Stereothematica
Welcome to Stereothematica, a podcast where two women geek out over music.
When Christina moved from LA to Texas, Christine suggested a weekly challenge to stay in touch: pick a song that fits a chosen theme. This game opened them to new perspectives on each other while deepening their own understanding of the music that shapes their lives. Each week Christina and Christine recreate the magic of their song exchange on a broader scale, deconstructing their thematic picks, providing personal anecdotes and historical insights, and sharing transformative tracks rarely spotlighted on the Billboard Hot 100.
Stereothematica
Atypical Earworm
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Ever have a song that gets stuck in your head... and you might try all the tricks to get it out of your head and you're still stuck humming (or singing!?) wide awake at 3 a.m. We've been there! And this week we're talking about the music we don't mind getting stuck in our heads! And, as you can probably guess, these tunes aren't your... typical earworms!
SONGS:
Riton & Kah-Lo: Fake I.D. (2018)
Shannon and the Clams: What You’re Missing (2024)
RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:
Dissecting an Earworm: Melodic Features and Song Popularity Predict Involuntary Musical Imagery (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, 2016)
A Natural History of the Earworm – The Song That Won’t Get Out of Your Head (British Psychological Society, 2009)
Earworms (Discovery Orchestra, 2014)
Your Brain on Music: Earworms (Kennedy Center)
Stephen King on Songs that Stick in Your Head (Entertainment Weekly, 2009)
Earworms - Songs that Stick in Your Head - Interview with Daniel Levitin (NakedScientists, 2007)
Review of Foreign Ororo (Native Magazine, 2018)
Riton (feat. Kah-Lo): Rinse and Repeat (2016)
Four on the Floor Rhythm Explained (MasterClass, 2021)
Four on the Floor with Musical Examples (YouTube)
The Man Who Was Always There (ZeroNine)
Get to Know Kah-Lo, The Grammy-Nominated Nigerian MC (MixMag)
The Difference Between Afrobeat and Afrobeats (Revolt)
Francis Mercier (feat. Wyclef Jean and Kah-Lo): Take Me Home (2026)
Selena Gomez lip-syncing Fake ID (2018)
Shirley Ellis: The Clapping Song (1965)
Fake I.D. Lyrics (w/some annotation) (Genius)
Shannon and The Clams - 'What You're Missing' in PBS Studio 5 Live January 28, 2025
ALBUM REVIEW: Shannon and the Clams Carry Grief Unflinchingly Through ‘The
Moon Is in the Wrong Place’ (No Depression)
Shannon and The Clams Triumph on The Moon Is In The Wrong Place (Paste)
LA Phil: Shannon and the Clams
Shannon & the Clams - The Boy [Official Video]
Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!
If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.
And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back!
I'm Christine. And I'm Christina. In 2024, I moved to Texas from LA. And to keep in touch, Christine and I started a weekly game where we each pick a song that fits a chosen theme.
SPEAKER_02This game deepened our understanding of each other and the songs that shape us, inspiring the podcast you're listening to now. Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love. And a lot of the time have never heard of.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to Stereothematica, your favorite atypical music podcast.
SPEAKER_02Hey Christina. Oh hey, Christine. Do you remember when we first started the podcast? A few friends suggested doing an episode on earworms.
SPEAKER_01I feel like I do. Yeah, there were a lot of recommendations or suggestions that were lobbed our way right after we started, which was fun. But your friends were recommending earworms.
SPEAKER_02Yes, a couple of friends recommended earworms. And I I vaguely remember you even saying, Oh yeah, I thought of that.
SPEAKER_01I do remember because, but I don't know. I I guess we're gonna get into it. It terrorizes me. The earworms. Wait, say more. Well, I have OCD. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01But it it's not the kind that I know when people are like, I have OCD because I like to have everything like I have the kind where like I have ruminating thoughts, you know? And so sometimes when I'm trying to fall asleep, a song will get into my head. Yeah. And then I actually I actually can't sleep at night because the song, and usually like one line from a song, will play over and over and over in my head.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01And that's a nightmare.
