The word HIT and how we use it.

I find myself in conversation saying things like, "oh yeah, that's a HIT" when people reference songs that I like, but I find myself having somewhat more serious discourse and people actually being serious about the term HIT and how it relates to music/jargon. Some people really seem to care about the chart position of a given single, some so far as to balk at anything called a HIT that didnt' crack the top 10/top 40/whatever.

I find this interesting because it seems to be a divide among serious music fans (as opposed to journalists, musicians etc. I don't even want to get into the meaning of words in music journalism.) Some people find historical knowledge of the pop charts to be a source of pride, and something that has a significance regarding the validity of a piece of music. A large group of music fans on the other side of the fence, however, sees the enumerate study of HIT songs to be a curiosity at best.

I hope I didn't start a thread about ROCKISM, I'm more interested in talking about the word HIT (and other WORDS) and have both PRECISE and IMPRECISE meanings.

there are some typos in the above so please figure it out amongst yourselves.

when i say "hit" i'm usually talking about a song from past years, saying something stupid like "oh yeah, that was like a big hit, wasn't it?"

in terms of radio play/overall popularity

ps this sounds like a bong-related query

^ serious lol

ian, i think you started a thread about aspies.

This thread just makes me want to listen to that Sugarcubes song.

Once there weren't singles, the idea of hits got vague, but it always was because the charts were rigged from day one, but I know one when I hear one that I remember.

My biggest complaint is that oldies stations play small hits while ignoring big ones, and my second biggest complaint is that I haven't heard of many of the hits from the last 10 years.

This thread just makes me want to listen to that Birthday Party song.

yeah it's definitely funny on some of the pop threads when some song that's been on R&B radio for months and months finally creeps into the top 40 of the Hot 100 and someone declares so-and-so "has a hit now!" I think that the definitions of a hit that used to apply still do most of the time, but single charts have begun to be more like album charts ever since iTunes sales started making an impact on them, i.e. it sometimes has more to do with an artist's fanbase loyalty than whether the song in question is really a 'hit' that galvanizes listeners outside that fanbase.

well, that wasn't supposed to happen.

^^ one of at least 3 Mark G posts this morning that I don't understand at all in the context of their threads

OK.

It's a line from the Sugarcubes' Hit.

The others? I can explain all...

haha ok. the others were the Pearl Jam thread and the excelsior thread.

Pearl Jam? As it says, it's nice when an album you love is retooled with nice extras and stuff. But I never liked them. That was it.

The Excel one? The thread had 'gone off' new answers, so obviously had not had anything excellent posted to it. I was position the theory that nothing worthy had happened on ILX to warrant it.

(I did explain the fan heater one, on the Conservapedia thread, if that was one also).

Cheers.

ok those all make sense. i think it was just reading those all in a row and being a little confused by each one that kinda added up into some weird 'what is up with Mark G' feeling.