Earworm

It might have been irrational, but I was hoping that the arrival of the new year would mean that every radio station in Los Angeles would see fit to rethink the gargantuan amount of airplay they're giving Coldplay's Viva la Vida. I was thinking somewhat less than once every 16 minutes would have been great, but so far, no such luck. (If you're somewhere other than L.A., is it this bad in your town?)

Which reminds me: When the song first came out last year, a group-you've-never-heard-of called the Creaky Boards made a big stink about Viva sounding very similar to one of their songs. At the time, it seemed like they had a point, although I think my brain has been chemically altered by hearing the Coldplay version six times a day for the last year, so I have no idea if they've got a case.

Then, while searching for that Creaky Boards video, I discovered that quasi-cult-hero-guitarist Joe Satriani waited until December to decide that Viva also sounds eerily similar to an instrumental he wrote in 2004. Again, I can't tell because my mind has been Coldplayed into submission.

If there's one thing you can learn from all of this, it's that the dude from Creaky Boards has an insane mustache.