So last time I went all crowd-pleasey (or as crowd-pleasey as I can manage) with tasteful eclecticism. And this time… well, this time I’ve probably swung too far in the opposite direction and won’t be pleasing anyone whatsoever. Yes, folks, I’ve gone pop. Mainstream, well-known, pure and simple every time. Forgive me my synths, I know exactly what I do. Sadly…
Track and artist names (and a few short attempts at justification) after the jump…
1. Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine – The Only Living Boy In New Cross: Hello, good evening, welcome… to nothing much. (I’ve always wanted to start a playlist thusly.) Get Carter to shake out the cobwebs, shall we?! An exhilarating celebration of our capital city’s diversity. Gawd bless London.
2. Furniture – Brilliant Mind: The best one-hit wonder ever? It’s certainly up there. (And what’s better pop-wise than a one-hit wonder? Nothing, that’s what.)
3. OMD – Tesla Girls: Well, it’s just ridiculous, isn’t it? But I do love the bonkersness of referencing Nikolai Tesla in a plinky-plonky pop ode to sexy laydeez.
4. Patrick Wolf – Bluebells: One of my favourite popstars of recent years. Probably subscribes to his equally theatrical forebear’s maxim that “ridicule is nothing to be scared of”. Definitely looking at the stars, possibly from the gutter.
5. Blur – On Your Own: I love Blur in off-kilter pop mode. This may be my favourite bleepy, droney, rowdy-vocalled song of theirs.
6. New Order – Face Up: I seem to have a thing for white boys who can’t really sing. I wonder if it’s narcissism. This is a big downhill tumble of a tune – with a satisfyingly vitriolic ‘f*** you’ of a lyric.
7. MGMT – Time To Pretend: Probably the only track on this list that’s verging on cool. And it has a lyric dealing with that very subject matter. Ooh, post-modern. Perhaps.
8. Santogold – L.E.S. Artistes: Wasn’t she set to be the next big thing when this came out? Among Hoxton hipsters anyway. (So maybe this is verging on cool too.) I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anything else by her, but have a vague recollection of her, like, totally reinventing herself by… changing her name to Santigold. Hm.
9. Robyn – Be Mine!: As we all know, for at least the last decade (and probably since Abba’s heyday), some of the best pure pop has come out of Scandi-land (see also my earworm this week). Here’s Sweden’s Robyn. The spoken-word bit guts me every time: “I just miss you. That’s all.” Sob!
10. Pet Shop Boys – I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More: A title both utterly meaningless and utterly profound. A bit like the Pet Shop Boys’ entire back catalogue then. The best pop group of the last 30 years. You can disagree with me but you’d be wrong.
11. Saint Etienne – Hobart Paving: Pop as lullaby. Bliss.
Hello, good evening, welcome and goodbye. x
I love Patrick Wolf!
p.s. posted Bluebells in Scotland week. Don’t know if you saw it but this is a great living room performance of Bluebells. Gorgeous!
Thanks – hadn’t seen that, wilemena – very lovely indeed. He’s a very talented man, isn’t he? And from a precociously young age too.
Yes he was a proper brat wasn’t he? Ha ha just kidding. Very talented fella. Experiments with noise and various instruments, which he mostly plays himself, and lyrically Romantic in the classic sense (not the mushy one).
He’s very handy for when I’m feeling far too frivolous for my own good
Oh, this will be interesting. Not a single one that got DsD approval first time round … here goes …
Ha ha, I don’t think you’ll be alone in that, DsD! (And that’s OK.)
1. Probably my second-favourite Carter song… Love this – not many songs when you can mosh, admire the puns and allusions, and be genuinely moved.
2. Furniture – never heard of this. It’s very good, especially the sax (and that’s not something I’d usually say).
3. I quite like what I’ve heard by OMD, which isn’t a great deal. This was… OK.
4. Patrick Wolf is someone else I don’t know enough by, but I like his flamboyance and the richness of his voice.
5. Blur have so many top songs. This is one of them.
6. Not a New Order song I know. Barney sounds more interested than normal. And that even sounds like a mandolin near the end. Yes, like this.
