloids use your face
To document your fall from grace
And then they'll tell you that that's just the way it goes
That's just the way it goes"

"It's the same old story well they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come from your private bedroom dance routines"

Notes about the video:

In the actual song there's actually a bit where it goes into more of a hip hop rap, but I didn't like it; it's not because I don't like hip hop, I just don't think the band itself is strong enough to do it. What I do like is how in the video, they cut that part out.

VW, Hell yeah!

Whoever that one girl is, the one in purple and cop outfit ... I am totally crushing on.