Everybody Hurts. How Bizarre.

News broke last week that the lead singer of OMC died at the age of 40 after following a brief illness. OMC is best known (okay, ONLY known) for their mid-90s mega-hit "How Bizarre." Anyone who was alive and old enough to drive a car in the 90s probably drove around with that one blaring, but I'll always remember the song from an episode of the short-lived TV series "Undeclared." Two female dorm roommates get in a fight because one of them plays "How Bizarre" over and over and over and over:




The other big 90s-related news is that R.E.M.'s sweet and purposefully simplistic "Everybody Hurts" has now been appropriated by Simon Cowell and the Big Hit Machine for a "Haiti Relief Single" effort that will feature pop stars like Mariah Carey, Rod Stewart, Miley Cyrus, Jon Bon Jovi and -- here it comes -- Susan Boyle. It goes without saying that Stipe's restrained (even on THIS song, which has nothing subtle about it) straightforward vocals have been replaced by melodramatic over-singing. A writer at The Quietus explains "Why 'Everybody Hurts' Is The Last Thing Haiti Needs."