7. MGMT – heard this for the first time in a while as one of 6Music’s 100 Greatest Hits (well worth a listen – may do a separate post actually). It’s great – music, lyrics, everything really. If we ever have RR Songs With Great Wibbly Noises…
8. Santogold – Did she just say she’s an “introverted excavator”? This is OK – I quite like what I’ve heard by her, but it doesn’t really grab me – prefer MIA…
9. I love Robyn. This is what pop should be like. Love the choppy strings. The spoken bit is utterly trite, and no less effective for that.
10. I admire the Pet Shop Boys more than I love them, but this is very good.
11. Well of course I love this – I saw a Hobart Paving van the other day, and it involuntarily brought a lump to my throat.
Great list altogether. I’d been concerned there’d be a few 80s crimes here, but not so – just great pop. I guess St Et and MGMT are my favourite keepers. I didn’t dislike anything, but wouldn’t be too sad to lose this OMD or Santogold.
What’s yer first-favourite Carter song, barbryn? (Thanks for commenting, btw!)
Obvious choice, but still – ladies and gentlemen, I give you…
Well, it is a classic. For me, it’s between Sheriff Fatman, TOLBINC and After The Watershed, I think.
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CTUSM – more guitar-centric than I remembered. No’ a bad start.
Furniture – much more pleasing now than then. These days I have quite a bit of music with vocals like Jim Irvin’s.
OMD – Nope. Couldn’t be doing with them when I was a Liverpool schoolboy, and still can’t thirty years later. An unsurprising early candidate for the needle in their balloon.
Patrick Wolf – don’t think I know this. Not enthused to go digging, I’m afraid.
* Crap! I’m beginning to sound like Chris, aren’t I? *
Blur – Damon way too shouty for me here. Otherwise, very Kinks-for-the-new-millennium-ish, I always thought.
New Order – Wouldn’t be on any NO compilation I did for myself.
MGMT – That wibbly riff (is it synth or melodica?) irritated me then and still does now, which is a shame as I really like the rest of what is a very well-crafted song.
Santogold – This is OK, but I never investigated further. What did I miss?
Robyn – My kids’ll like this, and I’ll be able to cope with it when it’s their CD turn in the car, but it’s not for me.
PSB – Cannot stand Neil Tennant’s voice or his arch affectations. Never could, and have never heard even one PSB song to change my mind. OMD may just have earned a reprieve.
St. Etienne – Oh, lovely! Never knowingly heard this, and definitely feel I’ve had a hole filled in now. Really gorgeous, and a clear winner from this selection chez DsD.
But which one to stick the pin into? Also no contest: pass me my 12-gauge, and load that PSB disc into the clay trap . . . . “PULL!” BANG!! BANG!!
Ah, now you’ve set me off on one of my little rants, Rich…
I had been wondering who would be the first to mention ‘arch’ with reference to the PSBs. I actually think they rarely are. (Or even ‘affected’.) I think there’s a misconception that because their songwriting displays wit, erudition and intelligence, they somehow lack sincerity. Take this particular song for example. I think there’s actually something very emotionally honest and vulnerable about it: “You’re breaking my heart…” What is arch about that? Even a song like Rent, which could appear arch, I suppose, is a character study of someone for whom what should be profound emotional connections have been reduced to shallow commercial transactions. And there’s poignancy in that, no?
And which of us hasn’t undercut a moment of vulnerability – as we expose something painful or shaming to us – with a witticism or joke (eg, It’s a Sin’s “For everything I long to do/No matter when or where or who…”)? I find that sort of touch adds an extra layer to the emotional expression. It’s too painful to look at or express directly, so we deflect; we try to appear wry, nonchalant even. But is anyone really fooled? Again, very poignant.
As for the voice, well, I think that may just be how Neil Tennant sings. It’s certainly fairly similar to his speaking voice! I can understand that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think therein kind of lies the PSBs’ strength: he’s clearly not a ‘regular bloke’ but he’s got the guts to say, “This is who I am. This is my experience of the world. Take it or leave it.” There’s something moving about that sort of courage. But of course, his experiences will resonate with some and not with others, so I can understand why the PSBs are not for you!
OK, Bish. I’ll pick up that gauntlet, but it’ll have to be tonight now: busy for the rest of the day. Cheers.
Ha! No hurry. As you can doubtless tell, I’ve spent too much time pondering this view of the PSBs (which is admittedly a widely held one) – and rather enjoyed the opportunity to expound upon it!
