Who’s Worse of ’09: Asher Roth vs. Owl City
December 9, 2009
There’s been no shortage of great new artists in 2009. Unfortunately though, you also have craptacular artists like Owl City and Asher Roth sucking up the airwaves with their disgustingly awful “music”. For this special 2009 version of Who’s Worse, I’m pitting these artists, which I consider to be the two worst newish artists of the year, against each other.
Asher Roth‘s rose to popularity this year rapper as a suburban, privileged white boy that makes hip-hop for the frat-boy / Myspace crowd. Just imagine a watered-down Eminem (or maybe Vanilla Ice?) with garbage, sophomoric lyrics and generic samples and you’re getting close to the ear-gouging monstrosity that is Asher Roth. “I Love College” is absurdly horrible, it seems like it is gunning for LFO‘s “Summertime Girls” as the ultimate douchebag’s theme song. If you enjoy rap songs where the hook is chanting “Freshman, Freshman” and “Chug, Chug, Chug” over and over, you also probably think that Smash Mouth was the pinnacle of musical greatness.
MP3 Asher Roth – I Love College
Owl City has succeeded in showing that even with a complete and utter lack of originality, cringe-worthy lyrics, and the worst type of sloppy, half-baked electronica, you can still make a No. 1 hit. Calling this a really poor Postal Service rip-off (which you have every right to) is still not giving credit to the complex and intelligent production that Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard created which this talentless hack took for a cheap ride. Add in vomit-inducing lyrics like “Golf and alcohol don’t mix and that’s why I don’t drink and drive” and you artificial, squeamish vocals and there you have Owl City.
As always it’s up to you to decide which one is worse. Put your votes in the comments with your reasoning included. Keep up with my twitter feed for results.
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Oh, and just so this post isn’t completely negative, here’s my 10 favorite new artists of 2009: Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Antlers, Japandroids, The xx, Fanfarlo, Passion Pit, jj, Harlem Shakes, Fever Ray, fun.
Tags: Asher Roth, Owl City, Who's Worse
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December 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
This is a great match-up, but I have to go with Owl City. With Asher Roth, I don’t think he’s pretending to be anything other than a douchey white guy rapper. He’s terrible, sure, but there’s no false pretense of quality. Whereas Owl City is supposed to be good, quirky “indie” music, and that’s far more offensive. And those are definitely some of my favorite worst lyrics ever. “A million hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs” – vomit-inducing is right.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Owl City. I don’t have Asher Roth invading my Pandora Radio stations.
December 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Both are awful, but if I had to choose it’d be Owl City. That guy’s voice is as annoying as hell and the lyrics are just ridiculous juvenile bullshit. Can’t believe that anyone enjoys this garbage.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Asher Roth. One, his name is Asher. Asher! Anyways, two, his music is just annoying and hard to NOT hear when it’s on. People think he’s being clever or whatever, but it just comes across as stupid. With Owl City, at least it just fades into the background and I can block it out easily because that’s how dull and uninspiring it is. But this Asher kid is just… ugh… loud and obnoxious, like a typical frat guy.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I’m pretty good at tuning out inane hip-hop. At a minimum, I cringe when I catch a hint of Owl City. Having to sit through a whole song drives me crazy. So… Owl City.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
im going to say owl city
at least asher roth knows he’s not much and can be enjoyed on a “so stupid he’s kinda good” level
but owl city is just bad. every song sounds the same, and like you said, they’re an incredible poor Postal Service knock-off. and his lyrics are pretentious as hell
December 9th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I am so happy to know people hate Owl City, I have had a few friends talk about the song so I gave it a listen and had to turn it off after like 3 seconds so my soul would stop crying. I have never heard Asher Roth and don’t plan on it but my vote goes to Owl City.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
owl city. so bad.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I think owl city wins.
Fun. was definitely my favorite of 09!
December 9th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Pretty simple for me Owl City here.
December 9th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
asher roth is actually the worst thing to happen to music
December 9th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Asher Roth, because it’s the kind of “music” that makes me wish I were deaf. :p
December 9th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Asher Roth, for personifying every goddamn frat boy douchebag I have ever encountered in my life.
December 9th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
asher roth for the win
December 9th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
not even close, asher roth. at least ‘owl city’s lack of creativity didn’t result in stealing john mayer’s ‘waiting on the world to change’. adam’s lyrics aren’t nearly as bad as the trash roth came up with
December 9th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
jason there’s two things wrong with your comment
1) “I Love College” doesnt sample john mayer
2) sampling does not equal stealing. get it right
December 9th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Here’s my reasoning: Okay, so, Owl City is derivative, to an almost evil extent. Not to mention self-indulgent and astonishingly calculated “imagistic” pseudo-poetry. No one denies this. BUT, Asher Roth. !!! There’s no irony there. Straight fuck-you-fags party-power hegemony. This is denoted in the lyrics as evil. Complications on even the minimum Rocky-Horror-Picture-Show level are flattened beneath that machine of shoutdowns, hazing and indifference—even the erstwhile Smash Mouth had a catchy hook and a motivational “message”. For me I suppose the question is: are your baser emotions those of a pumped-up fifteen year old boy who wants to emulate his drunken 18-year-old brother, or twilight-loving 15 year old girl who has a 50/50 chance of graduating to pitchfork or free weekly magazines when she goes off to college? I choose the latter (distasteful as it may be to make a choice).
