A little-known Hives gem — my favorite band.
Under-dated because of the title, this gem is a crunchy but cryptic typical Hives tune — sly winks, insider-isms, and no matter how wild the song may be, it’s laden with deeper meaning about larger corruptions we tolerate.
Here are the lyrics.
Do you know the secret hand shake - you best use it.
Here they come with ringing ears - social misfits.
Someone has got to go
Just thought you should know and so it had to be
The one who held the key.
Check the time T-5 and you’re still looking.
Too good to be true - so what’s the secret.
Someone has got to go
Just thought you should know and so it had to be
The one who held the key
Well, it wasn’t judgement day back then, after all.
But Prince’s little “It’s the end of the world as we know and I feel fine” ditty wasn’t so doom and gloom.
To paraphrase someone else’s smart-alecky advice, when life gives you lemons, get some vodka and throw a party.
The song was all about the fruitlessmess of constantly looking over your shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
That there is no point of being afraid, even if it is Judgement Day; so to speak.
I think he had the right mindset — what’s the point of spending your last moments running around screaming?
But things are usually not as horrible as they first appear.
People are a pretty tough stock.
We can get through some pretty hellacious times, and come back swinging stronger than ever.
So put that in perspective — but always throw a party like it’s gonna be your last…
I was dreamin’ when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray
But when I woke up this mornin’
Could have sworn it was judgement dayThe sky was all purple
There were people runnin’ everywhere
Tryin’ to run from the destruction
You know I didn’t even careThey say two thousand zero, zero, party over,
Oops, out of time!
So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999!I was dreamin’ when I wrote this
So sue me if I go too fast
But life is just a party
And parties weren’t meant to lastWar is all around us
My mind says prepare to fight
So if I gotta die
I’m gonna listen to my body tonightThey say two thousand zero, zero, party over,
Oops, out of time!
So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999!
1999!If you didn’t come to party
Don’t bother knockin’ on my door
I got a lion in my pocket
And baby, he’s ready to roarYeah, everybody’s got a bomb
We could all die any day
But before I’ll let that happen
I’ll dance my life awayThey say two thousand zero, zero, party over,
Oops, out of time!
(We’re runnin’ outta time)
So tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1999!Say, say,
Two thousand zero, zero, party over,
Oops, out of time!
So tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1999!Alright, it’s 1999!
You say it, 1999!
1999!
1999! Don’t stop, don’t stop, say it 1 more time!
1999!
This is such a great song, even though it’s a little out of date. If you’re a computer nerd, it’s really quite hilarious, plus IMO it sounds better than the song it’s parodying. There are some great lines (”What kinda chip you got in there, a Dorito?), and the song rocks nicely too. I love the video as well.
From Wikipedia:
The music video, featuring Drew Carey, a Bill Gates look-alike, and Emo Philips as the object of ridicule, is a parody of several rap videos, and since it is about computers, takes place mostly in an office. Phil LaMarr makes a cameo in the video. The fluorescent-lit tunnel and the outfits Yankovic and Drew Carey wear are roughly based on the performances of Ma$e and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs in the music video for the Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Mo Money Mo Problems”. The scenes within the gymnasium parody the music video for “It’s All about the Benjamins (rock remix)”.
And of course, the lyrics:
It’s all about the Pentiums, baby
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
It’s all about the Pentiums, baby
It’s all about the Pentiums, baby
It’s all about the Pentiums!
It’s all about the Pentiums!
(Yeah!!)
What y’all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin’ time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin’ at Hewlett Packard?
Workin’ at a desk with a dumb little placard?
Yeah, payin’ the bills with my mad programming skills
Defraggin’ my hard drive for thrills
I got me a hundred gigabytes of RAM
I never feed trolls and I don’t read spam
Installed a T1 line in my house
Always at my PC, double-clickin’ on my mizouse
Upgrade my system at least twice a day
I’m strictly plug-and-play, I ain’t afraid of Y2K
I’m down with Bill Gates, I call him Money for short
I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support
It’s all about the Pentiums, what?
You gotta be the dumbest newbie I’ve ever seen
You’ve got white-out all over your screen
You think your Commodore 64 is really neato
What kinda chip you got in there, a Dorito?
You’re usin’ a 286? Don’t make me laugh
Your Windows boots up in what, a day and a half?
You could back up your whole hard drive on a floppy diskette
You’re the biggest joke on the Internet
Your database is a disaster
You’re waxin’ your modem, tryin’ to make it go faster
Hey fella, I bet you’re still livin’ in your parents’ cellar
Downloadin’ pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar
And postin’ “Me too!” like some brain-dead AOL-er
I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yeller
You’re just about as useless as jpegs to Helen Keller
It’s all about the Pentiums!
It’s all about the Pentiums!
It’s all about the Pentiums!
It’s all about the Pentiums!
What y’all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin’ time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin’ at Hewlett Packard?
Uh, uh, loggin’ in now
Wanna run wit my crew, hah?
Rule cyberspace and crunch numbers like I do?
They call me the king of the spreadsheets
Got’em all printed out on my bedsheets
My new computer’s got the clocks, it rocks
But it was obsolete before I opened the box
You say you’ve had your desktop for over a week?
Throw that junk away, man, it’s an antique!
Your laptop is a month old? Well, that’s great
If you could use a nice, heavy paperweight
My digital media is write-protected
Every file inspected, no viruses detected
I beta tested every operating system
Gave props to some, and others? I dissed’em
While your computer’s crashin’, mine’s multitaskin’
It does all my work without me even askin’
Got a flat-screen monitor, 40″ wide
I believe that yours says, “Etch-A-Sketch” on the side
In a 32-bit world, you’re a 2-bit user
You’ve got your own newsgroup, alt.total-loser
Your motherboard melts when you try to send a fax
Where’d you get your CPU, in a box of Cracker Jacks?
Play me online? Well, you know that I’ll beat you
If I ever meet you I’ll control-alt-delete you
What?
It’s all about the Pentiums!
It’s all about the Pentiums!
It’s all about the Pentiums!
It’s all about the Pentiums!
What y’all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin’ time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin’ at Hewlett Packard?
What?