A Beautiful Day Ruined

Back in early 2001, when I had, like, a real job working for a marketing company that thought way too much of itself, the New York office was treated to a presentation of the company's new mission. The new mission itself is irrelevant, not because I (like everyone in the New York office) was cynical and jaded throughout what was supposed to be some kind of corporate revolution, but because ultimately the jackasses had to close our offices a few months later.

But really, the worst part of this self-important declaration in the bullshit world of promotional marketing was that U2's "A Beautiful Day" was playing on a loop throughout. It may not be the best U2 song of all time, but I challenge anyone to find a single song that can survive three consecutive hours of repeat play without being detested.

So now, the New Labour party is embracing "A Beautiful Day" for its upcoming election campaign. The in-depth analysis of poor song usage for political purposes is pretty interesting, but when the writer gets to what he calls "the one undeniable masterstroke" of Bill Clinton's use of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" in 1992, he fails to mention that, even those of us who love the "Rumors" album and couldn't have been more excited to put an end to 12-straight years of Republican rule of the White House, when we hear the song today, we skip to the next track, change the radio dial, or dash screaming out of whatever retail outlet we're in.