Did no one mention to you that "Strange" was used in the trailer for Greenberg and to soundtrack a climactic scene? Not enough to move the needle as much as Spotify algorithm did but you can hardly say the songs stature hasn't changed in decades. It's where I first heard Galaxie, after all!
And its use in the trailer maybe speaks to its "similar" qualities. I am just thinking, algorithms are social constructions and are historical, so (while this would be impossible to actually demonstrate) that something like a movie sync would be in some way internalized by algorithms. Eventually algorithms do start making arbitrary-seeming decisions based on their internal logics and biases, but they are also historically and socially contingent things.
Or was it an algorithm-driven song title match? Maybe peeps were searching for REM's cover of the Wire song "Strange", and the autoplay default went to Galaxie 500 next?
I thought I had the cleverest thing to say in response to this post, but apparently not. I was going to say, "that's so weird because my SO was playing 28th Day last night and a song came on and I said, that's just like a Galaxie 500 song! And it was Strange." But, I double checked myself and it wasn't Strange, it was Crazy. So, I guess it's a moot point. (The 28th Day song was Pages Turn). Anyway, been enjoying your substack now I've stumbled upon it!
Did no one mention to you that "Strange" was used in the trailer for Greenberg and to soundtrack a climactic scene? Not enough to move the needle as much as Spotify algorithm did but you can hardly say the songs stature hasn't changed in decades. It's where I first heard Galaxie, after all!
Fair enough - but that film came out in 2010, and there was no effect on streaming of Strange till eight years later… so I think unrelated?
And its use in the trailer maybe speaks to its "similar" qualities. I am just thinking, algorithms are social constructions and are historical, so (while this would be impossible to actually demonstrate) that something like a movie sync would be in some way internalized by algorithms. Eventually algorithms do start making arbitrary-seeming decisions based on their internal logics and biases, but they are also historically and socially contingent things.
Or was it an algorithm-driven song title match? Maybe peeps were searching for REM's cover of the Wire song "Strange", and the autoplay default went to Galaxie 500 next?
If so, I just got a bunch of ideas for new song titles
I thought I had the cleverest thing to say in response to this post, but apparently not. I was going to say, "that's so weird because my SO was playing 28th Day last night and a song came on and I said, that's just like a Galaxie 500 song! And it was Strange." But, I double checked myself and it wasn't Strange, it was Crazy. So, I guess it's a moot point. (The 28th Day song was Pages Turn). Anyway, been enjoying your substack now I've stumbled upon it!