"I don't make these videos because I hate pop music, I do it because I LOVE pop music."
Todd Nathanson is a former YouTube-based reviewer, now featured on That Guy With The Glasses, who focuses his snarking on pop music. Combines legitimate complaints with humorous observations and cute Shout Outs. Also, he always obscures his face in his videos.A frequent "Special Guest" on Pushing Up Roses' "Let's Play Shorties". Todd normally appears on Roses' Let's Plays of Edutainment PC games from the early 90s. He also has frequent cameo roles in The Nostalgia Chick's videos, which he often also helps write. Apart from his normal Pop Song Review show, he also does a show called 'One Hit Wonderland', where he looks at one-hit wonder artists' careers, their one hit song and analyzes whether or not they had more musical talent than their one hit would imply.His old videos can be found on his YouTube account here, while his That Guy With The Glasses output can be found here. (All his YouTube videos have been uploaded to that, as well.) Both have transcripts! His Twitter can be found here.There is also a FAQ, detailing Todd's opinions on artists, songs and other stuff and a Facebook pageFor a list of songs (and other videos) Todd has done, see Todd In The Shadows List. All tropes regarding Todd himself go to the character sheet.
Tropes invoked by Todd in the Shadows in his reviews:
Todd: I don't make these reviews because I hate pop music. I make these reviews because I love pop music.
The double review of "We Are Young" by fun. (yes, it's not capitalized and the period is part of their name) and "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye, Todd brings into question just how these indie songs became so popular. At the end of the review, he's still a little baffled, but he admits he really can't find anything wrong with either artists, and enjoys both of their previous works.
Starting with his "Ni**as in Paris" review, Todd has been reviewing a lot more songs that he considers good or at least songs he doesn't really hate.
Inverted (Accenting the positive) with both Justin Timberlake's "Suit and Tie" and Macklemore's "Thrift Shop"note and "Can't Hold Us" - he admits that's a good song too. They're the only two good songs on the radio at the time of the review. EVERYTHING ELSE is boring crap.
Chris Brown, even before the incident. Todd initially saw him as akin to Justin Bieber. Taken even further after Brown won a Grammy, as Todd started following him on Twitter just for trolling!
Willow Smith, despite her tender age.
Todd: Yes, I will make fun of the looks of a nine-year-old, try and stop me..
The band Chicago, specifically lead singer and former frontman Peter Cetera.
The band Train, specifically lead singer and songwriter Pat Monahan.
"White guy with an acoustic guitar" songs. Basically, insincere love songs or just flat out bland songs by "douchey" (usually white) guys with acoustic guitars. He has singled out "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "Hey Soul Sister" by Train, "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars, and anything by Jack Johnson and John Mayer as examples, and fleshed out his reasons in his review of "The Lazy Song". He didn't anticipate the possibility that Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" was one of these. At that point, it was just adding insult to injury.
On Twitter, he's cited Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffett's "Knee Deep" as one of the only "white guy with acoustic guitar" songs that he likes. He also gives examples a pass if he finds them sufficiently sincere: he doesn't hate the Plain White T's, and Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up" was spared from the same fate as "I'm Yours".
The Distaff Counterpart, "white chick on piano". While not everything qualifies (he gives Adele a pass for "Someone Like You"), he cites Evanescence (or at least "My Immortal"), Vanessa Carlton and Christina Perri as examples.
The Black Eyed Peas. Even Nicolas Cage agrees with him, apparently. He has stated, though, that he doesn't completely hate them, and put two of their songs on his Best Hit Songs of 2009 list.
Dance songs set in clubs about dancing to dance songs (set in clubs).
Songs used in commercials that sound like they were written for them. Aside from "Tonight, Tonight", he singles out Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl".
The novelty hits of the early 1960's. Even if it wasn't the darkest era of pop music, it was one of the stupidest.
Actually Pretty Funny: One small scene in "Sexy and I Know It". But that's the only thing he'll concede.
A Date with Rosie Palms: Semisonic's follow up album after their One Hit Wonder "Closing Time" was mostly about sex. The context of one song in particular, "Get a Grip", was fairly obvious. It's an upbeat song talking about how healthy it is to explore masturbation.
Taylor Swift is the "pink pony princess" of country.
Advertised Extra: Criticizes Janelle Monae as being this in "We Are Young", since her part is so inobtrusive that he wasn't even aware she was in the song. He then parodies it by promoting the video as a crossover with Jew Wario, who appears on screen for a second to say "hi".
Age Appropriate Angst: In "If I Die Young", he flips out when he figures out that Kimberly Perry is 28 and actually older than he is, pointing out that it would be much easier to stomach if she were 16, since many people go through a morbid phase at that age but grow out of it. invoked
Album Filler: Theory raised by Todd concerning the lyrics of Train's "Hey, Soul Sister".
And also regarding the beat and production in "E.T.".
A darker version of this happened around Christmas 2010 when his Twitter became a sort-of Apocalyptic Log for when he contracted MRSA. Obviously, he got better.
Lil Wayne is on a quest to record with every musician in existence.
Flo Rida is trying his damn hardest to be a successful rapper by only making songs with good choruses but awful verses and without having any identifiable personality traits whatsoever... other than a taste for clubbing. Furthermore, his image is so tied to his clubbing that he goes out partying even when he doesn't want to in order to keep up his rep, to the point that he often zones out in exhaustion.
Also, the events of "Whistle" are all in his head.
Patrick Monahan went insane during the hiatus of his band, explaining why the lyrics to Train's songs are becoming increasingly bizarre.
Monahan has also recently undergone an arbitrary larynx transplant surgery, which is why his voice is suddenly so high-pitched and whiny.
After "Hey, Soul Sister" and "Drive By" became hits, Monahan began to hate his fans for letting him get away with writing such bad lyrics, so he wrote "50 Ways to Say Goodbye" to take revenge on them by bombarding them with the most insane song he could make. It became a hit.
The lyrics in the video for "Hey, Soul Sister" are squirming along the walls because they're attempting to escape.
Cher Lloyd's song "Want U Back" is told from the perspective of a sociopathic high school Alpha Bitch.
Ke$ha really is a perpetually drunken, shallow party girl, who prefers to go out with men who look like Mick Jagger (Tik Tok) and have beards (Your Love Is My Drug). note General consensus perceives her as a Stealth Parody; While Todd acknowledged this in "The Top 6 Worst Hit Songs of 2010 (That I Didn't Already Cover)," he considered that it didn't justify "Take It Off," where she's laughing at the listener (See Take That, Audience!) instead of with them.
The members of 3OH!3 pretended to be douchey frat boys for the video of their song "Don't Trust Me" but they've gotten so into character that now they can't stop.
The crew behind "The Time" were conspiring against the Black Eyed Peas — a recording technician was attempting to unplug Fergie's mic near the end, and the video's director was taking potshots at the song.
Ludacris is omnipresent.
Barry Manilow wrote every single song ever written.
Pitbull isn't capable of rapping about anything other than how much money he makes, even if he tries to fit it in with another theme, such as Men In Black.
David Guetta's music is so mechanical he might actually be a robot. More than that, he's a Life Drinker: Able to sustain his own boring career by feeding off any interest that his guest singers might have had before working with him, and leaving them just as boring as he is afterward. Flo Rida being the only exception because he had no personality to begin with.
His "Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2012" has several of these. In addition to expanding on Train mentioned above, Pitbull has been replaced by an alien/replecant trying to copy our "hu-man musical art forms" and the end result is just "adorable," Hunter Hayes' "Wanted" is just a con to try & get the singer laid, Will.I.Am is some kind of idiot savant, and Chris Brown's managers may be slipping in lyrical references to his domestic abuse as a prank.
Will.i.am finds inspiration for his music in the sounds made by car alarms, jackhammers, vaccum cleaners, dripping faucets and your neighbours having loud sex.
Peter Cetera is a real life Bond villain who caused the stock market to crash, committed war crimes and killed Todd's dog.
All Men Are Perverts: When taking a moment to explain that abstinence is perfectly alright if your partner isn't ready. "And you know, that goes for the girls too. Sometimes the guy isn't ready and you shouldn't push it... it happens."
Anachronism Stew: The payphone itself in Maroon 5's "Payphone". It's 2012, and he's still using an antiquated piece of communications that can't be ported around with you or access the internet... and you have to PAY TO USE IT!???
Analogy Backfire: Pointed out by name in his review of the Black Eyed Peas' "Imma Be", when will.i.am compares himself to a sperm bank...as men put sperm into a sperm bank.
A quick one from Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight..."
Enrique: If I had a type, then it would be you.
Todd: Or in other words, you're not my type.
He also points that a firework is something so ephemerous Katy Perry should have talked about firewood instead.
LMFAO's "Yo, I'm runnin' through these ho's like Drano". Unless it was saying their music is corrosive and harmful.
When the video for "If I Die Young" invokes Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott", he points out that said lady went completely unknown or cared about by her people, even after death. All she left behind was a pretty corpse.
And then there's Train's "Drive By". The title's imagery aside, he focuses mainly upon the implications of Patrick comparing his love to a two-ply Hefty bag (in other words, garbage), and how it "went viral".
Also, the line "Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone" loses its credibility once the narrator mentions being with another man.
When the opening of "Mac & Devin Go To High School" suggests that the viewer smoke up before watching the movie, he points out that "you need to be high to enjoy this movie" is typically not a compliment.
Anarchy Is Chaos: Completely subverted. His One Hit Wonderland review of "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba starts off with him trying to explain just what Anarchy actually is. Trying being the key word, since the best he could describe it was "Socialism or Communism, but without any government." The trope page itself is much more clear. The band was formed in the 80's by actual far-left-sided political anarchists who joined in on the Punk Rock scene of the 80's.
Ke$ha: Turn around, boy, lemme hit that. [beat] Todd: "Turn around, boy... lemme hit that?" I don't think I understand the mechanics here. Ke$ha: Don't be a little bitch with your chit chat, just show me where your dick's at! Todd: Uh... it's between his legs. You know, the crotch area, that's where it is on most guys, you should know that. I mean, not that I'm making any assumptions about your character here, but I'm pretty sure you're already well-acquainted with the location of a penis.
And Then John Was a Zombie: Parodied in his "Party Rock Anthem" review, in which he states "And then John was a douchebag" during the dance zombie apocalypse scene.
Todd's worst villains of The Eighties are Ayatollah Khomeini, Pablo Escobar, the guy who shot Pope John Paul II (Mehmet Ali Ağca)... and Peter Cetera, former frontman of Chicago.
And his list of Cetera's crimes: "Peter Cetera is a war criminal. Peter Cetera caused the stock market crash. Peter Cetera killed my dog."
In his review for Bruno Mars's "Grenade", Todd makes a list of the qualities of the woman whom Bruno is singing about: "Abusive", "Demonic", "Insane", "Evil", "Deceitful", and "Bad at auto repair."
When he's detailing the strange things that have happened to him over the year:
Artistic License - Economics: He pointed out in his review of the Hannah Montana movie that the villain is trying to build a mall despite the fact that the entire town doesn't want it, which is really not a good idea.
Ate His Gun: He tries to do this during his review of "Imma Be" by the Black Eyed Peas.
Todd: If I have to hear "Imma be" one more time, I'm gonna shoot myself! *Starts freaking out, reaches for a nearby pistol, puts it to his head, his chin, in his mouth, and starts pulling the trigger* [beat] *disappointed* This isn't a real gun.
He jokes about it again in the Sunday School Musical review.
"Oh...I suddenly have an itch at the back of my throat...that I must scratch...with my gun!"
Auto Tune: Discussed (and used) reviewing "5 O'clock". He says that he doesn't mind it, and that it should be considered just another facet of modern production, like stereo sound or multi-tracked vocals. He then parodies it by suggesting that he should Auto-Tune the whole review, but promptly backs out.
Avoid The Dreaded G Rating: Todd theorizes that the reason Bruno Mars peppers "The Lazy Song" with random references to sex and masturbating is because, otherwise, it could easily be mistaken for a Sesame Street song.
Todd: It's rare to see consensus get built about a pop song. Music is one of the things that everyone has a different taste in. Very, very rarely is a song so good that everyone has to agree on it. But when I heard my #1 song, I spread it to everyone I knew and everyone loved it, and I've never seen that happen. I told myself if there was any justice in this world, it would be a song that spread everywhere and that everyone would love it and...it did... And by the end of 2011, it was widely recognized as one of the greatest songs ever written.
Bad Bad Acting: In the crossover review of Kanye West's Runaway, Rap Critic and Todd Lampshade the cliche crossover setup by passing a script back and forth and reading the lines completely deadpan.
Bait and Switch: In the beginning of his review of Train's "Drive By", he compliments Train as an interesting and intriguing band and rhetorically asks what made him change his mind. While the listener might be expecting a glowing compliment of a song or album, instead he says "Well, I think the lead singer might've gone insane."
BDSM: During his review of Rihanna's "S&M", a song that he hates so much yet finds to be a Guilty Pleasure anyway, he ultimately concludes that his enjoyment of the song is a mental/emotional act of the song's subject matter, with Rihanna as a dominatrix and him, the listener, as the sub who gets off on such an awful song.
Be Careful What You Wish For: In the "Imma Be" review, after the song switches into a completely different style, Todd says that he'd be glad to hear something than other than droning repetitions of "Imma be, imma be, imma be". Then it turns out that section of the song also repeats that particular phrase...
