My favorite thing about this song is the story about the time when Bastille was performing Pompeii at a concert and someone kept holding up a sign that ready 'How am I gonna be an octopus about this?' during the chorus until the lead singer flubbed the line and sang the octopus version. I am the kind of dork who will randomly substitute the octopus version of the line when I sing along with this....
@lucapeyrefitte68996 жыл бұрын
McKenna M haha I wanna hear that
@sharlennla49825 жыл бұрын
McKenna M is there a video of this
@matheustran80095 жыл бұрын
Sharlenn La I'm not sure but I think this is what he's talking about kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmTXdX55hpmBmNk
@yzertqhbog65975 жыл бұрын
That man is my god
@riche78464 жыл бұрын
I may be a few years late, but heres the video of it kzbin.info/www/bejne/eH-nfYiGps6Cjbs
@AlexTalArt7 жыл бұрын
as an english person, an english band with a french name singing about a place in italy makes waaay too much sense.
@oof-rr5nf5 жыл бұрын
Explain yourself, Sophie. This Indian does not understand.
@s.g.75725 жыл бұрын
If there’s one thing us English love, it’s taking stuff from Europe and then pretending we did it best
@marciaosullivan32004 жыл бұрын
@@s.g.7572 like
@micaharies4 жыл бұрын
case in point; the dali thundering concept
@bornstellar-makes-eternal-51363 жыл бұрын
Try watching an English band with a French name sing about a place in Italy through an American perspective lmao
@kathrynbrown2797 жыл бұрын
I always interpreted it as 'Something terrible has happened and everything's gone to shit, but really our life was dreadful anyway: "does it almost feel like nothing's changed at all".'
@elijahfordsidioticvarietys87704 жыл бұрын
VERY British
@elijahfordsidioticvarietys87704 жыл бұрын
Congratulations!!! You’ve won the International British Award!!!! Come to the United Nations headquarters to recive your trophy and prize! What’s the prize? A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF TEA!!!!!!
@theladyfausta4 жыл бұрын
I came here to say this; thank you.
@katiesiddoway98144 жыл бұрын
I saw it like “it doesn’t feel real to me”; if I close my eyes it feels like it all never happened. Although I haven’t heard the entire song in a while and am going just off the chorus
@blixer83844 жыл бұрын
I take a much more literal interpretation. The Song is being sung by someone trapped in the city of Pompeii. When the rains of ash began they chose to hide in the city. If they closed their eyes they could even pretend nothing had changed at all. But now the ash rains have ceased and the eruptive column is shrinking... because it's collapsing into a pyroclastic flow that is sweeping over the mountains. The grey clouds are sweeping over the hill and are coming right at the poor fool. But if they close their eyes they can almost pretend that everything is going to be all right. Coupled with the lyrics "eh eheu, eheu" which means "alas alas" the song is the lament of a doomed person in their final moments and coming to terms with their own immanent death.
@morningbell70467 жыл бұрын
A British band with a French name singing about Italy is nothing comparing to a German band dressed up as Mongols singing about Moscow.
@subotaur50197 жыл бұрын
dsching, dsching, dschinghis khan
@bimbolecter97646 жыл бұрын
I know this comment is old but is it a reference to Moscow by Rammstein ?
@TheSkyrimmaniac6 жыл бұрын
Moskau from Dschinghis Khan is where it is from
@spazzmaticus90866 жыл бұрын
+Maseki Chan It's a reference to the German Mongolian-themed band "Dschinghis Khan" and their song "Moskau".
@elijahfordsidioticvarietys87704 жыл бұрын
morning bell or a Scottish actor doing an English accent, playing an alien with a French catchphrase, in a city in Itally, that’s actually just a set in Wales.
@cmegan068 жыл бұрын
"Eheu", which is what they were chanting, means something like "oh no" in latin, so it fits really well. Idk. You seemed to think it was something more cheerful.
@TJ-lt8ii8 жыл бұрын
When the band covertly puts Oh shit in their song
@alluneedislessthan38 жыл бұрын
Americans don't take Latin we're too busy making sure we can only speak one language.
@alluneedislessthan38 жыл бұрын
Hahaha great observation though it sure does make the song a bit creepier thinking that it's the people of Pompeii realize their certain doom has come.
@spencercowan88628 жыл бұрын
+alluneedislessthan3 Well, I'm American and I'm currently taking a Latin class.
@alluneedislessthan38 жыл бұрын
+Spencer Cowan yeah my sister is also taking Latin haha but it's usually only offered in fancy schools.
@yamiegg3948 жыл бұрын
I'm pretty damn late, but "Eheu" means "Oh no" in Latin.
@PrincessNinja0078 жыл бұрын
but pronounced differently
@MK-dh2mi8 жыл бұрын
Yeahhhh they clearly pronounce it more like "DAY-HOO" which I don't think means anything
@yamiegg3948 жыл бұрын
"AY-HOO" is basically how it is pronounced. I don't know where you got the "D" from, I can't really hear it
@michaelkenner32898 жыл бұрын
I can hear it a bit, even though I know it's just a trick of the ear. For me it's mostly because of the way they're singing the words in such a staccato way. I can tell there's no 'D' sound when I listen carefully but the sudden way the syllable begins makes it sound like there's some slightly harsher consonant sound just before it.
