Sigh
by Jeff
Image text: If you're annoying enough, you can get them to respond with an involuntary second sigh and get a rhythm going.
Ok, here's the information you need to understand this one:
Cueball is mispronouncing the name of the British TV show, that is also currently show in the US, which is DownTON Abbey (emphasis mine). I had that same problem with the name of the show for almost a whole year.
I'm no LMFAO expert, but they are ubiquitous group in the US on radio, TV and even strange commercials with rodents riding in cars with their infectious ear worm, Party Rock Anthem. However, this comic is a reference to another one of their songs, "Sexy And I Know It" (Trust me, you don't have to get too far into it before the referenced part in the comic.)
Tradition
by Jeff
Image text: An 'American tradition' is anything that happened to a baby boomer twice.
This comic uses the source of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers to say that the 20 most played Christmas songs in the US between 2000 and 2009 were all released between the 1930s and 1970s. I'd love to see this research, because the most popular Christmas album of all time was not released until 1994, "Merry Christmas" by Mariah Carey. This album featured what I consider to be the most ubiquitous song around this time of the year which is "All I Want For Christmas Is You" which is also featured prominently in the very popular (and frequently replayed) movie Love Actually from 2003. The song is the only holiday song and ringtone to reach multi-platinum status in the U.S. So, I usually don't take a look at the information that Randall presents to us and think it is incorrect, but this one just seemed egregious based on the popular success of a mid-90s release.
(Christmas is December 25th, for any Americans who have been living under a rock for the past 2 weeks or so and don't own a TV and are somehow able to escape the crushing commercialism of the Christmas season. And "this time of the year" is apparently considered Christmas time despite the fact that not everyone celebrates Christmas in the US and in the world).
Prairie
by Jeff
Image text: Colorado is working to develop coherent amber waves, which would allow them to finally destroy Kansas and Nebraska with a devastating but majestic grain laser.
This comic is a reference to the song America The Beautiful, which contains the line "...amber waves of grain...". But, of course, xkcd being xkcd, waves are interpreted in the physics way. In Quantum mechanics, the wave-particle duality explains that particles can act like both particles and waves. In the comic, when they are observing the light from the grain, it is acting like a particle.
However, as the image text says, if Colorado wanted to destroy other states with a coherent wave laser of amber waves, the particles would be acting as waves, like a laser.
Oh yea, in America The Beautiful, "...amber waves of grain..." is used because when the wind blows over a field of grain it looks like waves in the ocean.
Physics people, please let me know in the comics if I went wrong somewhere.
Na
by Jeff
Image text: I hear that there are actual lyrics later on in Land of 1,000 Dances, but other than the occasional 'I said,' I've never listened long enough to hear any of them.
This xkcd is interesting because the image at the main xkcd site is the one you see below, but if you click on the image, you get a slightly different comic, that includes the Paul McCartney song "Hey Jude".
Alright, here are four songs (besides "Hey Jude") that all start out with at least 8 "na"s in a row.
The top song is Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by recorded by studio musicians Garrett Scott, Dale Frashuer, and producer/writer Paul Leka that has become very popular for home fans in sporting events in America taunting the losing away team. Here's the youtube video to refresh your memory.
The Batman entry is from the 60's TV show "Batman". Here's the youtube video to refresh your memory.
The next is the theme song to the game "Katamari Damacy". Here's the spectacular youtube video as evidence.
The last song is "The Land of 1000 Dances" by Wilson Pickett. Check out the youtube video, I know you'll remember the song.
Dental Nerve
by Jeff
Image text: WAKE up in the MORning and my BREATH ain't PREtty / and noBODY'S gonna KISS me if my MOUTH smells SHItty / so I ALways brush my TEETH before I START on the JACK / sure, my DRINKing's out of HAND, but I'm conTROLLing my PLAQUE.
This comic is a take on the song "Tick Tock" by the artist Ke$ha. The lyrics at the beginning of the song go something like this:
Wake up this morning, feel like P Diddy
Grab my glasses, I'm out the door, I'm gonna hit this city
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
'Cause when I leave for the night, I'm not coming back
Now this site is not "Explain Ke$ha" because I have no idea what the hell those lyrics mean. I'm going to go with nothing. However, the xkcd today is a commentary on those 4 lines. Additionally, the image text is what the lyrics should say if Ke$ha was practicing good dental hygiene.
