Do that dance until it don't move
August 11, 2011 12:13 PM Subscribe
Katy Perry (Firework), Pink (Raise Your Glass), Britney Spears (Till the World Ends) and Sheryl Crow (Soak Up the Sun) are among those who have approved songs for you to use when you make a Pink Glove Dance video that could win you $10,000 donated to your favorite Breast Cancer Charity. Previously the videos featured healthcare employees.
Not to do the whole link each word thing, but on Flickr there are some pictures that show how much fun they were having. Here is the list of songs you can use, and how to submit your video.
Not to do the whole link each word thing, but on Flickr there are some pictures that show how much fun they were having. Here is the list of songs you can use, and how to submit your video.
Yes. They're a business.
posted by Dark Messiah at 12:32 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by Dark Messiah at 12:32 PM on August 11, 2011
Don't forget, they all have lawyers.
posted by longsleeves at 12:33 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by longsleeves at 12:33 PM on August 11, 2011
I'm weirded out by the existence of a Pink Glove Dance to begin with
posted by asockpuppet at 12:35 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by asockpuppet at 12:35 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
C'mon ... would they REALLY have sued someone making a video for a breast cancer charity event, anyway?
No, but YouTube would have automagically taken down the video once the audio fingerprinting kicked in.
posted by GuyZero at 12:45 PM on August 11, 2011
No, but YouTube would have automagically taken down the video once the audio fingerprinting kicked in.
posted by GuyZero at 12:45 PM on August 11, 2011
Can't help but think that "Raise Your Glass" is a bit of an odd choice, given the link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer. ... Sort of like "Soak Up The Sun" for a skin cancer charity.
posted by The otter lady at 12:48 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 12:48 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
So, wait. If I read the rules correctly, the people running this are going to donate a total of $17000 to breast cancer charities regardless of who wins. The winners get to allocate that amount to the specific breast cancer charities of their choice, but unless you have strong feelings about the relative merits of one breast cancer charity over another, that doesn't seem like a very great prize. The first-place winner's connection to that $10,000 is tangential, and winning does not in any sense constitute raising $10,000 for charity. That money's already been raised.
But maybe the videos are used in a way that raises money for breast cancer charities. The site isn't very clear about this, though -- it talks about an "overwhelming and heartwarming" response, but I'm not seeing anything about tangible, practical results.
posted by baf at 12:48 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
But maybe the videos are used in a way that raises money for breast cancer charities. The site isn't very clear about this, though -- it talks about an "overwhelming and heartwarming" response, but I'm not seeing anything about tangible, practical results.
posted by baf at 12:48 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
The first-place winner's connection to that $10,000 is tangential, and winning does not in any sense constitute raising $10,000 for charity. That money's already been raised
It's not unlike a walkathon in that way. If the people putting up the money for a walkathon wanted to, they could just donate, without walking being necessary; no work of walking actually generates the money. The walk is just a way for people to make themselves feel productive. Of course, I'm a curmudgeon who hates walkathons, so maybe not everyone feels that way.
Oh and as for "We Built This City" that song is awesome. It's a song where Starship complains about people changing names. That's enough to make it the best song ever.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:55 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's not unlike a walkathon in that way. If the people putting up the money for a walkathon wanted to, they could just donate, without walking being necessary; no work of walking actually generates the money. The walk is just a way for people to make themselves feel productive. Of course, I'm a curmudgeon who hates walkathons, so maybe not everyone feels that way.
Oh and as for "We Built This City" that song is awesome. It's a song where Starship complains about people changing names. That's enough to make it the best song ever.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:55 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
item: "Soak Uo the Sun is the worst song in recorded pop history. "
I beg to differ. That honor falls solely on the Black Eyed Peas, with the abomination that is I Gotta Feeling.
posted by namewithoutwords at 12:58 PM on August 11, 2011 [6 favorites]
I beg to differ. That honor falls solely on the Black Eyed Peas, with the abomination that is I Gotta Feeling.
posted by namewithoutwords at 12:58 PM on August 11, 2011 [6 favorites]
Oh and as for "We Built This City" that song is awesome.
Flagged as offensive.
posted by dhammond at 1:03 PM on August 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
Flagged as offensive.
posted by dhammond at 1:03 PM on August 11, 2011 [4 favorites]
Dunno, We Built This City and I Gotta Feeling are not that bad. I have a particular hated for Chevy Van.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:07 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by Ad hominem at 1:07 PM on August 11, 2011
That announcer woman has robot eyes and a plastic face. I am afraid that she will eat me.
posted by litleozy at 1:14 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by litleozy at 1:14 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Compared to Chevy Van? At least We Built this City namechecks Marconi so it is a bit educational. Wildfire is another gem, a song about a magical horse.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:14 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by Ad hominem at 1:14 PM on August 11, 2011
It's not unlike a walkathon in that way. If the people putting up the money for a walkathon wanted to, they could just donate, without walking being necessary; no work of walking actually generates the money. The walk is just a way for people to make themselves feel productive.
