And why do we like to hurt so much?
I can’t decide
You have made it harder just to go on
And why?
All the possibilities, well, I was wrong
That’s what you get when you let your heart win
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
That’s what you get when you let your heart win
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating
And that’s what you get when you let your heart win
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
(Weirdly enough, I only found Paramore this spring, and it was by looking for something with pretty similar specs than what Dorothy has here. So … well done, Dorothy?)
Kazuma Shouri
of all the things that brought Paramore into my awareness, it was a mashup artist I follow making a 10 song mashup of good 4 u
Seriously. Paramore is awesome. I once saw a video where Haley was recording her voice tracks in her home studio (around 2020/21 I think), so the audience couldn’t hear any music– just her voice. It was incredible. Girl has some PIPES.
Oh most definitely. No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” song is familiar. I just didn’t remember the group’s name. And I’ve known the Billy Eilish name but didn’t know any of her music. So now I’m learning 2 new groups and rediscovering ND.
chrisashtear
I really loved No Doubt. Tragic Kingdom in particular. But Sunday Morning is my favorite song from that album.
Cholma
Yeah. Tragic Kingdom is awesome. Every song on that album is good, compared to 2 or 3 you get on a lot of albums.
Rose by Any other Name
I know, right?
Just last month, my wife and I played Tragic Kingdom for the kids while on a car trip. I’d forgotten just how good that album is. So many amazing songs.
I still need to manually do the math. What do you mean kids born in the aughts are adults now, it doesn’t check out ;AAA;
Benjamin Geiger
High schoolers are learning about 9/11 as an event that occurred before they were born.
matt_damon_aging.gif
Kay
High schoolers?? I was born post-9/11 and I graduated college a full year ago :p
Yumi
Was working in an elementary school not long ago and a kid, obviously born way after 9/11, was saying something about it– “Because of, uh, the 7/11 thing–“
She’s a playable character in Fortnite, with playable tracks in their Guitar Hero mode, so The Kids™ definitely still know who she is. If she weren’t a real human being, I’d probably have the skin in my library because she’s all green and counterculture-y, but it’s weird for me to play as a real person in that game.
Yumi
I don’t really play video games in that style, so the middle part of this comment threw me when it starting talking about having the skin of someone (but only if they’re fictional). And like. It’s you, so I figured the comment might just go somewhere unexpected.
Pffff? Yeah, I see what you mean. No, the “skin” part is just your character model. Every player has the exact same loadout and controls, so any difference in abilities comes from the gear you pick up during each match. For legal reasons, I do not own any amount of Billie Eilish’s literal skin.
GLaDOS
I like to imagine the buffer being big enough that the comments go “sure, the kids don’t listen to Bruckner so much these days, but when this strip was drawn…”
I think Brick By Boring Brick was the first song I heard by Paramore, either that or Decode, I saw the videos of both of those songs around the same time…
I didn’t think I knew Paramore, but I started poking around other songs (after listening to All I Wanted and deciding I wasn’t a fan of the song in particular but maybe the singer) and came across Ain’t It Fun and was like ..! Wait I know this one! I haven’t heard that in awhile.
From personal experience, it’s been 90% fun. The only part I haven’t liked is re-stringing because I bought such fun colored neon strings and the purple one snapped just as I was finishing up, so I had to fight the old one back on. They sound fine at least, but what a hassle.
For about a year, my brother was doing an American Hits-formatted music program for a radio station in Istanbul, Turkey (he did this from the confines of his den, in the USA). One day, he played me several “Turkish” mixes of some of the tracks on the station’s playlist….Beatles, Journey, Foreigner, Guns and Roses…..All of them either had the guitars mixed low or removed completely (and in a few instances, keyboards replaced the guitar parts)! Seems that Turkish people don’t like the sound that guitars make.
Really? That is fascinating. I wonder how much of music preference and emotional resonance is learned from environmental and cultural exposure and how much is genetic.
I’m cautiously curious how music preference could be genetic.
Yumi
I suppose there could be a genetic component to how one experiences sound that could make different music more or less appealing. Cultural and individual factors seem more likely, though.
thejeff
Given how drastically popular music has changed over the generations, cultural and individual factors have to be dominant.
Clif
You can explain 80% of everything about music with a few simple principles. The first principle comes from physics, but the rest are arguably a consequence of human genetics.
1) Musical sounds are produced multiplicatively, typically with a base frequency and then multiples of that frequency.
2) Human hearing functions logarithmically.
3) Human perception of frequency differences decreases as frequency increases.
4) The human mind likes patterns, both in sounds heard at a given time and changes in sound through time.
5) The human mind likes familiarity.
