OK, the regurgitation of post-punk has been ongoing for some years now, chronologically speaking it's surely time young hip bands revived new pop, isn't it?

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And lo, Pitchfork sing the praises of new pop:

http://pitchforkmedia.com/features/weekly/new-pop/index.shtml

pitchfork's new pop top 40:
1. All My Heart - ABC
2. Party Fears Two - the Associates
3. The Sweetest Girl - Scritti Politti
4. Two Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
5. Don't You Want Me? - the Human League
6. Ghost Town - the Specials
7. Blue Monday - New Order
8. Beat Box - the Art of Noise
9. Ghosts - Japan
10. Blue Boy - Orange Juice
11. Cars - Gary Numan
12. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell
13. Dog Eat Dog - Adam and the Ants
14. Fascist Groove Thing - Heaven 17
15. C30 C60 C90 Go! - Bow Wow Wow
16. Poison Arrow - ABC
17. Geno - Dexy's Midnight Runners
18. Our House - Madness
19. Buffalo Gals - Malcom McClaren
20. Rio - Duran Duran
21. Dr. Mabuse - Propaganda
22. Happy Birthday - Altered Images
23. Wood Beez - Scritti Politti
24. Club Country - the Associates
25. Love Action - the Human League
26. Relax - FGTH
27. It's Kinda Funny - Josef K.
28. Confusion - New Order
29. Moments In Love - Art of Noise
30. Fade To Grey - Visage
31. Reward - Teardrop Explodes
32. A Promise - Echo and the Bunnymen
33. Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
34. Burning Car - John Foxx
35. Wham! Rap - Wham!
36. I Will Follow - U2
37. Promised You A Miracle - Simple Minds
38. Time - Culture Club
39. Enola Gay - OMD
40. Give Me Back My Heart - Dollar

I'm not too sure they all count as new pop as I understand the term. But whatever.

― Slavoj Zizek's slutty younger sister, Monday, 12 September 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

wow, mindblowing. they just keep on digging. no way would these be familiar to anyone who'd been to a provincial nightclub in the last two decades, no sir.

― N_RQ, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:08 (twenty years ago)

It was also set against the other music making pop interesting at the time, at least by the music press: rave, rap, and r&b

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

New Radicals!

― Duderz, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

Blimey, I've got 31 of these as vinyl singles.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

'freak like me' was more than three years ago

― N_RQ, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

wow, mindblowing. they just keep on digging. no way would these be familiar to anyone who'd been to a provincial nightclub in the last two decades, no sir.

Well, from an anglocentric perspective you've got a point. Pitchfork is American, though, and I don't suppose Josef K, Teardrop Explodes etc. have really been flogged to death in nightclubs up and down the country there.

― Slavoj Sisek's slutty younger sister, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

the article is odd. it says none of the bands are united by much -- iow, 'here are some bands from the early 80s'.

― N_RQ, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

I'm sorry, that's horrid. It's like those articles that appear in the broadsheet newspapers where they pick, say, four acts that have appeared in the charts recently, and draw some invisible lines between them, and, hello, we have a "movement".

Are Josef K really indictive of a move away from "wanting to sell a few 7 inches" and making the move into big bucks?

It was also the era when the term "rockist" entered into the public lexicon.

lol

When the album stiffed, however, the public increasingly felt insulted by the pomo antics of Horn and Morley's ZTT label. Howard Jones seemed like a safer bet.

Yes, that stiffed album that got to #1. Howard Jones' album released a month later than "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" got to, ummm, #15. If you. If you actually know jackshit about British musical culture, please stick to talking about American kthx.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

TS: "New Pop" vs "New Leeds"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

dom you still write for stylus, right?

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:26 (twenty years ago)

(sorry, cheap shot.)

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Man, I know what it's like to be called out on the internet:

http://www.thetrousers.co.uk/issues/one/editorial.htm

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

Of course, there are always exceptions, particularly in the US where mags like Venus, ROCKRGRL & a number of others are setting things to rights.

god bless you.

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

Go in peace.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

Seriously though, that list reads like a "Worst provincial nightclub ever" playlist. 2.1/10

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

dom, you have to write a totally uninformed piece on dc punk to get even.

― N_RQ, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

If that's the WORST list, the best one must be so good nobody ever leaves it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

Supposing you don't know jackshit etc...?

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

how is that not the point, dom?

