Friday, April 2, 2010

Case File #25: "Oasis"


Amanda Palmer
"Oasis"
Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
(2008)





The need to know: If you aren't following @amandapalmer on Twitter, you should be. The Dresden Doll-turned-solo artist (and, most recently, half of Evelyn Evelyn) has often reconciled the realities of what it takes to succeed in the music biz with maintaining artistic integrity by reaching out to her ever-expanding worldwide fan base. Often garnering attention for her atypical methods, her music is just as worthy of the attention as her flamboyant personality. An odd triumph, she sent the blogosphere abuzz when she admitted last year that she made more money via Twitter than she had from her 2008, Ben Folds co-produced solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

Why it's worthy: Quite possibly the happiest song ever written about rape and abortion, "Oasis" was inspired by a similar experience Palmer went through at age 17. But despite the backdrop, this song is really a love letter to music and its ability to make things seem a-ok, even when life's at its worst. Anyone who's ever had their day turned around by a song, or worshiped a band in their teens, can hear themselves reflected in this two-minute, piano driven sing-along.

Quotable lyric: "And so now were not talking/ Except we have tickets/ To see Blur in October/ And I think were still going"

Where you've heard it: The awesomely tongue-in-cheek video for "Oasis" was banned for its subject matter by every music video outlet in the UK, but you can still watch it on YouTube

Get obsessed:

2 comments:

  1. Gah! I love this idea, Natalie. I've been trying to do something like this with my blog, but I've been limiting it to albums that have slipped out of our consciousness and require revisiting.

    Incidentally, we both write for SSv and I live in Charleston, SC. I'm gonna link your site up to my blog so we can be like the Supertwins...only without the twinness. Word!

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  2. Thanks Scott! I love your idea of revisiting older albums. I feel inundated with new music a lot of the time, so I will definitely have to check out your blog (and link it up here as well!). Wonder twin powers...ACTIVATE!

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