Pop hits that stick in your head

7/23/2006

Admit it. Please. The posturing is killing us. You like Kelly Clarkson. You do. That video, the one where people are singing along with her without realizing it - that got it perfectly, didn't it? You're standing there and the melody, vaguely familiar but not really, flips a switch in your head. Without warning, you are nodding along, swaying. Like some benign Manchurian Candidate.

You can't help yourself.

You kind of like Top 40.

Not in an ironic way, either.

We persuaded some locally based music people to admit what pop hit gets them going all Kelly Clarkson in front of the mirror:

Dustin Hostetler of the Toledo band Stylx: "On my iPod I have Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy.' I hear that one coming out of people's cars all the time when I'm driving down the street."

Pat O'Connor, owner of the Toledo record store Culture Clash: "It's the videos that hook me when I'm not paying attention. The new Nelly Furtado song, 'Promiscuous.' And you know who I really like? Shakira."

Julian James of the Toledo psychedelic hip-hop group Great Lakes Crew: " 'Me & U' by Cassie. We like the beat. It's one of those pop songs you can't change the channel on. It draws you in. One of the guys in our group likes to freestyle to it when it comes on the radio."

Tim Oehlers, of the band Tim Oehlers & Friends: "If I had to cover something new, it would be a Jack Johnson song. Doesn't he have a song about bananas?"

Dennis Cox, Toledo DJ: "I like Nelly Furtado's new song. That's pretty decent. And the Black Eyed Peas aren't bad. I don't like Ashlee Simpson, though, I can tell you that. But I don't mind her sister so much."