But in a walkathon, the participants are at least raising money too: each person who walks also signs up sponsors, so the more people who participate, the more money they raise. Sometimes the rules even involve sponsors paying a certain amount per mile walked, so that there's a direct, if artificial and unnecessary, connection between keeping on walking and raising more money. Is there anything like that going on here? I see no sign of it.
posted by baf at 1:18 PM on August 11, 2011
But in a walkathon, the participants are at least raising money too: each person who walks also signs up sponsors, so the more people who participate, the more money they raise. Sometimes the rules even involve sponsors paying a certain amount per mile walked, so that there's a direct, if artificial and unnecessary, connection between keeping on walking and raising more money. Is there anything like that going on here? I see no sign of it.
posted by baf at 1:18 PM on August 11, 2011
I have a problem with the whole "pink XXXX for breast cancer" machine, and I'm not sure how to articulate what it is. Buy a pink KitchenAid stand mixer for breast cancer? Wear pink gloves and dance for breast cancer? I know it's about awareness, but it's just so unrelenting, and I wonder about how much money is being spent on the PR agency who comes up with these ideas, compared with how much actually goes to treatment of breast cancer.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 1:20 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 1:20 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
What if I want that 10k to go to a Breast Cancer Survivor (or sufferer who needs the money for treatment) instead of a charity (which I have my doubts about anyway)?
posted by Malice at 1:21 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Malice at 1:21 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's not unlike a walkathon in that way. If the people putting up the money for a walkathon wanted to, they could just donate, without walking being necessary; no work of walking actually generates the money. The walk is just a way for people to make themselves feel productive.
My video: Two people. Walking abreast.
posted by hal9k at 1:21 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
My video: Two people. Walking abreast.
posted by hal9k at 1:21 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have a problem with the whole "pink XXXX for breast cancer" machine, and I'm not sure how to articulate what it is.
Someone linked a pretty good articulation in a thread earlier today.
posted by griphus at 1:24 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
Someone linked a pretty good articulation in a thread earlier today.
posted by griphus at 1:24 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
Afternoon Delight, people. I will be kind and skip the link. Those of you who know it are already looking for anything that will stop the automatic playback in your brain. Those of you who don't know it may yet be spared.
posted by maudlin at 1:25 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by maudlin at 1:25 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
Previously on the subject of the marketing of breast cancer.
On the subject of bad music: sometimes I wonder if I'm a synesthete, because to me Sheryl Crow's voice sounds like a sinus infection. Not like she's singing with a sinus infection, but like a sinus infection itself. Like if the pain and pressure of a sinus infection could be expressed in sound, it would sound exactly like a Sheryl Crow song.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:26 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
On the subject of bad music: sometimes I wonder if I'm a synesthete, because to me Sheryl Crow's voice sounds like a sinus infection. Not like she's singing with a sinus infection, but like a sinus infection itself. Like if the pain and pressure of a sinus infection could be expressed in sound, it would sound exactly like a Sheryl Crow song.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:26 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
Gonna hold my baby gonna hold her tight....
One of my faves. I saw some kind of choral group sing that song at karaoke, was a great moment.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:31 PM on August 11, 2011
One of my faves. I saw some kind of choral group sing that song at karaoke, was a great moment.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:31 PM on August 11, 2011
We Built This City accomplishes the impossible task of being a terrible song that is smugly proud of itself.
posted by The Whelk at 1:36 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by The Whelk at 1:36 PM on August 11, 2011
Impossible? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
posted by maudlin at 1:44 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by maudlin at 1:44 PM on August 11, 2011
Oof, Pink Glove Dance? Really? Someone should have googled the Gentleman's Glossary. Not that you should. Unless you're not at work.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 1:48 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 1:48 PM on August 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
item: Soak Uo the Sun is the worst song in recorded pop history.
Oh, please. It's maybe not God knows what pop song it's supposed to be hip to put on a pedestal nowadays, but it's a perfectly crafted piece of pop music, certainly no worse an example of well-crafted pop than "Heartache Tonight" was for the LA Sound in the 1970s.
The World Famous: It's a bad song no matter what.