6) But the human mind is easily bored and requires some level of chaos, dissonance or novelty as an antidote in order to maintain attention.
thejeff
Sure, but those basic principles don’t cover why new styles and genres of music come and go. Especially when they tend to develop (or be popularized) among the youth and subcultures and then spread.
That’s cultural.
250 thoughts on “New favorite music”
NGPZ
For the time being, perhaps she can make up for the serotonin by drinking a whole tray of little communiom grape juice cups XD
Dante
Serotonin? Denied. Mom says it’s my turn on the hacked muzak.
*plays “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt because, let’s go in order.*
Steamweed
Music-illiterate me did not remember the band’s name. But soon as YT started “Don’t Speak”, yeah, I remembered quite clearly.
(dangnation that video has more than 1 billion views)
Dante
It’s been on the permasoundtrack of who knows how many breakups, romantic and platonic. A masterpiece for the ages
Rose by Any other Name
Okay, question.
What do you mean “in order”?
Did I miss a link where Willis has created Dorothy’s full playlist?
Steamweed
I’m just going by YT’s display order. By number of views starting at the top.
Yumi
Maybe in order of the artists mentioned in this strip?
Rose by Any other Name
OH. Okay, that makes sense.
Tragic Kingdom is a masterpiece.
Aura
Perfect choice no notes
Aura
(actually I could write so many notes about why it’s a great choice but I’ll refrain)
NGPZ
awe but I want some serotonin too ?
also great song choice ^^
Dante
My two relevant offerings for serotonin would be Guess by Billie Eilish and Bad Guy by The Onceler.
NGPZ
lol Guess is literally Pile of Lesbos: Origin o3o
Ana Chronistic
And why do we like to hurt so much?
I can’t decide
You have made it harder just to go on
And why?
All the possibilities, well, I was wrong
That’s what you get when you let your heart win
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
That’s what you get when you let your heart win
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating
And that’s what you get when you let your heart win
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
Queen Anthai
I love that song.
Thag Simmons
How much of this comment section is just going to be people quoting Paramore lyrics.
Steamweed
Yes
Dare
Ignorance is your new best friend, Joyce.
Okay so it’s her old best friend but still.
(Weirdly enough, I only found Paramore this spring, and it was by looking for something with pretty similar specs than what Dorothy has here. So … well done, Dorothy?)
Kazuma Shouri
of all the things that brought Paramore into my awareness, it was a mashup artist I follow making a 10 song mashup of good 4 u
pixiekhatt
I love me some Paramore. I’m gonna be a little upset if she rejects them! Not like, invested anger or anything like that, but just sad face.
Cholma
Seriously. Paramore is awesome. I once saw a video where Haley was recording her voice tracks in her home studio (around 2020/21 I think), so the audience couldn’t hear any music– just her voice. It was incredible. Girl has some PIPES.
Rose by Any other Name
Yay Paramore!
Actually, I need to thank Willis for this strip – cause I didn’t realize they had a new album out (in 2023, but still). Wishlisted.
Steamweed
be right back gonna listen to 3 new musics
Thag Simmons
Odds are you’ve heard at least one of these acts before even if you wouldn’t know them by name, they all had pretty big hits at points.
Steamweed
Oh most definitely. No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” song is familiar. I just didn’t remember the group’s name. And I’ve known the Billy Eilish name but didn’t know any of her music. So now I’m learning 2 new groups and rediscovering ND.
chrisashtear
I really loved No Doubt. Tragic Kingdom in particular. But Sunday Morning is my favorite song from that album.
Cholma
Yeah. Tragic Kingdom is awesome. Every song on that album is good, compared to 2 or 3 you get on a lot of albums.
Rose by Any other Name
I know, right?
Just last month, my wife and I played Tragic Kingdom for the kids while on a car trip. I’d forgotten just how good that album is. So many amazing songs.
Savail
I’d bet you’ve heard No Doubt, even if you didn’t realize it. “Don’t Speak” and “Just a Girl” were pretty big hits in the 90s.
Dante
*Crumbles to dust like a mummy*
D-don’t say it so loud.
Aura
What? the 90s were only like 10 years ago I swear
Dante
I still need to manually do the math. What do you mean kids born in the aughts are adults now, it doesn’t check out ;AAA;
Benjamin Geiger
High schoolers are learning about 9/11 as an event that occurred before they were born.
matt_damon_aging.gifKay
High schoolers?? I was born post-9/11 and I graduated college a full year ago :p
Yumi
Was working in an elementary school not long ago and a kid, obviously born way after 9/11, was saying something about it– “Because of, uh, the 7/11 thing–“
Steamweed
Yep, I’ve played both now on YT. “JaG” was kind of familiar, but I definitely remembered “DS”.
HueSatLight
Dorothy likes oldies
Dante
Oldies? But she’s got all the top bands in there! 🙁
Aura
Tell me about it, who still listens to Billie Eilish? Gosh 😛
Taffy
Yeah, she’s like in her 20s now. That’s practically geriatric by popstar standards.
