I just wrote 30 pages about "Sk8er Boi"

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My head is swimming.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Saturday, 3 May 2003 03:49 (twenty-two years ago)

havent you heard?
we rock each others world

― webber (webber), Saturday, 3 May 2003 04:19 (twenty-two years ago)

WHEN CAN WE SEE IT

― d k (d k), Saturday, 3 May 2003 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought this was an Ally thread.

― jm (jtm), Saturday, 3 May 2003 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Dude, it definitely sounds like me.

― Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 3 May 2003 05:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha, I did too. Thirty pages, by the way, is probably not nearly enough for "Sk8er Boi."

― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 3 May 2003 05:40 (twenty-two years ago)

(The Sk8er Boi Companion, Part One, Volume One, forthcoming in spring from Routledge)

― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 3 May 2003 05:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know you people

― Millar (Millar), Saturday, 3 May 2003 06:02 (twenty-two years ago)

if only.

― Mark C (Mark C), Saturday, 3 May 2003 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I see it?

― Andrew (enneff), Saturday, 3 May 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Did you have a single, overriding thesis that you were pursuing?

― j.lu (j.lu), Saturday, 3 May 2003 13:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Double spaced?

I want to read this!!

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 3 May 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to read it, and then I think we should all take turns feeding the whole thing -- every damn word, every jot and titter -- into the Red Meaterator.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 3 May 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean, it's possibly one of the most important songs of the 21st century thus far.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 3 May 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

She was a boy, he was a girl

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 3 May 2003 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Are you trying to read some sort of biblical narrative into it Tracer? Is the skate park the new Eden?

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 3 May 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Could he make it any more obvious?

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 3 May 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

"Writing 30 pages about Sk8er Boi" should be the new "listing your top ten albums," i.e. everyone should do it.

Long ago, I started a hypertext essay on Shriekback's "Nemesis," which had nothing to do with the song except that you would click on a phrase in the lyrics and it would bring up several paragraphs somehow related to that phrase ("Tinkerbell and Jack the Ripper" => Victorian popular culture), with the idea being that somehow all those paragraphs would make an essay which would at least seem coherent very late at night.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 3 May 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING! You have been identified as being in a cohort of known CARNIVORES Take a step in the right direction by:
Urge Miami International Airport Not to Shoot the Rabbits

Protect Maryland’s Wildlife

Timber Conglomerate to Kill 700 Animals

900 Rabbits Saved, Thanks to Your Calls and Letters

Show Your Support for Federal Animal-Fighting Bills

Support the New McVeggie!

Virginia DMV to Sell Fox-Hunting License Plate

Tell Pepsi That Its Billion-Dollar Monkey Is a Bad Idea

Tell Ocean View Towers to Stop Poisoning Birds

Please Ask the James Beard Foundation and the New York Marriott Marquis to End Their Support for Cruelty to Animals

Tell Oprah That Mink Slippers Are Cruel and Inexcusable

Tens of Thousands of Live Hens Thrown Into a Wood-Chipping Machine

Stop Barbaric Seal Slaughter

Urge Home Depot Not to Poison Birds or Catch Them With Glue Traps

― VEGAN STRIKE FORCEV, Saturday, 3 May 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

Because you are about to ruin the image and the style we are used to?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 3 May 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned, you're my hero for the rest of the weekend.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 3 May 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

*bows*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 3 May 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Tell Oprah That Mink Slippers Are Cruel and Inexcusable

God, I can't stop laughing at this..

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 3 May 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Sundar, I'm surprised nobody's asked yet but...why?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 3 May 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I just finished final editions, title page (“I’M WITH THE SK8ER BOI”: THE CONSTRUCTION OF AVRIL LAVIGNE’S TOMBOY ANTI-POP STAR PERSONA AND ITS REFLECTION AND ARTICULATION IN STYLISTIC ELEMENTS OF THE HIT SONG “SK8ER BOI”), appendix, and bibliography. The whole thing is 37 pages, with the actual essay coming to 32 pages. It's my final paper for Studies in Popular Music 6320.03, a graduate level course at York. It's been my principal preoccupation for almost the past month. That and this chick. I'll put it online at some point after it's been handed in, maybe after grading. I'd like to hear ILx responses. Sections use "Sk8er Boi" as a springboard for sort of an overriding discussion and critique of rockism and popular music criticism and stuff. Timed play-by-play discussion of production effects in the song and vocal techniques and stuff. Accompanied by a CD of musical examples containing "Sk8er Boi", Madonna's "Die Another Day", and Sum 41's "Still Waiting", which makes a pretty good mini-EP. By about page 28 I'd managed to convince myself that Avril Lavigne is in fact an undeniable genius.