For a bad song, it sure gets recycled a lot in TV shows and movie and ads. Somebody must like it, with guilty air quotes or not. Bernie Taupin and Peter Wolf are laughing all the way to the bank and Grace Slick is enjoying her retirement in Malibu painting and doing whatever the fuck all else she wants while her purist fans rue the day she recorded it and rake her over the coals for her divorce from musical integrity.
posted by blucevalo at 2:11 PM on August 11, 2011
Oh, please. It's maybe not God knows what pop song it's supposed to be hip to put on a pedestal nowadays, but it's a perfectly crafted piece of pop music, certainly no worse an example of well-crafted pop than "Heartache Tonight" was for the LA Sound in the 1970s.
The World Famous: It's a bad song no matter what.
For a bad song, it sure gets recycled a lot in TV shows and movie and ads. Somebody must like it, with guilty air quotes or not. Bernie Taupin and Peter Wolf are laughing all the way to the bank and Grace Slick is enjoying her retirement in Malibu painting and doing whatever the fuck all else she wants while her purist fans rue the day she recorded it and rake her over the coals for her divorce from musical integrity.
posted by blucevalo at 2:11 PM on August 11, 2011
You know that kind of turn-of-phrase "blaring from the TV" (or similar) that sometimes pops up in narration, sometimes used to evoke that kind of half-hearted, fuzzy dice urbanite squalor mystique? Yeah, whenever I read that I instantly think of We Built This City
on rock and roll, bitches. ROCK. AND. ROLL.
posted by Doleful Creature at 2:43 PM on August 11, 2011
on rock and roll, bitches. ROCK. AND. ROLL.
posted by Doleful Creature at 2:43 PM on August 11, 2011
Wish one could take the funds and donate it someplace like Breast Cancer Action. Sadly, they likely wouldn't take the money if it came from Medline.
Plus, their website is probably not pink enough.
posted by tigrrrlily at 2:53 PM on August 11, 2011
Plus, their website is probably not pink enough.
posted by tigrrrlily at 2:53 PM on August 11, 2011
item: "Soak Uo the Sun is the worst song in recorded pop history."
Your mistake here is staying within the realm of pop songs that don't actually cause physical pain when listened to. If you're going for worst popular song ever, you have to dig for a bit more obscurity. May I suggest (previously linked) Freaxxx by BrokeNCYDE? Includes, for reference, screaming, excessive autotune, crass objectification of women, idiotic skinny kids, morbid almost-violence, hyped up electronic sounds and meaningless lyrics?
posted by Apropos of Something at 2:54 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
Your mistake here is staying within the realm of pop songs that don't actually cause physical pain when listened to. If you're going for worst popular song ever, you have to dig for a bit more obscurity. May I suggest (previously linked) Freaxxx by BrokeNCYDE? Includes, for reference, screaming, excessive autotune, crass objectification of women, idiotic skinny kids, morbid almost-violence, hyped up electronic sounds and meaningless lyrics?
posted by Apropos of Something at 2:54 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure why the phrase "approved songs" feels extra Orwellian in this context, but it sure does.
posted by speicus at 3:10 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by speicus at 3:10 PM on August 11, 2011
Soak Uo the Sun is the worst song in recorded pop history.
I dunno. That's a strong claim considering Firework is on this list, too. Dear, GOD, that's an utter, screeching, mis-use of bits.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:12 PM on August 11, 2011
I dunno. That's a strong claim considering Firework is on this list, too. Dear, GOD, that's an utter, screeching, mis-use of bits.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:12 PM on August 11, 2011
And what about the brown glove dance for prostate cancer...?
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 3:31 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 3:31 PM on August 11, 2011
speicus: "I'm not sure why the phrase "approved songs" feels extra Orwellian in this context, but it sure does."
The firework has always been pointed at East Asia.
posted by Apropos of Something at 3:49 PM on August 11, 2011
The firework has always been pointed at East Asia.
posted by Apropos of Something at 3:49 PM on August 11, 2011
I like We Built This City. No matter how much you hate it, you can't unmake it, so there. That Black Eyed Peas song I permit to exist solely because it inspired this parody.
posted by adamdschneider at 3:56 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by adamdschneider at 3:56 PM on August 11, 2011
AAaaaaAAfternoon delight!
*climbs in a hole to escape the earwormz*
posted by darkstar at 4:05 PM on August 11, 2011
*climbs in a hole to escape the earwormz*
posted by darkstar at 4:05 PM on August 11, 2011
Will one of the potential charities be the man who has breast cancer and is being denied Medicaid coverage because of his gender?
Because if it's not, then I'm not interested.
posted by hippybear at 5:11 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
Because if it's not, then I'm not interested.
posted by hippybear at 5:11 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
Why doesn't everyone involved just write a check and spare us all this nonsense? I hate Pink for Titties and I hate the fake contests.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:13 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Ideefixe at 5:13 PM on August 11, 2011 [2 favorites]
Why doesn't everyone involved just write a check and spare us all this nonsense?