Needfuldoer
Weren’t they still listening to her a few months ago, when this was written and drawn?
Taffy
She’s a playable character in Fortnite, with playable tracks in their Guitar Hero mode, so The Kids™ definitely still know who she is. If she weren’t a real human being, I’d probably have the skin in my library because she’s all green and counterculture-y, but it’s weird for me to play as a real person in that game.
Yumi
I don’t really play video games in that style, so the middle part of this comment threw me when it starting talking about having the skin of someone (but only if they’re fictional). And like. It’s you, so I figured the comment might just go somewhere unexpected.
Taffy
Pffff? Yeah, I see what you mean. No, the “skin” part is just your character model. Every player has the exact same loadout and controls, so any difference in abilities comes from the gear you pick up during each match. For legal reasons, I do not own any amount of Billie Eilish’s literal skin.
GLaDOS
I like to imagine the buffer being big enough that the comments go “sure, the kids don’t listen to Bruckner so much these days, but when this strip was drawn…”
Freezer
Most definitely “Hella Good.”
elebenty
Yes!
Spiderwebs is one of my favorites, but there are so many good songs to choose from.
chrisashtear
Paramoreeeeeeee!
I love Pool & Aint it Fun
Uly
Doesn’t everyone love Ain’t It Fun?
chrisashtear
If they dont, they should!
Dante
I admit I love the tortured story in Monster the best skldgjd but hell yeah Ain’t It Fun is was their intro card for me
Jim
I think Brick By Boring Brick was the first song I heard by Paramore, either that or Decode, I saw the videos of both of those songs around the same time…
Tan
I didn’t think I knew Paramore, but I started poking around other songs (after listening to All I Wanted and deciding I wasn’t a fan of the song in particular but maybe the singer) and came across Ain’t It Fun and was like ..! Wait I know this one! I haven’t heard that in awhile.
Thag Simmons
I think Ain’t It Fun was their last big hit, which is a shame because Hard Times is fucking excellent. After Laughter in general is just a great album
chrisashtear
I have listened to After Laughter so many times. It really was a great album, I was shocked it didnt do well sales wise.
Thag Simmons
Maybe their best album?
Uly
Hard Times is amazing.
Taffy
I love the detail that Joyce specifically likes guitars.
True Survivor
Everybody likes guitars. Except people how are learning to play them – I have heard that is painful on many levels.
True Survivor
who. Not “how.” who. What is wrong with my brain this week?
Taffy
From personal experience, it’s been 90% fun. The only part I haven’t liked is re-stringing because I bought such fun colored neon strings and the purple one snapped just as I was finishing up, so I had to fight the old one back on. They sound fine at least, but what a hassle.
Roborat
Yes, guitar is one of the more difficult instruments to learn.
Taffy
Fortunately, it’s all additive, like most musical learning. The more you know, the easier the rest can become to learn.
Van Jealous
For about a year, my brother was doing an American Hits-formatted music program for a radio station in Istanbul, Turkey (he did this from the confines of his den, in the USA). One day, he played me several “Turkish” mixes of some of the tracks on the station’s playlist….Beatles, Journey, Foreigner, Guns and Roses…..All of them either had the guitars mixed low or removed completely (and in a few instances, keyboards replaced the guitar parts)! Seems that Turkish people don’t like the sound that guitars make.
True Survivor
Really? That is fascinating. I wonder how much of music preference and emotional resonance is learned from environmental and cultural exposure and how much is genetic.
Taffy
I’m cautiously curious how music preference could be genetic.
Yumi
I suppose there could be a genetic component to how one experiences sound that could make different music more or less appealing. Cultural and individual factors seem more likely, though.
thejeff
Given how drastically popular music has changed over the generations, cultural and individual factors have to be dominant.
Clif
You can explain 80% of everything about music with a few simple principles. The first principle comes from physics, but the rest are arguably a consequence of human genetics.
1) Musical sounds are produced multiplicatively, typically with a base frequency and then multiples of that frequency.
2) Human hearing functions logarithmically.
3) Human perception of frequency differences decreases as frequency increases.
4) The human mind likes patterns, both in sounds heard at a given time and changes in sound through time.
5) The human mind likes familiarity.
6) But the human mind is easily bored and requires some level of chaos, dissonance or novelty as an antidote in order to maintain attention.
thejeff
Sure, but those basic principles don’t cover why new styles and genres of music come and go. Especially when they tend to develop (or be popularized) among the youth and subcultures and then spread.
That’s cultural.
Steamweed
They much prefer the bağlama (a big lute kind of thing). Turkish coworker of mine played the thing and brought it to work sometimes.
Steamweed