Foster the People “Pumped Up Kicks” released

Pumped Up Kicks Foster the People

Writer(s): Mark Foster (see lyrics here) Released: September 14, 2010 First Charted: February 5, 2011 Peak: 3 US, 3 RR, 28 AC, 3 A40, 2 AA, 15 MR, 18 UK, 3 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.8 UK, 13.82 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1036.1 video, 1500.31 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Foster the People is an indie pop band which formed in 2009 in Los Angeles, California. The trio consists of singer Mark Foster, guitarist Sean Cimino, and keyboardist Isom Innis. The group released their debut single, “Pumped Up Kicks,” in 2010 as a free download. It garnered enough attention that Columbia Records signed them to a multi-album deal. The song then appeared on the group’s debut album, Torches, in 2011. The song was picked up by Australian radio station Triple J in July 2010 and ranked as one of the station’s top 100 songs in their year-end countdown. After being released as part of an EP in January 2011, the song started getting played on alternative radio stations in America. After peaking at #1 on the alternative rock chart, the song crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. Mark Foster wrote the song in five hours while working as a jingle writer. He played all the instruments on the song and used the software Logic Pro to arrange and edit the song. He thought it would just be a demo, but it was the version of the song released by the group. WK He explained that it is “about a kid…losing his mind and…plotting revenge. He’s an outcast.” SF Foster read about how teenage mental illness skyrocketed in the last decade and wanted to bring awareness to gun violence among youth. WK He wrote the song from the perspective of the homicidal teen rather than the victims because he wanted to “get inside the head of an isolated, psychotic kid.” SF Foster points out that there is no actual violence in the song because the threats are within the kid’s internal monologue. SF The title refers to the Reebok Pump basketball shoe which was popular in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. In the song, the main character’s peers wear the shoes as a status symbol WK as the shoes were very expensive and “tended to be the privileged poseurs who annoyed the hell out of anyone wearing Converse or Keds.” SF “Pumped Up Kicks” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Foster the People SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 7/21/2023.

Gorillaz chart with “Feel Good Inc.”

Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz with De La Soul

Writer(s): Damon Albarn, David Jolicoeur (see lyrics here) Released: May 9, 2005 First Charted: April 30, 2005 Peak: 14 US, 13 RR, 18 A40, 17 MR, 2 UK, 6 CN, 3 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.92 US, 1.8 UK, 5.79 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.3 radio, 807.51 video, 1154.15 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Damon Albarn became one of the most important figures in the Britpop movement of the 1990s with his band Blur. By decade’s end, he was interested in crafting a new sound that incorporated hip-hop, electronica, and world music so he formed the new group Gorillaz. The “band” was typically presented in cartoon form through fictional members. The self-titled debut album was released in 2001, reached #3 in the UK, and sold three million copies in the UK and U.S. alone. The 2005 follow-up, Demon Days, topped the UK charts and went top 10 in the U.S. It outsold its predecessor by roughly a million copies. It also gave the band their only top-40 success in the United States with “Feel Good, Inc.,” the lead single. The song reached the top ten in fifteen countries, including #1 in Spain and Greece. It was nominated for three Grammys, including Record of the Year, and won for Best Pop Collaboration. It also won MTV awards for Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects in a Video. Songfacts.com says, “This song is about the things people do in order to make themselves feel good. The song seems to focus on the darker side of pleasure like addictions and habits, but then the chorus comes in and it seems to say that you should stop thinking about what makes you feel good and try to love others to make them feel good. It's saying that love is what makes the world go around, hence the windmill reference.” SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Gorillaz DMDB encyclopedia entry for De La Soul SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/26/2023.