I was eating lunch with a friend today...

and Sirius XM's '80s station was playing "Our House." I mumbled something about hating it, and the following conversation happened:

Her: Is this the Beatles?
Me, half-incredulous: No, this is the '80s station.
Her: Oh yeah then, of course it's not the Beatles. These guys sound like they actually have talent.
Me, thinking: This from the girl who goes into conniptions when I say a bad word about Adele?* -_-*

I know that her comment was mainly to (try to) get my goat, but it got me thinking: just how did that song become a hit anyway? It doesn't sound like there's much to it besides a single lyric and a key change. So I just now looked it up, and I was completely shocked by what I heard:

A really good pop song.

I could swear that every time I've heard that song before, all that played was the chorus, so I was convinced that's all there was too it. And I know I've heard the full song in a variety of environments with a range of background-noise volumes, and I'd never picked up any of the horns, strings, or verses. So now I'm stuck wondering if this has happened with other songs, if I've become so jaded by one annoying repeated section of a song that I always hear but never actually listen to, and my brain fills in the blanks with the memory of that section because I assume that's all there is to it.

What classic pop gems have I been missing out on thanks to my scumbag brain? For that matter, what does this mean for how I hear current pop? Maybe deep down I actually like Top 40 hits; maybe my mind can't find middle ground between liking thoughtful, creative music and hyper-processed corporate bubblegum schlock so I've convinced myself that the one small flaw I find in every pop hit is reason enough to hate the whole song!!



Or maybe not.



*Not saying she's talentless, but I for one can't see much influence she's had on pop music that extends beyond her own success; coupled with the fact that I don't enjoy anything I've heard by her, I have about as much need for her as my friend does for the Fab Four.