Trends: Put Your Hands Up

I'm not gonna lie, we're pretty drenched in party culture at the moment. If you think about the workplace where phrases like Hump Day and TGIF exist as a necessity to get workers through to the inevitable weekend of partying. After the weekend you've got your Mondayitis and your Eccy Tuesdays until inevitably you reach Hump Day (Wednesday) and before you know it you're Thanking God It's Friday again and so on and so forth. It seems that, as a whole, we like to go out, dance and drink away all the insecurities we carry around with us, all the while, a vicious cycle is created where all the anxieties are numbed by alcohol which continues to aggravate the anxieties until you're one big ball of nerves and you have a quarter/mid/identity crisis.

But let's not be a Debbie!

Most songs that obtain the fame these days will dabble into somewhat of this 'party culture' whether it be the use of the dance music genre, referencing or mentioning the word dance in your song or, if you are so audacious, just proclaiming your song to be the Party Rock Anthem. I think my favourite notion used in tunes to exemplify the party is for one to put one's hands up.

Now, when I think, "put your hands up", my mind instantly goes Mary J. Blige; her 2005 hit 'Be Without You'  where she boldy proclaims "Now, let me see you put your hands up!" Furthermore, 2006 saw the release of the aptly titled "Put Your Hands Up In The Air", which dropped a fat beat and quite simply (and repetitively) demanded that those metacarpi be at arms length away from your head. This body formation became a proclamation of patriotism where club go-ers were putting their hands up for Detroit (And as it were, some jerks started just taking the song and adding their fave city. For instance, L.A. & Copenhagen). If you're not into mindless patriotism and were wondering how can this club-like happenstance benefit you, look no further. If you are a pauper, like me, (or perhaps love a bit o'gold digging) and you were scoping the bar/club for someone to buy you a drink, you would be eternally grateful if this song came on! (Instantly you are able to recognise the gents with the $100 bills and, to a lesser degree, the $50 bills and your flirtations are thusly not wasted on penniless sitar players). If you were a slightly less superficial person scoping the clubs, or you had dropped a hectic ecstasy tablet and were wanting to find like minded individuals, you could be in luck if the DJ span the sweet tune of aussie fave Kylie Minogue, 'Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)'.

Now, I can see you thinking, most of this happened between 2005 -2007 how is is relevant to me now? Wellity, please watch this video, which compiles the 25 best selling Billboard hits of 2010, and, if you are so short on attention, skip to about 3.40 for a compilation of the top pop artists beckoning you to assume that position that we've grown to be so fond of:

Simply googling "put your hands up" will open your mind to a whole new world of tracks which are also titled as such. It appears This Dude beat me to the punch with the listing of the tunes. So, why do we need to put our hands up!? Google can tell me of a thousand songs that want me to put my hands up but no search I can do will tell me why they want me to. I don't know about you but I really don't like to be told what to do. Perhaps it's because I'm so analytical but when someone tells me I have to do something that may make me look a fool I need to ask, why!? All I can think of is power. You extend your arms up toward the sky and you're vulnerable to tickles on the armpits or even stabs in the heart.

You're like a Martin Luther King of the clubs if you can somehow compel an audience into a unified action! But rather than inspiring civil rights among your countrymen, you are inspiring the buying of more drinks, the taking of more drugs and the nasty BJs in the dirty bathroom cubicle.

They've got us under control. Tell me, friends, the next time you're dancing your ass off on the dancefloor or in your bedroom in your underwear and the almighty Ke$ha implores that those hands ascend northward will you be so hasty as to follow suit or will you perhaps take a moment to think, should I really? how will this benefit me? or what will this say about my personality?