Summer Song Challenge, Day 95: Dave

Prompt: "A song you used to hate but now you love"

Selected by Dave

"Pompeii"

Bastille

Bad Blood, 2013

I'm a very vindictive person. It's a flaw of mine. Once I hate something or someone, that hatred sticks with me. Sometimes it's a preoccupying hatred. My hatred is tough to reverse, so I wouldn't say I love this song. However, I do indeed like "Pompeii." When it was released in 2013, I despised everything about this song. I hated the cheesy chant at the beginning (and I still do), I hated the vocalist's voice, and I hated the non-stop airplay it received. I remember it coming on at the Grey Lodge (RIP) on Frankford Ave. and the bartender singing along, and I suddenly began hating him too. It all changed when I was sent to California on business in 2014. One night after work, I decided to drive from my hotel in Thousands Oaks to Santa Monica. I think it was about half-hour drive. As I was driving through the canyons near Malibu, this song came on, and for whatever reason I enjoyed it. I never understood it and I still don't. To this day, I don't change the dial when this song comes on.