Becoming the Mask: After hearing 3OH!3's verse on Ke$ha's 'BlahBlahBlah' Todd wonders to himself whether they were genuinely dumb fratboys all along, or if they'd 'gone so far into character that they can't get out.'
Subverted—he later determines, after hearing them say the line "who I is", that they are just trying too hard.
The musical genre known as adult alternative, referred to as "white-guy-with-an-acoustic-guitar songs". He crystallizes this in his review of Train's "Hey Soul Sister".
Chris Brown's beating the stuffing out of Rihanna, to the point where he has to struggle to keep from making his review of "I Can Transform Ya" all about it. Chris himself becomes this over the course of "Deuces", primarily because he acted like Domestic Abuse was no big deal.
He hates the group Chicago vehemently. Has it ever occurred to you that he hates Chicago?
More specifically, he hates Peter Cetera, frontman of Chicago, who he considers to be one of the greatest villains of the 1980s, and says his voice 'resonates at the exact frequency to piss me off'. However, he has no problem with older Chicago songs - roughly their recorded output from before the release of Chicago X.
Who was the writer of "I Write the Songs?" Not Barry Manilow, but BRUCE JOHNSTON OF THE BEACH BOYS!?!!?
When introducing Lady Gaga's "Alejandro", he plays the chorus of Ace Of Base's "The Sign" instead.
He also mentions the Madonna ripoffs in the video (such as the dress from "Vogue")
He can't listen to more than a few bars of Music.Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me" without it turning into "Use Somebody" by Kings Of Leon.
Todd: Though, I have to admit that I don't like this song as much as the first time I heard it, back when it was called "I Gotta Feeling".
He imagines that "Eenie Meenie" would have been better if it left out Justin Bieber and got rid of the ridiculous lyrics... and realizes that that perfectly describes Sean Kingston's earlier song "Fire Burning".
In an inversion, he describes Jay Sean's "Down" as an even better version of Chris Brown's "Forever", thus ensuring that the world can safely ignore Chris Brown.
Todd: New and improved Chris Brown! Now with 31% less Domestic Abuse!
He mentions Travie McCoy's "Billionaire" in his end-of-2010 recap solely to point out its similarity to Sublime's "Santeria".
A double-whammy in the case of "The Time" - he preferred the song they based the chorus on (in fact, like in "Alejandro" he opens the review playing "Time of Your Life"), and believes the beats to be a rip-off of Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction".
While more Identical Stranger, as he doesn't like the song, Todd is shocked to see Daddy Yankee isn't Pitbull.
Likewise, he finds "5 O'Clock" to be a rethread of "Whatcha Say", being a song about a bad boyfriend with a misused sample of a British singer - but while Todd hates DeRulo's song, T-Pain's one only baffles him.
Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" is a retread of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"... too bad he already loathes the other one!
Most of fun.'s non-"We Are Young" output is an attempt to emulate Queen. Unfortunately, their lead singer isn't Freddie Mercury. Later, he acknowledges that "Some Nights" is their Bohemian Rhapsody.
He finds "Payphone"' music too similar to Bruno Mars.
Gerardo's next four singles after "Rico Suave" are ripoffs of himself, Marky Mark, Tone Loc and PM Dawn.
In the "Achy Breaky Heart" episode of One Hit Wonderland, he points this out twice: first by saying that Tracy Lawrence's "Can't Break It to My Heart" is a better version of said song that plays its hook straight; then by saying that Tim McGraw did Billy Ray Cyrus' shtick better with "Indian Outlaw" (which, like "Achy Breaky Heart", was a goofy novelty line-dance song).
Beware the Nice Ones: He describes Taylor Swift as a "verbal assassin" on par with Beyoncé or Adele in his review of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", citing her songs "Mean", "Dear John", and "Innocent" as Exhibits A, B, and C.
"Do not piss off Taylor Swift."
Big Lipped Alligator Moment: Invoked in Alicia Keys' "Girl On Fire" review, when the song just randomly starts off with Nicki Minaj rapping about things that have NOTHING to do with the song. Even the Rap Critic, who also appeared randomly out of nowhere (much to Todd's frustration- He calls him out on it), notes that neither the start of the song or Nikki's second part later on just come out of nowhere, the lyrics have nothing to do with anything else in the song, and were clearly thrown in at the last moment in production because Nikki is only standing in front of a very cheap greenscreen effect in the background. And THEN Todd notes how poor the transition between Nikki's opening and Alicia's lyrics are. He's had random songs on his MP3 player transition better than that.
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In "Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2010".
YOU ALL ARE A BUNCH OF NERDS!NERDS! NERDS! NERDS!
Both the higher-ups screwed him over in their cameos: The Nostalgia Critic threatened him with "Hoedown Throwdown" if he didn't continue reviewing music, and Rob Walker unveils that he edited out large chunks of Todd's script for "S&M" and is implied to think that Todd is dumber than '90s Kid.
Bleep Dammit: At one point, the subtitles refer to the Jay-Z/Kanye West single as "Niggas in P***s". "What the hell do I pay you people for?"
Book Ends: He opens and closes the From Justin to Kelly review failing to write a script about Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know".
Todd: HELLO, I'M TODD IN THE SHADOWS! I LISTEN TO IT CAUSE YOU DON'T WANT TO!
Boyfriend In Canada: Todd accuses Kelly Clarkson of this in his review of "Stronger", since she says she's fine sleeping alone and then later claims to have already found another man in the same song.
And then in "Want U Back", he apparently got the same story from Lupa.
In "Deuces", when Todd hears the line "I'm a dick so I shouldn't be that hard to swallow", we immediately cut to a shot of his bathroom with the shower running.
Todd: Run from this terrible song. Run before she taints your moral purity. That's what I'm gonna do. And taking a freaking shower.
When he points out the chorus for Flo Rida's "Whistle" is a not-that-hidden reference to oral sex. Cue Todd walking away from the keyboard, up the stairs, and into the shower.
"We already got a bunch of Jays, and we already got a bunch of Seans. We certainly don't need a Jay Sean!"
Todd starts "Like a G6" saying it's a Ke$ha ripoff. Then he compares it to "Boom Boom Pow", and concludes it's "The Ke$ha/Black Eyed Peas collaboration the world was asking for."
While reviewing "Tonight, Tonight", he states that party songs should consist of more than just repeating the word "tonight". Or "everybody". Or "fun". Or even "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". Though he admits that song is okay.
When trying to determine the subject matter of Ellie Goulding's "Lights", he narrows it down to being called home by ghosts, aliens, or possibly alien ghosts.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Multiple times (in several layers) on the list of three-syllable phrases more suitable that "sexy bitch" for use in Akon's "Sexy Bitch."
At the start of his review of Katy Perry's "E.T.", several other reviewers appear and knock his taste in music; the last is Obscurus Lupa with a different issue:
Lupa: Stop stealing my hair! Todd: [quickly] Boy, that Katy Perry sure sucks, right!?
In "The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2010", Todd says he could write a dissertation on how Rihanna has reacted publically and artistically to the Chris Brown incident. Next time he reviews a Rihanna song, guess what he has? note An unexpected interruption by Paw and Roses, but the time after that...
In "Want U Back", he asks for all hate mail directed towards him to be sent to lewislovhaug@channelawesome.com. In "Gangnam Style", Linkara asks Todd about "all those e-mails he's been receiving".
During his review of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", he offhandedly makes mention about writing a song about being out of salsa. After the credits, he sings that song about being out of salsa... and that he has an itchy leg.
Brief Accent Imitation: During his "Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2012" review, Todd does this to mock Cher Lloyd and The Stinger at the end of "Want U Back" (which, as he pointed out in a previous review, was basically ripped off from Ke$ha).
Todd:(British accent) It's the sound of trying too hard! Pbbbt!
Broken Record: He decided to count how many times "Imma Be" is Title Dropped(106) and called this on "Whip My Hair":
Todd: "Whip My Hair" is about three and a half minutes long, and it uses a fairly typical verse-chorus-verse structure. This is surprising to me, because the first few times I heard it, I would have sworn to you that it was just three straight hours of just this one line.note In case you don't know: I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH! I mean it just seems to go ON, and ON.
Broken Streak: Katy Perry, after appearing on his Top 10 Best Songs of 2009, 2010, and 2011 videos, was finally omitted from his 2012 video - something that Todd celebrates with much fanfare. (This leaves Drake and Rihanna as the only artists to appear every year so far, though the later has appeared mostly through features with "Rude Boy" as her only solo song)
Brown Note: He believes that the only way a song could be worse than Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight..." is if it manifested outside of the listener's speakers and humped their leg.
"What two words send shivers up a music lover's spine more than 'Disco Duck'?"
He describes "Afternoon Delight" as a song that's guaranteed to drive everyone out of the room.
Todd says the voice of Peter Cetera (frontman of Chicago) resonates at the exact frequency to piss him right the hell off.
During his review of "OMG" Todd tries to pick up That Guy With The Glasses contributor Obscurus Lupa on webcam with lyrics from the song "OMG". At the end, he quotes "Sexy Chick", another song he reviewed.
Also, he says the synth fuzz at the beginning sounds like the player fell asleep on their keyboard, "which, believe me, is not as comfortable as it sounds". This happened to Todd himself in the "Replay" review.
When he Googles the term "G6" in the review of "Like a G6", you briefly see that his desktop wallpaper is a collage of Lupa photos.
In his review of "Whip My Hair", he tries the titular method of dealing with "haters" on several of his fellow TGWTG contributors, none of whom are impressed. The last one is Lupa, who wonders why she hasn't blocked him yet.
When Todd finally hears a song with awesome, so-good-no-woman-could resist pickup lyrics, he rushes to try them on Lupa...only to go blank and start quoting the lyrics from "Carry Out" instead.
In "Black and Yellow"
Song: Stay fly like... Todd: A G6?
In "Grenade", he describes the DL incident from "Like a G6".
After making Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot-esque claims about his heritage in "Like a G6" he mentions that a line in "Born This Way" intended to appeal to all races touches him personally... because he is all those races. At once.
In "S&M" he mentions the dirty Madonna movie Body of Evidence. Later he tries get Lupa to watch it with him.
In the Glitter review, he breaks out the old Mario statue from the "Break Up" review, saying he'll use it to review instead of actually doing it himself. Then that is called back on when the very next review starts with this idea failing.
Two in "Give Me Everything". First he thinks the "not having a tomorrow" might be related to the LMFAO dance zombies. Then he reacts to "Grab somebody sexy and say 'Hey, give me everything tonight!'" with... guess who.
He ends "Tonight, Tonight"'s review with "Tonight Tonight Tonight", which he listed among the worst hits of 1987.
When The Nostalgia Chick comes to his house to ask his help on a Crossroads review, she remembers how Todd unsuccessfully tried to review said movie during the Suburban Knights shoot.
"Lupe Fiasco, not to be confused with the Lupa Fiasco..." (cue Todd and Lupa on Skype...)
During "Payphone", Todd states he'll stick with another phone-themed song with a crime video he reviewed ("Telephone").
In his Best Pop Songs of 2011 video, when Katy Perry appears on the list for the third straight year, he remarks, "You win, Katy Perry - marry me." in the Best Pop Songs of 2012 list, which for the first time ever does not include Katy Perry, he says to consider it a divorce.
Probably unintentional, but he ends his Best Pop Songs of 2011 video by using the name of the Number 1 Song as a sign off - "Fuck You." He does this again in 2012, signing off the Best Songs video with "Take Care."
The "Titanium" review featuresPaw Dugan discussing Sia. In the following review, "Whistle", Todd mentions Sia's name, prompting Paw to appear again.
The Cameo: Ironically Todd admitted in the commentary for "Eenie Meenie" / "O.M.G" that he really hates adding cameos into his reviews because he likes having complete control over what goes into the video. Even so...
The Nostalgia Critic shows up in the beginning of the review for "Club Can't Handle Me" in his Bad Boss persona.
And again for the "Whip My Hair" review with several cameos by various other That Guy With The Glasses contributors.
In "Black and Yellow", Pennsylvanian Rollo T goes on a rant about Pittsburgh.
Pushing Up Roses appears in "Grenade", with Todd attempting to get a "thanks" out of her for "promoting" one of her Vinyl Destination videos as "worst video ever". She also shows up in voiceover at the end of "The Lazy Song" to ask why Todd's playing Super Smash Bros Brawl instead of working on the review.
Jesu Otaku appears in "Firework/Born This Way" to demonstrate how offending a girl's figure is bad, and in "Stronger" to show how saying you overcame a problem you've never had is irrelevant.
Rob Walker (Doug's brother, whom Todd refers as "his producer") and '90s Kid appear in "S&M".
Four reviewers appear to complain about Todd liking Katy Perry (and Lupa to complain about stalking). Only one made a first cameo - The Nostalgia Chick, who is then rejected by Todd.
Lindsay does an uncredited return as Beaker in "Party Rock Anthem". And to be rejected again in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
Oancitizen appears to make Todd not give up on reviewing "Sexy and I Know It".
To complain about how fun. gives a "featuring Janelle Monáe" credit to such a short performance, he goes "this is a Cross Over! With Jew Wario!" Cue three-second appearance by him.
Kung Tai Ted appears to demonstrate the finer points of "Dance The Kung Fu".
Paw Dugan shows up to discuss Sia's indie history, only to suffer a Broken Pedestal moment when Todd brings up her recent work. (this apparently is based on Paw's true reaction!)
