Why I Voted for Thrift Shop

I first heard Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on Triple J a few months ago. Yeah that’s right, I was into it before it was cool, what up. I couldn’t work out what they were saying at first: “pop some what?” it sounded like a drug reference or something. But the sexy sax and ridiculous hook (yeah I know rap terms, come at me!) had me looking it up as soon as I got home.

Boyfriend and I have been singing and dancing to Thrift Shop for months now, bopping along to it in the car, learning the words, getting all excited when it comes on. I don’t listen to commercial radio (well not by choice anyway… hashtag hipster), but I heard it in the post office and giggled because it was uncensored. All these little old ladies in line with their packages trying to ignore it was a sight to behold. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was fucking awesome.

The film clip is hilarious, a piss take on the hip-hop and rap culture of excess with a fun dance break in an op shop, what’s not to love?

Apparently, everything.

A quick look at twitter the day before the countdown revealed tweet after tweet of “if Thrift Shop wins the top spot I’m going to punch something”, “I will pull my own teeth out”, “I will lose all faith in humanity”. When it did win, the feed exploded with people suggesting that the "wrong kind of people" had voted, that "music was dead", that this was the fucking end of days or something. I know twitter is not always an accurate representation of reality, but I couldn’t get over how much hate there was. So I revisited the video.

Yep. Still good, still hilarious. It’s poppy as all hell but the rap is still actually very good. The beat is brilliant. I like a lot of stuff they play on Triple J, but you’ve got to admit not much is as upbeat as Thrift Shop. In fact for a while during the middle of the Hottest 100 I was dangerously close to napping. There’s a lot of quiet, introspective stuff around at the moment. Which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s refreshing to find something so fun. And what’s more, Thrift Shop has a great message. Op shopping is a really great thing to do for charity, for the environment, for your own wardrobe. More and more people do it, and come on hipsters, TELL me you aren’t proud of your thrift shop bargains, isn’t this what we do? Buy cheap ridiculous things and try to pass them off as fashion? I know I do.

If the number one song was something I liked, but a not very “Triple J”-type song, I could understand the backlash. But like I said, I heard it first on the Js and I’m fairly certain they were the first in Australia to play it. Yeah the mainstream stations picked it up pretty quickly, but that’s because it has a broad range of appeal. And besides, why would a popular song *not* win a popularity contest? It’s science! 

The popularity of Thrift Shop has led people to discover other music by Macklemore. Same Love, an anthem in support of same-sex marriage made it to number 15 in the Hottest 100 and is at the top of multiple charts in many countries. Can you even process that? A song about gay marriage, about tolerance and support, about how we shouldn’t say “gay” in youtube comments or call kids “faggot”? That’s what’s topping charts right now. And that’s a bloody good thing. And while the song is great in its own right, I am certain it would not have found as much popularity without riding in the wake of Thrift Shop. And THAT is fucking awesome.