* Crap! I’m beginning to sound like Chris, aren’t I? *
…well, no, not really DsD. I was never a Liverpool schoolboy, I very rarely indulge in Scottish dialogue, I’ve never used the phrase ‘guitar-centric’ in my life, I have no idea who Jim Irvin is and you have made no references to drumming. Or is it just the general meh tone you’re referring to?!
I’ll have to listen now, won’t I? To provide comments for comparison. And risk hurting bish’s feelings. At least I can blame you now.
I must admit, Chris, you did spring to mind as the Spiller least likely to find anything to enjoy in this list. Having posted a more ‘credible’ list last time, I’m feeling secure enough in my tastes to take a bit of criticism, so don’t worry too much about hurting my feelings! (Although I may start riffing on my thoughts in response to feedback, as with DsD and the PSBs below!) That said, don’t put yourself through 45 minutes of listening if the experience is going to be unmitigated torture. I will forgive you for skipping this week’s list if that’s likely to be the case!
Ha! Too late. Deed done!
Yes, Chris, it was indeed “just the ‘meh’ tone” in relation to metronomic synth-drivne pop I was referring to. No offence intended, but a readback of my own comment did make me wince. Sorry. And yeah, blame me, by all means – seems to be my raison d’être at the moment anyway.
Cheers, you two. Off for me tea.
DsD -
Are you ok for next week’s list?
I hope so, Amy, but there is still the possibility that my schedule could get stuck in the blender and turned up to “Liquidize”! If I think I may have to duck out, do I contact a sub, or do we just miss my week (and I’ll go to the back of the queue)?
DsD -
Would you want to switch? I’m scheduled for the 12th, if that’s easier, (and i’ll do the 5th) it’s no problem for me at all.
YES PLEASE!
DsD -
Done!
this was a great list…agree nearly word for word with everything barbryn said….except for St. Etienne of course, which literally made me cringe with every single note and lyric……brrrr…….
Lose St. Etienne naturally and keep Carter (had this on some kind of compilation at the time) and Blur.
Of the new-to-me tracks, liked Furniture and Robyn the best – cheers!
I listened to some of every song, hoping I could get past the rhythm track. I managed it with a few. Could I then get past the dramatic/amateur vocal deliveries? Not often.
Kudos to Blur (well, Damon) for their imagination and for being relaxed.
Kudos to Santogold for some sonic variety and for not overdoing the end-of-song repeats.
[Muso note: the Saint Etienne song is based on the standard 'Pachabel's canon' chord sequence and several lines end with a suspended fourth.]
It would be unfair of me to pick one song to ditch, so they can all stay. Just keep (most of) them away from me!
DsD made me do it, bish!
(I met Neil Tennant’s sister once. She seemed quite nice despite continually being asked if it was true, y’know, about the band name…….)
Very restrained, Chris! As I say, I didn’t expect you to find much to enjoy here. Next time (if we all do another round of this game), I’ll not be quite so synth-heavy in my picks.
What I find interesting yet unfathomable, bish, is that I very often agree with your views (on Earworms & these challenges). Yet you can listen to interminable machine-like repetition quite happliy whilst dismissing people who are trying to play instrumental tunes as uninvolving (my choice of words indicates my opposing position).
I wonder if it’s simply that age-old teenage/musical era question again?
I think it must be, Chris. That and the fact that I’m really quite basic/short-attention-spanny in my tastes: I usually just want a catchy or involving melody in my music, irrespective of what it’s played on. It’s probably MTV’s fault. Or punk’s. Or something.
Hi Bish!
Don’t have time to listen to all these right now (I’ll be back…) but I will say this: forget New Order, MGMT are truly ‘white boys who can’t really sing’. Ever hear the parody of them in the Four Chord Song by Axis of Awesome?
Nope, never heard of that/them – will check it out!
Ooh, I actually know most of these, which is weird as I don’t consider myself a pop fan. I liked most of the songs, new to me were Santogold and the MGMT track. I wouldn’t drop any of them, they work well in the list.
Oooh ! Spoilt for choice ! Hated every single one of them bar, amazingly, Santogold.
I can’t really “do” the 80s. I was kind of absent from popular culture at the time and bands like Carter and New Order mean less than zilch to me.
