Editing 780: Sample

{{comic
| number    = 780
| date      = August 16, 2010
| title     = Sample
| image     = sample.png
| titletext = There are two or three songs out there with beeps in the chorus that sound exactly like the clock radio alarm I had in high school, and hearing it makes me think my life since junior year has been a dream I'm about to wake up from.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip suggests that even a band with the most brilliant and catchy music would soon become the most hated band in the world if it included sound effects of car horns, cell phones, or alarm clocks in its songs. Listeners would mistake the sound effects for the real thing.

For comparison, "{{w|Indiana Wants Me}}", a 1970 hit single by {{w|R. Dean Taylor}}, had the sound of police sirens removed from later pressings because drivers were reportedly mistaking the sound effects for actual police cars and pulling over.

This can also be a reference to an unusual anti-piracy method, where P2P and Torrent networks are seeded with altered copies of songs that contain obnoxious sounds at random points.

The title text refers to the common sensation of having sounds from the real-world incorporated into a dream, especially as one is waking up. This gives a (false) sensation that is the reverse of the dream described in [[557: Students]]. It implies that the author has been dreaming his entire life since his junior year of high school.

==Transcript==
:HOW TO BECOME THE MOST HATED BAND IN THE WORLD:
:Record an album that's nothing but brilliant, catchy instant classics guaranteed popularity and airtime,
:[Cueball at the steering wheel of a car.]
:Music: So far from hooome but I can't sto— HONK
:Cueball: AUGH! WHAT?
:With a sample of a car horn, cell phone, or alarm clock inserted randomly in each song.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Music]]