Every Thursday, I prepare the music top 10 list for Saturday's paper. I usually notice trends and oddities, so I figured, why not spray them all over you, blog style.

This week's oddity is the big hit Katy Perry has scored by covering Jill Sobule's old song, "I Kissed a Girl." I don't remember this song being a smash hit when Sobule did it, though MTV played it plenty (Fabio was in it -- haha!). Perry's cover, though, has been in the chart for a couple of weeks, at least, and is at No. 2 as of today.

That's a lot better than Sobule did with it in 1995. According to wikipedia, the song reached No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, and peaked at 20 on the Modern Rock chart.

What's the difference?

Sobule's version, so light, so airy, with a video so cartoony, sounded non-threatening enough. Sobule and her co-starring female played the roles of 1950s-era housewives, with cardboard cutout houses behind them. But this was 13 years ago, and the lyrical content was probably still too "controversial" for middle America.

There's no light-heartedness about Perry's version. It starts with a Marilyn Manson-lite tom-tom shuffle, with quick cuts in the beginning through a short array of women in various states of sexiness and fishnet hose. The camera cuts to Perry, who has the look in her eye of a woman who absolutely meant to kiss that girl, despite the story she's telling about how it happened.

In other words, it's much more in-your-face sexual, as is the musical production. Sobule, essentially a folk singer with pop tendencies, probably wouldn't have considered doing such a version.

But boy, is she getting paid for writing that thing. Meanwhile, the lesson is again hammered home. Overt sex, however fake, sells.

For the contrast, here's the cover version:

I Kissed A Girl

Next week: Why the Adult Contemporary chart is the most depressing part of my Thursdays.

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• Posted by Tad Dickens in Notes
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