I find them intensely annoying ( I’m sure they’d say the same about me)
Ubuette has the MGMT albums and I’ve tried to like them, honest, I should really because I love wibbly noises but something about them just puts the hackles up.
But, If I have to choose one then it’s Carter. Total antipathy to everything they have ever done.
Apart from that enjoyed it .
Tee hee. Thanks for listening anyway, ‘ubu.
Don’t know any of these but have already spotted the one to go. ’80s pop passed me by, too, but let’s have a go:
CUSM – quite like this, good voice, up-beat, though has that repetitive disco beat thing which seems to typify the era.
Furniture – hate the voice, sorry.
OMD – Yep, plinky – and plonky.
Patrick Wolf – Fireworks? Better get the cat in … oh, I see. Yeah, OK.
Blur – quite like Blur. Don’t tell anyone.
New Order – More ’80s drum beat.
MGMT – like the beginning. It’s a bit Gary Numan.
Santogold – catchy.
Robyn – yep, good voice, my favourite so far.
PSB – can’t stand PSB, this is the one to jettison for me. Not ‘cos I think they’re affected but just because I hate the sound. (Down there with Morrisey and Meatloaf in the “No! No! Switch it off! heap). Sorry.
St Etienne – not for me but pleasant enough.
Thanks for a courageous list, I’m struggling to think of anything interesting to put in mine!
Ok, Bish, i’m going to feel really bad here. Just chalk it up to the fact that i haven’t done any blow since the 80′s, and i tried E once and hated it. And that i’m starting to think that a synth to me is like long guitar solos to others.
What to keep -
I really did like Blur a lot. That was fun. Couldn’t listen to a lot of MGMT, but i do think they sound different that a lot of other synth pop, and they’re pretty good. Loved Santogold. Robyn surprisingly quite catchy, guilty pleasure there. PSB – I’m actually a fan, and i love his voice, it’s soothing to me. But this one i would have liked to hear an Unplugged version, way too synthy for me. St. Etienne – not my thing, but actually a nice break from the synths!
What to toss – I’m afraid take your pick of the remainders
But i do agree with Ali – it’s a courageous list. Thanks, Bish!
Thanks Amy (and Ali and everyone else – never know if replying to everyone is ‘too much’!). I think you’ve been remarkably kind in your feedback!
Updated Schedule -
Feb 5 – DsD
Feb 12 – Amy
Feb 19 – Panther
Feb 26 – Ali
March 5 – Severin
March 12 – Punky
March 19 – Fintan
March 26 – Beltway
April 2 – SHA
April 9 – Tfd
April 16 -
April 23 -
April 30 -
OK, trying to find the right words for my aversion to the PSBs:
Why do I use the word “arch” about Neil T.? Well, pinching the definition of …
… I cannot square the circle of the “wit, erudition … intelligence … very emotionally honest and vulnerable” you describe with the unfailingly deadpan delivery and flat* vocals I feel Neil foists upon us. I always thought there was an attempt at projecting a cool reserve, simply as a deliberate way of hiding NT’s lack of technical ability as a singer. Twenty-odd years on, I’m sure that’s a criticism that’s no longer valid, but I was so turned off years ago that me & the PSBs are now too far apart to ever come together again.
* I don’t mean the musical flat (♭); I mean the lack of range [up & down the octaves]. Oh hell, I’m gonna tie my music-technician-dunce-self in knots if I head down this route! Please everyone, don’t pick me up on this point.
Re “affectation” – ah, OK, I may have picked the wrong word there, if you want to pick the definition that says …
… as I accept there is little difference between NT’s speaking & singing voices. (How can I not, given my argument above?) But if you take the definition
… then I must refer the honourable gentleman to my earlier point.
When you add in the difference between the PSBs genre/style and my own musical proclivities generally, I’m afraid I’m too set in my ways to give them any more of my time than it took to listen to your list.
*sigh*
D’yunno: when me’n'you finally get our act together about SR’s suggestion from last year, I reckon the discussions may be more entertaining than the music!!!
Pax?
*offers handshake, more in hope than expectation*
Oh definite pax! And sorry if I came across as tetchy or defensive about the PSBs. I didn’t mean to – it’s just a little bugbear of mine! I really can see why his voice is a major turnoff for lots of people. Of course I quite like that they have been such a successful act despite having a singer who “can’t” sing – it wouldn’t happen in this X Factor era… But that’s another story!
