As the country teeters on the edge of a double-dip recession and the government starts cutting the general fun quota by 98%, it's important to keep things in perspective. We've always got American pop singles to keep our spirits up.
Los Angeles-based the Far East Movement (so named because their members are all Asian-Americans) are Kev Nish, Prohgress, J Spliff and DJ Virman, and they write the kind of irritatingly catchy radio hits that make the Black Eyed Peas sound like Steve Reich. Their current single, Like a G6 – sample lyric, "When we drink we do it right gettin' slizzard" – has already reached the No 1 spot in America and is on course to crash the top five here. Expect to hear it ringing out in playgrounds and bus backseats any time soon.
But what is a G6, I hear you cry? Initial speculation in America centred on the fairly mid-range Pontiac G6 car. A car that received a "good" rating for its frontal offset crash safety test and doesn't exactly convey a sense of excitement when referenced in the lyric "feelin' so fly like a G6".
So far, so recession. No, the G6 in question refers to a private jet, properly known as the G650 and made by Gulfstream Aerospace that is estimated to cost more than $58m (£36m), includes its own separate kitchen and bar, can reach speeds of 610mph and will be able to carry up to 18 passengers when it is launched in 2012. Forget your pimped-out 4x4s, the ultimate in ridiculously extravagant modes of transport has arrived and it's a twin- engine jet aircraft with a ready-made theme tune.
Perhaps Like a G6's blatant fetishising of extreme wealth will serve as the last straw and we'll take to the streets? Or maybe it will just make us dance like goons, totally "slizzard", shouting "fly like a G6" to anyone who will listen?