SPEAKER_02See, okay. I have that happen too, but I don't think of it as a nightmare. I actually enjoy that. But I think where maybe going back to people pushing the earworm theme, I was resistant because when I think of earworms, I think of like pop songs. I think of like annoying cheesy pop songs, which I generally don't, I don't want to be that person, but I generally don't listen to. Yeah. So but when I do listen to something, I and love it, I listen to it a lot over and over. And when you listen to something over and over, it gets stuck. Oh, for sure. So I have the same thing happening where I don't necessarily have OCD, I have many other things. But but but I do, I will wake up always in the middle of the night with a song when I go to the bathroom. And I don't know, I find that to be a gift.
SPEAKER_01I love that you have a gift appreciation of this, but for me it was it's just that it I couldn't sleep because of the song. No, if I were awake and I was like, no, actually, it was a problem during the day too, because sometimes it can't, I can't get it out of my head.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But then so this is where I'm curious. Uh-huh. You'll listen to the song. Yeah. Sometimes I would resist listening to it because then I'm like, it will further solidify the groove in my head. And I don't mean the groove like grooves and the heart. I mean like the you know, indentation of the earworm. The earworm is worming more if I listen to it. But sometimes it works. I will.
SPEAKER_02That makes sense what you're saying, but I actually think there is some science behind that, and it that's actually one of the suggestions to get rid of an earworm is to listen to it. Interesting. But we'll get we'll get a little bit to that later. So anyway, because I don't generally like what is thought of as a typical earworm, I wanted to do atypical earworms. Wow. So before we get into our atypical earworms, let's define our terms for earworms in general. Can you sum this up for me? Like, what do you think an earworm is?
SPEAKER_01Totally. I mean, for me, yeah, an earworm is just like a song you can't get out of your head. And it's the best when you like it. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's just one of those songs that's like so catchy and good that you're like, oh, I can't stop listening. Either I can't stop listening to that song or I can't stop thinking about it, or something like that. Yeah. My favorite earworm is when you're leaving a concert and one of the songs is like, oh, I love that. I love, you know, like having that experience where even if it's like not one of your favorites before you have it at the show, like such a good experience at the show that then you leave being like that.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah. No, that's that's wonderful. Now, do you ever I'm I'm curious about this because I do it all the time, actually sing the song out loud in a public space, like say the bathroom at work.
SPEAKER_01Oh, interesting. I don't think the bathroom at work, but is that like uh is that also coping with the fact that you're having to use the bathroom at work?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. No, I I make a lot of noises with my mouth when I go to the bathroom. Usually I sing some song that's in my head and I can't help it. And everyone kind of knows, oh, that's Christine.
SPEAKER_01There's Christine. That is amazing. And I also love that you're like owning it and not being like, oh, I don't do that. No, I totally do.
SPEAKER_02I love it. And it's I love when I'm like, why do I even have this song in my head? Like right now, I have I am the black gold of the sun. Like, I haven't listened to this CD in a long time from New Orleans Soul, and it's a remake of another song from the 70s, anyway. But it just is in my head all the time right now.
SPEAKER_01So maybe it means something. I wonder. But I'm curious, is my earworm definition the same as your earworm? Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02No. Okay. And and I I want to share a little bit more now about that. In case you didn't know, the term earworm comes from German earwom.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Yeah. Nice pronunciation, by the way.
SPEAKER_02And it just means earwig, as in the insect that crawls into people's ears. Gross. Did you know them as pincher bugs as a kid?
SPEAKER_01I've actually never heard that term. As a child, I knew earworm, and it was one of my childhood fears. The earworm. Wait, sorry. Earwig. Earwig. Sorry. Earwig. Truly, because they're so scary looking with the little horn like hooks on either end.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01I was so afraid of having them in my ear. I was a very fearful child. Oh, yeah. People hadn't picked up on that. But yeah, gross.
SPEAKER_02I was afraid. I think at some point, like I would cover my ears.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I didn't want to, I didn't like when I was camping or whatever, I was like, this is it. And this is when it happens. No. Pincher bugs. Did you see them?
SPEAKER_02I oh yeah. I've seen them. And and I learned in in my research that the ones with the pinchers that are a little more rounded are the males, and the females have straight pinchers.
SPEAKER_01Gross. Sorry.
SPEAKER_02Anyway.
SPEAKER_01And now I oh my god, my ear is literally ah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I know. We we both have like weird fears about like thing our ears and things crawling in. I I thought once I swallowed a butterfly as a child, and to this day, I am afraid of butterflies.