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Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine are great because the NME didn’t like them – this is was Select and the truly subversive Smash Hits were so much better than the dead weekly inkie.
They were also great because it was the type of thing my big brother didn’t like – and my dad would despair at – sampler, synths and drum machines – was not ‘real music’.
Well, I’m an 80′s kid – I seriously hate the ’60′s template of ‘real music’.
101 Damnations – 30 Something – 1992 – The Love Album
are more important LP’s to me and say more about the pressures of life and times in the UK while I was growing up – through black humour, cynicism, wordplay and puns – than any of the revered dinosaurs that were shoved down our throats to ‘admire and worship’. Our mum’s and dad’s music? they just tweaked the blues and rock ‘n’ roll – it weren’t that special – get over it.
Punks idea of; anyone can get on stage and be ‘in a band’ – well, it wasn’t achieved till the likes of New Order (just carrying on with the help of technology) and perfected by Carter (press play on the tape Anytime Anyplace Anywhere) , was it? – 70′s UK punk still has the same sound as a bad bar band from any era – they didn’t do anything new except say ‘poo’ to their elders, wear entertaining clothes and get covered in snot.
Not a revelation in music – just a revolution in trousers, with hairstyles stolen from native Americans.
I did like the fanzines – that was cool – but the ’80 even did that better by being able to go – sod it – let’s publish it as a magazine not just photocopy it.
I mean decent punk had already been created by the Velvet Underground – by a commercial lyricist who knew how to craft pop and sell. Produced by a money spinning artists and containing a classically trained musician – it wasn’t anyone can have a go.
UK punk bridged out in the 80′s – with vastly superior bands and the realisation that they could only make something interesting with a unique viewpoint and direction. Not just playing the same old crap, badly.
Now ignore punk and think about Blur – Britpop was interesting a retrograde step harking back to 60-70′s standard pop rock – you could play this in a granny farm and it wouldn’t be moaned about. Well crafted music with an ear for a pop hook, it only elevates itself above a million copycats by usually having an interesting turn of phrase in the words. Not a patch on Gorillaz – Gorillaz didn’t stick with the bland tried and tested band format. In the same way that the Clash were just a pub bad with good t-shirts and an ear for a slogan statement – Big Audio Dynamite were a melting pot of spicy ideas messed about with using some stunning imagination – rather than the standard rock blurrrghhh.
This is why the invention of samplers and drum machines are unique, brilliant and life affirming to an 80′s fan – it doesn’t sound like traditional music – that’s why musicians hate it – but people who just want to do something that sounds new – love it. I love new – don’t care if it’s dated in 10 minutes time – I just don’t want it to be like everything else that’s gone before. It’s only a song, sip it up, devour it and spit it out.
But IF it’s only a song then that song must be perfect – Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have written an entire subsection of distinctive music. If Neil Tennant had acquired a Newcastle accent as he grew up and fronted the North East’s equivalent of the Blockheads – then he would be regarded by rock fans as walking in the same steps as Ian Dury – a combination of lyrical poetry, word play, observation of British everyday life, character sketches, and sexual humour… but he didn’t create an image like Dury created his image.
He has an accent that can’t define him to a place – except England – one that is suspiciously educated and defiantly anti- rock and roll (see B side “How I Learned to Hate Rock and Roll”) and the band (ha ‘Band’) didn’t suffer the apprentice steps of stinky, sweaty, back rooms of bars every night for 4 years – they recorded West End Girls and had a smash hit. Diabolical.
Again, if Opportunities (let’s make lots of money) had been written by a grass root Dury or Specials, it would be a socialist anthem to every working class teenager of the time. The brilliance of that sarcasm during Thatcherite Britan is perfection in itself.
The sight of Chris Lowe playing a bassline on a synthesiser keyboard and Tennant ‘singing’. Suited, booted (possible with new panties) but otherwise passive… made me love them wholeheartedly – and to see the previous generations tastemakers scream at TOTP while they knowingly performed to annoy them – was magnificent. Christ Lowe’s one fingered playing was a far superior salute to the rock dinosaurs than any one fingered salute Punk ever achieved.
