6 June 2012 - Gym Class Heroes - Cupid's Chokehold / Supertramp - Breakfast in America

I remember several years ago, when this song was new, that it sounded strangely familiar.  These upstate NY boys - Geneva, NY, to be precise - had found a way to be both classic and fresh.

Plus, in 2006, everyone was wondering who that girl was next to Travie McCoy.  Well, it was his girlfriend, Katy Hudson.  Of course, we all know her better as Wicked Guilty Pleasures Hall of Famer Katy Perry, but at the time this video was released, she had not yet adopted that name.

We're all about the gratuitous Katy Perry mentions, but this is a great song, combining rock and hip-hop in exactly the opposite way I would have expected.  And their use of samples - more on that in a minute - was clever and unexpected as well.


Little known fact: This was version #2 of the video.  The video below? Version 1.0.  Without Katy Perry, of course. The song itself is a little different, but only subtly.  Also, this version is far, far, far darker!

Update: This video was removed, and I can't find it, so here's a live version.



Of course, that sample from the beginning of the tune is not an obscure Katy Perry tune, but rather the Supertramp classic Breakfast In America.  Here's the songwriter and Supertramp lead vocalist, Roger Hodgson, performing the song.


The song is both celebratory and sad.  You don't know if Roger is happy or sad about his girlfriend.  She is, after all, the only one he's got. But, she's not much of a girlfriend - he never seems to get a lot.

Here's the rest of Supertramp performing it without Roger Hodgson. And without Katy Perry.  You know, neither version really sounds complete to me.