11.2.2009 | 8:00 am

Critical Backlash: A Word About This Owl City Bullshit

Owl CityI’ll confess I’m often mystified by the songs that top the Billboard charts, but I think I have an explanation for the popularity of Owl City, the band with the current No. 1 song in the country. In a column for the UCLA Daily Bruin in April 2006 (prescience!) I wrote:

Being the list-obsessed guy I am, my personal favorite [Facebook feature] is the trend-tallying Facebook Pulse.

Most of the UCLA edition makes sense – real-life Californians like “The O.C.” less than the rest of the country, especially after the train wreck of the last seven episodes or so. Not that I’m keeping track. And being the discerningly hip viewers we are, we love “Arrested Development” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

It’s the music front that throws me off: Apparently, four years later, The Postal Service is still one of our collective favorite bands… There was something in the marriage of Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello (aka Dntel) as The Postal Service which captured a strange cultural zeitgeist. Previous to 2002’s “Give Up,” Gibbard’s might-as-well-be-emo vocals had been constrained by Death Cab’s low-budget indie rock. But he found a better backing band in Tamborello’s Playskool IDM. A few electronic beats and cheeseball lyrics later, The Postal Service had captured the hearts of anyone looking for an indie alternative to the ironic masculinity embodied by The Strokes.

I say they were in the right place at the right time. “Such Great Heights” is a great song, but a novelty one, and anyone in possession of the next Death Cab album or Dntel’s other projects would likely agree…

More importantly, the band was a side project. The duo hasn’t really recorded since, and there were plenty of equally popular albums in 2002 that hold up better today: Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” or Interpol’s “Turn on the Bright Lights,” for instance. So what gives, fellow Bruins? Did we all just forget to update our profiles?

I still don’t have an answer to that question, but I should’ve known this was something to worry about. Owl City is the product of 23-year-old Adam Young — in other words, a dude the perfect age to have had the Postal Service in his Facebook profile from 2002-2006. On “Fireflies,” his No. 1 track, it sounds like he’s still listening: the synth melody is a slightly skewed mirror image of “Such Great Heights,” the vocals borrow Ben Gibbard’s vowel-loving enunciation and his polite syntax (“You’d think me rude”) and even the chorus bites him, too — “I’d like to make myself believe” vs. Gibbard’s “Clark Gable” chorus of “I want so badly to believe.” Eight syllables each.

At this point, I don’t think I even need to say “fuck this plagiarizing hack.” I guess I’m just surprised this didn’t happen sooner, but given the Garden State generation’s imminent coming of age, we’re probably in for more. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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  • http://www.concerthaikus.blogspot.com Christina

    Nice to hear a little hateorade!

  • http://www.mog.com Ghost

    You lost me at the useage of the inherent intellectual word “zeitgeist” following the claim you watch O.C. on a regular basis…. all credibility was shot after that.

  • http://brandonemerick.blogspot.com Brandon

    I’d never heard this song until a couple days ago when a guy I work with was listening to it on his phone and talking to a group of people about it. They were all saying how much they loved it. I didn’t really see the appeal. I’m listening now for the second time, and WOW is this ever a really BAD Postal Service rip off. Even the way this dude blatantly enunciates his words like Gibbard, I can’t believe this shit.

  • WTF?!

    OMG!! when i first heard this song i really thought the postal service had finally decided to throw us another bone. Now i actually listened to the song and it is way too simple to be a Postal Service song and a TOTAL RIPOFF!!! all these kids these days have no clue that most of their music is “borrowed” from some other genius that didn’t have The O.C. or Gossip Girl or an iphone commercial to shove it down the throats of the mindless. “Such great heights” has been in several commercials not to mention every UPS commercial. “give up” was such a great album (and still is) i suggest all of these Owl (SH)itty followers get educated and check out the REAL talent.

  • Audiophile

    My my! What can I say? Maybe to get some perspective? If you don’t like it, fine, but isn’t it a bit judgemental to suggest that appreiation for this music comes from lack of exposure to ‘good’ music? I am certain that more variety of music has passed through these old ears than has this reviewer’s. Is it beyond credulity to think that maybe Owl City isn’t a bad rip off of Postal Service and is actually something else entirely? Just the fact that you like one and hate the other might be an indication . There is something about the emotion that Owl City songs elicit that has brought the music a huge following. Its better than pharmeceuticals in my book. If I want to get depressed I’ll listen to Bon Iver.

  • David Greenwald

    Completely beyond credulity. Sorry.

    But I’m glad listening to Bon Iver makes you depressed, too. Hugs!

  • Audiophile

    Just sayin’ there’s a buttload of talent in both acts. My opinon only though. So its only worth what I paid for it :-P

  • Evan

    Owl City is without a doubt the worst new act of the year. perhaps the decade. Catchy bands like the postal service always have less talented impersonators that bank off the fact that 15 year old girls wont be able to tell the difference. It’s sad but true. and to “audiophile” why dont u write your own blog. Lend those wise weathered ears opinion to the ret of us.

