# The song "Hey Ya" can officially suck my dick **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2004, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644 "2004-02-05T08:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/121 "2004-02-13T01:40:38Z")
> [@Treviathan](#): > > As a certified member of the [musical elite](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=237453) 😉 , I am prepared to officially decree that “Hey Ya” is cool. Listening to “Hey Ya” will not get you thrown out of the music snob pantheon, and [pitchforkmedia.com](http://pitchforkmedia.com) will still send you your Valentine’s Day card and autographed Ben Gibbard e-bow. > > (I can’t get enough of the four ascending keyboard notes in the chorus. Sooooooo catchy.) Lol that is so great isn’t it? That song is unheard of here in Germany so when I first heard it on the internet, I felt like some kind of Eastern bloc teenager getting their first elvis song! It is too cool. This probably explains why I am certainly biased. Had I been living in America and had been introduced in the typical obnoxious manner that almost all pop is introduced I would hate the song most likely. But I have had an independent sampling of it so I am pretty unbiased and I LOVE it! But I like all music from all places and I try to avoid being a music snob at all costs. That’s why I don’t listen to the radio. I have an aversion to anything that is whored around like the latest piece of gossip, so if I don’t listen to the radio then I don’t hear it that way. “Ya’ll don’t wanna hear me you just wanna dance!” The only time I have heard this song was on my computer. If I heard it in a disco I would go ape-shit crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/122 "2004-02-13T17:45:12Z")
> [@paulberserker](#): > > How about Techno? Hip Hop? What a debt they owe to McCartney/Lennon. Ever heard “Tomorrow Never Knows”? Definitely proto-electronica. Getting back to “Hey Ya,” I think it’s a great song. Maybe it’s overplayed, but I don’t really listen to the radio and very rarely watch TV, so I’m not sure. But the song is great because it perfectly conveys the fun of singing and making music. I love how Andre’s vocals sound like he’s sitting in his room or car alone singing along to a pop song that he loves, but also manage to sound good at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/123 "2004-02-14T00:54:44Z")
> [@Already in Use](#): > > Ever heard “Tomorrow Never Knows”? Definitely proto-electronica. [hijack]Wasn’t it actually sampled in a Chemical Brothers song? I believe it was “Setting Sun,” with a Gallagher on vocals for added Beatleness.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/124 "2004-02-14T01:34:30Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Already In Use_ > Ever heard “Tomorrow Never Knows”? Definitely proto-electronica. Hate to burst your bubble, but the Beatles were hardly the first to use tape loops. I’m hardly an expert on the subject, but wasn’t Karlheinz Stockhausen doing all kinds of fucked up shit years before the Beatles came along? Stockhausen is generally considered to have a greater influence on electronica than the Beatles. All the Beatles really did was add funny noises to a guitar pop song. In the evolution of electronica, the Beatles weren’t pioneers, and didn’t really have that much influence on the music. You could make an argument that they pioneered electronic sounds in _rock_ music, but that’s a very different thing. [quote_originally posted by look!ninjas_ [hijack] Wasn’t it actually sampled in a Chemical Brothers song? I believe it was “Setting Sun,” with a Gallagher on vocals for added Beatleness.[/hijack] [/quote] “Setting Sun” did have a Gallagher on vocals, but I don’t think it sampled “Tomorrow Never Knows.” I think they just attempted to imitate its sound. Still, they’re very different songs. “Setting Sun” might have the mood and trippyness of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” but its real selling point are the bone-rattling beats, and how they interact with the rich textures. I think it’s better than TMK. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/125 "2004-02-14T04:10:33Z")
The band 801, with Phil Manzanera and Eno, did a fucking awesome electric TMK on the album 801 Live. Check it out, it’s amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/126 "2004-02-14T16:36:25Z")
> [@gex gex](#): > > Hate to burst your bubble, but the Beatles were hardly the first to use tape loops. I’m hardly an expert on the subject, but wasn’t Karlheinz Stockhausen doing all kinds of fucked up shit years before the Beatles came along? Stockhausen is generally considered to have a greater influence on electronica than the Beatles. All the Beatles really did was add funny noises to a guitar pop song. In the evolution of electronica, the Beatles weren’t pioneers, and didn’t really have that much influence on the music. You could make an argument that they pioneered electronic sounds in _rock_ music, but that’s a very different thing. Stockhausen, Varese, and other modern classical composers had been creating _musique concrete_ and using synthetic sounds in their music for years, and the Beatles were definitely influenced heavily by Stockhausen. However, AFAIK, “Tomorrow Never Knows” was the first use of tape loops in a setting involving a pounding, danceable beat (and also including heavily processed vocals). Obviously, that’s not relevant to all genres of electronica, but I would hardly consider it a negligible contribution. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/127 "2004-02-15T11:50:07Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Already In Use_ > Stockhausen, Varese, and other modern classical composers had been creating musique concrete and using synthetic sounds in their music for years, and the Beatles were definitely influenced heavily by Stockhausen. However, AFAIK, “Tomorrow Never Knows” was the first use of tape loops in a setting involving a pounding, danceable beat (and also including heavily processed vocals). Obviously, that’s not relevant to all genres of electronica, but I would hardly consider it a negligible contribution. Come on! It was a rock beat, plain and simple. That’s very different to a thumping house beat or something. You want roots of modern electronica, look to Stockhausen etc. and throw in groups like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Yeah, _Tomorrow Never Knows_ is a clever song, and it was pretty out there for its time. But you could delete the Beatles from history and electronic music would have evolved pretty much the same as it did. The pioneers might have been impressed with the production skills on that record, but it just wasn’t a major (or even, I’d say, a minor) influence. I know the rock world has a major hard on for the Beatles, but do we have to credit them with every modern accomplishment? Next you’ll be trying to claim that it was they who averted the Cuban Missile Crisis, and then perfected the Theory of Special Relativity in between releasing _Rubber Soul_ and _Revolver_. ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/128 "2004-03-08T08:42:37Z")
I hate to bring this one back from the grave; but please GOD someone tell me they saved that Charlie Brown video before it was deleted. (If so;can you send it to me?) ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2004, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644/129 "2004-03-08T08:59:47Z")
Oh good, I get another chance to…comment…on a Pit thread. 😛 Yeah, it’s a bit repetitive, but at least it’s fun and not too hard on the ears. Which puts it light years ahead of I Will Always Love You and its ilk. Man, talk about a jam-pencils-in-your-ears time… I also don’t understand all the hating on Who Let The Dogs Out. You people _do_ realize that there are actual lyrics, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-song-hey-ya-can-officially-suck-my-dick/227644.md?page=6)