My synapses have bruises

It's funny how advertising can make or break a song based on how often you come across it and whether it leaves a positive or negative impression upon you.

Case in point - while I was in Vegas late January of this year, I went to the Fashion Show Mall on the strip (across from the Wynn, beside Treasure Island). Now, if you've ever been to this mall, you know about the gigantic, movable electronic billboard at the front with the kick-ass sound system. Well, I managed to kill a few hours there and while waiting for the stores to open (timing is everything in Vegas), I soaked up some sun out front of the mall for 30+ minutes below the giant billboard, which at the time was advertising the Apple iPod Touch 2G....... and nothing else.

Let me paint a clearer picture for you. This giant electronic billboard with a concert-ready sound system was devoted full time to advertising the iPod........ with a single song. But not the whole song, just a 30 second sound bite. The song? Bruises by Chairlift. If you've never heard it before or the name doesn't sound familiar, I can cure that for you. Just go to Grooveshark and do a search on that title, you'll find it and be able to play it in its entirety. Anyway, my brain cells had been bombarded with this song roughly every 30 seconds for the entire time I was out front of the mall and any time we went past the mall the whole time we were in Vegas. So by the end, I was...... how would you say....... a little sick of it and glad to be rid of its sonic assault.

A week or so ago, I was in a local mall buying a wallet when across the mall aisle from me, out of the HMV music store blares........... you guessed it - Bruises by Chairlift. I froze. The look on my face must have been priceless, because the poor lady at the luggage store asked me what was wrong. I told her about the ad playing over and over in Vegas at the Fashion Show Mall. She said - Oh my God! I know that song too! Needless to say, every time I hear that tune, it will evoke a Pavlovian response..... and not in a good way.