Forums » Smalltalk » The Most Important Music Video of Our Generation

Oh goodness, they actually have begun to play this song on the radio now. I am dead serious-- I've heard it twice already on one of the local hip-hop stations here.

GAH! I thought I escaped this! My boss MADE me watch it like 6 times in a row at work a couple weeks ago. Like he literally tied me down and held my eyes open. lol.

Are we just going to ignore all the girls in masks who just do the Thriller over and over again while shaking their hips violently?

Absolutely not, that's the best part!

Absolutely not, that's the best part!

There are any good parts in this video?

All of the parts are good parts. All of them.

Bones and I are the best parts. Always.

Like PSY, The Lonely Island and Axel F, Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis have (briefly) made internet and music history by creating one of the most irritating yet catchiest songs of the year. When I first heard “The Fox” earlier today, I thought the same thing that I thought when I first heard the aforementioned artists: funny but extremely dumb. This is not a unique opinion, many people I’ve spoken to agree with this analysis. Why then, do we as a society feed this ‘idiocracy’ by watching this video over 22 million times in 10 days? After five minutes of mulling that question over the only reason that makes sense is because it’s entertaining. We don’t send it to all our friends because it’s the most abhorrent song we’ve ever heard (Rebecca Black) or because we think others we’ll discover something poignant in its customary mix of words and beats, we do it purely because it’s amusing.

Imagine for a moment a nonexistent world where all music is like this, where parody reigns and emotion is powerless. The lyrical content is unimportant as long as there’s a catchy hook and some ‘sick as’ dance moves to illustrate. Okay, some may argue that mainstream pop isn’t far from this fabled land but I’m not going to get into that. My point is, these satirical numbers would become dull and indistinguishable making even the most mediocre of pop songs (e.g. Rihanna’s “Only Girl (In The World)”) an overnight sensation. Why? Because it would be a refreshing change from the norm. Whilst I’ve never been a fan of “Gangnam Style” or its contemporaries, these obscure hits serve as a tolerance break from the banality of pop music.

What’s so entertaining about “The Fox” is that it’s a blatant parody. The slowly intensifying beat, euro-house synths and most notably, the passionate vocal delivery are quite clearly mocking pop tropes. Yet even with brainless lyrics like “duck says quack” and “how will you speak to that ho-o-o-o-rse”, “The Fox” doesn’t lack any less appeal than the likes of Ke$ha and Katy Perry. “The Fox” is really just a reaffirmation that the average listener is – to put it harshly – an idiot who can be charmed, without failure by the SAME musical tropes. I'd leave you with the words 'kill it before it lays eggs' yet I fear it is already too late for that.

Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. History will have to decide that.

Your fur is red, so beautiful, like an angel in disguise