My Favorite Song is an Aging Hippie-Holdover Classic!
Posted on August 28, 2010 | By Robert LaFrance | 3 Comments
This rant was inspired by a song. It’s a lovely little ditty and I’d like to play it for you now.
That’s right – it’s Dan Fogerlberg’s “Longer Than.” This optimistic ballad was released late in 1979 and gained most of its insane popularity in 1980 and is now my all time favorite song. A favorite song that I never need to hear again. In fact, I’d rather puncture my eardrums with porcupine spines than listen to that drivel. So, I hear you asking yourself, “with all that great music that The Slacker Factor has brought me, how could THIS possibly be his favorite song?” Well, I will tell you.
“Longer Than” gives me hope. Not because of its poignant lyrical content, its dreamy melody, or delicately sung vocal. Nope, in fact those things make me want to reach into the early 80s and pull Dan Fogelberg’s tonsils out through his nose. I love it for this reluctant hope that it offers. Hope that if this boat load of crap can reach a peak position of #2 on the Singles Chart in this god forsaken country, then actual quality music might stand a fighting chance.
But, what I really can’t believe is that back in the early 80s, people heard this song for the first time and said to themselves “Wow, what a fantastic little ditty, I can’t wait to hear several more times an hour on my favorite Adult Contemporary radio station.” Or worse, that those aging hippie holdover baby boomers thought that this was a cutting edge new sound for a new decade and warranted critical acclaim and a place in the rock and roll history books alongside Richard Marx and Bryan Adams. Why else would it have catapulted his album called Phoenix to platinum status? There can be no other logical explanation.