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

"I know they were aiming for huge pop hits, but their obscure singles are really their best work."

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

I look over the list again and the only song I'd remove if I were told to DJ that would be Ufrickin'2, but I would.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

and in 20 years it's all "Worst provincial nightclub ever"

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

our children: "god, not 'no diggity' AGAIN!"

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

Is your argument that "new pop" reflects the time when smalltown Britain was finally able to get a leg up over on "the big cities" then? Ie, Essex become the centre of Britain for a few years, reflection of Thatcherism, ideology overcoming pragmatism? And thus the seeds of destruction were sown by the 1987 recession?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

And if so, the Simply Red track should have been "Money's Too Tight To Mention"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

Hal, Magic Numbers etc

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

In twenty years' time the Pixies become classic rock without ever getting much airplay over here at all! Now that's success!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

Hal are the utter bullshit sandwich stew. I would kill them if I could. I would hang them up by their nose hairs.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

my argument is that "new pop" was a time when a bunch of weirdos and chancers made the pop charts interesting for a while, sometimes on both sides of the atlantic, i.e. same as every loosely tethered "movement" ever.

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

So it's basically a "Top 50 singles 1980-1985" disguised under a seperate name?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

"my argument is that "new pop" was a time when a bunch of weirdos and chancers made the pop charts interesting for a while"

this wd work if the late 70s or late 80s were not interesting, chartwise, which, um, isn't the case!

― N_RQ, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

er, Jess, this bit on the top of Page 2: "When Yes split, Morley chose to go into production full-time. "

might need to be altered ;)

― carson dial (carson dial), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

yeah because clearly run-dmc, prince, minor threat, wayne smith, rockers revenge, tenor saw, chaka khan, et al would all fit here.

xpost: umm...enrique, i think yr reading comp needs some work. one doesn't negate the other.

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

i mean, i know it's young! vibrant! british! thinkers! rushing to defend the motherland from interlopers but uh jeezus guys

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

Jess, I think Enrique's trying to say: Morley != Horn.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

The number one is correct. It should be number one in every chart ever.

I daren't read the article.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

'Scuse, not Enrique -- Carson. xpost confusion!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i got that ned.

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

my g/f asked for 'everything counts' at a provincila niterie, and they played 'just can't get enough'.

― N_RQ, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard of most of these songs, so Slajov's point is well taken. I also don't know or care from number 1's, representativeness(having never heard the term 'new pop' until today) or, indeed the article in general. Typical pitchfork reader iow, except I don't read Pitchfork. Are the songs any good or what?

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

Uh yes. Nearly all of them are utterly fantastically great.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

Basically, the article is the equivalent of Britishes writing about baseball.

"It's like rounders, except it's played by Cubans rather than schoolgirls"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

you guys are so dismissive of americans i'm surprised you ever developed anything of a musical culture past skiffle and old folk music

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

I thought it was a good piece. I only think I know a quarter of those songs.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 12 September 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

Basically, the article is the equivalent of Britishes writing about baseball.

No, basically, the article is a few hundred words targeting American kids who didn't live through that period in that country, and consequently don't know much about the music, and are probably much better conversant with the post-punk stuff that came before, due to the post-punk revival. As such, I really can't see what's wrong with the article. You guys are getting a bit anal.

― Slavoj Zizek's slutty younger sister, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

a few hundred?! this thing nearly killed me!

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the article didn't really tell me anything that I didn't know, but then I've just finished Rip It Up And Start Again, and I'm something of a Morley obsessive (plus I'm British). For anybody who doesn't know much about the era (which I guess is quite a bit of PF's audience), it's a good introduction to some of the highlights of that era. Can't quite see the problem with it at all...

― carson dial (carson dial), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:00 (twenty years ago)

re: josef k - alan horne and postcard certainly wanted hits, they just never had any.

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

Very good article i think, although I would say that if you've just finished reading 'Rip It Up...' some of the arguments and even the descriptions sound somewhat familiar. Nowt wrong with that tho, as they all seem pretty much spot on to me.

― Robin Goad (rgoad), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

ned I thank you.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

But to answer the question on top of this page: would't that be even more pointless?

― JoB (JoB), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

if a "hip young band" was to really "revive" new pop, they'd be aiming for the charts and not ripping off abc. (likewise if "hip young band" was to really "revive" post-punk, they'd be ripping off dancehall or something instead of ripping off pil riffing on dub.)