.
.
small print:
This is written for entertainment only – and may not truthfully represent the whole opinion of my musical taste.
“Our mum’s and dad’s music? they just tweaked the blues and rock ‘n’ roll – it weren’t that special – get over it. “
It’s only rock and roll but i like it, i like it, yes i do!
“It’s only rock and roll but i like it” ….. now if all the writers/adults had used that phrase while I was a teenager it would have been fine… but there have been entire forests cut down to print reams and reams of articles about 60′s rock musicians elevating them to the standards of gods …. It’s only rock and roll, i like it too – but it was worth fighting against it’s influence.
The follow on to this would be a rant about the viral facebook thing about the 100 most Influential Albums… seems like it’s selected by people more my age – boy do they mis-understand the idea of influential and head towards cool/popular/myth – rather than proper analysis.
Thankfully there’s more space for middle aged blokes to bore the pants off the next generation with their blinkered views – but there’s much less condensing of it. Leaving it less of a blanket coverage.
Here’s to now – 100 odd years of popular music searchable and with the ability to listen too – rather than mythologise.
I really do hate those “100 best of” lists of anything. The coffin nail for me was Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists and they didn’t even have Prince on it first time around.
And as for rants – you could easily do a parallel rant to the synth pop one on hip hop and sampling – there are plenty of folks who don’t consider that real music either.
“Yeah! Long live pop fascism! Music for the people, played by the people, in formats, clothes and attitudes designed to be attractive to the people!
Fuck off, musicians! Pretentious, elitist twats! Long live show business for young people!”
- middle-aged bloke to young bloke (or, let’s be honest, old bloke to middle-aged bloke….).
put it this way Chris – (and i’m sure Shane would agree with me on this one) – i consider collage and assemblage to be as viable an art form as, say, painting and sculpture. The best hip hop and dub stuff is aural collage.
i consider collage and assemblage to be as viable an art form as, say, painting and sculpture.
….So do I. Just as long as original painting and sculpture are still being produced because they remain respected artforms and collage artists don’t get over-praised just because they can use a pair of scissors and a pot of glue.
Well, if it’s any consolation, the (very) young bloke (like, Punky’s age) i’m working with tonight has Europe ’72 on his ipod for us to listen to.
middle-aged bloke to older middle-aged bloke:
“Yeah! Long live pop fascism! Music for the people, played by the people, in formats, clothes and attitudes designed to be attractive to the people! Fuck off, musicians! Pretentious, elitist twats! Long live show business for young people!”
I’m sure this is an ‘off the cuff’ reaction, but it’s an interesting response – it’s not actually a response to what I’ve written, is it?
my points in there are:
…that 70′s UK Punk (clothes and attitudes) during my big brothers era were more of a ‘show and pose’ with bad music – as wyngatecarpenter posts attest – better Punk/new wave happened after the posing/posturing into the 80′s – the 70′s bands that I enjoyed weren’t really that ‘get up – anyone can play’ brigade – they were the one’s with a unique perspective and ability to play – maybe not fantastically – but with imagination – and the one’s that ‘can’t play’ that I still love, just have a really unique presence and ability – but it has very little to do with punk.
… I point out Punk had been done better by earlier bands – I use VU as an example because they have a classically trained musician and a singer that was a professional song writer in their mists.
“Fuck off, musicians! Pretentious, elitist twits!” umm where?
next point being:
Why I love the 80′s – because that was an era of anyone could get up and play – more so than just playing the normal instruments badly (that’s if you could afford samplers and synths and drum machines) .. but it was criticised by the 60′s taste makers and musicians – pretentiously, while being elitist and snobs – because they were comparing it, and still comparing it, to a drum kit, a guitar and a bass. IT’S NOT.
They are samplers and synths and drum machines – it can only be compared like for like – are the grateful Dead better than Beethoven?
It’s why New Order and PSB’s are ‘good’ compared to other contemporaries that are well and truly forgotten. They are not The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead or the Beatles – they can not be compared – and needn’t be.
That is what the magazine writers didn’t understand and that is what pissed me off about it not being ‘real’ or ‘good’ or NOT LIKE THEIR BELOVED 60′s bands musically. Different template – different machines (not instruments) –
Chis Lowe can not be criticised for not being Claude Debussy or Brent Mydland – because it isn’t in the same field.
it’s not actually a response to what I’ve written, is it?
