For the most part, the only bars that I have been to are located in the Baltimore area and other east coast college towns. Sometimes I'll head off to New York for a weekend and hang out at a bar up there, but New York bars are a completely different breed as far as music is concerned. Every bar, or at least every busy bar, in a college town has some sort of D.J. It's sad to say that most of the D.J.'s in the east coast area play rap music about 80% of the time, depending on which bar you go to. I am not really sure when rap music became the mainstream of college music, but I think it happened sometime in 1993, when Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" first hit radio airwaves. Rap music is now the music we listen to when we go to clubs or bars. You can't really dance in a bar, but for some reason the rules still apply.
It's not even that I hate rap music. I hate popular rap music today, and I won't go into the deeper aspects of it, but I will just say, "it doesn't speak to me and i can't relate to it." I drive a Toyota Carolla, wear glasses and cordory blazers.
D.J.'s will occassionally throw in the rock song here and there, but it's usually something stupid like Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," or Puddle of Mudd's "She Fuckin' Hates Me," (which may be the worst song of all time). However, when the clock strikes 1a.m., without hesitation, two rock songs are played back to back. Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me," and Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," are staples of today's bar crowd. When people hear these two songs, they react in one of two ways; one, that it is almost last call; and two, that they have not heard this song since 1987. I wouldn't be surprised if one person said, "dude this was my jam when i was 4!" Is it the infectious chorus that grabs their attention? I call it infectious, because like an infection, it makes me feel like I want antibiotics and something to throw up in. The worst part, is not that they play these songs every single night, or that I have to listen to 50 drunk idiots sing "whooooooa, we're halfway there." No, this is not the worst of it. The worst of it, is that they've added a new song to the repetoire. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" became a new bar anthem earlier last year. When did Journey's 1981 hit suddenly become the new college bar song of America? In the early 90's if you even said the word Journey a fist came out of nowhere and hit you right in the mouth. Steve Perry, one of the ugliest men to ever grace a stage, was thwarted with remarks about his manhood.
I don't understand why bar anthems have to be these lame songs. Why can't "Hey Jude" be a bar singalong song. It was the original bar singalong song. You don't even need to remember any words. No matter how drunk you are you can say "na na nana na," it's just that easy. How many more lame bar songs can we hope for in the future? In 20 years when I go to a college bar I hope I hear "Wonderwall" by Oasis, but with the future of American popular music it'll probably be "I Would Do Anything For Love," by Meatloaf.