WARNING: This music requires very particular silliness to enjoy. IF YOUR EARS ARE PRONE TO BLEEDING, TURN BACK NOW. Or, read on to know what to expect ;D

So just last night, I hit the 2000 song mark on my iTunes, totalling about 8.42 GB of music that would take 5.2 days to go through and listen to completely and individually.

However, having bought my iPod at the end of the first generation of nanos, my little silver-backed black player only has enough room for (less than) 4 GB of songs. So for over a year and a half now I’ve had to distill my music tastes, making sure that space was not wasted for songs I would never listen to if they appeared on shuffle. A continuous process that involves just listening to what I’ve collected and slowly filtering out what I’m tired of or things I stopped enjoying (i.e. most hip hop and r&b, bits and pieces of Spanish pop like Paulina Rubio, etc.).

However, there’s a fair amount that stays consistent throughout the years. Even with the evolving tastes that delve into indie-pop and more modern trends, there are a few things that never get removed no matter how bad they get.

I’ve realized I’m a big fan of fast-beat energetic music. Techno, euro-pop, and the ever-dying genre of bubblegum pop with their silly, stupid lyrics and their cracktastically happy tunes have always been at the top of my playlist as things to listen to when going from place to place in my life, whether it’s from class to class or from town to town here.

I know, it brings up a big question into my personal tastes. But like one of my oldest friends Zarla says in a recent livejournal post of hers:

“I can’t believe I didn’t have the Ding Ding Dong (Tra La La) song until now. I love the hook for it. I AM COMPLETELY CAPABLE OF IGNORING INCREDIBLY STUPID, TRITE, RIDICULOUS LYRICS IN FAVOR OF A CATCHY MELODYOKAY. You cannot be a fan of techno/dance/europop/trance without this ability.”
I met a girl she said her name was Sue, oh woah woah oh la la la~ “

Yea, every one of those blue words provides a different song. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND “ridiculous” “lyrics” and “catchy”

But, well, this is of course an incomplete little sampling of hyper happy hardcore music. Allow me to try to shed some light on bits and pieces of the genre, and forgive me if your eardrums explode a little in the process.

Credits go to Zarla and Jessica Cook for being some of the biggest contributors to this music collection.

The music is something you’ve undoubtedly heard, whether on the radio or at your old middle/high school dances. (Actually, Radio Disney was and remains a BIG venue for this sort of music)
It includes such groups as Aqua and A*Teens, amongst MANY, many others.

However, let’s start with some classics.

Dr. Jones - Aqua A fun and energetic tune that is the perfect introduction to the trite and silly lyrics of the genre. I especially like how before the chorus there’s the exchange between the male and female vocalists No I’m not posting Barbie Girl EVERYONE’S HEARD BARBIE GIRL

Floor Filler - A*Teens is their attempt at being kind of dancey-technoie, with a bit of a slower beat that’s consistently maintained in the song. A*Teens is more famous for their covers of ABBA songs, which didn’t really need to be covered in the first place.

Boom Boom Boom Boom - Venga Boys How can anyone NOT remember this song?

From here though, my next encounters with the music appeared in the form of Dance Dance Revolution. Hearing about the game online and finally running into one in the arcade of a hotel in Reno (p.s. I feel Reno >> Vegas), I excitedly tried my hand at light mode. I was TERRIBLE, but the music filled me with such energy that I spent money and went through token after token until I had mastered the same three songs.
Konami looks to the genre of europop and such in search of songs with clearly definable rhythms that they can make step charts to. From there, it wasn’t hard to follow the artist name and find the original songs, which were actually twice as long as the tracks one would step to at the arcade.