@pinkopat8 жыл бұрын
It's Heu, and from the little latin I know it sound about right.
@cheezemonkeyeater4 жыл бұрын
Back when this was still going, a little bit after it's popularity peaked, but before it stopped getting regular radio play, my two closest friends died in a car crash. A few weeks after that, while I was still grieving, this song came on the radio. That was when I really understood: this is a song about being in denial. That's why it's such a hugely upbeat song with such dark and heavy subject matter.
@sunettas97382 жыл бұрын
I'm sorry for your loss, may they rest in peace
@helloperson6431 Жыл бұрын
May they rest in peace
@skye.xv88 Жыл бұрын
I did not expect getting teared up scrolling this comment section but it happened... hope you're doing fine
@cheezemonkeyeater Жыл бұрын
@@skye.xv88 You eventually process it. It takes a while, you do learn to live with it.
@evie-rd8tc Жыл бұрын
I'm watching this review hearing the song again and I felt the same realisation - I listened to this a lot as a teen when it just came out and we went on a school trip to the gulf of Naples and Pompeii and I took it literally. Now I'm hearing the song again after going through a bunch traumatic things and losing close family members in my late teens and I understand the lyrics completely different now. I'm so sorry for your loss, wishing you all the best.
@charliedawson48774 жыл бұрын
I just love the idea of a Roman watching everything and everyone they've ever known burn down into the pits of Tartarus and thinking _I'm gonna be an optimist about this._
@fangsabre4 жыл бұрын
It's not "I'm gonna be an optimist" its "how am I going to be an optimist" So the meaning comes out to be more like "what kind of silver lining could exist in a situation so terrible"
@caspermcgoangle9753 жыл бұрын
Yeah but who sees everyone around them die including themselves and major concern is how to be optimistic
@TobiahThornwood6 жыл бұрын
Actually the song is about blissful ignorance. It's about see everything going wrong and choosing to ignore it. That's why he asks how to stay optimistic, and the answer is to try and stop seeing truth and just ignore it
@DeadPizza6 жыл бұрын
Tobi Dorenbos Uhm ur wrong the song creator literally said its about Pompeii
@oof-rr5nf5 жыл бұрын
@@DeadPizza She is talking about its symbolic meaning.
@El1society4 жыл бұрын
Dead Pizza people can interpret songs how ever they want
@Ray-pq3fp4 жыл бұрын
I love your interpretation and that's how I'm gonna take it now
@YMasterS3 жыл бұрын
@@DeadPizza he lied.
@katedoes...97839 жыл бұрын
"You've been here before" may be a reference to the earthquake in 62 AD. Some of the ruined buildings may still have been from then.
@trainboy20199 жыл бұрын
+Kate Does ... I did not know about this. I guess you learn something new everyday!
@w1ckedn0nsense345 жыл бұрын
Yeah I've been there we even saw house that had crumbled and had been repaired
@senoreverything63665 жыл бұрын
@@w1ckedn0nsense34 cool!
@robynsmith68153 жыл бұрын
As late as this is, I’m fairly certain that it means more that the person is saying “if you close your eyes you can imagine that it’s not a completely different place and that it’s still the place you’ve lived for your entire life, and that it’s still the place you’ve been before instead of the city of ruins it is now.
@yousexythang2088 жыл бұрын
I went to Pompeii on a school trip in the Spring of 2014, and we were singing this all the way.
@lucapeyrefitte68996 жыл бұрын
Yousexythang oh lucky
@mikescalzo23353 жыл бұрын
Isn’t Pompeii in Italy
@Mary-mj2px3 жыл бұрын
@@mikescalzo2335 People can live in Italy (guessing that was a brainfart haha)
@scari613 жыл бұрын
This is a universal experience, my class did the same in 2017
@nknd86303 жыл бұрын
Mine went to the local newspaper. Didn't know Pompeii was an option
@grimtheghastly88786 жыл бұрын
I always saw this song as a conversation between to people. After a cataclysmic event occurred there were only 2 known survivors. One of them begins to have an existential crisis in the midst of all the chaos and the other survivor tries to console them by telling them to pretend that nothing change. This, however, proves to be impossible so the 2 resolves to try to rebuild society and to grow as people. Edit: if you think a British band with a French name singing about a place in Italy is confusing, try Rasputin by Boney M. Jamaican people in a German band singing in English about a Russian man. Now that's what I call Mr. Worldwide.
@acidkyledaLSDj4 жыл бұрын
YESS
@markhalm98892 жыл бұрын
So Pulp Fiction by way of Volcanic Eruption
@colinbrinson31307 жыл бұрын
Todd, I know this is a bit late, but you were saying that this song isn't indicative of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. I'd just like to tell you that that's wrongedy wrong wrong. They did their research man. Many walls in Pompeii did come tumbling down because what hit Pompeii was what's called a Plinian eruption. After the volcano erupted it released several hundred tons of gaseous rock into the atmosphere that quickly cooled and started raining down in the form of pumice, a light igneous rock. However, this built up on roofs and eventually tore down a lot of the lower income housing, which was made of wood and not stone. The walls of the stone houses and temples didn't come down, but for most people in the cities surrounding Pompeii, their walls most definitely came tumbling down.