SPEAKER_01That's so incredible. And I'm really sorry.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, no, I don't care how beautiful they are. They're disgusting.
SPEAKER_01You also didn't used to like birds, so oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm I'm still afraid of birds. I enjoy their singing, I enjoy them from a distance, but get within like five feet of me, and I am completely on edge.
SPEAKER_01I love it. Not to like go on too much of a tangent, but yesterday there was a dragonfly stuck in our car, and I grabbed it and like not grabbed it, but like I let it get on my finger and get out. And Andrew is like, I can't believe you just did that. And I was like, I'm from Louisiana. Yeah, we got a lot of critters that we're picking up and stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's some like dragonflies around here. There's some hummingbirds are freaking me out lately.
SPEAKER_01Aw, they're so beautiful.
SPEAKER_02They get too close to me.
SPEAKER_01I can't imagine they do.
SPEAKER_02No, all these flying things get a little too close to me. They know they can smell the fear.
SPEAKER_01They're trying to win you over.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. So anyway, I was kind of surprised to learn that the word only got its musical meaning in the late 50s.
SPEAKER_01When and by word you mean earworm.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah. Okay. Exactly. And that was when Germans began applying that same name to a piece of music that gets stuck in your head. Which I don't know. For some reason, I thought this would have been a word that was in general use for like at least a hundred years.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. 50s makes it you're right. I could almost get like a Shakespearean like vibe from it.
SPEAKER_02So it's kind of strange. But according to Wikipedia, the earliest known English usage appears in Desmond Bagley's 1978 novel Fly Away, in which he notes the words German origin for a chant in your mind that you can't get rid of. And even more surprising than that, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Stephen King helped popularize the term when he used it in a silly piece he wrote for Entertainment Weekly in 2009.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02That's that right. Okay, thank you. Yeah. But the general phenomenon was actually described in English by Mark Twain in his 1876 story, A Literary Nightmare. And that is about a virus-like jingle that gets stuck in someone's head and can only be gotten rid of by passing it to somebody else.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, I like that. Yeah, but that's spooky. I know.
SPEAKER_02I kind of want to read it.
SPEAKER_01Sometimes I wish I could pass my earworm to somebody else.
SPEAKER_02Pass it on to me. I'll take it. Yeah. I'll relieve you of it. So now I was I was wondering if there was an evolutionary purpose to all of this. And sure enough, in an interview on the Naked Scientist website, neuroscientist musician Daniel Leviton, I've mentioned him before, he said, in certain societies, a young boy will sing a song to a young girl. And the idea is that the song is supposed to get stuck in her head. And then when he's away on the hunt, she'll remember him.
SPEAKER_01That is crazy. I mean, who knows? So everybody has to have their own unique little song, though. I guess. What if your song sucks? And then the girl's like, I mean, if you like the guy. Watch out for the lions, I guess.
SPEAKER_02But in in 2016, there was a fun study led by music psychology professor Kelly Jakobowski called dissecting an earworm. Melodic features and song popularity predict involuntary musical imagery. And that involuntary musical imagery is the official term, or the at least what is used by psychologists for an earworm. Jakobowski and her team surveyed 3,000 people about their most frequent earworms. And they identified about a hundred songs and compared them with another hundred similar songs that were not cited by any of the surveyed participants. And they found that earworms typically shared a faster tempo, a more generic, easy-to-sing melodic shape. But they also had some unexpected leaps or more repeated notes than in an average pop song. So they're simple enough to be memorable, but with just enough melodic quirk to stand out. And five of the most cited earworms from the study were. You want me to sing? Yeah, yeah, if you would. Only if you want. Okay, number one Bad Romance by Lady Gaga.
SPEAKER_01That was pretty good, right?
SPEAKER_02That was pretty good, yeah. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02Can't get you out of my head by Kylie Minogue.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to sing this one, but can I tell you that when I was in eighth grade, I think it was either eighth or ninth grade. I was in a math class. It must have been eighth, because what the hell would you ask a ninth grader to do this? My friend and I had to write a song about math and then perform it. Uh-huh. And you could like, you know, use. I we did this song and we went la la la, add up the numbers, la la la, and get the red answer. How do you sing it like that? Yeah, for sure. Probably better. Or maybe worse, because if you're in eighth grade, you're like really shy. That's pretty good. Stupid. But that's not even a good parody, you know.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I I'm kind of impressed. Thank you.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Okay, don't stop believing.