The Rap Critic shows up again in his "Best Songs of 2012" video, basically to chew Todd out for putting a Flo Rida song on his list.
Cannot Spit It Out: This happens to Todd when he finds inspiration to use the lyrics of "Nothing On You" by B.o.B and Bruno Mars on Obscurus Lupa, but he eventually screws it up again by singing the lines to Justin Timberlake's "Carry Out" on her instead.
Caramelldansen Vid: Todd humors the audience by doing the "stupid dance" associated with PSY's "Gangnan Style at the end of his review by half-heartedly doing the Caramelldansen dance. He's not sure if he's doing it right though.
Carry a Big Stick: Todd pulls one out during "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida.
Todd: Now, maybe it's just me, but if the club can't handle him right now, my only conclusion that they're using the wrong club. Now, this is MY club. It is an authentic replica of a war club used in battle by ancient Greek soldiers, and trust me: It CAN handle you right now.
His title card artist has drawn Todd carrying that again for "Deuces" and "Tonight".
Todd: She's a demon from Hell! She's gonna kill us all! How are you not seeing this? You've got to believe me!
Cheap Heat: Todd points out how Lady Gaga's "You and I" song changes the state mention in the song from Nebraska to Virginia where he lives, and that it seems to be the same all around for the rest of the country.
Christmas Songs: Discussed (Todd dislikes most songs for overplay), reviewed ("Mistletoe", "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer") and parodied (once he sees the Weather Girls' "Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man This Christmas)" is just "It's Raining Man" with a holiday theme, he imagines other One Hit Wonder songs turned Xmas ones).
Despite figuring out the line "Sippin' sizzurp in my ride/Like Three Six" to be about the Three Six Mafia he decides to run with the over the top joke about 666 describing Satan, culminating in a diatribe about bad pop music being a tool of the devil.
He complains about "Telephone" becoming a Genre Throwback to Quentin Tarantino, saying Tarantino doesn't stand copying other directors. A beat follows as Todd notices what he just said.
Subverted with "Telephone". Word of Demon from Hell says that the phone is in her head, keeping her from having fun. Todd points out in "Alejandro" how it was brought to his attention that he missed the true meaning behind "Telephone"... and proceeds to point out there is nothing in the lyrics that indicate any possibility of that being the case.
The Conspiracy / Conspiracy Theorist: He has little patience for Jadakiss's approach to political rapping in "Why", but it reaches a head when he claims that Bush destroyed the World Trade Center and blames the victim for the alleged Kobe Bryant sexual assault.
Jadakiss: Why they ain't give us a cure for AIDS?
Todd: Because they just dont like you Jadakiss. There are scientists out there specifically withholding the cure for AIDS from you.
Couch Gag: Each episode begins with Todd playing today's song on the piano. (except on Top Tens, where it's a song from the year covered) Todd challenged himself to do this with "Whip My Hair". He had to ask for a few clips from the song just to get it down first, but cheered when he finally did it.
Subverted in "Sexy and I Know It", where he even argues with the caption on his refusal to play the song.
Likewise, he played "Time of My Life" before "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (which the song's chorus samples... well, covers) and "The Sign" by Ace Of Base before "Alejandro" because he thinks the song is basically a rip-off of it.
Every episode also ends with a very short disclaimer about who owns the copyright on the song, with a clip of another song playing in the background. What song this is generally has some connection to the subject of the video.
For the One Hit Wonderland episodes, the ending song is a cover of said one hit (except for Rico Suave, which ended with Taco Grande.
Continuity Nod: His Glitter review ends with him putting his hoodie on a Mario statue (previously seen in "Break Up") and setting up a CD player so it can replace him. The next episode ("Party Rock Anthem") starts with this backfiring as the player stops working.
Crazy-Prepared: Linkara's Review of "The Punisher and Eminem #1". During his crossover with The Rap Critic Todd apparently gave The Rap Critic a message for Linkara just in case Linkara called on him.
NERD!
Creator Backlash: A fairly tame example — Eddie Murphy publicly admitted that he didn't care too much for his album featuring his One Hit Wonder "Party All The Time". Originally he planned on lining up songs with other superstars such as Prince, Stevie Wonder, among others, but the best he got was a token appearance by Rick James and a song given to him by Stevie. He also said he was rather embarrassed that most of the other songs on his album were sappy love ballads that even he shouldn't have been involved with. He really had aspiring hopes for it too.
Creator Killer: He predicts that "The Time (Dirty Bit)" will be the Black Eyed Peas'.
Creator's Pet: The crowd chanting Mike Posner's name in the beginning of "Cooler Than Me". invoked
Curse Cut Short: In a scrolling list variant, he explains the various terms which flow better in song than "Sexy Chick" or "Bitch" ending with:
You are a worthless sex object and I'm going to stick my—
Cuteness Proximity: Todd believes that this is why the entire internet and society in general enjoys "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen so much. His suspicions are confirmed at the end of the video when a comparison to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is made.
"...It all makes sense, now."
D-F
Damned by Faint Praise: In his 'Turn Up The Music' review, he says that "As a singer, Chris Brown is a really good dancer."
He gives Taylor Swift's "We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together" his prestigious Not That Bad Award. "I'm sure she's honored."
The nicest thing that Todd can say about Gregory Abbott is that he has "a singing voice so good that he might be able to place ninth on a bad season of American Idol."
Dance Sensation: One of the reasons why "Monster Mash" became so popular in 1962 was because it was riding on the heels of a massive dance sensation that swept across pop music at the time. Todd comments that this was generally described as a "dark time" in pop music because many songs were just outright silly. The Beatles came along and helped end it.
Dead Horse Genre: Invoked. One of his biggest problems with the remake of "We Are The World" is that the "Mega Crossover for charity" genre has passed the point of parody. He also points out that many of the contributors had already spoofed the genre, with emphasis on Josh Groban.
He also considers club anthems to be heading in this direction. When LMFAO used a Zombie Apocalypse theme in one of their videos, he claimed a zombie was a perfect analogy for the genre; technically dead, but still moving.
Deadpan Snarker: He's pretty dry, but he gets animated at times.
"Now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing that she cleared up where she got the pedicures. Because I'm starting to get the feeling that she's the type of girl that if someone doesn't clarify that for her, she'll try to get pedicures on her eyeballs or something."
Calling the Pittsburgh Steelers "Losing losers of losingness"
Description Cut: Three in the "Firework/Born this Way" review.
He says due to his life he has no need to listen to inspirational music. Cut to a flashback where Todd drinks and puts a gun to his head.
Todd calls Jesu Otaku fat, and proceeds to discuss on how she got affected and is taking it hard... while she just stares at him.
At the end, Todd expects to see how Katy Perry and Lady Gaga do in their new, down-to-Earth way. Cut to their next singles, "E.T." and "Judas", which are about said artists "boinking monsters".
And in the most awful moments of Rattle and Hum, he claims U2 never embarrassed themselves after said movie... before cutting to them dressed as the Village People in "Discothéque".
In "Give Me Everything", he sees a rock band in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and asks to hear the song as it might be a break from the constant party songs. Too bad that song was 'Tonight, Tonight' by Hot Chelle Rae, yet another dance song.
In "Lighters", he asks for the song to begin expecting an angry song like Eminem used to do... only for the opening to be Bruno Mars in his piano.
In "5 O'Clock", Todd says he knows how to party all night long. Cut to him playing video games.
In "Drive By", he can't believe anyone could be turned on by Pat Monahan comparing his love to garbage. Cut to a clip from Trash Humpers.
He claims the success of Gotye and fun. (#1 and #2 at the Billboard 200) shows the general public wants songs with feeling. Then we see #3 to #5 is "Payphone" (Maroon 5 Featuring Wiz Khalifa), "Call Me Maybe" (Carly Rae Jepsen) and "Wild Ones" (Flo Rida) - two of which where reviewed by him later, and one was brought up reviewing "Titanium"...
Designated Hero:invoked He and the Rap Critic call out Mac of Mac & Devin Go To High School as one of these. He is repeatedly held back in school, only avoids expulsion by sleeping with the principal, and essentially ruins Devin's future in a manner that begs comparisons to Training Day. The only thing he does that is portrayed positively is supplying pot... and the value of that is a debate of its own.
Miley Cyrus' "Hoedown Throwdown" sent Todd into a horrible depression to the point where he threatened to end it all but was stopped when the song ended.
The 2011 MTV VMAs prompted Todd to do an 18-minute, unscripted video in which he bemoans the bloated and decayedFranchise Zombie MTV has become.
Dissimile: He points out that "Head to Toe" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam (no. 6 on his list of worst hit songs of 1987), which is said to resemble Motown, isn't anything like Motown! He compares "Head to Toe" to an actual Motown song (more specifically, The Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine") and claims that "Head To Toe" is exactly like Motown... except without the tight musicianship, the soulful singing, or the longevity.
Lesser example: he discusses that "The Lazy Song" is a "white guy with an acoustic guitar" song despite Bruno Mars not being white... and possibly not a guy.
"Eminem with his rabid legion of angry white guys! I was one of them... except I was not angry... and I'm not white" (As far as you know)
Distaff Counterpart: He identifies "white chick with piano" as the distaff counterpart to "white guy with acoustic guitar."
Dodgy Toupee: The Hannah Montana wig he wears in "Whip My Hair" and the crossover with The Rap Critic (in the commentary for the former, Todd mentions it barely fit his head, and if he headbanged a little harder it'd fall).
When Todd comments that he knows next to nothing about Flo Rida's backstory, he says:
If I had to guess, I'd say he's probably from Miami... Partly because his name is Flo Rida. You know, Florida, Flo Rida, Florida... You get it? It's clever.
Double Entendre: Defied by Todd in "Carry Out," in which he calls out a line, which doesn't even fit under a Single Entendre, but rather under a .3 Entendre.
Double Standard / The Unfair Sex: His primary objection to Beyonce and her music. He really tears into her when he talks about "If I Were A Boy", calling out women for being just as guilty of everything she accuses men of being.
Double Take: Many lyrics have Todd listening to them twice before giving a reaction.
Dramatic Irony: Starting with the intro to the Black Eyed Peas cover of "Time Of Your Life", he decided he was being too negative and could still enjoy the song "unaware" of the approaching "dirty bit" change.
He asphyxiated himself with a grocery bag at the end of "BedRock".
He strangled himself with his microphone cord during his cameo in Y Ruler of Time's review of Soulja Boy's "Anime".
He beat himself to death with a book at the end of "Whatcha Say". (and stated that it hurt as he shot 8 takes, and the book was one hell of a Door Stopper)
He commits seppuku with a machete not three minutes into "Like a G6".
He puts a gun to his head at the end of "Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Game."
He attempts to blow his brains out both on "Imma Be" and "Firework/Born This Way," only to fail, as the gun was a plastic toy.
Subverted with "Hoedown Throwdown" from the Hannah Montana: The Movie, which was driving him into a depression making him question why he's even doing this. Fortunately, the song ended.
Todd: Oh wait, it's over. *Snaps out of it* This song sends me to some weird places.
Todd speculates that with the direction Taylor Swift's music has already changed, her future musical stylings will be nothing but Dubstep and Autotune.
Dude, Not Funny!: Invoked when Todd wakes up from a hangover in "Your Love Is My Drug", he asks for something to brush his teeth with. He's handed a bottle of Jack Daniel's and responds with this.
Todd views radio DJs as this, when discussing Rick Dees.
Also invoked when he receives the Hannah Montana game for his birthday.
His take on "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" and its followup. It's not an aversion to Black Humor, either; he directly compares both to "Christmas At Ground Zero", which deals with both themes.
DVD Commentary: Two so far (both encompassing two episodes), "Eenie Meenie"/"OMG" and "Like a G6"/"Whip My Hair".
He says in "E.T." that he likes his pop songs catchy. And said song doesn't fit, with a beat so minimalistic he compares it to "We Will Rock You".
Flo Rida's "Whistle" fits the standard definition, to the point that he has to beat it out of his own head with a bat.
He INVOKES this upon Linkara by dialing him up, asking him what day it is, then gently singing Rebecca Black's "Friday" before hanging up.
Linkara: *Goes back to reading his comic, and starts humming "Friday" before finally realizing what just happened.* ... OH GODDAMMIT, TODD!
He states that will. i. am. has a talent of creating this out of the most annoying sounds on Earth.
"Little Things" by One Direction is so generic and forgettable that Todd admits he finds it impossible to keep the song in his head as soon as it stops playing. In fact, he keeps getting other songs stuck in his head while he's listening to it.
Discusses this with the well-known beat to "Funky Town", stating one could get it stuck in their head for weeks.
Todd: And by the way, you're welcome!
Early-Bird Cameo: Sometimes a song will be referenced in one video before getting a spot in a top-ten countdown or even a full review. "Scream and Shout" by Will.I.Am and Britney Spears actually made it into a top-ten countdown and then got a full review.
His description of "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train after he learns that it is apparently their idea of a tribute to INXS.
Todd: You were trying to sound like this [clip from "New Sensation"] and instead you sound like this [clip from "Hey Soul Sister"]. My god... That's like if you try to make scrambled eggs... and instead you caught syphilis!
And in his "Drive By" review, Todd theorizes that Train tried to make a boring song and somehow failed (not that the song was good, though).