@noalsono3934 жыл бұрын
Ed...ward I'm sorry I had to
@igyl28673 жыл бұрын
Almost certainly unintentional but the fact that this would make the corpses talking be some of the poorer citizens is interesting to me
@cassandramarin45476 ай бұрын
I know this comment is several years old but I feel like that insight adds another possible interpretation to the song: when disasters happen poor people end up suffering a worse outcome than rich people, so the well-off people can have that reaction of "actually, if you close your eyes it's not that bad at all" while people in already disadvantaged communities are facing far greater devastation and asking how are they possibly going to be an optimist about this situation. (Of course, with pompeii almost everybody did die no matter their circumstances)
@MegCazalet4 жыл бұрын
I could never remember if it was Pompeii by Bastille or Bastille by Pompeii.
@ashen_roses8 жыл бұрын
The OHW titlecard dropping during the beginning of the review was priceless.
@heymistercarter.6 жыл бұрын
Which is kind of a shame that that's kinda what Bastille's become over here in the US. Because, actually, their other stuff is pretty darn good too.
@snowcherryleopard6 жыл бұрын
trc2rockon Agreed. I really liked Pompeii when it first came out but after listening to the rest of Bastille’s work I honestly think that they have a lot of other songs that are better than Pompeii
@cubedmelons8765 жыл бұрын
You may have spoken a bit too soon. They now have another top 10 hit. Granted, it's a collab, but still.
@mariogamefreak15 жыл бұрын
trc2rockon over here in The U.S there song Happier reach number 2 so your wrong
@cartmann947 жыл бұрын
Well, Now they're playing "Good Grief" on the radio these days, so Bastille's no longer a one hit wonderland.
@liamburke667 жыл бұрын
cartmann94 Thank god.
@kierandocherty94757 жыл бұрын
cartmann94 they had rhythm of the night
@lucyw41957 жыл бұрын
I feel like that song has the same bipolar feeling as "Pompeii" - the lyrics are about depression, confusion and feeling lost, and the song is extremely upbeat. Like Todd, I find it kind of distracting.
@bananajoe34617 жыл бұрын
cartmann94 and Bad Blood
@carikittygeek6 жыл бұрын
Lucy W, for me it works in Good Grief because Dan Smith described the song as being about "being happy in a sad situation" and being "sad in a happy situation"
@jaydee46978 жыл бұрын
Just to clear things up- the bodies of the people in Pompeii were not completely preserved- the ash formed a layer around the bodies, and when archaeologists dug them out of the ground, they poured plaster into the volcanic ash husk. The 'bodies' we see nowadays are actually just the plaster-casts of the inside of the husks, because the bodies inside the casts had rotted away over the centuries. And on that happy note, I always thought this band was American, because I swear the version they play in nightclubs has them singing in American accents. You learn something new everyday.
@zachantes11616 жыл бұрын
Jack Dear I know this is an old post but you mentioned that they sound American, that is actually something that tends to happen. Look it up, it happens more often than you think. I don't remember how it happens, but the American accents is kinda the default tone when singing in English, you have to actually try not to form an American accents when singing.
@jmurray11104 жыл бұрын
I believe it’s called a transatlantic accent brought about by the speed and different ways to enunciate words to fit the song leading to a psuedoAmerican accent
@jaydee46972 жыл бұрын
@@takemyhand1988 I always thought it was because British artists in the mid twentieth century wanted to sound like American Rock N Roll artists.
@jaydee46972 жыл бұрын
@@takemyhand1988 Really? I know a lot of singers, and they all sing with their own accents if they aren't singing a song that was originally sung by an American.
@jaydee46972 жыл бұрын
@@takemyhand1988 So, what does a non-accented singing voice sound like? I guess that it changes from country to country, since every culture has at least a few accents (although my home country has it where accents change every ten miles).
@ricepaperstring8 жыл бұрын
I'm pretty sure it's comparing modern society to the fall of Pompeii.
@DieFliegeinderSuppe8 жыл бұрын
+Lord Emostab Absolutely, i think it was such a successful song because it gave people the opportunity to reflect the society they live in. Thats what art is for, one of the best pop songs of the decade for me so far...
@mr.stretch84748 жыл бұрын
+DieFliegeinderSuppe I think it was successful because it was catchy. From what I know, people don't really look into the deeper meanings of music.
@GreenWormJello8 жыл бұрын
+Mr. Stretch well that's clearly not true, because the comments sections is full of people trying to debate what the song's about.