Probably not. But I enjoyed venting. Soz.
Amen to all that, Shane – I do love you in free-associating rant mode!
Ta – bish
You imagine if this was an opinion piece on the Guardians site – the amount of name calling and abuse I would have received overnight.
It’s good fun to write – but it has to be remembered this is creative writing too – I could tear apart the details just as much as any rock fan or a punk fan. But it would be a boring life if we just went – “yeah, I like bits of everything”
WOW this is just a BIG slap in the face to EMINEM. I mean, I can see how you could forget the otrhes, but He DID drop an album last year. He DID hop on your song & make it one of the biggest collabos of the year (09). He DID co-sign ur ass .ungrateful SOB, do your research befor you open your mouth Drake
Yeah, that Influential Albums thing is rather silly – much as I love “Peleton” by the Delgados or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, I’m struggling to think of anyone they influenced. (I scored 38/100)
Love the rant above.
clap your hands say yeah – who I love .. wouldn’t get past the “kind of influenced by Talking Heads” stage, would they? rather than being an influence on anyone.
I think I scored 42/100 – but I ‘own’ them – if they’d asked how many of the 100 do I ‘adore’ – the score would have been different.
Taking 10 at a time and discussing who they were influenced by or who they then influenced, would be more fun. Even though I couldn’t resist a list.
Shane, you are a genius!!
For me this is largely a very enjoyable trip down memory lane – I’m familiar with most of these, and of course was formed musically by the early 80s conviction that synthesisers were the future of pop, if not music in general.
CTUSM: haven’t heard this for years – basically a punkier rewrite of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough (which always irritated the hell out of me but this much better), hilarious right-on lyrics. Great.
Furniture: loved this at the time, though I can think of at least twenty better one-hit wonders. Actually it’s pop Joy Division, isn’t it? Great.
OMD: totally my thing, just not quite as good as Souvenir. Great.
Patrick Wolf: um. Not grabbing me at first listen, I’m afraid; reminds me of various things, but in a way that makes me want to go back to earlier records rather than engage with this one. Sorry.
Blur: never a massive fan, mainly because I deeply dislike Damon’s faux-lad vocal style. Great backing track, however.
New Order: great intro, then gets less interesting. Okay.
MGMT: this is one of those relatively contemporary bands I’ve never got round to investigating. Lots of early 80s synthpop in a blender; rather fun, though I don’t like the final mix much. Can’t quite decide if the wibbly synth is on the right side of the line between intriguing and irritating.
Santogold: never heard before and am really enjoying it, though can’t help feeling that a different singer would be an improvement (or maybe a slightly different key – she sounds as if she’s straining too much).
Robyn: it’s clearly a superior version of the genre, but for me this sounds too much like everything else in the mid-00s pop line; perfectly pleasant and danceable, wouldn’t turn the radio off if it came on but wouldn’t seek it out.
Pet Shop Boys: I’m with Bish on this apart from the fact that I’d see them competing in the Top 3 pop acts of the last thirty years rather than being clear winners. As someone who’s spent most of his life concealing vulnerability beneath apparent nonchalance and excessive Englishness, I have no problem at all with the idea that this is both reserved and deeply emotional
St Etienne: pop heaven as far as I’m concerned, though it’s a long way down my list of favourite St Etienne songs.
To sum up, if you set aside the free jazz thing, I’m an early 80s pop kid at heart. And possibly Bish’s long-lost cousin or something. One to ditch: tricky, but I think Patrick Wolf is the unfamiliar song that least inclined me to listen again or investigate any further. One to save out of all of them: much, much trickier, but I think that PSP, OMD and St Etienne have all done better songs, so it has to be CTUSM (their best song?), followed by Furniture.
I nominated Love Your Shoes – during …. wait for it … wait for it – RRshoes….
from the same album – so, not one hit wonders to me.
Furniture – Love Your Shoes
This is just such a great line:
incredibly 80′s sounding!
