Top 5: Isn't That Ironic? Donchathink?
Taken from the Oxford English Dictionary...
Irony
1. A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used; usually taking the form of sarcasm or ridicule in which laudatory expressions are used to imply condemnation or contempt.
2. A condition of affairs or events of a character opposite to what was, or might naturally be, expected; a contradictory outcome of events as if in mockery of the promise and fitness of things.
Irony is perhaps one of the most troublesome words in the English language. Some people think it applies to things which are just unfortunate or coincidental, some people use think it means the same thing as sarcastic, and some people think it's a word which describes something which contains a lot of metal.
So, in attempting to draw together a collection of songs or song titles which have had an ironic effect on the people who sang them, we are all just going to have to accept that irony, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder. Otherwise this thing is over before it even begins. Which would be...y'know...thingy.
Amy Winehouse - 'Rehab'
There are some people who think it's some kind of hypocrisy or weakness on Amy's part that she has now gone into rehab after writing such a career-defining song claiming that she didn't want to do it. These people are perhaps a little smug, bearing in mind 'Rehab' is as much a song of fear as it is one of defiance. We've all known someone who has struggled to give something up, from cigarettes to binge drinking to cakes to their last boy/girlfriend. And isn't it always the way that they moan loudest about how they're fine and they don't need to change a thing, just at the moment before they realise they actually really do need to get a grip, or else?
'Rehab' is that exact moment in song form. What happens next is for other songs to describe.
Nickelback - 'Rockstar'
OK, as unpopular an opinion as this undoubtedly is...there is something about 'Rockstar' by Nickelback which just makes my head hurt, and it isn't Chad's mooey voice (for once).
No, the skullache has more to do with the notion of a song which is sort of sneering about the classic rock lifestyle while at the same time glorifying it, because it was written from the point of view of someone who just wants to be a rock star, but for all the wrong reasons...and it's being performed by a famous rock band, who no doubt consider themselves to be rock stars, but not THAT kind of rock star, because they, y'know, CARE and stuff, but still their intention is both satirical AND celebratory, which means you have to credit Nickelback with actual intelligence, and Lord knows that's a bad place to go to, and in any case it's just a lyrical update of 'Money For Nothing' by Dire Straits only without the computer graphics, which were astonishingly futuristic at the time, but now look really pixelly and out-of-date...
...excuse me for a bit. I need to lie in a darkened room.
Girls Aloud - 'Can't Speak French'
Not a massively ironic song title unless you consider that the band have recorded a version of it ACTUALLY IN FRENCH! That's like releasing 'Long Hot Summer' IN WINTER! Or shooting the video for 'Sound Of The Underground' on a ROOFTOP! Or the one for 'I Think We're Alone Now' in the middle of a huge crowd of people! Is there ANY rule those wayward girls won't break!?!?
Chesney Hawkes - 'The One And Only'
It's a golden rule of pop, never ever pre-empt the success (or otherwise) of your song by calling it something which can be used against it. If you call a song 'I Am The Greatest' (as John Lennon did when he wrote one for Ringo Starr), you are just asking for people to point out all the other singers who are greater than you are (which, in Ringo's case, includes John himself).
The reason why people are still aware of this song is not that it is so very brilliant, it's also because the song title define the amount of success young Chesney would have. One hit single, and one hit single only. Despite this, this musical arrogance still goes on, and it still comes a cropper every time. Why, in the naughties alone, there have been FOUR songs with the title 'Number One', or 'Number One Spot'. And do you know what positions they reached in the charts?
No.6, No.30, No.9 and No.31.
Britney Spears - 'Oops I Did It Again'
Again, not so much an ironic song title as a tabloid journalist's dream headline. Even if Britney had lead the calmest, sanest, most sedate life this side of Mother Theresa's butler, the press would be waiting for her to make any kind of mistake, just so they could run that headline over the story. And we all know that this is not the kind of life she has chosen. It's the same with her being pregnant/having children and 'Baby One More Time', or her name and any emotional situation she may encounter in her life - anything from Britney Cheers to Britney's Tears and back again. The girl is a one-woman pun factory.
Alanis Morissette - 'Ironic'
Sorry, no idea what this is doing here...
Comments
Was this post inspired by my use of the word 'ironic' in the post about 'The Feelings' new single. I wonder... :-)
[I wish I could say it was! Sadly it came from a friend who doesn't know a lot about music saying it was odd that Amy Winehouse should've had such a big hit with 'Rehab' then end up actually IN 'Rehab'. The rest came from there. 'The One And Only' was his idea too. - Fraser]
Aaah Chesney.
I was lucky (unlucky?) enough to see him live when he played at a club in Majorca a couple of years back. He played 3 songs, guess which one was last?
I kinda felt sorry for him, because noone gave a monkeys about his other 2 songs (which included a new one) and were just heckling him to play 'The one and only'.
This was in the same week that I went to a club were Pat Sharpe was DJing, he actually played the Fun House theme tune as his entrance music. Wow!
surely Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' should be here?!
[Haha! OMG OF COURSE! Well done! - Fraser]