@KoiladaScrewYTHandles8 жыл бұрын
+Heather Mason The comment section of this video (or videos with songs that actually have meaning) doesn't really reflect the tastes and views of the entire mainstream English-speaking music world, though. If it did, then songs like Shiva by The Antlers would be popular and not EDM dance crap that has no meaning other than "I like/have/want sex/to party/chicks/dudes." The songs get popular because they are catchy or get stuck in your head. Something like the prior mentioned Shiva would never be popular in the mainstream because no matter how much meaning it has or how good the lyrics are, it's not a catchy song, at all. Songs that are catchy _and_ have good lyrics/deeper subtext are the more meaningful songs that get popular - like Pompeii. Most people don't analyse music, they just want something nice to listen to on their phones/iPods/in the car.
@gorkaaustin53066 жыл бұрын
Heather Mason Most people dont have the time or enough interest to analyze music, the main reason pretty much every song on the pop charts is popular is because it sounds good, you really think that the song is popular because of people analyzing it, of all things?
@j198519856 жыл бұрын
Smith explained the song's meaning to The Sun: "Pompeii is actually an imagined conversation between two charred corpses reflecting on the city." He added: "But that's why I don't like explaining a lot of my songs literally as it sounds bonkers - a song about two corpses yet the crowd are happily dancing along!" there is the what it means
@nommable4 жыл бұрын
Todd gets there at the end!
@technounionrepresentative42743 жыл бұрын
That's... Darkly humorous actually
@YMasterS3 жыл бұрын
Haha, no. That was just some bullshit he made up.
@countof3everybodyOD3 жыл бұрын
With all due respect, once an artist puts their stuff out there to millions upon millions, they don’t get to say what it means anymore
@koala2012113 жыл бұрын
@@countof3everybodyOD death of the author
@chuckbatman57 жыл бұрын
If you listen to the rest of Bastille's music, you'll find that almost all of their songs are full of bombastic, sometimes overblown themes of tragedy, usually paired with the classical Icarus/Pompeii style references. Although they usually have moments of poignancy worked in which is why I consider them above novelty status
@mothafuckinfoofighter85438 жыл бұрын
Now I can't hear this song without envisioning the whole Muppets performance you mentioned, and that just made the song even better.
@yepmcyeppington5 жыл бұрын
same
@lightsabermario5 жыл бұрын
Same here. In particular, every time that drum solo comes up, Todd's absolutely perfect sync-up of Animal doing the drums is the only thing that can possibly come to my mind. Sometimes I come back to rewatch this episode JUST for that moment.
@mtdnml8 жыл бұрын
im surprised todd picks up that the walls of pompeii are standing to make fun of the "walls came tumbling down" line but fails to realize thats the explanation for the "does it almost feel like nothing changed at all" line.
@pinkopat8 жыл бұрын
Man, I love pompeii, both the song and the city.
@michaelfreeman31898 жыл бұрын
This song would be so amazing if done by the muppets.
@lucapeyrefitte68996 жыл бұрын
Michael Freeman haha yeah really but I'm sure someone hopefully made a video with that
@cjsmalley55068 жыл бұрын
I know this is an old video but during one of the phases of the actual eruption, the raining pumice bit, the multistory homes and buildings did collapse under the weight of the ash and rocks. Besides the dozens of Earthquakes they suffered beforehand doing some damage.
@Tigercat9199 жыл бұрын
I think it's more of a case of a alternative act hitting it big on the mainstream pop chart. Kinda like Walk the Moon (and to a lesser extent Saint Motel) this year. Or Foster the People and Awolnation a while back. It can happen but it's not too commonplace. It's more about luck if anything...or if there's that one song that just hits a vibe.
@bunni25838 жыл бұрын
+Tigercat919 But... My Type wasn't a hit. At least not in America.
@mullenbeck8 жыл бұрын
+Pikabrew Guy even thought it's fucking awesome
@cursetheholy74156 жыл бұрын
A lot of these “alternative” bands that get a mainstream hit are not really alternative at all. The only difference between them are that “alternative” hits generally have at least slightly better lyricism. I’d say that there are some actual alternative acts that do hit it big, like The Neighborhood, and Twenty Øne Piløts. At least, that’s my opinion.
@dylanabela40586 жыл бұрын
But 21 pilots is legit just Edge: The Band
@cursetheholy74156 жыл бұрын
Dylan Abela true, but their sound is different from most radio pop right now. Also, I️ personally think their lyricism is way better than anything Bastille or the other bands like it have ever done
@merrymachiavelli20417 жыл бұрын
This is old, but what the hell. My interpretation was that the song was about somebody who lived a lived a superficially fulfilling life 'the city that we loved', that may have offered them a sense of comfort but had some systematic problems. Then, something disastrous happens and their life changes forever. It's very traumatic. But makes them realise things about their life that they hadn't before. When the person 'closes their eyes', they aren't thinking about how life is better per say, they are thinking about how the world is the same as it always was, they just hadn't been able to realise it. I also relate it to the life experiences of a few characters from fiction.
@loekos5 жыл бұрын
5:15 i can't believe todd even predicted the "guy from bastille performs earnestly on stage with a cartoon character" part of happier
@sahasrahla10157 жыл бұрын
Actually the bodies in Pompeii are all completely decomposed. The bodies we see there these days are just plaster casts made by pouring plaster into the spaces where those bodies used to be.