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

That's a fucking brilliant list of records. Dunno if I'll bother w/the article, though.

Apart from that, what the fuck are you people on about?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:37 (twenty years ago)

i really dont blame any british person for not wanting to read this article...but pitchfork is an american website. (you can tell because we don't overdo the "u"'s in words that don't need 'em.)

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

but pitchfork is an american website

But Tuning Fork called you people out for reviewing Goldfrapp on its UK release date, not its American one!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

I've been to many dodgy provincial nightclubs and I don't remember ever hearing Josef K, John Foxx or Art of Noise at any of them*.

(*I may have been rather drunk at some of them though).

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

I don't much read "articles" about music anywhere now tbh, jess. Online, print, uk, uk, wtfe. I just can't get that interested in people writing about music, sorry.

The upside of this is I can't get interested in writing anything about music either, so people are spared my pointless trivial badly-written bullshit.

I played john foxx at a club back in the eighties. it cleared the floor, har.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:44 (twenty years ago)

i wasn't specifically directing that at you, pash, but i understand. i find it hard to get interested in music writing too, but editing will do that to you ha ha.

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 15:48 (twenty years ago)

Part of it is that do I had where I got sick of listening to music w/beats in it (I started a thread abt in on ile that had some pretty good answers) which I never really got over. I'm still sick of hearing shit drummers & electronic kick "fours", plus the whole "i've heard it before" thing kind of reached critical mass. I mean, the article linked to above, is it kind of promoting the idea that new bands should sound like the acts listed? wtf is the point if so? I mean back then, eh, bah, fuck it.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

Surely Jess isn't saying that, Pash -- rather, it's an invocation of spirit and possibilities instead of preset guidelines. The list happens to be one documentation of the possible highlights of a time, place and context.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

http://www.thetrousers.co.uk/issues/one/editorial.htm

Holy hot shit, how did I miss this? This must be the crowning achievement of your career, Dom, made 100x more brilliant by the fact that you LOOOOOOVE Tori Amos and defend Courtney Love past the point of even the most forgiving feminist.

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

OK I actually read the article (apols for ass-uming there, j), and it is actually really good, and a good representation of what I remember the whole "new pop" thing being about. (I'm not just saying this b/c you wrote it, it is a good piece) Haircut 100, though, they got the biggest push w/r/t "new pop"/"new pop sensibility" iirc. Also, Smash Hits was a big, er, well a big something at the time. It did push it all pretty hard & probably had more influence on yer actual pop record buyer than morley. Oh no!

Also, "Vienna" is fucking great, wtf.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

yeah, one thing i do regret not talking about more is smash hits and the face...but i have seen less copies of those than morley-era nme.

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

Dom, at what point did you become a gigantic idiot?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

New Pop = Explicitly commercial music from the early-80's by British homosexuals and British heterosexuals that were inevitably branded homosexual by your father.

I just saved everyone a long list.

― Cunga (Cunga), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

Dom, at what point did you become a gigantic idiot?

Do continue.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

Is that your final answer?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

http://www.chessbase.com/images2/2002/millionaire2.jpg

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

"Amazingly it took Collins 14 years to score an honest-to-goodness pop hit."

but...

Position Artist Title Date
8 Orange Juice Rip It Up Feb 1983

― jive session (elwisty), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

"Ghost Town" and Josef K seem really out of place to me on that list, but what do I know, I'm from San Diego.

As the target demographic for that article (American, hits-only knowledge of new-pop era, huge pussy), I thought it was pretty interesting.

Any time Pitchfork makes a list (or Jess writes anything), SOMEONE has to write the "OMG it's the end of the world, Pitchfork is such garbage" response, so good for Dom for filling the void.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Monday, 12 September 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

and in response to the original statement: dogs die in hot cars!

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 12 September 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

18. Our House - Madness

What?! Madness only 18?! They should be a top ten shoo-in for sure. MADNESS INVENTED SKA

― 1337 dood3z (1337 dood3z), Monday, 12 September 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

New Pop = Explicitly commercial music from the early-80's by British homosexuals and British heterosexuals that were inevitably branded homosexual by your father.
I just saved everyone a long list.

probably the most otm thing in this thread

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Monday, 12 September 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

That's the wrong Orange Juice song. "Blueboy" was probably chosen as a good track from the latest compilation CD, however it exhibits the late 70's/punk influence of DIY, disregard for production and tuning and is a jangly guitar song through and through. Isn't New Pop supposed to be clean, forward looking funky pop-soul or something? Should have been "Intuition Told Me So", "I Can't Help Myself" or "Lean Period".