SPEAKER_02Sorry.
SPEAKER_01I hate this song.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You know, this is one of my least favorite. Everyone knows it. That's Journey. Just a small temp. Wow. Oh wow. Yeah, I didn't expect you to do that part.
SPEAKER_01That's the best part. That's the only good part.
SPEAKER_02Okay, this one I have no idea. It's number four. Somebody that I used to know by Gautier. You know this one? Who is this? Gautier, yeah. Gautier. Gautier.
SPEAKER_01I think it's a good one.
SPEAKER_02Oh, like Jean-Paul Gautier? Okay. It's not spelled like maybe it's sounded. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's actually, you didn't listen to this one.
SPEAKER_02I did. And I'm like, I've never heard this.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of good. I remember when this one came out. It was definitely an earwork.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's good. No, it's good. You didn't have to cut me off.
SPEAKER_01I can't wait to hear how Thomas knows all of this is landing.
SPEAKER_02He's gonna cut it all. God, this will be good. Okay, and then finally, moves like McJagger by Maroon Five. Seriously, such an annoying song.
SPEAKER_01They're just an annoying band. Oh my god, they're such an annoying band. And this song, too, is like I think it felt like pander, like pandering to oh yeah, Jagger or something. I don't know. Cause I'm like, who's got the moose like Jagger? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Like you fucking wish.
SPEAKER_02So are you avoiding singing the song? Yeah, I am. Okay. That's fine.
SPEAKER_01Do you want to do it?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I don't even, I I don't I know it if I hear it, but I don't think I could reproduce it. It's so bad.
SPEAKER_01I don't think I'm I've probably had this one of these songs stuck in my head. Oh yeah. I mean, all like probably all of them, but uh the one that I hate the most even more than the Mick Jagger one is Don't Stop Believing.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's the one they usually play at the end of the night when you're like closing out the ball. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_02I've never I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Maybe this was just where I was like, yeah, like in college, you know, not like anywhere I would go now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, Lady Gaga's got a couple on in addition to this one. She's got like poker face and I think maybe a few others.
SPEAKER_01Lady Gaga's like actually really good. I've had a Lady Gaga song stuck in my head before. Like a pretty kind of a recent one. Do you know Rain on Me, the her and Ariana Grande? No, I don't think so. It's a good one. Okay.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, oh, yeah. Can I tell you really quickly my one of my most and this was one that um, and you're gonna laugh. I just know that you will. It was Charlie X. Of course. But her song, Unlock It, was stuck in my head for probably like six months. I will link to it. You liked it, right? Good song. Okay, and this is one of the god, it could be a whole episode.
SPEAKER_02I know.
SPEAKER_01There's a feature on the song that's so bad. Uh-huh. So I would listen to the first like 60 seconds of the song and have to skip because it was the guy featured on the song. Okay. It was such a bad feature. Anyway, that is okay.
SPEAKER_02That's enough. I know. I have another idea similar to this for another episode. We'll talk offline. Good, good. Um, anyways. So, okay. I realize I have not gotten to my atypical earworm. It is Fake ID by DJ Retone and Kahlo.
SPEAKER_00369 girls wanna drink wine. Tell the man not to waste your time. If the man broke, the man here jokes. So you gotta get loose with the henny and the cook. 321 girls wanna have fun. If the man don't dance, he's done. So the move on, get the man gone. Now, can I get a cook with my rum?
SPEAKER_02Okay, this buildup tickles me so much. Did you like it? Were you surprised I picked this? Any thoughts?
SPEAKER_01Definitely surprised that you picked it. Um, just because it feels very like, I don't know, it felt very millennial kind of like dance party. I don't know. But I like this song so much more after I saw the video.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Yeah. Are we gonna talk about the video? We'll talk about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but this is a fun song. It's really fun.
SPEAKER_02Okay, good. So the song was written by DJ Retone and Kahlo and appeared on their 2018 album Foreign Aurora. Auroro is Yoruba for oil, and Kahlo is Nigerian, so that's where they get that from. Nice. So their big hit from this album, Rinse and Repeat, is also candidate for an atypical earworm. Did you Benny? Oh no, I didn't, I didn't check that one out. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. So that was actually released as our first single a couple years earlier in 2016. And it even got a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording. Kahlo was born Farida Damola Sariki in Lagos, Nigeria. And when she was 16, she moved to New York to attend Hofstreet University. And I was kind of impressed. That seems young to go to well, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I feel like other places have better schools. I guess so.