@zachantes11616 жыл бұрын
Sahasrahla Old post I know, but that would make an interesting horror game/movie. Someone visits Pompeii and the spirits try to kill him or something by using the plaster copies as vessels or something. I don't know.
@ingonyama706 жыл бұрын
Reminds me of the Ash Zombies from Elder Scrolls (specifically Morrowind, and Skyrim's "Dragonborn" expansion).
@lilly48367 жыл бұрын
Every time I watch this review I can't help but disagrees completely. To me the chorus has always been an almost childlike cry of hopelessness.
@kyriaethryr6 жыл бұрын
Lilly Bean Late to the party but I'm right there with you. I'm not that angsty, but the entire song feels like watching your life waste away, powerless to change no matter how bad you want to. Like waiting to die and knowing you can't stop it. Super downer, but I always felt like Pompeii had a really direct message.
@JennaLeigh6 жыл бұрын
I had no idea how badly I needed this song done by the Muppets.
@Hakajin7 жыл бұрын
I dunno, I've always felt like I knew exactly what this song was talking about. And I think the reason for that is that it resonates with me, personally. See, I've lived in the same town my whole life. Went to college about an hour away, came home to work and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. But that took longer than I'd hoped, and... I've spent a long time feeling like I was stuck, just spinning my wheels. In the meantime, I've been through some real shit-- poverty, foreclosure of the only home I'd ever known, loneliness, both my parents are gone now... The town I live in has changed, but not so much that it really feels like a different place. There are so many places where I have memories and nostalgia, and sometimes it does almost feel like nothing's changed at all. There's an attachment to this place that... While it feels good and safe, I feel like it holds me back, too, so the ambivalence and bitter-sweet tone in the chorus really work for me. I think the image of the two corpses talking is still a metaphor. I mean, sure, he talks about it literally, but it still invokes the image of being chained to a place, unchanging. And yeah, I do think the meaning I got is more or less what the song was meant to be about. The image of those bodies, frozen forever in time, I think it's a natural and powerful metaphor. This isn't the only time I've seen Pompeii used this way, either. There's a manga I really like called "NG Life," which... It's pretty silly to start off with, but it gets heavier later on. The main charater remembers his past life in Pompeii, and the people who were important to him then are still with him. Unlike him, though, they don't remember anything. While they're still the same people at their core, there are differences, and their relationships are different. Like, his male best friend is now a cute girl who's in love with him. But he keeps trying to act like everything's the same because he doesn't want to let go of the people he used to know and love.
@ingonyama706 жыл бұрын
I haven't been throgh everything you have, but I get the same things out of the song, and it's pretty powerful. It's hard for me to listen without feeling about five or six things ar once, none of them pleasant.
@jtallen64067 жыл бұрын
My interpretation: it's a song about several peoples lives falling apart seen from the perspective of a single person "I was left to my own devices" 'I was all alone, left with nothing but my own thoughts' "Many days fell away with nothing to show" 'It's been a while since I've ended up this way, but so little has changed, it doesn't really matter' "And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love" 'This life that we built for ourselves has fallen apart' "Grey clouds over the hills bringing darkness from above" 'It seems like we're trapped in this miserable state no matter where we turn' "But if you close you're eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all" 'The only real sense of freedom from this miserable state is in our dreams when we sleep' "And if you close you're eyes, does it almost feel like you've been here before" 'Even when everything seemed fine, this misery of ours almost seemed inevitable' "How am I gonna be an optimist about this" 'How am I gonna get out of this personal hell of mine' "We were caught up and lost in all of our vices" 'We were to busy having fun instead of stopping this from happening...' "In your pose as the dust settled around us" '...even when we weren't doing anything, we still allowed this to happen when we could've avoided it' "Oh where do we being, the rubble or our sins" 'How do we fix this, by cleaning up our act or by rebuilding what was lost?'
@chuckbatman57 жыл бұрын
Dante the Dragonoid that's a really great interpretation. Shows there's a lot to this song that you and others can get so many varied things out of it
@bappojujubes9816 жыл бұрын
This is the best interpretation I've seen.
@janicejanostak25452 жыл бұрын
Something about this song is really hitting me hard after the last two years of the pandemic (with no clear end in sight)
@8bitorgy2 жыл бұрын
It's over already. Get on with your life.
@koala2012112 жыл бұрын
@@8bitorgy are you living under a rock
@lovaloo7638 жыл бұрын
These guys are releasing a second album at some point in 2016 called "Wild World". We'll have to see if Todd is right or wrong about their one-hit-wonder status. I hope it catches on, because I absolutely love this band. Todd's U2 comparison kind of freaked me out, because my mom is a huge U2 fan, and I'm a huge Bastille fan. It's almost like a generational thing. 0_0'
@chdreturns7 жыл бұрын
Lovaloo I hope they are not a one hit wonder here... I mean they are a great band.
