Manic Pixie Dream Girls

Welcome to the final installment of the Good Music Corner's series on the stereotypes that should populate the cast of American Idol.  Last but not least: manic pixie dream girls!  Instead of the interchangeable blondes that currently populate Idol, why not a few interchangeable pixies?  These muses refuse to conform to the status quo and would keep us entertained with their wacky shenanigans week after week.

The manic pixie is Natalie Portman in Garden State, Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown, and any other artsy, kooky girl who comes along to zap some lovelorn loser out of his gray lifeless funk.  Manic pixies are childlike, free-spirited and so adorable you either want to pinch their Lolita cheeks or strangle them.  On the upside, the music world's manic pixies tend to record quirky, arthouse tunes with imaginative lyrics about discovering life's eccentricities. 

"I'll Keep It With Mine" by Nico 

Most kids nowadays know Nico from "These Days," the song that spawned an entire Wes Anderson movie. 

But in the 1960s, this German model-actress-singer played the muse to iconic figures like Andy Warhol, Lou Reed and Federico Fellini.  After singing for The Velvet Underground, she launched her solo career in 1967 with a folk-influenced, chamber pop sound.  Bob Dylan loaned Nico this track for her solo debut, Chelsea Girl, and the lyrics are primo manic pixie. 

"Hyper-Ballad" by Björk

For the uninitiated, for the people who know Björk simply as that chick who wore the swan gown to the Oscars, "Hyper-Ballad" from 1995's Post is an excellent introductary song.

Once initiated, you are in for one wild, beautiful trip!  This Icelandic beauty is the goddess of postmodern avante-garde.  Whether wailing freeform, partaking in robot seduction or metamorphosizing into a polar bear, she epitomizes a fearless and unrelentingly unique angle of the music world.  One more reason to take this madcap songbird seriously: Björk's voice is considered one of the greatest voices in modern music.  

"Speeding Cars" by Imogen Heap

Imogen follows in Björk's footsteps by wearing weird outfits to award ceremonies and not caring the least bit about appeasing the masses.  A manic pixie dream girl would rather die than stifle her artistic jive. 

In this track from the reissue of 2005's Speak for Yourself, Imogen encourages her darling to run with her through rows of speeding cars.  This is a very manic pixie kind of a thing to suggest.  Imogen is enmeshed in MPDG world; as the lead singer of Frou Frou, her single "Let Go" is Garden State's end credit song. 

"Pickpocket" by Kate Nash

Can't you just imagine this candid British beauty throwing a gob of dough at the wall and telling Will Farrell to "get bent!"

Kate, like other radio-friendly pop pixies, is a cutesy girl who speaks her mind.  She made her big splash in 2007 with the delectably cantankerous single "Foundations." Recorded live, the less irate but equally intoxicating "Pickpocket" was available as a free download from Kate's Myspace page and will hopefully be included in her upcoming album. 

The Good Music Corner began after VFTW's infallible Dave noticed an inundation of pretentious music geeks visiting his site.  This blog, in addition to countering the poor quality music marketed on American Idol, serves as a soapbox for self-proclaimed musicologists.

If you have submission for the Suggestion Box, would like to talk music or feel a need to complain about the likeness of the caricatured Idols adorning the banner of this site, you may email Laura at CaricaturesByLaura at Yahoo.com. 

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