He says that "Cooler Than Me" by Mike Posner fails utterly because it's meant to be bitching about a girl, but it never actually explains why this girl is bad or anything she has done wrong, besides rejecting the narrator, instead only mentioning her attire (one point of which he mimics himself in the video!). He also points out that while Posner spends the entire song whining about how she rejected him and how much she sucks, the song itself is a last-ditch effort at picking her up.
He complains that "Get Up and Boogie" by the Silver Convention fails to make you want to dance because it's a request rather than a command, contrasting it with C & C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat", and it lacks energy. It also doesn't help that the lyrics consist of six words (get, up, and, boogie, that's, right), the same amount of words as their other hit "Fly Robin Fly" (fly, robin, up, to, the, sky). He also notes that he rarely comments on the video footage he finds for songs, but he had to mention how absolutely bored the audience members looked in the TV performance clip he found for "Get Up and Boogie".
He also says Kanye West ruins any guest spot he's offered.
Cher Lloyd somehow proved herself to be even WORSE than Ke$ha by ripping her off at the end of "Want U Back."
Cher: Just sound like a helicopta! BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR!
Todd: You mean "Here's the sound of you ripping off Ke$ha?" (I like your beard!) YOU SUCK!!!
Erotic Eating: Todd points out the ridiculous food comparisons in "Carry Out" might be some poorly done version of this.
Everyone Has Standards: In his "Club Can't Handle Me" review, Todd points out that even Ke$ha thinks Flo Rida is deadly dull, since she asked not to be credited for her part in "Right Round" because she thought being associated with Flo Rida would hurt her career.
Now extended to Beetle Bailey strips on Twitter as well.
Everyone Is Satan in Hell: When Todd discovers the Number of the Beast in "Like A G6", he becomes convinced that "This song isn't just stupid, it's actively brainwashing the masses in service of The Dark Lord!" invoked
He considers but ultimately refuses to make the same claims about "Party Rock Anthem" based on its music video.
Played for Laughs at the end of "S&M". And kinda appears in "Club Can't Handle Me".
Wild Cherry had two options to take in order to follow up "Play That Funky Music". They could either define themselves with their own original sound and try to find their own audience and the potential success it may bring, or they could do what the execs wanted them to do, and ride the sound of their number 1 single for as much as they could. The result was "Baby Don't You Know", which was pretty much the exact same song. Band founder and lead singer Rob Parissi acknowledged that this was a bad decision to make, but to his defense, he was highly pressured into doing it.
He has a moment of Fridge Logic regarding this trope while reviewing the Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Video Game. After all, if you're playing guitar on a Hannah Montana song, you're one of those guys standing on the side that everyone ignores while watching Hannah.
Occasionally when reviewing Black Eyed Peas songs, he will snidely comment on the two less famous members. Examples include forgetting their Stage Names when reviewing "Imma Be", showing an apl.de.ap clip from "Boom Boom Pow" while asking who he is, and wondering during his review of "The Time (Dirty Bit)" if Taboo was kicked out of the group and not told about it.
He also makes similar comments about Bad Meets Evil in his "Lighters" review.
Todd: Now here's Royce, or as he is better known, "The Other Guy".
Face Palm: While reviewing "Break Up" by Mario, Sean Garrett and Gucci Mane:
Song: Do anything for you, why would you wanna break up?/See I be driving through your hood/Why would you wanna break up?
Todd: Oh, you charmer, you. I was gonna leave, but then I found out that you were driving through my hood. Oh baby, I just can't let you go. *facepalms*
In his review of "Cooler Than Me", Todd points out that "Mike Posner" is just a terrible name for a pop artist because it's not catchy or memorable or vaguely cool at all.
Todd: Taio Cruz is the name of a pop star. Mike Posner fixes your car.
He also refers to the song as "I Have No Star Qualities" by Nobody McLoser.
Todd believes this happened to Usher after the successful Confessions album, as seen in his review of Usher's "OMG".
Usher has since made several appearances on Todd's "Best Of" lists, so this trope only applies through his "OMG" review.
He hopes for Chris Brown to subvert this... then he hears "Deuces".
He starts losing faith in Bruno Mars after hearing "Grenade," but "The Lazy Song" causes Todd to utterly hate him. ("Lighters" didn't help his reputation either)
Todd has since regained some of his faith in Bruno after "Young, Wild, and Free" and "Locked Out Of Heaven", both of which have made his Best of 2012 list.
His opinion of The Beach Boys by the year 1976. Given their lackluster cover of "Rock And Roll Music", inspiring Henry Gross's "Shannon", giving credibility to the Captain & Tennille, writing "I Write The Songs"...
His opinion on Eminem, even if Recovery was somehow a return to form.
Maroon 5 is an interesting case. While Todd makes it apparent that they definitely sold out and lost a lot of artistic integrity, he also didn't like a lot of their older, more angry-sounding songs, and actually considered "Moves Like Jagger" to be an improvement over most of their older stuff. Played much straighter in his "Payphone" review, where he admits that they did have some good older songs, and that their new single "Payphone" contained every aspect of selling out that he didn't like (such as a guest verse from Wiz Khalifa, cliche lyrics, and stereotypical production). Made even worse in his Worst of 2012 list, as he absolutely despised "One More Night".
Fan Disservice: LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" video, which even makes Oancitizen call Todd out for refusing to continue the review because it features ugly men in speedos ("I sat through a whole film where people had sex with garbage!").
[...] Gaga will spend this video, oh let's see, being thrown into women's prison, being stripped naked, making out with another woman; and boy oh boy oh boy, I can't tell you how not turned on I am by any of this. Truly, Lady Gaga has mastered the art of being sexual without being even remotely sexy.
On "Replay", he mentions Iyaz is just one in a line of Akon knockoffs.
On "Deuces", he discusses on Chris Brown's absence leading to similar artists appearing... and eventually bringing this on Brown himself: "After this line of Usher wannabes, who better than the original Usher wannabe himself?"
On "Moves Like Jagger", he says the song incorporates two things popular at the moment, whistling and gratuitous usage of Mick Jagger's name (especially considering how Jagger actually dances...).
Foreshadowing: At the end of his "Your Love is My Drug" review, it is revealed that Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" is what drove him to drink.
In Bennett The Sage's "Top 5 Best/Worst Cover Songs", Todd asks him to make a song countdown while he escaped from LMFAO. Guess what was his following review?
Also, during the From Justin to Kelly crossover he has trouble doing a review on Gotye and fun. His next review covered both.
His Twitter always drops clues on his next video.
When putting "Young, Wild & Free" on the list of the Best Songs of 2012, he notes that the video revolves around a movie he's not sure even exists, Mac & Devin Go To High School. "Doesn't really sound like a great movie to be honest. But this song makes such a good case for it, I kinda wanna see it anyway. Hope I don't regret saying that." One week later...
For Science!: At one point on "Hey Soul Sister" he raises a theory concerning Pat Monahan's sudden pitch range.
Gentlemen, the operation was a complete success! We have taken this man's vocal cords and successfully replaced them with a squeaking rubber ducky! ...Why did we do that?
The Four Chords of Pop: Referenced in the "Stronger, ""We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "Cruise (Remix)" reviews. Todd believes that the use of this alone signals the final step for Taylor Swift moving from being a Country/Pop singer to full on Pop.
Todd: Pop song chords: They own music. They own the world. They own you. DEAL WITH IT.
Yet by the time he lists this as a reason for hating "Cruise" by Florida-Georgia Line featuring Nelly:
In his review of the Hannah Montana video game, he wonders how, with all of the songs being centred around Hannah/Miley's double life, none of her in-show fans have figured out that Hannah and Miley are the same person... and then he says that he came up with the following idea: none of her fans imagine that Hannah would have/need a double life, so they don't suspect her of having one.
"I just realized. Will and Jada named their kids Willow and Jaden."
His response to Willow Smith's suggestion to whip your hair even if you don't have long hair.
At a certain point of "Grenade", he points out that "On our first kiss, had your eyes wide open, why were they open?" is paradoxical.
He asks on Rihanna singing about how "she likes to be tied up and beaten", when... youknow. (it gets even more uncomfortable when she goes "make my body say ah ah ah.")
From Bad to Worse: Todd hoped that Justin Bieber's Christmas song might actually be listenable, but prepares himself that it might be as bad as his other songs. He was not prepared for a White Guy With Acoustic Guitar Song.
Funny Background Event / Freeze Frame Bonus: Todd has made a point that whenever you see him on the computer there's always something embarrassing or silly on screen.
In "Hey Soul Sister", his monitor flashes Pushing Up Roses' website.
In the "Like a G6" review, as a Call Back, his desktop picture consists entirely of pictures of Obscurus Lupa.
In "S&M", his desktop is Fatty Bear (from a game he played with Roses) in a "No" sign.
In "Scream and Shout", as unlike Todd expected the song is still on the charts, he scratches it from a list of predictions including "Battleship sweeps Oscars, Grammys, Nobels" and "Mayan Apocalypse happens 2 months late".
Todd In The Shadows. Heh. Surprisingly averted on the acronym-happy and sometimes gaffe-prone That Guy With The Glasses main site, where he is known as "TODD", "ShadowTodd" or TIS instead.
When a poster pointed this out to him on his subforum, he jokingly said he would change his name to Nick Under The Shadows to save face.
Todd: How does this even happen? To sing those lines, to write those lines, to conceive those lines, to help record those lines, to have anything at all to do with those lines, you would have to be one of the stupidest people ever to walk the face of the Earth!! [Beat] ... Hmm. [Gilligan Cut] Todd (to Obscurus Lupa over Skype): Shawty, you got a booty like POW POW POW! And, and, and and and you got some boobies like WOW OH WOW!
He argues that the beat for "Blah Blah Blah" sounds like someone chucking objects at a keyboard. Guess what occurs next?
Girl on Girl Is Hot: In the "Black and Yellow" review, Todd is all kinds of confused about why the rapper's girlfriend would be okay with him cheating with her best friend. When what's actually going on finally hits him, he calls him a "lucky son of a bitch."
Averted in the "Telephone" review; see the quote above at Fetish Retardant.
Glurge: In "The Lazy Song" review, Todd says the "white guy with an acoustic guitar" genre is seemingly gentle and happy songs which are just smug attempts for the singer to rub in your face how they don't have any problems, especially the reviewed song.
Godwin's Law: Todd suggests Hitler among the people with more credibility than Ryan Seacrest.
Gone Mad From The Revelation: In "Like a G6", he comes to the conclusion that all bad pop music is the work of Satan!
Todd: I knew it! I knew it all along!! Bad pop music! All this bad pop music! I knew it! IT'S THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!! Corrupting our minds! Destroying the world! He's coming! COMING FOR YOU AND YOUR SOULS!! Repent! Swear on the good book (cut to the autobiography of Johnny Cash) and you may yet be saved! Repent now or perish in the 4th circle of hell... Where "Like a G6" plays for eternity...
Paw Dugan has this when Todd shows Sia collaborating with Flo Rida and David Guetta.
He also reacts badly to Bruno Mars' use of "frickin'" in "The Lazy Song".
He's angered by the existence and popularity of "Forget You" and its Glee arrangement, and considered putting it on his Worst of 2011 list.
Grammar Nazi: In "Eenie Meenie", Todd casually goes into detail to point out how the line "Shawty is a eenie meenie miney mo lover" should really be "Shawty is an eenie meenie miney mo lover." He then proceeds to RAGE in anger over just how stupid the lyrics really are.
Briefly discussed regarding Katy Perry's "Hot 'n' Cold". He doesn't feel guilt for putting any song on his "Best of 2009" list, but if he did, that song would be the one he felt guilty for. Expanded upon in the "Best of 2010" list. He likes two Katy Perry songs of that year, and he's past calling it a guilty pleasure and at the point of calling it shame. (and while reviewing "E.T.", Todd's happy Perry again had a song he didn't like the least!)
"S&M". He admits that the song's quality is questionable, but he still sings along with it.
Repeatedly brought up in his Best of 2012 list. While he celebrates being free of liking a Katy Perry song that year, he now has to deal with putting Ke$ha ("Die Young") and Flo Rida ("I Cry") on the list, including defending the latter choice from the Rap Critic. He even admits to nearly putting Pitbull ("International Love") on the list.
His only comment on Taio Cruz's song "Dynamite" is snickering at the line "I'm in the club so I'm gonna do, do, do, do."
Todd: He's gonna do do do do. He's gonna doo-doo. *snort*
"Hate you break it to you, Wiz... *snort* Wiz."
Heroic BSOD: Todd INVOKES this in Paw Dugan, whose view of Indie artist Sia being nothing short of a musical goddess who can do no wrong is sent crashing down to earth when Todd tells him that his exposure to her is from a Flo Rida song followed up by a collaboration with David Guetta.
Heroic Sacrifice: Todd makes one saving Obscurus Lupa from THE BIRDS!!! at the end of her Birdemic: Shock and Terror review. Too bad it was all a fake documentary...
Hey, It's That Guy!: Invoked. Todd makes a realization that the same actor who played "Cowpie Clyde" from the Hanna Montana movie also appeared in one of Taylor Swift's videos.
Also invoked in his Worst Pop Songs of 2004 video when he finds out that Lloyd sung the hook on "Bedrock", which he considers to be one of the worst songs he's ever reviewed.
In a web original example, Todd uploaded a video to his Blip account that was not linked on his TGWTG page. It was a cover version of the Carole King song "It's Too Late".
He did it again in the same manner not much later — a short mashup of Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy" and Akon's "I Wanna Love You".