@lovaloo7637 жыл бұрын
Yeah they're pretty good
@chuckbatman57 жыл бұрын
Lovaloo the U2 comparison also made a lot of sense. I mean todd was joking when he said that Bastille should cover some of U2's songs, but I would actually want to see that
@snowcherryleopard6 жыл бұрын
I personally feel like Wild World is a better album than Bad Blood and I’m kind of sad that it never caught on (at least in America)
@WaterAce1686 жыл бұрын
snowcherryleopard I think it's an album Todd could enjoy, since he appears to be a bigger fan of upbeat music (like Wild World)
@isyitfwwo8 жыл бұрын
Dude, I've never laughed harder over a song review. Cheers.
@galleryofrogues4 жыл бұрын
Bastille is like a slightly better Imagine Dragons or X Ambassadors
@ispearedbritney4 жыл бұрын
So, still utter trash.
@loganbaileysfunwithtrains6064 жыл бұрын
Bastille is at least 2x better than Imagine Dragons
@ffjreviews90294 жыл бұрын
Sven Jolly Bastille is amazing
@Ben-ff6hc3 жыл бұрын
loganbaileysfunwithtrains most of imagine dragons, yes. I disagree when it comes to Night Visions though
@n3v3rg01ngback3 жыл бұрын
They will make fine sound tracks to commercials.
@SomniRespiratoryFlux7 жыл бұрын
Hmmm... after watching this, I think I have my interpretation of this song's lyrics. Basically the idea is that there's some disaster that happened (going by the idea of applicability, even if the lyrics meant it to be one specific disaster, it's broad enough to apply to anything the listener sees fit), and the chorus is a deliberately conflicted statement. On one hand, you can make yourself feel better by focusing on yourself, finding inner peace, closing your eyes - but that still doesn't change what's happening. It's at best escapism and at worst denial. And while some level of it can be healthy to keep you from losing your shit completely, the narrator here knows deep down that just because he can find peace, that doesn't actually fix the larger problem. And then, the part about stasis comes in where you just ignore what's wrong in your life, and pretend it's all good when it's not. ...So basically: shit's bad, and you can make yourself feel better about it, but that doesn't fix the problem and might just trap you in a vicious cycle. ...I dunno about any of you but I've been feeling this exact set of emotions and conflicts a hell of a lot in the last year or so, on several different levels.
@SemiIocon Жыл бұрын
Glad this song got a meme comeback, it deserved it. Way too good to be forgotten.
I think the fact that it's so ambiguous is WHY I love this song so much. That and it's catchy as hell. Three years on, and I'm STILL amazed at how many different situations this song can fit itself to. I'm sure someone else will happily go into the political metaphor.
@rct3isepic4 жыл бұрын
This song isn't about Pompeii. It's about the fear of being stuck in the same place. Much like the people of Pompeii but not as literal
@dariosilvestri4733 жыл бұрын
I agree. Pompeii here is thought more as a ghost town than the location of a tragic event. As I interpret the song, Pompeii here is like the little town in the middle of nowhere where nothing happens (that's why Pompeii as a ghost town) and you and your friends want to get out of. And once you come back it almost feels like nothing has changed at all. It's not about tragedy, is about "being stuck in a place". That's why thesong has such a light, indie, nostalgic sound and not a sad, angry one that a song about 9/11 might have. The theme goes well with the video and the feel of Twin Peaks, which the band is a fan of. That's my interpretation.
@atlasking61105 жыл бұрын
The "if you close your eyes" part does make sense. This song resonates with me because I was born and raised in one of those industrial northeast cities that lost all its industry and has become an indescribable hellhole. This song reminds me of the nice city of my childhood, of friends and family and people and places that, when I go back, I can close my eyes and almost see and feel.
@girlsocksfinder6 жыл бұрын
Paul Paul Blart Mall Cop, Paul Paul Blart Mall Cop
@Madcapredcap6 жыл бұрын
I came across the TVtropes quotes page for "The New Tens" that had the chorus of this song as a metaphor for the decade. It seems a bit more appropriate to apply it to a decade of frustration and political stagnation than to the victims of Pompeii.
@alexandertruuvert20378 жыл бұрын
Am I still allowed to love this song and Bastille? I honestly love this song, and especially Bad Blood, Icarus, things we lost in the fire etc... IDK I guess it's just my opinion
@Miniike8 жыл бұрын
+Alexander The grape You're not alone m8. Todd introduced me to this song, which introduced me to the album Bad Blood, which pretty much got me into music. I'll always have a soft spot for my first love.
@margaretgibbs6673 Жыл бұрын
I didn't get the song other than "it sounds cool". Until after 2020. And then...yeah. Now it feels like a punch in the gut and it was written years ago.
@aromaladyellie8 жыл бұрын
I think this song sounds better when sung by Jasmine Thompson, as a ballad so it sounds sad, and where it sounds like it's about the actual destruction of Pompeii and the chorus sounds like it's someone who knows they're going to die in the fall of Pompeii and they're telling themselves a desperate lie, if that makes sense.
@annnee68188 жыл бұрын
For me this song sounded best when performed by Dave Arch's orchestra during a strictly come dancing group number...
