insights.

Responsible for the best marketing move in music this year.

One of my favorite things to laugh at is adult contemporary music. You know what I'm talking about, the songs that play on the 'Mix' stations. Those stations kick ass, they'll play some gangsta ass shit like Hey Jealousy right after they play Semi-Charmed Life.

Seriously, that is a killer back to back combo. It's like the 90s never left.

Anyways, since these stations only add like 2 songs a year to their repertoire and pretty much never take a song off, it's the ultimate place a musician would want their song to go since the royalties are basically endless. Well, kind of. If money > artistic merit, then yeah. But seriously, whoever says no amount of money can buy their dignity hasn't been offered enough.

Artists who have been anointed into such a tightly controlled circle include musical masters such as the aforementioned Gin Blossoms and Third Eye Blind, as well as Maroon 5, Matchbox 20 and Rob Thomas, Natasha Bedingfield, Wham!, that guy who sings the 'Bad Day' song. Top notch group, I know.

The most recent addition is The Fray. When I first heard that song about overtime and some chick is in his head, I chuckled to myself in the car. Not because I'm too cool, but because I do have an affinity for future adult contemporary hits and this one was destined for soccer moms everywhere to sing along 6 months after the video was retired from TRL. As much as I laugh and make fun of music like this, I do have a good amount of respect for people that can bang out a couple of tunes that can get stuck in millions of people's heads and get paid for it. A good melody is a good melody, no matter how cliche and coated in reverb it is. After all, my favorite band is Oasis.

Which brings me to 'How To Save A Life', the second single from The Fray. This song sounds pretty much like the first single. I thought it was the same song until I waited for the overly drastic enunciation of the '8 sehkuuuuunds in ooooooooverteeeeiiiime' part and it never came. I brushed it off to the side and didn't pay much attetion to it until I caught the video on ABC. I was like huh? And then it became clear: it's a Grey's Anatomy tie in! Now it makes sense. Jesus Christ that was a smart move. I mean, get it? Sometimes girls will like totally want to bang a married man. You know, cause they're sluts. And they'll hype it all up and be like 'he's not happy in his relationship, I'll bring him out of it.' I'm going to save his life! So that fits in with the show's premise. But it doesn't stop there. They're also doctors! How fitting! Like OMG, it's like a double entendre or something.

I mean, what other way is this band truly going to get some money off a record about a crack addiction with the music industry in the shithole and a ginger for a lead singer? The only way possible is to play it up so that girls across the nation will think it's about them, via the tried and true medium of a shitty, sappy TV drama about self-important asshole doctors. I commend The Fray wholeheartedly for working that shit to its max potential. Street cred don't pay the bills. Plus in all honesty, it's a very well developed pop song and they seem to be able to play live very well, which is more than I can say for most mainstream music.

Read: 'Adult Contemporary Radio, Where Pop Hits Live Strong' (MTVnews)

But for real, I hate Grey's Anatomy.