SPEAKER_02So she anyway, but after graduating, she performed at open mics and released songs on SoundCloud. And then she met Retone on Twitter, and the rest, as she says, was history. So on her own, Kahlo's known for blending house music, RB, pop, and Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat. Christina, do you know the distinction between Afrobeats and Afrobeat?
SPEAKER_01Oh no, I don't.
SPEAKER_02So I mean Afrobeat, we talked about last week, I think, or was it anyway? It was recently. Somewhat recently we talked about Afrobeat, which of course Fela Kuti, the father of, but kind of combining funk and jazz, whereas Afrobeats is this newer sound that definitely like draws on the original Afrobeat, but also uses hip hop and and like dance hell sounds. And it's it's just it's what the younger people are doing, basically.
SPEAKER_01Just like us, the younger people.
SPEAKER_02Yes, just like you. So, and just a few weeks ago, she released a song with Francis Mercier and Y Cliff Jean called Take Me Home. And well, we'll show that. I wasn't quite feeling it, but interesting. Yeah. So Retone, that is a French nickname for Henri, and he was born Henry Smithson in Newcastle, England. And he's been influential in the EDM electric dance music world as a producer and DJ since 2001. And he's had some pretty massive dance hits and collaborations. He even has a Grammy as a co-producer on Dualipa's 2017 song Electricity. Damn. I did not know that song, and I'm not a fan. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01I don't remember that one. Can you sing it for me?
SPEAKER_02No. Dang it. Yeah, I can't. One of these days. It didn't stick. Not a near one for me. But as you mentioned, the video, it was shot in Lagos and follows around Retone and Kahlo as they use their fake IDs to get into clubs around the city.
SPEAKER_01Very fun. You liked it more. Yeah. Yeah, it's so cute. And the thing that I think I like the best is like it's it. I've never been to Lagos. I would love to go. I think it would be really cool. But like it feels very DIY, the video. Like it feels very authentic, almost like Camcorder-esque. And like I love that there's this guy, Riton, who just like it seems to me like he can't get in anywhere.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Like, is that what's happening?
SPEAKER_01Like she's using her fake ID and he's like getting rejected everywhere. And he's like a cute guy. So I'm like, oh my God, this is so funny. And like cables are turning.
SPEAKER_02So it was enjoyable for sure.
SPEAKER_01Cute.
SPEAKER_02Now I know earworms have a bad rap, but I love this being stuck in my head. And apparently, so did Selena Gomez in 2018. She lip synced to the song while driving around at night in sunglasses, not even touching her steering wheel.
SPEAKER_01Oh my God. I hope someone else was driving. It's funny that you say that because I knew this song is like an internet sensation.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01And I don't know if it was from that. I never saw the Selena Gomez video. But like I think that's actually just if we can have an aside. Yeah. The freaking ubiquity of songs and like short videos on, you know, Instagram and whatever is what I think has made so many more songs these days become earworms. And that's that's actually how I knew this song.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01Is from in you know some online video.
SPEAKER_02Interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I had no idea about that. Yeah. I mean, the only reason I learned about the Selena Gomez clip was because I went to YouTube and of course looked at the comments, and people were saying, Oh, Selena Gomez bought me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's funny because I saw when I was watching the video, one of the comes was Selena did not bring me here. And I'm like, We get it. You're cool.
SPEAKER_02That's so funny. Um, so unlike the the songs from the Jacobowski study, fake ID is not your typical hit. I mean, I guess maybe it is, though. I don't know. Maybe I'm just out of it. But but I'm absolutely transfixed by Kahlo's monotonous. And hyper repetitive vocal hook. It's so good. And then more than anything, that four on the floor groove. That's what's really locking me in.
SPEAKER_00We all done the best in town, so you gotta get a bit to the top in sound. One, two, three, chick of fake ID. You can't even drink with me. You can't hang, you got no plans. So you gotta make room now for the next man. Three, six, one girls wanna drink wine.
unknownTell the man not to waste your time with the man cross. The man can get cooked, so you gotta get boost with the henny in the cook.