@karaadams2696 жыл бұрын
I love Jasmine but honestly I prefer the original
@ingonyama706 жыл бұрын
Peter Hollens & Kina Grannis have a pretty neat a capella cover that gives it a more minimalist feel, as well as being an actual duet, matching the "conversation" bit.
@HazeMotes8 жыл бұрын
"But if you clues your eye."
@alysonburch3 жыл бұрын
This song makes so much more sense in 2021.
@michaelhall54294 жыл бұрын
Oh my God. Another old one unlocked. This made my night. Thanks algorithm or whatever, I love you.
@icemanlj2k74 жыл бұрын
I dunno if it was the algorithm. In the original release of this, you could clearly see Todd’s face at the end (when he mentions the alien thing), bad lighting I think, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he blocked this video from public viewing until he could fix it
@drummr13138 жыл бұрын
This might just be me, but Todd's impression of Bono is ON POINT!!!
@Xondar112233443 жыл бұрын
Ah yes, Twin Peaks, a classic literary reference. I'm not joking, I'm a college English teacher.
@shadowlinkbds7 жыл бұрын
I've never heard this song but now after hearing this I'm starting to like it. Pompeii sounds really catchy with the "ey oh ey oh ey oh ey oh" chant in it.
@DeadPizza6 жыл бұрын
It's latin
@CamInAHat Жыл бұрын
7 years later, and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Oh Wait, Here It Is)" is still one of my favorite Todd jokes.
@abevamp2 жыл бұрын
Little did Todd know just how much he was underestimating the general public's impetus to close their eyes in denial, even in the face of apocalyptic circumstances.
@exigency22312 жыл бұрын
Todd struggles to realise the song is about denial for 14 minutes, the video
@troypool58264 жыл бұрын
I always assumed this was about coming back to his home town and seeing how drastically it changed from when he was a kid.
@1ronDragon9 ай бұрын
Once heard someone say that the "ay oh ay oh" part sounded like the teletubbies, which would be on the same track as the muppets comparison
@welpiguess9514 жыл бұрын
I remember that when my sister and I found this song, we both decided that instead of Pompeii, we would only know it as the eggroll song, because we thought the guys in the background were chanting eggroll.
@SpicyMapping5 жыл бұрын
5 YEARS LATER! IT HAPPENED! TODDSTRADOMUS STRIKES AGAIN!
@ZemplinTemplar5 жыл бұрын
This is one of the funniest and nicest reviews you've ever done. Great work.
@8-ball3503 жыл бұрын
Little did he know this song would become a meme like 5 years later
@NFSF1McLaren4 жыл бұрын
with very few exceptions compared to their most recent material, "Pompeii" aged pretty well. I still listen to it occasionally
@theMoporter4 жыл бұрын
Y'know, this song hits differently now.
@PickledMu19724 жыл бұрын
So, so true.
@pdspear18 жыл бұрын
I think this song is about how fate can sometimes fuck you over but in the end it will be okay and you can sometimes overcome bad luck and misfortune.
@gabrielweeks8 жыл бұрын
We can conclude that Pompeii has a great chorus, meaningful, contextual lyrics and a cracking video. What's not to like? It has no place in the styles of other pieces in the charts, so is querky enough to be, well, brilliant.
@MegCazalet4 жыл бұрын
Some walls did come tumbling down in Pompeii. Along with roofs. From the weight of the ash. Oh Todd, you keep being so literal.
@nritsch6 жыл бұрын
The fluke indie hit sweepstakes have grown rather morbid. You have songs about volcanos/dead bodies, radioactivity, school shootings, and ghosts visiting their living lovers.
@zolris54987 жыл бұрын
fuck i love bastille .-.
@hugeswingingballs7 жыл бұрын
Samurott503 (ImmortalBeingz Zolris) I agree
@zolris54987 жыл бұрын
Wow Mate i dont know how this is the only one that got popular.
@lissawho49747 жыл бұрын
Same
@Barakon2 жыл бұрын
It's about someone's confusion over a disaster.
@reuploadsandmore42368 жыл бұрын
ah yes, the song is dominated by the letters A and O
@fluffyorca1st8433 жыл бұрын
Todd has an immaculate ability to be wrong every single time
@Sky-pg8jm Жыл бұрын
Honestly I think this song hits so so much harder now 2 years after the pandemic started
@Reidak128 жыл бұрын
The chanting is out of place but it's actually sampling now we are free from the gladiator soundtrack.
@python19728 жыл бұрын
and a-yo (though spelt differently) is latin for "oh no"
@orhanamin13473 жыл бұрын
But if you close your eyes indeed, Todd.
@maisumcriticonainternet43514 жыл бұрын
Oh crap, I think this is it! This is the video that made me sub! My quest has finally led me here! Hey Todd. Yes I am on a quest to watch every single one of your videos. Watching a few every day and commenting on the last one I watched.
@davidthepangolin3 жыл бұрын
I applaud you on your quest As someone who can say quite confidently that I’ve all (core) Todd vids more than once you will be in for a treat =)
@katdm7 жыл бұрын
This was the first ToddintheShadows video that I've ever watched. Also...There are times when I want to have " What the hell were you thinking, Dan Smith?" written on a T-shirt. But then I think it wouldn't be such a great idea....even though the line, as delivered by Todd, was funny as hell.
