This week, pop songwriter and producer Evan “Kidd” Bogart revealed a secret hiding in plain sight on Rihanna's 2006 hit “SOS”: “The whole second verse of that song is '80s song titles put together as suggestions,” he said in one viral interview clip which mapped the references line by line. Mk.gee's new single “RockmanIt's kind of like that, except Michael Gordon has his sights set on the great, flamboyant entertainers of classic rock. Over a sly riff with more than a whisper of Blue Öyster Cult, he riffs on Bruce Springsteen (“I want in the fire“), Michael Hutchence (“I i need you tonight”), and, in song titleSir Elton John.
Alongside these lyrical subliminals, you might catch other sly jokes—like the gun pointed at a padded pedal in the single artwork, or the screeching of the eagle soaring over the mix. How does all this irony and interjection manage to sound so sincere? Gordon's angelic, layered harmonies certainly help, but really, this man just seems to love the idea of being a rock star. Show him a genre with a history of macho indulgence and he'll shut down his show playing the same song 12 times in a row. He pokes fun at his rock'n'roll idols as only someone who loves them can.
from our partners at https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/mk-gee-rockman