Hilarious in Hindsight: Todd drops the trope name when talking about Lionel Richie's father-daughter song "Ballerina Girl", and how the song takes on a new meaning when you remember his daughter is Nicole Richie.
Also, Eminem going from "homophobic who warrants protests from gays" to "rapper who does Ho Yay songs with Dr. Dre and Royce Da 5'9".
Ho Yay: Todd points out that "Sexy Bitch" sounds like something girls get called by their gay best friends. Cut to a scene from the music video of Akon glomping David Guetta. invoked
Hope Spot: He suggests that pop songs set in clubs are on the way out, evidenced by the success of songs like "Rolling In the Deep" by Adele and "Fuck You" by Cee Lo Green... before spending the next 3 reviews looking at more of them..
On Lady Gaga's appearance in the piano version of "Poker Face":
Todd: What kind of person makes some creepy, weird video of themselves where you can't see their eyes?!? That's just crazy, right?
On Justin Bieber's dressing habits:
Todd: Stupid gray hoodie pulled up over his head. You look like a loser dressed like that, Bieber. A LOSER!
He criticizes the Internet fad of dubbing Imogen Heap's "Hide And Seek" over melodramatic death scenes as a prelude to reviewing Jason Derulo's "Whatcha Say". Eventually the song's continued decrease in quality drives him to beat himself to death. A beat. Cue Imogen Heap.
He expresses bewilderment over how anyone could enjoy BDSM, despite the fact that his enjoyment of terrible songs is basically a form of masochism.
In a Description Cut in The Nostalgia Chick's review of The Little Mermaid, when she asks him to spend some time with her, he tells her to stop calling him and hangs up. "Geez, some people can't take a goddamn hint."
Then in Todd's review of "E.T.", shortly after Lupa calls him out, he is rude to the Chick and sends her away.
And in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance":
Chick: Maybe it's about not wasting your time with some tramp that's not available and be happy with awesome, clever, funny girl who's right in front of you! Todd: Yeah, I know! Isn't that horrible?
His "Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2010" opens with him ranting about how his fellow reviewers are a bunch of nerds. Less than thirty seconds later he references 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
When he discusses that Justin Timberlake left music to make funny videos on the internet: "Pff, what an idiot."
'...I'm guessing a lot of you haven't heard of (Lily Allen), unless you're one of those Pitchfork-reading snobs who constantly namedrops Europop singers (because) they're sooo much better than our American crap. By the way, that last album by Swedish pop star Robyn was actually really good and she's way better than that Ke$ha crap, you should totally listen to it.'
In "Drive-By", he points out that the lyrics involve a girl who the singer won't score with again, and asks him to move on... before talking to his Lupa pictures.
After berating Todd for his alleged promotion of promiscuity all through his review of "Just a Kiss", Jesus ends it by saying that Todd Needs to Get Laid.
After getting angry at Rednex for dressing up as stereotypical Southerners and calling themselves Rednex without knowing a thing about the South (probably), and saying that 'rednecks' is for Southerners and actual rednecks only, there's a quick subtitle that just says 'Todd was born in San Diego'.
Idiot Savant: Todd acknowledges that Will.I.Am has always been the brains behind The Black Eyed Peas, and admits a "grudging respect" for him for being this. "Scream & Shout" is basically all the worst aspects of his (and Britney Spears') talents.
Todd: An artist with a distinct style and a claim to an Auteur status while being a complete moron. The "Michael Bay" of music, if you will.
If I Wanted X, I Would Y: Said of the video for "Payphone" that if he wanted to watch a video of a crime spree for a song about payphones, he would watch "Telephone" by Lady Gaga again.
I'm a Man, I Can't Help It: His reasoning for placing Rihanna's "Rude Boy" on his list of top 10 hits of 2010.
Import Filter: His assessment of British pop music. When it's good (The Beatles, Ellie Goulding, Adele), it lives up to its reputation and is arguably better than anything that America has to offer. However, he also feels that, as bad as Americans think they have it with their own awful pop music, at least they never had to suffer through the Cheeky Girls, Crazy Frog, Jedward, or the slew of X-Factor runners-up. He's also grateful that America's first experience with Cher Lloyd was the merely bad "Want U Back" rather than the unbearable "Swagger Jagger".
Incredibly Lame Pun: Both Lampshaded by Todd in his work and pointed out in the awful lyrics of "Carry Out", which are mostly food Double Entendres linked together in lyrical form.
Todd: I'd like to dip my McNuggets in your special sauce!
"Fittingly enough, a song called 'Whistle' totally blows!"
Which is still more tasteful than the Double Entendre that the song itself is based on.
He also notices Posner crosses this with Hypocritical Humor, as the song goes "you got designer shades, just to hide your face and you wear them around like you're cooler than me"... and he wears shades through most of the music video.
Insult to Rocks: As much as he dislikes Mike Posner, Todd finds Allmusic's comparing him to Asher Roth to be much harsher than anything he could come up with.
Todd: Damn Allmusic, what did Mike Posner ever do to you?
He can't call adult alternative "lifeless" because he actually likes "RE: Your Brains."
Intercourse with You: Todd can no longer listen to Peter, Paul and Mary without interpreting the lyrics as obscene thanks to "3." Later in the review, he (sarcastically) calls himself out on such.
He complains about this on T-Pain's "5 O'clock", and proceeds to see how he do this with samples of various songs.
I Remember It Like It Was Last Week: Parodied in his first That Guy With The Glasses episode. After hearing the ear-piercing "Blah Blah Blah", Todd recalls the fond memories of the years of support on That Guy With The Glasses, recalling that it seemed like a week ago that he started right before "departing", and "exits" by quoting Conan O'Brien's farewell speech from his last episode of The Tonight Show.
Let's see, there was this little conversation with one of the anime people Them: i'm editing a video. Manga related Me: [Todd] ahhhh Me: i've heard of manga Me: it's some kind of japanese thing Them: yep! Me: is it a food of some kind? Them: ... close enough.
It Makes Sense in Context: Retroactively invoked; he admits the opening speech of "The Lazy Song" that said speech was necessary to help understand what he meant by "white guy with an acoustic guitar" music.
*while playing "Someone Like You" on his keyboard* Yeah, this is why my friends call me Nostradamus.
He also said this about the Neon Trees in his Top 10 Best Pop songs of 2010, saying they will never have a hit again. Their latest hit "Everybody Talks" peaked 7 places higher than their 2010 hit "Animal" ever did. Nostradamus indeed.
And his prediction that "Scream and Shout" will go away before he's done with his year-end top 10 lists was nothing short of hilariously wrong, as it has gone on to be one of the biggest hits of 2013 thus far. This eventually forced him to cave in and due a full review, half of which is him mocking himself on this failed prediction, and realizing that the song was far worse than he originally thought. He even bumps it up from a 5th to a 3rd place on his Worst Hit-Songs of 2012 list.
Jeopardy! Thinking Music: Used in the "Replay" review when he tries to figure out how to pronounce "Iyaz", then again in the "The Time (Dirty Bit)" review when trying to figure out what they plan to rhyme with "maggots".
He also composes, on the spot, a similarly toned song, "Itchy Leg".
Keep Circulating the Tapes: Todd points out that he was lucky to find whatever footage he could use for his review of "Monster Mash", saying that the movie that Bobby Pickett had a major appearance in is extremely difficult to find on any media format, and that his Boris Karloff impression was so spot on, that Boris himself even once sang the song, but any video footage of that has been long lost to history.
Last-Second Word Swap: "I love beating Chris Brown as much as he likes beating... eggs for his famous homestyle breakfast"
Also, from the same review, "In February of 2009, the pop world was shocked when rising R&B superstar Chris Brown viciously and brutally assaulted his...chances for a long term career"
Subverted, in "Top 10 of 2011". "If there's a single person in the universe who doesn't like this song (Fuck You by Cee Lo Green), I haven't met them and I don't care to. But if you're out there, whoever you are, wherever you are... I disagree with your opinions. [beat] And fuck you."
Laser-Guided Amnesia: "Back In Time" by Pitbull was so unbelievably horrible that he asks J to help him out and neuralizes his mind to make him forget that he was even reviewing the song.
Lets See You Do Better: In what probably is a parody, Todd tries to make a song with an acoustic guitar. Epic Fail ensues, particularly for the thing being out of tune, and he gives up saying "guitar isn't my instrument".
Limited Sound Effects: From the "Girl on Fire" review, when Todd describes the sound of Alicia Key's "No One"
Line-of-Sight Name: 70's rock band Wild Cherry named themselves after a box of Luden's cough drops and never bothered to change it.
Literal-Minded: He's been accused of this, and discusses it in "E.T.". Then he tries to see it as "falling in love with a let's say, black, guy" instead of Boldly Coming... making Kanye's guest spot even worse! (see Unfortunate Implications below)
Losing Horns: Used in the "Black and Yellow" review when he points out that the song was used as an anthem for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but that they lost.
Loud of War: In the intro to "Club Can't Handle Me", the Critic threatens Todd with the dreaded "Hoedown Throwdown" if he didn't get back to reviewing music.
Love It or Hate It: This is how he feels about the Black Eyed Peas. If they did a good song in his opinion, he loves it. If he doesn't like it, he really doesn't like it. invoked
Lyrical Dissonance: He calls this on Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With".
Lyrical Shoehorn: In-universe. This is a huge pet peeve of his, with Train being the greatest offender.
Madonna Whore Complex: He discusses this mentality when reviewing "Sexy Bitch", and compares it with Akon's alternate viewpoint: "Bitch-Whore Complex". Or is that "Chick"?
Manipulative Editing: Played for laughs: he will often have the target of the review (or another celebrity) carry out a punchline or two.
Medium Awareness: Apparently he can see the subtitles on-screen.
Todd: Fix that.
Meet the New Boss: Invoked and quoted in the Top 10 Best Pop Songs Of 2012 when he celebrates having no Katy Perry songs on the list that year and declares the end of her reign... and lists a Ke$ha song instead.
Metaphorgotten: He points out that the metaphors in "Carry Out", "Eenie Meenie" and "Your Love Is My Drug" are extended to the point where they stop making sense.
Todd himself falls victim to it in his "Scream and Shout" review, where he compares Will.I.Am to a Hungry Man frozen dinner, then begins to rant about what he hates about Hungry Man dinners.
Mind Screw: His reaction to the music videos to "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "S&M".
Moment of Awesome : Invoked by Todd, who considers the fact that he has just successfully transcribed "Whip My Hair" to piano an achievement comparable to mastering the classic symphonies.
In a commentary, he admitted that when he was playing it, he actually was using information he found on the Internet. He originally did figure it out by ear, but when it came time to do the review, he had forgotten how.
Ever heard of "Yellow Is My Drug" by Ke$ha? The song she did with Coldplay?
"I'm a bee! I'm a bee! I'm a I'm a I'm a bee!"
Todd: You're thinking it, I'm thinking it, Vice President Biden is thinking it.
Eenie meenie miney mo lava...?
Throw my head on a plate for ya!
One, two, three, why don't me, you, and me...
Todd: How many Britneys are there in this equation?!
Subverted on "Club Can't Handle Me." The lyrics are so incoherent that he looks them up, only to find that they are the lyrics proper.
He actually called the Black Eyed Peas out on this during "The Time", on the grounds that they'd screwed up a line from the source material.
"Boring This Way"
Ass, ass, ass and ham, ham, ham...
Any attempt before finding out Kanye is singing "I'm tryin' to bathe my ape".
Likewise, the opening line of Ne-Yo's chorus in "Give Me Everything" (which he finds shocking, as Pitbull is supposed to be The Unintelligible there!).
Becomes a Running Gag in Flo Rida's "Whistle". Todd says that he's checked numerous lyric websites, and almost all of them have different lyrics because none of them can figure out what he's actually saying.
Mood Whiplash: The "Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2010" ends with Todd drunk dialing and sobbing on the phone to Lupa only for it to be a very confused and not entirely upset with this turn of events Lord Kat on the other line.
In "Give Me Everything", he says Ne-Yo is too depressive for such a party song. (to drive his point home, he even plays other songs by him... and starts to cheer after "So Sick"!)
In "Lighters", cutting from Eminem's angry verses to Bruno Mars' cheery and triumphant chorus. (even asking if Em listened to Mars' parts before writing...)
Todd puts two Rihanna songs in his Worst list of 2012, besides saying he is sick of her, and mentions Drake as a runner up that almost made on the list. Guess which are the two artists that made the top of Best of 2012, where he goes from being bored or disgusted by them in the worst to having no words to describe how much he admires the top song.
Music Is Politics: Chumbawamba's entire existence had been to promote true anarchy and defy this trope in almost every way they possibly could. Todd points out that after EMI signed them on (a company that they themselves railed against with an album called "Fuck EMI" back in the 80's,) they did everything they could to remain popular while still doing what they want, even going so far as to deliberately make sure that their follow-up album after their hit single "Tubthumping" tanked, and going on TV talk shows and encouraging people to shoplift their albums and whatnot.
Nepotism: He blames it for the existence of Willow and Jaden Smith, Rockwell, LMFAO, and Hot Chelle Rae's careers.
In an unstated example, when discussing LMFAO, he tries to draw an analogy between them, the Black Eyed Peas, and various hair metal bands before settling on LMFAO as Nelson. Nelson was also arguably a case of nepotism, being the twin sons of Ricky Nelson and by extension grandsons of Ozzie and Harriet.
