complete works of ultravox

(via michael puttonen on fb)

About Master Shen-Long.

Morninglight upon the newly-washed surfaces.

Brilliancy prizes.

"Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) is standing in front of a police lineup with a witness to a convenience store hold-up who heard the robber singing the Backstreet Boys’ 1999 single 'I Want It That Way,' an R&B-ish ballad of easy virtue. In this breakup song, 'the way' the beloved 'wants it' is over, although the dirty-talk innuendo of 'I want it that way' is surely also intentional. The five Backstreet Boys take the solo in turns, begging the lover to stay. A surprising amount of straight-faced kink abides in the song structure: are all five of these singers dating the one who wants it this way? But even mentioning these complexities is liable to give the wrong impression, so little does'“I Want It That Way' obtrude them on the listener. It is formidably catchy and the last thing it demands is thought.

Back in the nineties, the song was way overplayed. If you are in your late thirties, there’s a chance you are hearing it in your head right now, with something like the mix of rapture and repudiation I was just mentioning. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine sketch dramatizes those mixed feelings. So that the witness can identify the robber, Peralta, who also looks to be in his late thirties, has the suspects in the lineup sing snatches of the song, trading the solo just as the original Backstreet Boys used to do. As he cues one suspect after another, Peralta starts to get into it, keeping a rhythm, bopping along. By the time the fourth suspect sings, the one-way glass Peralta stands behind is starting to look more like a production booth than a precinct observation room. In a state of aesthetic transport, he cues suspect number five, who sings the title line: 'I want it that way.' 'That’s him,' says the witness, now revealed to be, also, a victim. 'Number Five killed my brother.' " --Emily Ogden on 3 Quarks Daily blog

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