Mr. Wonderful - Smile.Dk The Swedish bubblegum pop group that’s best known for Butterfly released lots of songs with an incredibly catchy beat (and they marketed their albums in Denmark hence “.Dk”). Lyrics actually can get much worse than this, and this was one of their earlier works. STILL IT SOUNDS AWESOME

Dragonfly - Smile.Dk though shows just how repetitive some of their music can get, as this sounds REALLY similar to Butterfly, and then don’t let me get started with Golden Sky. All very catchy tunes, but also all very similar. It was like making the same realization with Motion City Soundtrack all over again D:

Cartoon Heroes (Speedy Mix) - Barbie Young is one of those covers of a fairly slower Aqua song. My favorite song on DDR Extreme, it’s energetic and peppy and full of life

Pink Dinosaur - Papaya demonstrates why I use the name hyper happy hardcore to describe this music. So fun to just blare this from speakers and bounce around to 8D YOU’RE A SWEET LITTLE DINOSAUR~

Hero (Happy Grandale Mix) - Papaya shows though how, for the sake of DDR, some songs may get sped up in order to make them more “danceable.” It’s interesting to compare to the original Hero, which I think sounds just as good. But on a sugar rush, one clearly has much more of an effect.

Bumblebee - Bambee is a more recent discovery that follows the same, delicious formula. I WAS OBSESSED WITH THIS SONG FOR, LIKE, A MONTH. I kid you not.

Cowgirl - Bambee is a song I got from Zar, and whenever she links to it she’s like “You know, THIS SONG, IT REALLY SPEAKS TO ME” and you know, I can totally see why :3

Do You Think I’m Pretty - Creamy is another song by an oft-used artist for DDR, however I don’t think this appeared on any of the games. This song inspired me to ask myself and many others if they think I’m pretty (just like a super model )

The Beat - Sparky is my favorite song from the DDR for Wii. It’s a cute song that’s as trite as ever and just as energetic. With love and dancing as the theme, it does seem a little *too* well placed in a DDR game. HMMM.

From here though, when you realize that the music is an actual legitimate genre, you can go through and find many more artists and songs that put you right in a happy mood upon hearing. Thus, such things as

Say Cheese - Fast Food Rockers appear to deliver the message to always smile and always be happy! And on a gloomy day such songs can really work mysterious wonders.

Ramp! (The Logical Song) - Scooter is actually a cover, and the original I finally heard while TAing for accelerated geometry last summer as one of the kids played it from his new iPhone. Temporal bias may make me like this one better :O

Less than Three - Becky is kind of emblematic of our internet culture, as for those who haven’t noticed, the title nomenclature translates to <3. With such lyrics as OH EM GEE, LOVE COMPUTER FANTASY and EL OH EL OH EL, you know it’s gold. Oh, and it has an official music video, which just makes the whole thing, well… interesting.

Mamboleo (English Version) - Elissa is a fantastic ditty which Zar used in an AMV on Newgrounds dedicated to Phoenix Wright. She got sick of the song but since the AMV came out, iTunes claims I’ve played this song 308 times. There’s also a Spanish version by Loona, which does not sound half as creative but brings back fond memories of childhood Spanish singers like Xuxa. XUXA WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?

Your Ass in the Air - DJ Cammy is a techno (well, technically House) song that Jamie Mattison sent me recently. It samples some very interesting choices and then launches into the simplest and yet catchiest thing ever :O And at 6 in the morning, this song coming up on shuffle then being put into an infinite loop inspired me to become HARDCORE upon my Love essay and finish it really rather quickly. THIS SONG, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Well, I’ve made enough people cover their ears in alarm for one blog post. It does take a very particular kind of person to properly enjoy this kind of music, I admit, but it is always good to be aware of what’s out there so you can definitively define what you like and what you don’t like.
And I realize this might call upon the friends concerned for my mental status and standards of taste, but I assure you, this is still only a small microcosm of my general desires when it comes to music. But whenever I feel glum or mellow, these things will always perk me up and make me active again.

Anyways, none of you will hear from me until at least Monday. I am going to Disneyland this weekend due to the desires of one of my closest friends from back home, Francesca Mazzola. I’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures

Take care, and have a great summer!