December 9th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Owl City. Whenever Owl City is brought up I’m forced to mention the “Golf and alcohol don’t mix and that’s why I don’t drink and drive” line. I’m in no way a fan of the pretentious music guy obviously copying the work of someone else.
But I almost view them in the same light. Asher Roth is what he is. Pandering to his base on the same level as Larry the Cable Guy. Just drone out your simple message and drive it home. But he’s honest. He never misrepresents himself as anything else. But Owl City camouflages as something much greater than their actual worth. Getting shoes for your birthday sucks. Getting shoes wrapped in a Playstation 3 box for your birthday sucks even more.
While this may flirt with the hazy border between emulating your heroes and plagiarizing them, but I find it odd a musician is marginalized for using the same method as another (owl city vs postal service, pearl jam vs early stp, bob dylan-era dewey cox vs bob dylan) while a filmmaker is often heralded for co-oping the style of another (temple of doom’s mine car chase vs the general’s train car chase, mad men’s intro vs north by north west’s intro, movies made by Quentin Tarantino vs movies made before Quentin Tarantino made movies).
fun things found during the typing of this comment
http://www.prefixmag.com/news/owl-citys-adam-young-were-not-ripping-off-postal-s/35031/
the google search for “owl city sucks” results in 455,000 returns
the google search for “when you say owl city don’t you really mean the postal service” is 136,00
and the the google search for “more like owl shitty” is a measly 28,900. I’m copyrighting that as my idea, so nobody else use that from now on.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I actually like Owl City, his music is cute
And I’ve never heard of Asher Roth
December 10th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I’m going to have to say Asher Roth is worst. I base this judgement on the fact that Owl City is not ubiquitous at the parties I’ve gone to, yet I’ve been forced to endure the most idiotic of sing-alongs to “I Love College.” Combined with the fact that I’ve actually met people who think that everything Asher Roth was “rapping” (and I use the term loosely) was awesome and dead on, he takes the crown. Owl City’s b.s. ripoff of the Postal Service is pretty bad, but his fans don’t make me want to facepalm, and it’s way more fun to make of fun of Asher Roth.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am
owl city, hearing his music makes my ears bleed.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Owl City makes my ears and brain want to commit seppuku. I’m willing to accept a certain level of nonsense in lyrics, but songwriters should be deeply offended that “1,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs” (a mathematical question for the ages! Shouldn’t you get, like, 60,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs?) and “I’m weird ’cause I hate goodbyes” (me? I love ‘em! Guess I’m normal!) pass for deep lyricism in that big pay-for-play orgy that is mainstream radio.
Asher Roth gets one single point for not advocating rape in “I Love College.”
December 10th, 2009 at 10:12 am
30,000 hugs? Back to my job at the science factory…
December 10th, 2009 at 11:05 am
OWL CITY = SATAN
December 10th, 2009 at 11:37 am
If you think “Fireflies” is why the terrorists hate us, you’ve never tried to write a song. The filter on his voice gets oldand the lyrics ain’t great. But there’s a reason that melody gets stuck insanely in your head: it’s catchy as fuck.
And at least he doesn’t repeat it for three and half minutes nonstop like that Kings of Leon song. That gets my vote.
December 10th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I definitely vote for Asher Roth as the worst of new artists in 2009. But I’ve listened (and even liked) Owl City for 2 years now. Fireflies could stand to go away any time now, but yeah, my vote goes to Roth on this one.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Owl City, because at least it seems that Asher Roth doesn’t take himself to seriously: he knows his music is shitty.
December 11th, 2009 at 7:14 am
i love college has basically the same bass line that mayer uses…and yes in my book i consider sampling stealing. in music there isn’t a copyright that the artist puts in the song for the listener…whatever sound is created is credited to the composer for putting it together, and sampling some other artist’s sound gives them a sound that wasn’t … Read Moretheirs. ->see vanilla ice. i disagree that every song sounds the same, you can basically state that for ALL music based on it’s genre. and labeling it as a “poor postal service knock off” is just…wrong. since when did electronica belong to the postal service? it’s funny just because electronica isn’t as big as rock it has to be compared to the postal service. the sound owl city has is much more upbeat than what the postal service has, and it sure as hell sounds good to my ears…the lyrics aren’t anything to brag about, but are easily more creative and meaningful than what asher roth writes. “i am champion at beer pong….allen iverson, hakeem olajuwon”..what?! first i doubt his credibility but AI-never won a championship, hakeem did…but beer pong…so i would compare it to a free throw shot, in which hakeem struggled with…
December 11th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Wow.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
The real white devil vs the whitest devil.