  • Raf

    And Postal service ripped off Kid A from Radiohead and made it simpler and more commercial, it’s a degenerative trend, but not really surprising in the least.

  • David Greenwald

    That’s a little simplistic, don’t you think? Kid A itself is a distillation of influences (Sigur Ros, Aphex Twin, among others) as it is — the Postal Service album, more “commercial” as it may be, springs from different influences, though I’d argue that Kid A made the semi-mainstream acceptance of the Postal Service possible.

  • Raf

    That’s what I’m trying to get at, Kid A came first, and it was only after great critical response as well as commercial success that a Postal service project came into existence. In other words, Radiohead were pioneers in bringing the scene (and in many ways CREATING a type of music which hadn’t really been done that way) to the semi-mainstream and taking on all the risk that came with it.

  • Raf

    not only did they [Radiohead] make the acceptance of Postal service possible, I’m willing to bet that the idea of postal service didn’t even come up until after Kid A was released, and that’s the impact that I’m talking about.

  • David Greenwald

    Dntel first collab’d with Gibbard a year after Kid A. Chemical Brothers/Crystal Method etc were doing electro + rock/pop vocals years before that. But I think Radiohead, yeah, were the first to make it cool among the music snob set to marry the two in a way that really allowed the Postal Service to hit big.

  • Raf

    You are right that chemical bros and crystal method combined electro with rock/pop vocals, but did it sound even remotely close to kid A? no.

    I’ve been listening to a wide variety of electronic music for years (DnB, Dubstep, techno, house, acid-house, trance, IDM, etc.) and I can honestly say without hesitation that Kid A was one of the most unique albums in the past decade (hell, the past 50 years even).

    Secondly, they didn’t take an idea from someone else and commercialize it, they made their own unique style in such a way that it sounded like nobody on the planet, which isn’t something I can say for postal service.

  • David Greenwald

    I won’t argue with you on that. A tremendous record. Just saying, there’s not much of a musical link between it and the Postal Service.

  • Raf

    I guess you’re right in the fact that Owl city is less creative than Postal service, I’ll definitely agree with you on that. But a few people were painting postal service out to be this original, creative juggernaut when they clearly are not.

  • Raf

    To give postal service credit though, I actually like a few of their tracks depending on my mood ^_^

  • David Greenwald

    Ben Gibbard sounds like Ben Gibbard. He’s an instantly identifiable singer and lyricist with a signature style. Owl City rips every moment and movement of his single directly from him and Dntel. There are literally no other influences at play on this record.

  • Raf

    Correct you are, They have taken plagiarism to new heights! It’s a sad, sad day, this type of stuff is becoming not only more frequent, but more extreme. That’s why I’ve been getting even more involved in the electronic music scene. Acts like Moderat and Burial are still keeping it real.

  • David Greenwald

    Totally. There will always be great, original music. The problem is sorting through enough crap to find it.

  • Raf

    well I’m glad you’re sorting through the crap so I don’t have to! hahahaha

  • Suzanna

    Well I listened to some of their music. And I must say, the song I heard was not bad. I rather liked it, and I know you all disagree. But don’t bite my head off for just having an other opinion.

    I don’t care if they copied some music, maybe it is not very nice for the original artist, but I just listen to a song and make up my mind if it is my genre or not. I don’t care who is behind it and what history they have.

  • Alex

    My only opinion: at least we can say the video is original, right?

  • Steph

    I am both an Owl City and Postal Service fan, and personally I wasn’t impressed with fireflies. I was in fact disappointed. Aside from all of the mainstream attention, this song just wasn’t what I knew Adam’s style to be. Owl City has two previous albums that I feel are much more unique to his style. I never thought once that fireflies was a rip off of Such Great Heights, but I can agree that they sound very similar.

  • Tall

    Hey listen here first time i listened to owl city i was amazed and i still
    am. Adam is Great and Fireflies is darn good without a doubt. I think this article is THE Bullshit

  • http://www.anotheraspiringjournalist.com Tami

    Who cares ? All music comes from somewhere. I have never even heard of Postal Service. Be happy someone is trying to preserve their sound. Leave Adam alone!

  • David Greenwald

    Tami, for this week’s homework, I expect you to listen to the Postal Service’s “Give Up” three times straight and report back.

  • ohai

    Grasping for straws
    4 syllables.
    I'm sorry, But no one can have ownership of all permutations of “i really want to believe”
    and yes they sound similar, but guess what? Alot of bands do! ohmtgodgetangry!
    Seriously, grow the fuck up and just accept you don't like something rather than trying to sound like you're the last word on music.
    Congradulations. you hated something on the radio. you're so indie!
    fuck off.

  • ohai

    Grasping for straws
    4 syllables.
    I'm sorry, But no one can have ownership of all permutations of “i really want to believe”
    and yes they sound similar, but guess what? Alot of bands do! ohmtgodgetangry!
    Seriously, grow the fuck up and just accept you don't like something rather than trying to sound like you're the last word on music.
    Congradulations. you hated something on the radio. you're so indie!
    fuck off.