By the way I reckon "New Pop" is like Freakbeat: a genres which never existed at the time but is part of the endless re-pigeonholing of bands and music to make marketing more convenient. Cars, Confusion, Geno, Blue Monday, Our House and others listed above have been played to death ever since they were released. Is redefining them as "New Pop" an attempt to refresh their appeal? By the way, if someone replies that "New Pop DID exist at the time because Paul Morley used the term in '83" I think you will find he wasn't talking about Madness, Gary Numan or the Specials.

Anyway, one SERIOUS omission is "You've Got The Power" by Win.

― everything, Monday, 12 September 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

a lot of it was chosen because a.) it fit the nominal template and b.) i liked it because c.) i wanted to have enough stuff on there for my cheesy "top 40" formalism conceit.

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

and i'm not going to lie and say the existence of reynolds' book wasn't the spark that led to scott and i to thinking we could present this stuff to the clap yr hands say duh audience. (not that many americans have even read the book yet.)

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

(hence the addendum miccio suggested i add now at the bottom of the intro.)

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

x post

I know it's the wrong Orange Juice song. The piece seems to suggesting Orange Juice never scored a top 40 hit when they did.

Isn't New Pop supposed to be clean, forward looking funky pop-soul or something?

ie Rip It Up. it does seems a little strange missing this out...

― jive session (elwisty), Monday, 12 September 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

I wish Slavoj Zizek's new wife had started this thread.

(Great article, Jess)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 12 September 2005 17:39 (twenty years ago)

I thought it was a fine article, though I'd quibble with a few of the choices, Specials/Madness, fine though they are, too 'retro' to fit in.

However the statement Pop music in the early 1980s was still segregated in a way that may be impossible for someone born after 1990 to ever fully understand, can't go unchallenged. Maybe in the US, but if anything in the UK pop was probably more integrated than in any time since. Check out the stuff Imagination, Shalamar or Evelyn King's 'Love come down' (which is ABC's Look of love by all accounts) were producing at the time to see what I mean. It's the breakdown of barriers which is implictly acknowledged in the article which allowed so many chancers, misfits and eccentrics to burst into the mainstream.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 12 September 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

well that's the peril of trying to squeeze everything into around a thousand words. early mtv is the most obvious example of what i was trying to get at. (if i had the space, i'd also have wanted to talk about how the lack of "white artists playing with black pop" in 2005 isn't necessarily a good thing...though i suppose the last time i wished for such a thing, i got nu-metal so uh...)

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 12 September 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

so are there in fact bands out now that are trying to revive some of these specific sounds (as opposed to the principle)? it was a while before i came around to a lot of these 'awkward soul' kind of records - i guess i really mean abc and orange juice as opposed to human league or josef k (which seem more plausible somehow)

― dave k, Monday, 12 September 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

and in response to the original statement: dogs die in hot cars!
-- CharlieNo4 (starsandheroe...), September 12th, 2005 1:05 PM. (Charlie) (later) (link)

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 12 September 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, it took me a good five minutes to remember that Scott wasn't writing this -- though possibly that's just because I first heard a lot of this stuff through him to begin with. Maybe Pitchfork really is going new-pop: around Intonation Ryan had a stack of early-80s The Face issues in his apartment. Every issue = Marxism, men in makeup, McLaren says something clever, new plastic-chair object design.

The bands I originally thought of as harking back to this period came from a different set -- American indie bands doing snazzy cleaned-up new wave, which captures the chart ambition of this set but none of the forward-thinking in terms of genre influences and technology. I wrote a whole thing about the Strokes being the Romantics and wondering if they'd touch off a wave of bands doing weirdo chart-candy (cf New Pop), but of course they're comforting traditionalists on some level, and so the bands that have taken that path are even more rock-band traditionalists. I still do think the approach is something we could desperately use more of, though -- i.e., less casual slotting into a demographic, and more ambitious / accessible oddball pop music, something I feel like I got from the top 40 when I was young (early 80s) and from college radio indie when I was slightly less young (late 80s). It seems somehow appropriate that the Sugarcubes get mentioned in here, since "Birthday" tends to be my go-to reference for the kind of odd-pop spirit a lot of these acts made work so well. (Only difference being that New Pop oddness worked by being total drama-queen and/or camp and/or dead-serious, whereas college radio oddness often worked by not really thinking anyone would hear your stuff anyway.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 12 September 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

"The Sweetest Girl" did make the Top 75 in Britain although its chart position was listed as not available -- it reached #64 in the U.K.

