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What the fuck is wrong with England? Maybe it’s the way it has embraced hunky orange surfer doofus Jack Johnson, odd for a country with limited sunshine and the disposition of a disgruntled bus driver. But England’s always been amenable to a bit of gentle pap. Unfortunately it’s started selling it back to us, first with unctuous Tiny Tim-alike James Blunt, and now Daniel Powter with “Bad Day,” possibly composed on the spot at a One Tree Hill story meeting.

Powter, a Canadian, first blew up with “Bad Day” in England almost a year ago, and now he’s foisted it upon us. A singsong melody featuring Billy Joel/Marc Cohn/Fuel piano chords and mewling indistinguishable from every other sensitive-but-jaunty white-dude hit, like, ever, “Bad Day” is almost confrontational in its banality. Powter looked like such a nice boy at his piano in his knit cap and careful stubble on the Today show a week ago that we vomited into our mouths. As of this writing “Bad Day” has been at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, and its reign of terror shows no signs of ending, unless LL Cool J stops preening in the mirror long enough to mount a coup.

The early months of any year are always a weird time for music; in the space of a month, both Barry Manilow and T.I. have graced the top of the Billboard album chart. Pop music takes a few months to shake the winter sleep from its eyes, but that time is growing longer as major labels push release dates closer and closer to that all-important fourth quarter. We’re willing to accept the Daniel Powters of this world for the moment. But if something exciting isn’t happening by June, we’re gonna wig out.