@yepmcyeppington5 жыл бұрын
Oh my god. Now I want that written on a T-shirt too.
@zacharypegg70512 жыл бұрын
This was legit the first pop song I fell in love with as an adult.
@SarahSyna7 жыл бұрын
I'd love to see what Todd thought of Send Them Off! but I don't think it got popular over there?
@heymistercarter.6 жыл бұрын
Yea, which is why it's kind of a shame that here in the US, Bastille is still technically a one-hitter. Songs like Send Them Off, Blame, and others are actually really good.
@jonrolfson16862 жыл бұрын
'Thought that I was hearing देखो देखो देखो' (dekho dekho dekho) Hindi, means Behold, Behold, Behold!
@tryhardtrash80884 жыл бұрын
dude this song is so nostalgic to me. even if it's not great I just can't help but love it
@ryanager80296 жыл бұрын
Looking back at this song, I interpret it in a much darker way, specifically the chorus. I don’t view it as an overcoming hardship chorus, but a “Total disaster is only a slight step down from where we were, but disaster was necessary for us to realise it” chorus. Nothing’s changed at all. Feel like you’ve been here before, and is struggling to be optimistic about this when he realised what was his good place, normal, happy, was nothing but a step above oblivion. Thus the upbeat instrumentation of the chorus is to provide tonal disconnect, similar to “Pumped Up Kicks” it serves to both highlight the distance between the despair of the lyrics and act as an expression of absurdism, joy at the pains of existence itself, coz it’s all you can do anymore.
@mizushimo5 жыл бұрын
"I still haven't found what I'm looking for (oh wait, here it is)" is a mood
@anonymousinkproductions86243 жыл бұрын
This song is the soundtrack to 2020
@Astolfo20013 жыл бұрын
6:42 unexpected Marvel vs. Capcom 2 arcade machine cameo
@SuperBubbles243 жыл бұрын
The chorus isn’t supposed to be hopeful, it’s supposed to be a representation of denial.
@vryusvin3905 Жыл бұрын
As an (ex) NY'er, when I first heard this song, I thought it might have been about 9/11. After a few times hearing it, i thought it was someone complaining about the demise of religion. The truth, it turns out, was way darker. Thanks for the video.
@Denji20065 жыл бұрын
They're singing "BED IN A BEDROOM! BED IN A BEDROOM! BED IN A BEDROOM!"
@trucetruce3353 жыл бұрын
11:15 Wow he got it exactly there.
@KuronekoBonbon8 жыл бұрын
I do know that near the end of the original version there is some accidental lighting that reveals his face. I don't know if someone has a copy of it.
@MarmaladeMagnolia Жыл бұрын
Is that appear in this video??
@ErieRosewood4 жыл бұрын
I like the song for its nostalgia. It was one of my favorite songs in 5th grade because I was strangely obsessed with Mt. Vesuvius
@emmahiggins4 жыл бұрын
I get this stuck in my head and then this instantly pops up on my recommended.
@phildrewsomething Жыл бұрын
I actually really liked this song when it came out and I still don’t hate it lol catchy af
@zach12342367 жыл бұрын
I can definitely see it being about mental health. Especially since he had stage anxiety.
@fangsabre4 жыл бұрын
I always imagined this as either a song taking place literally during the destruction of Pompeii, watching the clouds roll down in absolute certain death. Or a conversation between survivors of a tragedy. Or, since I heard that it was originally made for a musical, I imagined it as like the opening song of a musical, full quoir number with the ghosts of those who died in the eruption and then when the story starts afterwards it's a story leading up to the eruption.
@MorriganAtwood7 жыл бұрын
I kind of read this song as being about depression, particularly whenever when everything's already terrible, even more somehow finds a way to go completely wrong. What f*cks up your day and your life so completely that you just have to go back to bed? And you know you've felt this way about something before. It could be the tiniest thing but it still feels like a cataclysm because God did you ever not need this right now. It might have happened within a week of the last time it happened. And you sit there and second-guess all the ways you could have avoided this and have no idea how you're going to grin and bear it and tell yourself that tomorrow is another day and it'll get better. Because it never. Gets. Better. And when you have depression such a huge part of it is the certainty that things are never going to change.
@EternalYorkieMom2 жыл бұрын
This was my top 2021 song because if you close your eyes doesn’t this BASICALLY feel like 2020? And “How am I gonna be an optimist about this?” Becomes more of a problem because it is just there all the time. I didn’t even like this song before you gave it the breakdown and now it’s like my jam
@crotchman8 жыл бұрын
6:26 Did Death Grips cash in on Hunger Games too, then?
@mytimetravellingdog10 ай бұрын
I am so convinced that the eey ooh chanting part of this song was inspired by something on UK TV in the 90s. I used to think it was a Konica ad, which does have chanting like this but I've found it on youtube and it's not quite there. Although could be in the back of his mind. I'm just sure there is something else.