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The Onion’s A.V. Club doles out the Straight Dope on the factual and logical accuracy of some popular hit songs.

For example, on Young MC’s “Bust a Move”, the writer notes that:

Why would your best friend’s brother choose you as best man over his own flesh and blood? Is Harry just going to be a run-of-the-mill usher at his brother’s wedding while you’re toasting and keeping track of the rings? Also, why would Larry inform you of his family-shaking decision a mere five days before the wedding? It doesn’t make sense.

Why indeed. The list spans 3 decades of pop songs, but what about indie songs? Who’s going to serve as our fact-checkin’ cuz here?

Pavement kicks off their 4th album Brighten the Corners with Stereo, a song that asks the musical questions:

What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How did it get so high?
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?

But is the answer (I know him and he does!) factually correct? Does Rush leader singer, Geddy Lee actually speak in a normal voice? Or does he talk like he sings?

Let’s go to the tape. Here’s Geddy Lee giving some valuable tobogganing safety tips.

Okay. So Geddy does, in fact, speak like a normal guy… EXCEPT when he has his tongue stuck to a metal toboggan. So Pavement is factually correct. Kind of.

But what about other indie bands? They may be street smart, but are they also book smart? Can you think of any indie songs which just don’t ring true?

Here are a few tunes to help get your creative juices flowing.

• Listen to Pavement’s Stereo.
• Listen to Rush’s Time Stands Still.

Buy Brighten the Corners from or from Insound
Buy Chronicles from or from Insound