Never Live It Down: 'Tonight...' and 'The Lazy Song' have permanently changed his image of Enrique Iglesias and Bruno Mars for the worse in his eyes. invoked
However, as of his Top Ten Best Songs of 2012, Bruno may have saved himself with "Locked Out of Heaven".
No Budget: In the "Like a G6/Whip My Hair" commentary, he points out that most of his props - biggest being the microphone, and mic stand - belong to his roommate.
And in the first video after moving out, Todd says his roommate probably got tired of him stealing his stuff... and his jokes.
No Pronunciation Guide: At a certain point, he starts asking how "Iyaz" is supposed to be pronounced.
Gotye. Go-tiya? Got-Yee? Goat-yeh? Go-tee-yee? Goa-Tee? He finally pronounces it correctly (Go-Tee-Yay) at the end of his "We Are Young"/"Somebody That I Used To Know" double review.
He stumbles through pronouncing "Canada" as "Can-Na-Duh". For laughs, of course.
Non Indicative Name: One of the recurring themes of "One-Hit Wonderland" are that many so-called one-hit wonders technically aren't*
using the standard definition of just one entry on the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100
, which he will point out in discussing their later career:
A-Ha: Their second-biggest hit, "The Sun Always Shines On TV", charted at #20 in the US and actually placed higher than "Take On Me" in several countries, including the UK.
Men Without Hats: Also reached #20 with "Pop Goes the World", which Todd even comments is fairly well-remembered as far as "second singles by one-hit wonders" go. (It actually did better in their native Canada than "Safety Dance" did).
Billy Ray Cyrus: Notes that, as a country artist, being a "one-hit wonder" on those charts is basically impossible - and, indeed, Cyrus charted many times throughout The Nineties. His duet with daughter Miley, "Ready, Set, Don't Go", is mentioned in passing as his first Top 10 (Country) hit in a decade, but Todd neglects to inform the viewers that it actually reached the Top 40 on the Pop charts - technically making Billy Ray Cyrus a one-hit wonder no longer.
Eddie Murphy: Claims that Murphy scored a "near-hit" with the lead single off his second album, "Put Your Mouth On Me", which reached #27 on the charts (and therefore actually is a hit - though a minor one).
The Weather Girls: "It's Raining Men", the so-called "hit", actually does not qualify as such, because it only reached #46 on the Pop charts (though it went to #1 on the Dance charts).
Noodle Incident: "I am not having any bottles broken over anyone's head in this room. Not after the DL incident. I'll tell you about it sometime. *shudder* So much blood..." He would later explain it on Twitter, even later in "Grenade."
Noodle Implement: Something more twisted than S&M, and involving a trombone.
Also part of the Lupa Fiasco.
Lupa: What am I supposed to do with all these geese?!
Not Hyperbole: Whenever he makes a statement like "'The Time' is the worst Black Eyed Peas song. Worst than 'Imma Be'. Worst than 'My Humps'" and "'The Lazy Song' is so far my least favorite song of 2011, a year that includes a song called 'Tonight (I'm Fucking You)'".
The latter of which actually does turn out to be hyperbole, as 'Tonight (I'm Fucking You)' ranks much higher on his "Worst Songs of 2011" list than 'The Lazy Song' does. He admits that 'The Lazy Song' grew on him, but he still feels the need to punch Bruno Mars in the face when he hears it.
In "Break Up", after the line "Don't I make your earlobe freeze?" he puts a caption reading "Seriously, I didn't make that up."
"... so I felt obligated to listen to their latest single, "Carry Out", which consists entirely of fast-food-related double entendres. [beat] Seriously."
Also, on the "BedRock" review, when he lists the members of Young Money.
Mack Maine... Jae Millz... Lil Chuckee... Lil' Twist... T Streets... and a bunch of other names that sound like I'm just making them up, though I swear to God I'm not.
In the "Worst Songs Of 1987" video, he has to clarify that yes, Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is one of his favourite songs of the 80s.
Todd makes sure to point out he didn't add the Blades of Glory clip in "Niggas in Paris" (just after Kanye West quoted the movie), it's in the actual video!
Not So Different: He states in the review of the "Cruise" remix that, in the last ten years, mainstream Country Music has essentially become the "white" version of Glam Rap in its lyrical themes, and has taken on a growing number of stylistic cues from hip-hop. He goes so far as to claim that the video for "Cruise" is essentially a rap video with white chicks.
My sweet baby? You're the one? What the living crap does this have to do with Men In Black? Do Agent J and K fall in love in this movie? ...Not that I'm opposed to watching that.
N-Word Privileges: Todd doesn't have them, and as such has to rely on the subtitles when he has to mention 'Niggas inParis' by name. And even those are censored.
Then in his Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2012 review, he ends a long string of "-izzle" words with "...ma nizzle! Am I allowed to say 'nizzle'?"
He doesn't consider Rednex (a Swedish group) to have this for caricaturing Southerners.
Odd Friendship: In the "Niggas in Paris" review, he discusses how weird it is that Kanye West and Jay-Z are friends and collaborate on music, considering their contrasting personalities.
Film Brain: Todd, I'm curious. How did you get in here?
Todd: I move in the space between spaces.
Older Than They Look: He's shocked that Carly Rae Jepsen is 26, and how she is "an adult [that] successfully sound[s] like an eighth grader trying to sound like a grown-up".
He's even more shocked on Kimberly Perry being 28, but appearing 16 in If I Die Young.
Once an Episode: He starts every episode by playing the song he's about to discuss on his piano. Subverted occasionally:
His review of Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping", where he plays the song's intro, then stops in order to shout the song's famous "I GET KNOCKED DOWN!"
His review of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" saw him flat-out refusing to play the song due to how insultingly simplistic its beat was.
For Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair," he has to listen to the song clip twice first—and stave off the title text with "No, no, I got this."
He's also starting to sign off his reviews in the same way: "I'm Todd in the Shadows, and ________." The blank is either filled with "I'm out" or a joke - often a Call Back - related to the song. Like from his "Scream and Shout" video:
Todd: I'm Todd in the Shadows, saying "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!"
One Hit Wonder: He mentions how Mike Posner and the Far East Movement still managed to get a second hit, and asks for Hot Chelle Rae to not reach this. Then he says that despite the failure of LMFAO's follow-up single, they managed to still get a second hit with an even worse song.
While talking about 'Put It Down On Me,' he stated he was adding Jeremih to "...the growing list of one-hit wonders who technically have a second hit."
Also started a show to discuss this, One Hit Wonderland (first episode was A-Ha).
Origin Song: "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry literally describes exactly how the band came into popularity in the first place. Some audience member really did shout "Play that funky music, white boy" during one of their gigs.
Todd: Your average Disney Channel sitcom gets raunchier than this. (Beat) Not that I watch those.
Todd repeatedly states that most of the opinions he's formed for PSY's "Gangnam Style" is based off of simply what he's read up on the internet.
Or so I've read.
Played With in the Mac And Devin Go To High School review. Rap Critic, who has previously announced that he's never smoked weed, seems to be incredibly knowledgeable about how it effects about what it does.
Rap Critic: Is this what's suppose to happen when you're high on weed? Ca-Cause that's not what happens. What happens is stuff becomes funnier and music slightly speeds up. Chemically, the effects of weed are kind of mundane. Todd: Wait a minute, since when do you know so much about getting high? Rap Critic: What are you, a cop?
Overly Long Gag: His comparison of Hot Chelle Rae's brand of partying to high school all-night grad parties.
Todd: Ok. Even if you are one of Gaga's many gay fans, at what point do you feel pandered to? Like, when do you reach the point where even you have to look back and say: "Ok, this is getting kinda gay."
Double subverted in his review of "Born This Way", when he wonders which heavily marginalized group's self esteem the song intends to boost.
Also says "Mistletoe" is this, since it's "using Christmas as an excuse for kissing Bieber fantasies."
People Fall Off Chairs: Todd in the "Drive By" review when he hears the "my love for you went viral" line.
Political Correctness Gone Mad: He was accused of homophobia when he said that "Born This Way" felt like pandering and racism when he asked "How am I supposed to tell [three members of Young Money] apart?" in reference to their respective styles.
Person As Verb: In his review of "Feel This Moment" by Pitbull featuring Christina Aguilera, He mentions how it's the same usual song as always, with Pitbull being Pitbull, and Christina Aguilera Christina Aguilera-ing like she always does.
The Power of Hate: Todd decided to take a different route when LMFAO told him to "STOP! HATIN'S BAD!" and look at the song from a more loving point of view. Not hating music almost erased him out of existence.
A fairly enraged one in the beginning of the "Deuces" review, especially jarring because up to that point there had barely been any strong language in his videos at all.
There was also this bit, though he wasn't in character at the time.
Todd: As soon as you turn that camera off, I'm beating the shit out of you.
Something of a Tactical F Campaign throughout the "Tonight..." review.
His response to anyone who might not like Cee-Lo's "Fuck You" is... guess it.
Pungeon Master: He points out in "The Safety Dance" that Men Without Hats should not be confused with the Australian pop band Men At Work (both of whom reached popularity at exactly the same time), but says that they both should have combined bands a few years later to become Men Without Work. He also says that shortly after releasing "The Safety Dance", Men Without Hats became Men Without Hits. He stops himself before he goes any further.
Q-S
Rage Breaking Point: Happens in "Sexy and I Know It", after some minutes of Deep Lyrical Analysis.
Rated G for Gangsta: Todd notes that Far*East Movement defines "poppin' bottles in the crib" as "gangsta". He then proceeds to demonstrate by unscrewing the cap of a liquor bottle, which is accompanied by the caption "STRAIGHT UP THUGGIN'" and the chorus of N.W.A.'s "Gangsta Gangsta".
Justin Timberlake: Oooh, so thick / Now I know why they call it a fatty *scratch* *Todd thinks for a moment* Todd: Did... Are you talking about her ass?!
Recurrer: Due to the nature of the pop charts and the music industry, many artists have been featured multiple times, including Ke$ha, Jay Sean, Lil Wayne, the Black Eyed Peas, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and, of course, Lady Gaga.
In his review of "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift, he tells a very sad story about how when he was fifteen, his girlfriend started acting strangely, before breaking up with him at the school dance. Then he reveals that it didn't happen to him, it happened to Zach from Saved by the Bell. Subverted later on, as he mentions in the Blip intro to the review that most of what he described did happen to him.
In two of his "Top Ten Worst Songs" lists to date, he starts a diatribe that leads to an easily mocked song by an easily mocked artist... and then reveals that he likes the song in question. 2009 has the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" and 1987 has Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". He also curses the name ofBarry Manilow in his 1976 list before revealing that he really has nothing against the guy.
In his "Best Songs of 2010" list, when he reaches #5, he plays Katy Perry's "California Gurls" before tiredly laughing it away and ranting about how much he hates her... and yet keeps finding songs of hers that he likes. After listing a number of them, including begrudgingly not being able to hate "California Gurls" despite its many flaws, he gets into his song of choice, "Teenage Dream". And then "California Gurls" turns out to be #2.
His ill-fated attempt to review "What's My Name" by Rihanna and Drake.
While reviewing Rihanna's "S&M", he comes to the conclusion that the reason he likes it is because it samples Depeche Mode... and then remembers that he doesn't care for Depeche Mode either.
Re Run: Two of his YouTube reviews, "Sexy Chick" and "Carry Out," were brought over to TGWTG early on, probably because, at the time, they were still recent enough to pass as current pop music. Todd had initially said he wouldn't bring all of his old YouTube videos over, but he changed his mind on September 2011, uploading them with short intros to provide context.
And it would appear that "Locked Out of Heaven" might have done the same for Bruno Mars, after "The Lazy Song" ruined him in the eyes of Todd seemingly for good.
On his Twitter, Todd frequently mentions watching a film that one of his That Guy With The Glasses partners did a review for and yells "WHY DID NO ONE WARN ME!"
On the Glitter review, Todd guessing if something will become a plot point, followed by "NOPE." He has a meltdown after the third. And goes "I hate this movie" by the fourth.
Sanity Slippage: He thinks Bruno Mars got a touch of this during "Grenade."
Gudda: And I got her, nigga... grocery bag. Todd: ... I got nothing.
Also played with in his "Tonight..." review:
Todd: You know, as a comedy reviewer, this is where I'm supposed to put in a funny analogy, you know? Enrique: Tonight I'm fuckin' you! Todd: "Oh, my God, I can't believe he said that! That's so bad, that's like if he—" If he... what? If he what?! I... I can't come up with anything worse!
In Hannah Montana: The Movie, when Billy Ray Cyrus mentions that they created Hannah so that Miley could have a normal life.
Todd: Yeah, she's clearly already beset by paparazzi, and if a child star's life isn't screwed up enough, why not add a thick layer of secrecy and lies? Yeah, that's an interesting definition of "normal life," Billy Ray.
"Let's keep listening. I can't wait to hear more!"
Sassy Black Woman: The Weather Girls used to be two pretty heavyset black women originally named "Two Tons of Fun", but were convinced to change their name when "It's Raining Men" was pitched towards them (after many rejections from notoriously famous singers of the 70's and 80's.) While they were a serious bad under their previous name, Todd can't help but point out that both ladies took this trope stereotype and ran with it, noting how much fun they were having in the music video for the song.
The Scapegoat: In "Want U Back", Todd rags on how much worse British pop music will FOREVER be compared to American pop music. Now matter how bad it is over here, It will always be worse across the pond. He says that if any British people are offended or disagree with his opinion, they should send all their hate mail to lewislovhaug@channelawesome.com...