I can’t decide.
I’m going to assume Jason, the guy two posts above mine, is a virgin and a teenage girl.
December 11th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
I’m thankful for the protective bubble of working on an accounting degree and Belle and Sebastian that I live in. It has protected me from hearing either Owl City or Asher Roth until right now. After listening to Owl City, anything is going to sound better.
Owl City is worse
December 11th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I’m pretty sure Asher Roth is the worst thing to ever happen to the music industry. Ever.
December 13th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Joslyn said everything I wanted to say. Owl City is way worse. The line about hugging the bugs…. ugh….
December 14th, 2009 at 3:40 am
wow jason, keep up the good work mate (y), you are a superstar, i can see you will make one brilliant musician when you are older T____T
December 14th, 2009 at 5:31 am
I’ve never heard of either, and I count myself lucky
December 14th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Owl City. Asher Roth knows he’s a joke. I don’t think Owl City knows yet.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:19 am
owl city, for sure! asher roth is a bad in an ironic way, which makes it tolerable.
December 16th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Owl City for sureee. I like people less when they enjoy owl city.
December 16th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Owl City. They actually made me wonder if my former love for Postal Service was misplaced. It took weeks to recover. Any artist that can make me wonder if I love a favorite band or not, are deserving of much scorn.
December 18th, 2009 at 3:51 am
I heard Fireflies for the first (and I hope the last) time ever yesterday. I haven’t heard Asher Roth’s song, but will opt for Owl City in this match-up. Melody’s too fluffy, and lyrics are great… if you’re a pre-teen. Just… drivel.
December 18th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Asher Roth makes Baby Jesus cry.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
i like owl city. i dont see why you have a whole web page for making fun of others music i mean all music is subjective right ? i not going to tell you that owl city is the best thing that ever happened to music its just kinda sad that you guys spend so much time i dislike music sure i just ignore it, naturally and mainly its because i am to busy looking up new music : )
December 19th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Owl City is still ok, though I don’t live in the US so I don’t hear it on the radio (I don’t listen to any radio actually ^^).
Asher Roth is pure boring crap. IMO.
December 20th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
I can not believe the amount of distaste for Owl City. I understand that everyone dances to the beat of a different drum, but that much disdain? I like the music – its up lifting and simple. We should be so lucky to have such carefree music. I’m tired of hearing abusive, derogatory, degrading, or mentally challenged rap and pop.
Not a big fan of Asher Roth, so he gets my vote. But I’m not going to knock it hard – just because it’s not for me doesnt mean that its not for someone else…
December 21st, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I think many people here would agree about your take on mainstream rap / pop, and are looking for an alternative but I think it’s kindof sad that what has emerged is an artist like Owl City, which is a very juvenile, watered down version of electronica / indie pop.
If you really like Owl City, I can respect that, but I have to point out there’s much better, more talented artists making this type of music. To me both Asher Roth and Owl City have a sort of lowest common denominator appeal but I do agree with Dave who said above that Owl City fans have a better chance to upgrade to more legitimate, respectable music. Give Hot Chip, Passion Pit, Junior Boys, Cut Copy, of Montreal a try.
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
My vote goes to Owl City
http://lonelynote.blogspot.com/2009/10/owl-city-teddy-ruxpin.html
December 26th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Wow – you guys are a bunch of pretentious pricks. It the holiday season and you want to waste time jumping on people who are out living their dreams while you brood in a corner… Get a fucking life – seriously.
December 26th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Hahahahaha.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
i agree with tCH
get a life, and if you think you can do better, do it.
April 7th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Owl City is worse. A fine cross btwn the Postal Service and Jonas BRothers. Is he 12 years old?
April 8th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
But if ya don like certain music jyst don’t listen to it. What is the @#$%&*! purpose of this “who’s worse” thing?
June 1st, 2010 at 2:37 pm
I’ve never heard of Asher Roth but Owl City makes me want to kick a puppy.
And terrible as it might be, I do judge people on their taste in music. When someone likes Owl City I question whether it’s worth getting to know them.
Owl City lyrics:
Because I’d get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sockhop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread
As opposed to…
Postal Service lyrics:
I’ll be the phonograph that plays your favorite
Albums back as you’re lying there drifting off to sleep…
…I want to take you far from the cynics in this town
And kiss you on the mouth
We’ll cut our bodies free from the tethers of this scene,
Start a brand new colony
Where everything will change,
We’ll give ourselves new names (identities erased)
The sun will heat the grounds
Under our bare feet in this brand new colony
Everything will change