SPEAKER_00Three, two, one girls wanna have fun. If the man don't dance, he's gonna move on. Get the man gone. Now can I get a cook with my room?
SPEAKER_02Does that three six nine part feel familiar?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but because of yin yin twins.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Wait, I don't know who that is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know. I'll I'll I'll just have to link to it. Okay. Because there's a song that's like a 369, damn sheep fine. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. I can't imagine you were like, oh yeah, I love the yin ying.
SPEAKER_02Definitely not that. Um, so both genius lyrics and who sampled cite the clapping song by Shirley Ellis from 1965. And that's such a great song, which we will share, but it starts 369. The goose drank wine, the monkey chew tobacco on the streetcar line, the line broke, the monkey got choked, and they all went to heaven in a little rowboat.
SPEAKER_01I love Shirley Ellis so much.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so good. It's such a great song. Anyway, Christina, you know, one of the best ways to get an earworm out of your head. I mentioned it at the top. I mean, in addition to chewing gum. Wait, what? Chewing gum? Chewing gum is actually one of the ways you can get supposedly, you can get an earworm out of your head by chewing gum. Oh. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. I love that. So so there's that, listening to another song and listening to the whole song. So I'm ready to get your song in my head to help it get out of your head.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Or swapping. Before we get to my pick, is there a line from your song that gets stuck in your head? I mean the 369 games. The 369. Yeah. Yes. I also like, can I get to coke with my rum? Yeah, can I get a coke with my rum? That's so cute. I really love it. That's a good song. That's a fun one. Oh, good.
SPEAKER_02I'm so glad you liked it. So okay. Yeah, please let your song burrow into my mind.
SPEAKER_01Okay, here we go. I did allude to this a little bit earlier, and it's happened to me many times, but this pick of mine became an ear arm after I saw this band perform last year in April 2025. So the band is Shannon and the Clams, which right off the bat, amazing name. And I had liked them back when I was in college, but I didn't keep up with their work because, like, if I'm being honest, they kind of have like a vintage doo-wop surf sound that I didn't enjoy as much when I got older. But then when I heard this song, specifically at the show, it sparked something in me. And I'm curious if our listeners or you will hear it as well. So let me play it. Here's what you're missing from their 2024 album, The Moon is in the wrong place. So this was like a band you weren't familiar with, right, Christine? Did you have any initial reactions to the song?
SPEAKER_02I immediately liked it. It reminded me of Camera Obscura and their song French Navy, which I think sounds you told me. So I I liked it.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Nice. And I will say, like, the song is not, I think, a good like introduction to this band because Shannon and the Clams is led by Shannon Shaw, and she's their main singer. And this is a song. Well, let me just jump in. So I'll give a little background on the album because the album name is fantastic. As I mentioned, it's called The Moon Is in the Wrong Place. And it has a sad, funny story behind it. So this is the band's seventh album. And Shannon Shaw, like I mentioned, she was set to marry her fiance in 2022. And just weeks before their wedding, he died in a tragic car accident. So the song, I mean, the album is very it's it's a grief album. There's lots of songs about death, grief, loss, love lost, you know, wishfulness, and just tragedy. So I know people are probably hearing that and saying, like, I don't want to listen to that. But I think it also has like, even if you listen to this song, it's so upbeat. Yeah. And it's just immediately for me, I love that opening of the I don't know if it's like an organ or like an electric keyboard, you know, at synth, but it's it's fantastic. The name of the album actually came from Shannon's fiance, Joe Hayner. And I guess he was asking them, like he's he had been saying in conversation, like, Oh, all this weird stuff has been happening at work. And like, he was trying to ask if Mercury was in retrograde, but he couldn't remember that term. So he was like, Is the moon in the wrong place or something? And so Shannon liked that so much. So she wrote it down. And then, I mean, like weeks later, he died in the accident. And she she was like, Whoa, I think the moon actually is in the wrong place. Because, like, why else would this, you know, earth-moving life life disruption happen to me? And he was very close with the band members too, so they all deeply felt his loss. So, back to the song and why it's an earworm for me. It is a hard word to say. Good. Thank God. I was like, what was I just about to say? I don't know. So when I heard it at the show, I just felt like truly transfixed. I was really into it. It felt very oddly familiar to like it wasn't the first time I heard it. So I even said to myself, I remember this song from when I was in college. And then once I got home and I went and checked out the album and I was listening to it, this album had been released in 2024. It had not been released when I did not know the song, like it was new to me. That's crazy, but I felt like I already knew it. And that was like almost uh like maybe the worm was dormant in my brain. Yeah, and then I hear it and it unlocks the power of earworminess. But it absolutely did worm its way into my brain and heart, and I couldn't stop listening to it for weeks. And unlike Shannon's deep do-wop voice, Cody sings in a much higher pitch with a lot more urgency with his lyrics. While I think what he's sharing, and I'm curious if you kind of got this too, is that life is fleeting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And in the sense of you don't know what you're missing, it's not about a lover who left them for someone else, but rather a person who's passed away and truly doesn't know what they're missing on earth because they're on. And that's kind of how I interpreted it. But I don't know if that's accurate or not.