Note: If you have ever seen Ke$ha, it is obvious she is not practicing good hygiene anything.
Paradise City
by Jeff
Image text: Take me down to the paradise municipality / where the grass is mauve and the girls aren't fromthisreality.
This whole comic is a take on the song "Paradise City" by Guns in Roses. The actual lyrics are used in the first frame.
The only frame that may need explanation is the fourth in which Cueball references George Orwell when using the phrase "Orwellian". That is a reference to the books by George Orwell. It is a type of action that is defined by double-talk, propaganda, misinformation and lying by a government or ruling power.
As best I can find, a cortical lesions is an abnormal tissue found in the brain. It is most common in people with MS.
Sample
by Jeff
Image text: There are two or three songs out there with beeps in the chorus that sound exactly like the clock radio alarm I had in high school, and hearing it makes me think my life since junior year has been a dream I'm about to wake up from.
This one is pretty straightforward. There is nothing worse than the standard alarm clock sound unexpectedly in a commercial or song.
The Tell-Tale Beat
by Jeff
Image text: You fancy me mad. Could a madman have outsmarted the greatest electronica/techno artists of our era? Next to fall will be Roderick Usher's house/trance band.
This is a reference to the Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe in which the character in the short story kills and buries a body underneath the floorboards in his house. He is haunted by the sound of a beating heart from under the floorboards until he admits his guilt.
"You fancy me mad" in the image text is a direct reference to Poe's story in which he says "If you still think me mad..."
Daft Punk is as it says in the image text is an "electronica/techno"artist. When the character in the comic buries Daft Punk under his floorboards, all he hears is the typical "Unn-Tss" sound that makes the back-beat for most techno and electronica songs.
In the image text, Roderick Usher is a reference to "The Fall of the House of Usher", another short story by Edgar Allen Poe. And the pun is on the word "fall" where it is used to mean die but is also a reference to the title of the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher".
Boombox
by submission
Image text: And she's gonna feel like a jerk when she realizes it was actually Under Pressure.
This submission is from Aaron Hill. Aaron lives in the finger lakes region of NY, where he works as a web developer in higher ed. He has a blag (http://blog.amhill.net) and is on the twitter (@aaronmhill).
This comic is an homage to the classic scene in the John Cusack / Ione Skye movie "Say Anything", a 1980s romantic comedy. In the referenced scene, the protagonist (Cusack) is attempting to win back his romantic interest (Ione Skye) by standing outside of her window, holding up a boombox over his head, while Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" plays through the speakers. (And this, in an awkward fashion very typical of 1980s movies, is itself a reference to a cultural meme of a suitor professing his love by standing outside her window and playing her music...although traditionally he's actually PLAYING an instrument).
In the comic, the love interest, after overcoming the initial shock of hearing the boombox playing outside, asks "Is that Ice Ice Baby?". The image text clarifies that she's "gonna feel like a jerk when she realizes it was actually "Under Pressure"". The latter was a collaborative song done by David Bowie and Queen, and the bassline was co-opted by Vanilla Ice in his song "Ice Ice Baby", though he claims there to be substantive differences.
Guitar Hero
by submission
Image text: And then do it again in a moment now that they're out of Star Power.
This comic provided by Rik 't Hoff. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516678350
Okay, to start: Guitar Hero is a series of videogames, currently distributed by Activision. Players will use a fake guitar as a controller, which has five buttons on the neck and a switch on the belly. Goal of the game is to (re)play guitar solo's from world famous songs by pressing the correct buttons on the neck and striking the switch at the exact moment the colored “notes” (seen on top) enter the circles on the bottom. Failing to do so, players will gradually lose their “Star Power”, until it reaches zero, at which points the round ends and the player is “boo'ed” by the (virtual crowd).
Megan and Cueball are in a (real-life) band in the comic, with Cueball being the lead guitarist. So, the joke is that when the song they perform will end up in the Guitar Hero series, it will contain an almost impossible solo to play, due to Cueball's “wildly” flail, which undoubtedly will lead to very much notes needed to be “pressed” by the player in a very short time. The image text continues the joke by stating that a second solo will be in the song the moment the player is almost out of “Star Power”, thus most certain ending the round.