Scare Chord: Uses one in his Top 10 Worst Songs of 2004 video after wondering why there was barely any rock on the list. Cue Nickelback.
Has a minor one in the "Tonight, Tonight" review when talking about Christian Rock.
Uses one to introduce Justin Bieber in the "Eenie Meenie" review.
His first video for That Guy With The Glasses has him talking about the massive opportunity he's been given... then quitting when he finds out he's got to review Kesha's "Blah Blah Blah". Credits roll... and he comes back and demolishes the song.
At the end of his crossover review with The Rap Critic, they agree to do another review together and Rap Critic suggests the new Lady Gaga song. Todd promptly vanishes. He later pulls the same trick on Film Brain.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Todd concludes that "Whip My Hair" singlehandedly created the very Hatedom it was meant to be dissing.
Self Plagiarism: Todd defends that while "E.T." was bad, Katy Perry did something unique - unlike Ke$ha, who "released the same song five times" and Lady Gaga, who tanked with "Judas" because "it was just like 'Bad Romance,' including being about a bad romance".
He also says one of the songs in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (songs composed by Bono and The Edge) is U2's "Vertigo", only with different lyrics.
Due to Executive Meddling, Wild Cherry couldn't come up with another hit song because they pretty much created the exact same song as their only hit.
Sell Out: Todd finds "Moves Like Jagger" to represent this to Maroon 5. Also, considering how Katy Perry and Lady Gaga weren't known for inspirational ballads, "Firework" and "Born this Way" also fit.
He goes further on Maroon 5's decay on "Payphone" - which features Product Placement to show Todd himself sells out at times.
Subverted in his One Hit Wonderland video on Chumbawamba, where he described selling out as a "fun experiment" for the band and said he couldn't really disagree with their reasons for temporarily signing on with mega-label EMI. As he put it, maybe if other angry political bands like Rage Against The Machine had recorded the odd silly dance-and-drinking song then they wouldn't have burnt out so quickly.
Serial Escalation: Todd and The Rap Critic get into a debate over Brad Paisley and LL Cool J's "Accidental Racist" over whose participation in the song is stupider. Todd tries to claim that Brad is stupider because he's the one who pitched the idea of the song and wrote it. J somehow ends up showing respect to the Civil War generals who tried to ensure the complete subjugation of his entire race. By the end of the video, both of them just start bickering at each other due to the song.
Rap Critic: Quit telling me what I should be offended by!
Sequel Hook: "Your Love is My Drug" sets up "Alejandro", "Give Me Everything" sets up "Tonight, Tonight".
Seven Minute Lull: He references this trope in his review of Usher's "OMG", as the backup chanting breaks off just in time for Usher to deliver the lamest lines in the song. He even mentions in that episode's commentary that the idea came from TV Tropes.
Shallow Parody: Invoked. He points out that the chorus of "The Time (Dirty Bit)," which uses the chorus of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, can't get the lyrics right. Instead of "And I swear, it's the truth," the Peas instead sing "And I swear, this is true."
(On Kesha) "It's like Fergie, but with severe brain damage...so it's like Fergie."
"I define bad as the absence of good." note Although in this case, it is a valid distinction: The song in question had nothing wrong with it, but was so utterly lacking in any redeeming value that it was put higher on his 10 worst list then songs such as the one titled "Tonight (I'm Fucking You)" or the song whose video almost literally rubbed its testicles in his face.
"Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry is a funk song performed by white musicians singing about playing funk music as a bunch of white musicians.
"There is basically one trick and one trick only to Rednex's Europop re-working of 'Cotton-Eye Joe': mainly, that it's a Europop re-working of 'Cotton-Eye Joe'."
Shipper on Deck: The character has an OT 3: Ke$ha and 3Oh!3. His only wish is that this doesn't yield children.
After Miley and Lily fight over who has to impersonate Hannah, Todd comments that they have fantastic makeup sex.
Shown Their Work: In the "One Hit Wonderland" episodes, he does a complete rundown on artists' careers, often pointing out some rather obscure details. For instance, in the "Achy Breaky Heart" review, he points out that the song was originally recorded by an obscure group called the Marcy Brothers (albeit under the title "Don't Tell My Heart"), and even shows footage of them singing it.
He also researches the functions of different parts of the brain so he can make fun of an awkward metaphor in Hey Soul Sister:
Todd: I did some research on what the left side of your frontal lobe does. Apparently [it] controls the language centre...let's just say that explains a lot about the rest of these lyrics.
Skewed Priorities: Calls Henry Gross out on this for finding the death of Carl Wilson's dog to be a worthy topic for a song, while Carl's brother Brian was in the middle of a mental breakdown.
So Bad, It's Good: Averted In-Universe. Todd categorizes the songs he listens to as either "Bad" or "Good", so songs that are So Bad It's Good for him (such as "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark) are categorized as "Good".
Though he mentions Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)" is horrible, but somewhat fascinating in its awfulness - unlike "Sexy and I Know It". Unfortunately, he admits that it didn't quite reach that point when he compiles his list of 2012 favorites.
Subverted when reviewing Rihanna's S&M. He's aware the song is bad, but he still likes it... and notices this is basically sadomasochistic in itself!
"It's so bad it hurts. More, please! Can I have another? It's so bad! That's why I don't show my face."
So Okay Its Average: Todd calls "Replay" this, as well as boring. He even opens the review (and later the blip intro) saying that a bland song is hard to discuss, unlike a good one or a bad one.invoked
He also describes both "Born This Way" and "Firework" as "acceptably mediocre".
He puts Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" at the top of its "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance" because the song is as mediocre as the love story described in it (where a guy decides to stay with his girl because both like Breakfast At Tiffanys).
In the "Just a Kiss" review, he says that most of Lady Antebellum's output is this, although he did list "Need You Now" as his favorite pop song of 2010 and said that he liked "I Run to You" as well.
He doesn't hate "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", but he admits he's certainly heard better. The main reason why he doesn't hate it is because the subject content is stupidly realistic. It's stupid, but it's something you would expect people to actually say and describe their ex's quirks and issues, unlike villainizing them like a Saturday morning cartoon like other break-up songs tend to do.
Todd: I am giving it my prestigious "Not That Bad" Award.
He does it again for "The Top 5 Most Awful Moments in U2's Rattle and Hum" (it opens at his keyboard, then he invites the viewer to come watch a movie).
Glitter is similar. Todd is at his keyboard, says he likes Mariah Carey and follows with some exposition on her before going to the TV to watch it.
His alleged "review" of Chris Brown's "Turn Up The Music" is actually an episode-long rant about his public image. Todd even admits that "this is gonna be a different episode for me". He spends about 15 seconds critiquing the song in question.
Something Something Leonard Bernstein: He specifically references this trope (and the actual song) during his review of Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me," saying, "But of course, it doesn't matter that it didn't rhyme, because all Flo Rida songs are basically gibberish till the chorus anyway. No one cares. Blah blah blah blah, Leonard Bernstein, whatever."
Then he does it with the actual song in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
Sophisticated as Hell: Every once in a while, he sarcastically uses slang in the middle of musical analysis.
Todd: How dare thy stain mine good lady's name. Her! The most sexiest of all biatches!
Pushed one point further in "Niggas in Paris", where does a British Kanye West.
Todd: ... but even though I did like "I Gotta Feeling", I'll admit you could maybe call it a little repetitive. ... Yeah. But at least they were repeating something besides "Sexy Bi-Chick" In case I haven't made myself clear, I think this song is a chick-king piece of dog sh-chick!
He ends his pseudo-review of "Turn Up the Music" with another bleeped cursing rant.
Special Effects Failure: Invoked. "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls is your typical early 80's affair in this department. Todd points out how even he can do a better green-screen effect in his video editing, and demonstrates the trope upon himself to make it look like the corner of the room that Todd films his reviews in is itself a part of a really bad green-screen effect.
Also, given "Come On Eileen" starts with a violin playing "Those Endearing Young Charms", he confesses that he can't hear it without expecting Daffy Duckblowing up.
He can only assume that Akon's "Sexy Chick" is one of these. Right? Right?
He also believes Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" to be more suited to Dr Demento than mainstream pop radio.
And he finds himself forced to wonder if "Carry Out" is Justin Timberlake doing a throwback to his Saturday Night Live days.
Stealth Pun: Todd says that in "Born This Way", Lady Gaga talks about you being free to be who you are no matter the way you choose to "express yourself." (which kinda doubles as Foreshadowing - see the entry on Suspiciously Similar Song)
He gets away with two in a row in the "Hey, Soul Sister" review, both of which are lampshaded by the captions.
Todd: And that was 7 years ago. And I hadn't heard a single thing from them since, so I just assumed that Train's career had derailed. But to my eternal surprise, Train kept rolling.
Stoner Flick: Reviews Mac and Devin Go To High School with The Rap Critic, where one of their biggest complaints is the opening Breaking the Fourth Wall to demand that the audience get high before watching it, rebutting that a Stoner Flick should be funny on its own merits and not just because you're high while watching it.
Stop Being Stereotypical: He lauds Far*East Movement for defying stereotypes associated with Asians which include being intelligent, respectable, and good at music.
He says that Ke$ha's "Blah Blah Blah" is what pop music must sound like to people who hate pop music.
Geraldo Mejia received criticism from the Latino community for his One Hit Wonder "Rico Suave". After many failed follow up songs where he sampled other people's music while still basically rapping about the exact same thing as "Rico Suave", future albums revealed that it was pretty blatant that he was entirely stealing songs. Todd mentions that the Latino community was right: He DOES perpetuate negative stereotypes — that Latinos like to steal and are lazy.
Bruno Mars:Yes, I would die for you, baby / But you won't do the same?
Todd: ... Holy shit, dude.
Also on "Deuces", after the line "Like Tina did to Ike in the limo, it finally hit me".
When the Black Eyed Peas shift from sampling "Time of My Life" to their "DIRTY BIT!"
And Mars causes it again with the second stanza of "The Lazy Song".
During the "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" One Hit Wonderland, when it's asked if Elmo and Patsy deserved better, Todd just sits there, motionless. He doesn't even speak for about 15 seconds.
Sturgeon's Law: Todd invokes it twice, saying in his Top 10 of 2010 that "Nothin' On You" really stands out because "songs with bad pickup lines are all I hear", and in his Worst 10 of 1976 that the good music of that year makes the bad ones look even worse than they are.
Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: During his FINISH THE RHYME segment in his review of "Black and Yellow", Todd had to mockingly give kudos to Wiz Khalifa for completely DESTROYING the rhyme track of the song and not even attempting to find a suitable substitute for the line that came before it.
"Break Up" by Mario featuring Gucci Mane and Sean Garrett is so horrible that it made Todd's hair fall out in clumps and made his nose bleed. The song's Suckiness Is Painful enough that Todd later says he's lucky it didn't give him cancer. (and in the TGWTG forums, Todd called it the worst song he's reviewed)
Yet in his Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2009, "Break Up" only managed to be Number 2 on the list. "Diva" by Beyoncé was Number 1, and was apparently so bad, it gave him bouts of nausea.
Miley Cyrus' "Hoedown Throwdown" induces agonized writhing (plus depression and suicide threats) throughout its course.
He states that "Drive-By" is "Vogon poetry bad" and he feels bad reviewing it.
Sugar Apocalypse: Played with. Todd points out how Men Without Hats borderline-qualified as a One Hit Wonder because they did have another song that peaked at #20 on the charts called "Pop Goes The World". He says that as far as cheery 80's synth pop music goes, it's probably as cheerful and sugary as they come, but there is a noticeable apocalyptic undertone with the lyrics, specifically just "pop goes the world" by itself.
Take A Third Option: When he reviews "Suit and Tie" and "Thrift Shop" together and comparing the two songs on which is better, he ultimately decides that both songs are worth the radio play.
He implicitly compared Avatar to James Cameron spending 500 million dollars of CGI and seven years to making a film consisting of a man being hit in the nuts. He speculated that the latter might have been a superior movie.
He says to a picture of Tommy Wiseau: "That guy is definitely a jerk."
In his review of Hannah Montana: The Movie, he's watching a scene where Miley is fighting with Tyra Banks over a pair of shoes. We get this little line:
"But I tell you what. The Yankees fan in me can't help but appreciate this. What NYC, the Yankees, and Jay-Z have in common is the absolute knowledge that you are and always will be more important than anyone around you. And that's what this song is about, and that's something I can relate to every day." *EAT IT, RED SOX! flashes on screen* invoked
He makes a well-timed one at Twilight in his "The Time (Dirty Bit)" review.
In the start of "Black and Yellow":
Todd: But even though I hated it, I get why Transformers played at my local multiplex. And I get why Transmorphers, while being of roughly the same quality, went straight to DVD.
At the end of "Black and Yellow":
Wiz Khalifa: They say they scared of it, but the crows ain't.
Todd: You know who else wasn't scared? The Packers. BURN!
Todd: "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? Katy Perry does, because she's made of plastic. And she's a bag. BOOM!" *
During his review of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," he criticizes the lyric, "God makes no mistakes," by observing that "God makes plenty of mistakes. This guy, for example" — cut to a picture of a frat boy type with spiked and dyed blonde hair — "was a mistake. And he was probably born that way. So I just don't see that as much of a defense."
One against the Bill Engvall Show, saying that even that was cooler than Mike Posner during "Cooler Than Me".