SPEAKER_02Well, especially now, like hearing about the tragedy, but it's weird because I didn't think that necessarily. I did like it a lot and listen to the most of the album actually. But yeah, now I have to I feel like I have to re-listen to it with the knowledge that I have. Okay, good. Yeah, and it gives it more weight for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's it's interesting too, because it feels so poppy, like a sad pop song, but then yeah, I don't know, just and it does have your earworm making. So it's very upbeat, it's very jaunty. But when I think about it as an artw, an earworm, I don't think about the lyrics hooking me, but maybe subconsciously they did. Because you know, I don't really fear death, and I'm not trying to be morbid, but I do think accepting death is our fate is a comfort. Yeah. So maybe having someone crooned to me that I don't know what I'm missing because I'm dead is soothing. Yep. And I don't think that was the intention of the songwriter, but I do think it's a happy accident for me.
SPEAKER_02I think so. Yeah. No, I think so. And and you know, one of my favorite lyrics is quick in quicksand, knowledge comes with death's release. Yeah. So, like, yeah, we were a very death positive.
SPEAKER_01Holy scared. Join us, everyone. Yeah, no, I like that. I like that we're on the same page. And I do think, you know, as much as dying in a car accident would be truly tragic for anyone. Perhaps this is for the people who are grieving the loss of a loved one. So if you and our listeners like this song, I recommend checking out the rest of the album and also Onion, which is their 2018 album, whose opening song, The Boy, is also sung by Cody and has a really good earworm quality as well. And I'm gonna link to the video in the show notes because it has such a fun, like trippy quality. It feels almost like Pee-wee's Playhouse meets the 60s, trippy, like acid stuff going on in the background. But they're a cool band. And it it also makes me think like what a resiliency they have to have suffered such a big loss and continue to make art and make meaningful art afterward.
SPEAKER_02No, I loved it. I love and I I really am now that I know this this backstory, I will re-listen to it because I was just digging all the songs. Nice, like they're fun. Yeah, no, it's it's a knowing how heavy it is, it's like, oh wow, I need to shift here a little bit. But I also think that's what's so great about again this podcast and prepping for this podcast. Like you you get just another whole layer of things. Like I enjoyed it on one level and now I'm going to enjoy it on another level.
SPEAKER_01So I'm happy to hear it. Wait till we do born in the USA. I can't wait. Just kidding.
SPEAKER_02Well, are are we ready to move on to some unsolicited advice?
SPEAKER_01I'm so ready.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So, quite simply, this is my unsolicited advice. If you have something legitimately nice to say about someone, just say it.
SPEAKER_01Maybe even put it in a postcard and mail it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Or text email works if you're shy about saying it aloud. But come on, people. We all need positive reinforcement, reward good behavior. And I'm not talking about toxic positivity. Never. Well, I don't know. Sometimes. I guess sometimes. Just don't blow smoke up people's asses. We've got AI for that. Okay. Amen. Advice over. Christina, any hints for next week?
SPEAKER_01Next week we're gonna get explicit. Oh.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for listening to Stereothematica. If you like what you're hearing, please consider a review, a rating, or sharing with a friend.
SPEAKER_01And follow us on Instagram at Stereothematica, where you can share an atypical earworm on our post. We've also got our infinite Spotify playlist linked in our show notes.
SPEAKER_02And visit stereothematica.com for more fun.