Dido "Thank You"

Way back in January, I wrote about the Goyte song "Somebody That I Used To Know."

I don't know if it came through in the post, but I was pretty on the fence about the song and whether or not the station should play it.

Of course, if you've listened to the station since January, you haven't heard the tune, so you would have assumed that we came down on the side of not playing it.

Then again, maybe you've listened to the station in the past two days, heard the song, and wondered, Why did they decide to start playing it now?

Okay, here's the thought process I went through . . .

Without a doubt, this is a great song. I never really questioned that. Was never on the fence about the quality of the tune.

But the question I'm always asking is, Is this a good mvy song?

On the plus-side? It sounds quite a bit like Peter Gabriel, who is certainly a core artists for us. And it's musically/sonically quirky enough to really stand out (in a good way). And the whole album is strong (that is, we don't usually go for novelty songs, one-hit-wonders, or artists who have a great single but a shitty record).

On the negative side? I could tell it was going to be a Pop radio hit. And generally, if an artist is going to quickly cross over to the Pop world, we don't waste time with it. The 3rd "A" in Triple A stands for "Alternative." And if we fancy ourselves as an alternative to the mainstream, then we let Pop radio have the big Pop hits to themselves.

And that's where we were from January, to about last week.

Then the Dido thing happened.

Waay back in 2000, British singer Dido released the single "Thank You" to Triple A radio. Many Triple A stations played it, but Barbara (who was mvy's Program Director at the time) passed on it. It did become a popular crossover hit, cracking the Top 10 on the Pop charts.

At the same time, Eminem sampled part of "Thank You" in his song "Stan." This was at the height of Emenem's fame, MTV was playing the hell out of his video, and Dido was reaching a wider and wider audience.

And that's when the song moved from being just a big hit, to a full-on phenomenon. It seemed to transcend genres or formats. People who didn't usually listen to Pop radio were hearing the song (because it was so culturally ubiquitous), telling us how great it was, and asking us to play it. We added it to rotation.

Something similar has happened with the Gotye song.

I see people of all stripes posting this song on Facebook, and talking about it with friends, and reacting to it. The raw emotion in the song, the unique-sounding musical dynamics, the "I've been there" subject matter---it's all striking a chord. A deep chord.

So at this point, it's hard to ignore the song. It's something that people who listen to mvyradio, by and large, seem to like. It's bigger than just Pop. Or Triple A. Or any sub-category.

It's in a league of its own, like Dido's tune and a handful of other rare songs that seem to have everyone's attention.

You can't ignore it. You just have to accept it and say "Thank You."


Hear Dido on Youtube.


Hear Gotye on Youtube.


Hear Eminem on Youtube.