"Somebody That I Used to Know" (Tronicbox '80s Remix) by Gotye ft. Kimbra, Wednesday, March 31, 2021

March 31, 2021

A meme is a piece of cultural information that is spread through copying and imitation. These days we know memes mostly as the funny or political pictures people post online. However, by definition, Gotye's 2011 hit, "Somebody That I Used to Know" is on the level of musical meme-hood. The mega hit which has charted in the top songs of the decade, has left the artist, though, as a one-hit wonder. Gotye has yet to release a follow up record to Making Mirrors, but somehow no one can forget this song. It's been covered, remixed, and parodied all over the Internet, and listeners still can't get enough. Last year, YouTuber Hildegard von Blingin' released a "bardcore" version of the song. Bardcore is a style of music imitating Medieval/Renaissance music, using older instruments and often adapting lyrics to sound more Chaucerian. While the line "send a wagon for thy minstrel and refuse my letters" didn't quite beat the synth wave remix by Tronicbox, I'd still encourage my readers to check out that version.

YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CUT ME OFF. In the spring and summer of 2012 I did a lot of driving. I had to get my paperwork together to go to Korea, and I couldn't hack American bureaucracy by using the mail or courier services. Two trips to Johnson City, Tennessee to get stamps from the state in which I graduated college, two trips to Atlanta, and countless trips to around Western North Carolina to get the paperwork together, I listened to a lot of radio. I listened to the radio mostly because I had an old radio-turner device to play my iPod on the stereo. My 2001 Toyota Corolla came with a CD player, that had died some time before. If I drove a long distance, the radio stations would change, and I would have to find a new frequency to broadcast my iPod. However, this got old, so I just listened to the radio. At that time, I remember a few songs would play constantly--Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," "Lights," by Ellie Goulding, and "Somebody That I Used to Know." This song will always remind me of those trips in early summer, before my life changed forever.

YOU CAN GET ADDICTED TO A CERTAIN KIND OF SADNESS. Last year, the YouTube channel Middle 8 released a video giving the history of this song and a musical breakdown of why it became such an ear worm. The latin guitar and the xylophone which helped to carry the original song, however, are absent on this '80s remix. Instead, listeners are treated to electronic drums, synths, and a raucous guitar solo--all absent from the original tune. This song might have you looking through the garage for some old VHS tapes beside the lacquered wooden vacuum-tubed TV set. But before you book that perm and change to bigger rims on your glasses, just consider how ridiculous you'll look. This song brings to mind everything awful about the '80s, and that's why it's so fun.