(Yes, double-spaced. Times font, 12 pt.)

Nabisco, I hope you weren't joking and you actually wrote an essay as well.

Now I have a digital composition to finish. I don't believe in summer.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Saturday, 3 May 2003 18:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Sundar, Sundar, please -- LOSE THE SUBTITLE. ;-) Seriously, I think those kind of things are a plague upon academia. Just call it "I'M WITH THE SK8ER BOI" and screw 'em that gets up their nose.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 3 May 2003 18:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll just say "wow" and reaffirm that grad school will be a loooong time from now for me.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 3 May 2003 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Everyone on ILM should write 30 pages about avril, and then we should publish a book.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 3 May 2003 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Sundar, I believe you're making things so complicated.

(but bravo nonetheless; can't wait to read)

― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 3 May 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

''It's been my principal preoccupation for almost the past month. That and this chick''

sundar- show 'this chick' the paper on avril! she will fall for you just like that i'm sure.

good luck anyway: with the paper and the chick.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 3 May 2003 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Cool Sundar! I hope the lecturer thinks that the essay is "anything but ordinary".

I agree with Sterling about the Avril book!

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 3 May 2003 20:17 (twenty-two years ago)

sundar will cover everything! he will leave no stone unturned!!!

THIS BOOK WILL BE 37 PAGES!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 3 May 2003 20:21 (twenty-two years ago)

You missed out a 4 there julio!

THIS BOOK WILL BE 437 PAGES!

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 3 May 2003 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

i want to read it to.

― anthony easton (anthony), Saturday, 3 May 2003 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Next I demand a 60 pager paper on Rockism and how it moves your soul.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Saturday, 3 May 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah wana read it too (bt font 12 & dbl spaced is a cop out - need to write in font 10 and single spaced)

― H (Heruy), Saturday, 3 May 2003 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
Because you are about to ruin the image and the style we are used to?
Ha!

― Sarah MCLUsky (coco), Monday, 5 May 2003 12:02 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

Here it is:

http://www.geocities.com/sundar_subramanian2001/avril-essay.doc

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 8 June 2003 19:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I think you might need to cut and paste the URL.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 8 June 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Very well written. I particularly enjoyed the parts where you compared the actual sound of the songs and the production techniques - that's the kind of thing that I've probably subconsciously noticed, but never consciously noticed.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Sunday, 8 June 2003 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

wow, sundar!! this rules! i like the part where you bring in moroder especially

― geeta (geeta), Sunday, 8 June 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno about "Die Another Day" using trad-feminine vocals but otherwise uh, yeah good stuff.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 9 June 2003 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

lucylurex and icyblend's AIM conversation to thread!

― di smith (lucylurex), Monday, 9 June 2003 02:05 (twenty-one years ago)

well, yeah, except I don't care what happens to this song. The best criticism of it was the bitchin synthpop version!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 9 June 2003 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Sterling, are you saying that DAD is not an example of the "woman-as-sex-object" style of female pop vocal identified by Shepherd (he gave Sheena Easton as an example) or are you saying this style is not inherently traditionally feminine? Or are you disputing this typology altogether?

(Thanks for the comments so far.)

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 9 June 2003 15:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the vocals on DAD are far more complex than they're given credit for, and actually som of the most brill singing Madonna has done in years.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 9 June 2003 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

i promise to read this

btw, did I dream it or is there a movie of sk8er boi in pre-production?

― zebedee (zebedee), Monday, 9 June 2003 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Nice work, Sundar!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 9 June 2003 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

OK. NB first of all I'm not saying that it's not good singing. I agree that it's a great performance by Madonna. I'm also not saying that the elements I identify are all there is to the performance. At all. Do you think it could still be said that Madonna's performance, with all her complexities, contains these elements and is largely working within this mode of vocal production? I'm willing to consider that it's not an example of this since I didn't spend most of my analysis on this song but I'd like to hear your take on this.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 9 June 2003 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

It didn't occur to me until this revival that I totally misinterpreted Nabisco's "I did too".

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 9 June 2003 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you responsible for the screen play that is whoring its way round Hollywood??

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 10 June 2003 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

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