Sam Tercek

Iconic Selection: Ben Folds’ “Rockin’ the Suburbs”

In this song, Ben Folds uses a clever collection of clichés and stereotypes about 90s punk rock to create an amusing but subtle parody of the genre as a whole. Its satirical sound, structure, instrumentation, and lyrics make it iconic of the 90s punk rock genre, despite its being made by an artist of a primarily different genre. The instrumentation is simple: bass, drums, guitar with varying degrees of distortion, with a simple but annoyingly catchy synth riff. Ben Folds almost always uses a piano in his recordings, so this is the first clue that the song is an imitation of something else. The structure of the song is follows a very simple, repeating, 3 chord progression, played on the guitar in power chords (no 3rd), which is very characteristic of punk rock. The component of the song, though, that makes it most iconic of the punk rock genre is the lyrics. Folds complains, “ya’ll don’t know what its like being male, middle class, and white,” an ironic and sarcastic statement that augments the satirical element of the song.
“Rockin the Suburbs” is a song that reminds the listener of punk rock, a genre of music that happens to be uncharacteristic of its creator, and thus is iconic.

Indexical selection: Average White Band’s “Pick up the Pieces”

This was the first song that I ever played a solo on in front of an audience. It was during my freshman year in high school, and our Jazz band was playing a funk set at a local town function at the waterfront. Of course, being the first time I played in front of a group larger than just my peers, I was terrified. The anticipation was unbearable, and the feeling of finishing the song after the solo was probably the greatest relief I have ever felt. Now, every time I’m listening to the recording of that song I relive the feelings I had that day, even though I know I’m not the one playing the solo. The song indexes the feelings of anticipation and relief that I felt the day I performed it. This connection occurs because of the intensity of the feelings that I felt on that day. This intensity is probably a result of the fact that I was literally playing the music, as opposed to just listening to it. Because playing music is in many ways an output of emotion, the sound of the music and the emotions I was feeling remained very powerfully connected, so now just hearing the music triggers the memory of the feelings.