Friday, March 27, 2026

The Sound of My Expectations Lowering: The 376th Greatest Song of All Time

 

It's always interesting when one of Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is something I've never heard of.

It either means the magazine doesn't know what the definition of the word great is, or I am hopelessly out of touch with any music produced after the 1980s.

I'll give you a few facts about Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees," then let you form your own conclusion.

Fake Plastic Concern

  • Released in March of 1995, the song spent four weeks on the charts, reaching only as high as Number 65.
  • Thom Yorke said the song began as "A very nice melody which I had no idea what to do with; then you wake up and find your head singing some words to it."
  • Thom Yorke apparently has no idea what constitutes "a very nice melody."
  • An acoustic version was featured in the 1995 film Clueless: Cher (Alicia Silverstone) criticizes her stepbrother's taste in music when she overhears him listening to the tune, calling it "crybaby music."
  • The video for the song is so boring that several members of the cast and crew went comatose during its filming.


My lack of enthusiasm for this song knows no limits.


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