Ah yes, Love Your Shoes was probably a minor hit too, wasn’t it? I was always rather obsessed with Song For A Doberman from their second album, Food, Sex and Paranoia – they did know how to name songs/albums!
ha not mentioning 50? Black Magic is gonna be the hoetstt album this year!and Hunger For More Part 2? I here Beamer Benz more than that gay ass Over shit Oh yea an Max Biggavelli is bout to be home and he’s droppin Vigilante Season! fuck Drake Eminems Relapse 2!Detox! man drake is the fuckin least I would cop fuck Ross,and wack ass jeezy and love struck Kanye all gay ass hell!
“What a shite opening. Hazel Dean” Plays with the dial. Comes back to Radio 1. “Fucking hell! It’s referencing Barbara Dickson.” Goes all around the dial. Hears lyrics about “greboes”. “Oh gotta hear that!” says a young Fuel, while simultaneously realising PWEI and guitars are obviously bigger in the hi-nrg circles than he thought. Finally hears the song again a while later and realises there’s even a bit before the Hazel Dean. “Better not tell anyone what I initially thought that was, I’ll never regain my street cred.”
I actually have seven of these in my collection (a couple on burnt CDs). I would drop OMD. Actually, it’s a song that’s wonderful in my head but only there, although I’d like to hear a Sham 69 cover version of it. Hersham Boys Tesla Girls.
The keeper is tied between Furniture and Saint Etienne. Love the way “Hobart Paving” could go all epic ballad but doesn’t
Carter, MGMT, Robyn and Santogold all get thumbs up from me. The rest I will try and have a listen later, Bish.
I’d have thought I quite liked a bit of 80s pop, but it turns out I can only’ve been listening til 5 past 1980…
The Robyn track I’d heard before, but not most of the others – most of ‘em were OK, wouldn’t make me run from the room screaming (apart from some OTT synth sections), but on the whole not too bovvered. Quite liked the Furniture sound, but the song didn’t grab me. Guess this is the 80s9/0s disco bit where I’d go and top up my shandy. Sorry, Bish.
I’d keep Santogold in memory of ejaydee!
For some reason CUSM mostly irritated me at the time. I’m not sure I can even remember why. I’m fine with drum machines so it wasn’t that. I did buy the 12 inch of After The Watershed which kind of changed my mind about them.
This I quite enjoyed. Not loved mind.
Furniture – Other way around. I remember loving this at the time – just quite enjoyed it now.
OMD – I liked them and feel I must have heard this before but it rings no bells at all. I do love that plinkety eighties synth sound. It seemed futuristic then but really quaint now. Kept thinking “Painter Man” and “Hersham Boys” when they got to the chorus. OK but I prefer Enola Gay and Joan of Arc.
Patrick Wolf – Who he? May need some more listens because I just didn’t get him on the one hearing. Hang on, I’ve just had a second go and it’s getting better. I think his voice might be more suited to the kind of musical backing Marc Almond works with these days.
Blur – Again, I only know a few of the most well-known tracks but I did like this. He sounds a bit like Steve Harley or Ian Hunter on this one dunnee?
New Order – is this a demo? I like New Order but I’m not at all sure about this. It seemed to lack something. Garlic probably.
MGMT – I liked this. Is it famous? Why don’t I know it then? Is it cool? Well I am too for liking it.
Santogold – New to me again. God, I feel iggerent. Liked it well enough but not enough to seek out any other tracks.
Robin – Pop! Yes this is pop and all the better for it. Nice voice.
Pet Shop Boys – I’m a fan in general (except for “Being Boring” which I hate). This jogged along nicely. I think his singing voice is sincere just not very extrovert. Plaintive rather than emotive.
St Etienne – Oh now this is gorgeous. I said it before I must seek out a compilation soonest.
Keep St Etienne deffo and – surprisingly – ditch New Order
Wlaks off humming……….
Tesla girls Tesla girls – laced up boots and corduroys
Tesla girls Tesla girls – who wanna be a Tesla girl?
Yo Bish. I’m way late to this. Sorry. Today was all sunshine & temps warm enough to do windows inside & out. That meant the music went to. The neighborhood was considerably less sedentary after. It’s possible the neighbors could have video of me dancing round the patio. Couldn’t resist. Surprisingly the New Order left me wanting so guess it’s on the raft. The rest are welcome aboard this desert ship with Blur & St Etienne (never heard that before. Man that’s exquisite) at the Captain’s table.