I've often felt the same way about the "pink yogurt lids" campaign. The "rules" state that the company will donate a maximum of X dollars to breast cancer research depending on how many lids are sent in. Why not just donate that amount of money, period? Why make it all into some kind of time-wasting and ultimately kind of insulting game? Either you give a shit about breast (or any other kind of) cancer research, or you're just a cynical marketing asshole hoping to boost your sales.
I wish the public would catch on to this kind of manipulation and start calling out the corporations involved. It would make their involvement more honest, and probably move research funding forward a lot faster.
posted by hippybear at 5:18 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
I've often felt the same way about the "pink yogurt lids" campaign. The "rules" state that the company will donate a maximum of X dollars to breast cancer research depending on how many lids are sent in. Why not just donate that amount of money, period? Why make it all into some kind of time-wasting and ultimately kind of insulting game? Either you give a shit about breast (or any other kind of) cancer research, or you're just a cynical marketing asshole hoping to boost your sales.
I wish the public would catch on to this kind of manipulation and start calling out the corporations involved. It would make their involvement more honest, and probably move research funding forward a lot faster.
posted by hippybear at 5:18 PM on August 11, 2011 [5 favorites]
(Conversely, if a corporation were to do away with the maximum amount they'd donate and really make it "x amount per lid returned", I'd support the project and encourage everyone I know to buy the product and send in the lids. Make the corporation write a GIGANTIC check. It's the cap on the amount which pisses me off, because it's such a weasel way out.)
posted by hippybear at 5:20 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by hippybear at 5:20 PM on August 11, 2011
Firework is a rip of Erasure's Always
posted by asockpuppet at 8:05 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by asockpuppet at 8:05 PM on August 11, 2011
Here in Mexico, during a soccer world cup, some company announced it would donate some sort of blindness-curing surgery to kids, one surgery per goal the Mexican team scored in the cup. How's that for cynical?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:09 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:09 PM on August 11, 2011
Soak Up the Sun may be a crappy song, but Sheryl Crow is a breast cancer survivor. I can see that song being inspirational.
I hate that pinkwashing crap, though. Like, the most.
posted by sugarfish at 9:07 PM on August 11, 2011
I hate that pinkwashing crap, though. Like, the most.
posted by sugarfish at 9:07 PM on August 11, 2011
A city built on rock n' roll would be structurally unsound.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:19 PM on August 11, 2011
posted by joannemerriam at 9:19 PM on August 11, 2011
There is a worse song than all of those.
And the hook brings you baaaaaaaack...
NOT RINTINTINIST OR ANNEBOLEYNIST
posted by emelenjr at 7:55 AM on August 12, 2011
And the hook brings you baaaaaaaack...
NOT RINTINTINIST OR ANNEBOLEYNIST
posted by emelenjr at 7:55 AM on August 12, 2011
There is a worse song than all of those.
And the hook brings you baaaaaaaack...
If you think that Blues Traveler's "Hook" is a horrible song, then you need to learn a bit about music.
Hook is a blues-rock adaptation of Pachelbel's Canon. It uses the same ground, and even a lot of the same melodic line from the first violin part as the vocal melody. The subject of the song is how there are musical hooks which keep listeners engaged, and in order to illustrate its point, it is using a musical hook (the ground line of the Canon) and many other aspects of the original song, which is over 400 years old, to prove that there are, indeed, musical hooks which seem custom-built for the human brain to find interesting. And then it complains about how modern attention spans are shutting out the more complex and interesting music being created for the sake of the hook.
The song is incredibly meta, and is an outstanding statement on the power of music and musical hooks. It's not a "worse song". It's a brilliant song, much more than a casual listen provides.
posted by hippybear at 9:54 AM on August 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
And the hook brings you baaaaaaaack...
If you think that Blues Traveler's "Hook" is a horrible song, then you need to learn a bit about music.
Hook is a blues-rock adaptation of Pachelbel's Canon. It uses the same ground, and even a lot of the same melodic line from the first violin part as the vocal melody. The subject of the song is how there are musical hooks which keep listeners engaged, and in order to illustrate its point, it is using a musical hook (the ground line of the Canon) and many other aspects of the original song, which is over 400 years old, to prove that there are, indeed, musical hooks which seem custom-built for the human brain to find interesting. And then it complains about how modern attention spans are shutting out the more complex and interesting music being created for the sake of the hook.
The song is incredibly meta, and is an outstanding statement on the power of music and musical hooks. It's not a "worse song". It's a brilliant song, much more than a casual listen provides.
posted by hippybear at 9:54 AM on August 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
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posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:30 PM on August 11, 2011