Towards country music fans in his "If I Die Young" review: "I still check on [country music] now and again, but me and it lost touch right about the time I discovered everything else in the world!"
"And speaking of getting old really fast, let's talk about T Pain."
He describes Wild Cherry's style as being "like Grand Funk Railroad if they actually played funk (subtitle: Or were good)."
He concludes that "Gangnam Style" is like "Party Rock Anthem" except the lyrics don't matter.
"So basically, it is exactly like "Party Rock Anthem"!"
In his Top Ten Worst Songs of 2004, Hoobastank's "The Reason" combined the ugly, sludgy music of a Nickelback song with the vapid, happy lyrics of a Peter Cetera ballad.
Regarding the hook of "Lighters" by Bruno Mars and Eminem: "This sounds like something Coldplay would refuse to release for being too boring."
Regarding VH-1 calling Train "the quintessential American band!"
"I don't think I have even heard Al-Qaeda say anything that anti-American!"
At least reviewing "Alejandro" will be a step down - Lady Gaga surely has to calm down a little after "Telephone" and "Bad Romance", right? (Stunned Silence follows.)
"I swear to god, I will beat myself unconscious if this song gets any worse..."
"Now, "Imma Be" isn't the worst song that the Black Eyed Peas have made. I mean, the band that made "My Humps" isn't going to dig that hole any further." Well, then came "The Time (Dirty Bit)".
After being baffled by Willow Smith referencing "Whip It"... cue Devo 2.0.
One crisis at a time, Todd...
In the Best of 2010 review, he cuts his positive review for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" short, since he'll lose all respect for himself if he has to praise her any more. Then he gets to the #2 slot...
About halfway through reviewing "The Lazy Song" he states he can't hate Bruno Mars any more than he does now. Cut to Bruno laughing at his own joke.
Used twice regarding Ke$ha's "Tik Tok". After looking at her previous work with Flo Rida, the spelling of her name, and the album art, he's certain he's not going to like the song. The chorus plays... and he actually enjoys it. Heartened by this, he starts the song from the beginning... and the verses lose him again.
Subverted by "Lighters". As he reaches Eminem's verse, he goes in expecting a bland verse fitting his has-been nature that will do nothing to blow him away... and is proven correct.
Thinking that he's being too harsh, Todd decides he could enjoy the Black Eye Peas covering "Time of My Life" if he gives it a chance. His faith is not rewarded.
In his "Top Ten Best Songs of 2012", he's not sure if "Young, Wild, and Free" is really based off a movie. His next review reveals that yes, it's a real direct to DVD movie so he ends up having to review it with the Rap Critic.
10-Minute Retirement: His first That Guy With The Glasses exclusive. He quits from the strain from hearing Ke$ha's "Blah Blah Blah", only to return and give it a sound beating less than a minute later.
They Just Didn't Care: Accuses Snoop Dogg of this in Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and Ludacris of this in Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight...". Though he admits that it's arguably justified considering they realized the quality of the song they were recording and just wanted to get paid. invoked
Also, he thought that Train wrote "Hey Soul Sister" as Album Filler ("let's write bad lyrics, and record it like I was imitating Minnie Mouse!").
And it's one of the possible explanations Todd comes up for why the line "Like Tina did to Ike in the limo, it finally hit me" appears in "Deuces".note It isn't Chris Brown who sings it, but Todd is quick to point out Brown should have asked for the guest to remove this!
Again when Bruno Mars wrote "The Lazy Song": "Either he put no effort into it, or he put a lot of effort into making it look like he put no effort into it."
He accuses Katy Perry's production team of doing this in "E.T.", as they got tired of providing nice beats and soaring melodies and then having to crowbar her voice in with Auto Tune.
In his "Moves Like Jagger" review, where he is throughly convinced that Maroon 5 didn't know anything about Mick Jagger himself, but just slapped it together when it seemed like a mini-fad to mention him in songs.
"Back In Time" in regards to being a Men In Black tie-in.
He observes that in the video for 2004's "Just Lose It," Eminem looks like he's not trying at all.
The Last of These Is Not Like the Others: Todd says that "Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett is to Halloween what "Jingle Bells" is to Christmas, "Auld Lang Syne" is to New Years, and the sound of drunks puking on the sidewalk is to St. Patrick's Day.
They Killed Kenny Again: He's offed himself five times already. One was in the middle of a review. He's even lampshaded this:
Todd: [O]nce again, it's time for me to kill myself.
This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: In his Top 10 Worst Songs of 2012: "Scream & Shout" by Will-I-Am and Britney Spears.
Now-now-rocking with: Will-I-Am and Britney, BITCH!
This Trope is [BLEEP]: The incorrectly-placed censor asterisks in the title of "Niggas in Paris" turn it into "Niggas in P***s", making it look like it says "Niggas in Penis".
Too Good to Last: This is his hindsight opinion of the rise of indie pop in 2004, and he is strongly convinced that the same will happen to Neon Trees. He's a bit more optimistic about Foster The People.
Too Much Information: His reaction to "'Cause I was all through\Oh I was overwhelmed" in "Drive-By".
True Art Is Angsty: Totally averted. He actually likes stupid pop music and his complaints stem from his dissatisfaction with bad stupid pop music. Lampshaded when he ranks "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" as one of his Worst Songs Of 1987.
Todd: What kind of critic am I? I'll tell you what kind: The kind that hates "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" by Genesis!
On the other hand, he dislikes the "white guy with acoustic guitar" genre because it's mostly void of emotion.
One line in Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song"note -Turn the TV on, throw my hand in my pants/Nobody's gonna tell me I can't leads Todd to believe that Mars had been called out for masturbating in public.
"E.T." by Katy Perry ft. Kanye West. Todd, in an attempt to forgo his Literal-Minded ways of song interpretation, notes that if one interprets the song as being about, say, a black guy, then Katy is singing about a Scary Black Man who threatens to abduct her. Todd then figures that metaphor can't apply, and that it must meant to be taken literally and be about an alien, because there's no way the song would be intended to have that kind of message. Then Kanye shows up and raps about abducting her, probing her and taking her against her will.
If one sings "Like Tina did to Ike in the limo, it finally hit me" (as Kevin McCall in "Deuces"), he's sympathizing with Ike, of all people (and if the main singer had a domestic abuse history, it's even more unfortunate!).
In his blip.tv intro to "3", Todd mentions how that review (and a few subsequent ones) make it seem like he's against sex.
The Unintelligible: Played with. While Billy Ray Cyrus's lyrics are understandable enough, but Todd remarks how his singing style ranges somewhere between fake-Bruce Springsteen and fake-Elvis Presley with a bit of TreyParker thrown in for good measure.
Todd doesn't understand any of Sean Paul's rapid-fire Jamaican patois, but he still considers him to be the best part of "Do You Remember" by a wide margin.
The Unpronounceable: He has trouble saying the names of everyone in A-ha who isn't Morten Harket.
Likewise Gotye in the "We Are Young"/"Somebody That I Used to Know" review.
Very Special Episode: His "review" of Chris Brown's "Turn Up The Music" proceeds to completely ignore the song's existence, in favor of a 15-minute "The Reason You Suck" Speech directed at Chris Brown and his complete failure to learn anything from the Rihanna incident.
Vocal Dissonance: He finds it very hard to listen to Gerardo's nasally voice and picture him as a smooth Latino ladies man.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Todd credits Geraldo Mejia's "Eternally shirtless torso" as one of the reasons why latin pop music has become what it is today with his 1991 One Hit Wonder "Rico Suave"
Waxing Lyrical: In "OMG" and "The Top 10 Best Songs of 2010", he hits on Lupa with terrible song lyrics ("OMG" itself and "Sexy Bitch" in the former, "Carryout" in the latter).
To push the "Born This Way"/"Express Yourself" joke further, he advises Lady Gaga by saying that a wise person once said "Don't go for second best baby, put your love to the test".
He closes a U2 top 5 with "I'm Todd in the Shadows, and I still haven't found what I'm looking for".
From his review of "We Are Young" and "Somebody That I Used to Know": "Let me try and figure out what the hell I'm doing. Give me a second. I... I need to get my story straight."
A partial example when he's describing "Some Nights" by fun. — he asks "What is this song about? What is this song about?" in a manner deliberately imitating the song's "What do I stand for? What do I stand for?" and immediately cuts to the next line, "Most nights, I don't know."
Referring to Gotye's failure to get any further publicity after "Somebody That I Used to Know" became a #1 hit, he admonishes the public: "You didn't have to cut him off!"
What Did I Do Last Night?: He figures the reason why he woke up with a hangover at the start of "Your Love Is My Drug" is because he drank himself under after having reviewed all three of Ke$ha's singles so far, which is two and a half more than he's ever needed to hear... Then we find out the real reason why - he's going to review "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga in the next episode, so he continues drinking and fallsover.
What Do You Mean, It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Invoked. Both him and the Rap Critic accuse Mac and Devin Go To High School of seeming like it was created while everyone was stoned out of their minds...which actually hurt the movie, explaining that Cheech And Chong didn't smoke any weed when they made their movies for exactly that reason.
Todd: This is Todd in the Shadows wishing you a wild and spooky Halloween. WOO! LETS PARTY! Todd spent his Halloween alone, as usual, watching Netflix movies in his room. He had requested "Final Destination 5", but Netflix sent him "My Best Friends Wedding" by accident. He thought it was okay.
Widget Series: Discussed on "Gangnam Style", while also showing the US isn't far behind. It eventually gets the better of him, with the song making the honorable mentions of his 10 Best of 2012.
Wolverine Publicity: Todd has pointed out that Lil Wayne and Ludacris are notorious for this. He claimed that Lil Wayne is on quest to collaborate with everyone in the industry. And that if you record a song in your basement Ludacris would be on it by the time you uploaded it to your MySpace page.
In-universe example. He thinks Miley became one after removing the popstar facade and pouring out her feelings for a crowd of hundreds, only to have them all reject it and tell her to become Hannah again.
Todd also invokes this trope during his review of Taylor Swift's "Fifteen", in which he tells a long story about his girlfriend in junior year of high school who was acting distant, and how they eventually broke up at a dance because she was interested in someone else... which he then admits was actually taken from an episode of Saved by the Bell, and was telling it to make a point about a flaw in the song's writing. (though in the Blip commentary, he points out it sounds so honest because most of it also happened to him in his first break-up)
Lil' Wayne: (Subtitled on-screen) "And I keep her runnin' back and forth. Soccer team!"
Todd: "FORGET A COUPLE WORDS!?" (The words "Like a" appear next to the words "soccer team") "The words and ideas don't flow into each other, they just pile up into this free-association trainwreck!"
Also, the second line into Kanye West's first verse in E.T., after which Todd deems the verse unsalvageable.
Kanye: I'm trying to bathe my ape (ape)/in your Milky Way!
Todd: Pockets on Shrek? Pockets on Shrek. He said, "Pockets on Shrek." He's given up tryin' to rap ideas. He's just throwing up gibberish at this point.
He mentions R.E.M.'s vocation for this in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
"Drive By".
From "Back in Time": "And fought blind against the world, Ray Charles!" Todd explains that this style is variously called "punchline rap" or "hashtag rap." He then gives his own example: "Finding out I had herpes was quite a shock. #Pikachu!"
Flo Rida's songs, particularly "Whistle".
World's Smallest Violin: Played with in the "Deuces" video. He doesn't actually pull out a mini violin; he instead sets his keyboard on violin and plays a song to "show his sympathy" for Chris Brown. For bonus points, the song he plays sounds suspiciously like "O.M.G."
Worst Whatever Ever: Glitter features what he calls the "Worst Shopping Montage Ever".
Lady Gaga. He doesn't like her, but he does acknowledge that "Bad Romance" was the best song he reviewed in 2010, and "Just Dance" was his favorite song of 2009. Additionally, the Fame Monster album cut "Monster" was included in the list that he flashed on the screen of tracks that might have made his Best of 2010 list if he hadn't been limited to hit singles. Along with this is an Enemy Mine situation at the end of the review for "Alejandro," where Todd references criticisms of Lady Gaga from artists such as M.I.A. and Joanna Newsom. Todd then suggests that we all listen to those two, and plays clips of their songs... only to find that he thinks they suck even harder than Gaga.
Also obvious in his "Bad Romance" review itself, where he breaks down crying when he realizes he actually likes the song. Hinted at earlier when he says that even though he hates "Poker Face", he finds that he LOVES "Poker Face" and instantly begins playing the song on his keyboard while happily singing along.
While he assures us that he hates Katy Perry and considers her to be a horrible singer, he puts two of her songs on the Best of 2010 on the list. Though it's less respectful a relationship than with Lady Gaga.
As he puts "Last Friday Night" on his Top 10 of 2011, he goes "I give up. I love you, Katy Perry."
X Meets Y: He says that Cher Lloyd's "Swagger Jagger" is like some horrible combination of Ke$ha, Avril Lavigne, and a healthy pool of soccer hooligan vomit.
0% Approval Rating: The Designated Villain in the Hannah Montana Movie may have a mall-building plan that even generous helpings of And That's Terrible can't convince Todd to disaprove of, but he does admit that he's acting like a supreme douch who seems to revel in the fact that not a single resident in the town wants his mall or likes him. How exactly he's planning to turn a profit after he taunted most of his potential customers that they'd never raise enough money to 'save' the field (his own words) it will be built on...
while his That Guy With The Glasses output can be found here.
1 reviews