The Scrits created one masterpiece of an album, though? Awww! I love Cupid and Psyche, no question, but Songs to Remember is even more fabulous methinks.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: Let this bastard out, and you'll get whiplash! (Eastern Mantr, Monday, 12 September 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

And Provision and Anomie and Bonhomie have their supporters here too.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 12 September 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

Indeed -- I might be one of them, too, once I get around to acquiring both.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: Let this bastard out, and you'll get whiplash! (Eastern Mantr, Monday, 12 September 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

goign back to the thread's title - aren't "the bravery" doing a duran duran thing already? completely redundant in any case.

― phil turnbull (philT), Monday, 12 September 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

I thought the article was quite good, especially the penultimate graph, but find it odd that it was written by the same feller who was all "oh please" about LTM reissues just a li'l bit ago

and by "odd" I mean "bullshit"

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 12 September 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

im british and i thought it was pitched pretty well (though this is an era i'm really not overly familiar with). as others have said, im not sure about madness/specials fitting in, but they sort of did at the same time. i dont think of josef k fitting in either, but, then again, ive never heard them

someone forgot a flock of seagulls!

is it likely that the concept/aesthetic of 'new pop' revivalism, could catch on in america today? in fact, is it likely it could catch on in england? i dont know, its possible that it might seem too electroclashy (and hence, only relatively recently out of fashion) visually

then again, all revivals seem sort of implausible for a while, and are reconfigured in ways you didnt really think of

― terry lennox. (gareth), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

Xenomania, Annie, Richard X, Jacques Lu Cont, Gwen Stefani, Robyn, maybe even Fannypack - all very new pop. Killers, new Franz F single - a bit new pop.

(Jess you may say as much in yr article, I haven't read it yet, I just thought I'd reply to the thread title).

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

As these records directly soundtracked my youth I was entertained by this well meaning list. It's not bad, but Scritti are up way too high. I mean, they were obscure obscure even as the token 'musical' offering on C81. The public never heard them at the time.
Here's some dull complaints-
The JDs played Northern Soul, not disco- that's why they paid up for using someone else's bassline on Unknown Pleasures.

The Bowie/glam stream in British pop was so prevalent that I used to go to parties so Bowist that the only music played that wasn't by Bowie was Bowie connected. Raw Power!

This can be seen as a victory of the provincial at a time when London was offering Spandau Sodding Bally and something shit involving Elms or Chris Sullivan, only matched for comedy naffness by Duran. Ignoring this is like calling baseball a girls game.

Indie records just couldn't chart. Associates had to go to WEA (all their twelves were 69p first week out), Scritti to Virgin, OJ to Polydor to actually have hits. (Factory only hit with New Order, and even then their eternal P and D deals left them pressing unprofitable quantities- eg the famous 'Blue Monday' losses)
The charts were not impermanent either. They moved a lot slower back then.

And give Edwyn more credit. He did have a hit at the time. Simon Reynolds just named a book after it.

― snotty moore, Monday, 12 September 2005 22:28 (twenty years ago)

clap yr hands say duh

Jess wins by a whole lotta points just for this

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

This is very very true.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:37 (twenty years ago)

Scritti Politti's Songs to Remember peaked at #11 when they were still on Rough Trade. A lot of the money RT earned from this went to finance The Smiths. xxpost

― Ian Riese-Moraine: Let this bastard out, and you'll get whiplash! (Eastern Mantr, Monday, 12 September 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure that apart from Rip It Up, OJ had minor chart entries with Flesh Of My Flesh, I Can't Help Myself and Lean Period. Possibly for Bridge and What Presence also.

― everything, Monday, 12 September 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

This was one of the best articles ILM has linked to in a long long time. Beats the hell out of all that boring New York Times dross, that's for sure.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

Now I have to go listen to my dad's ABC records.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 12 September 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

When is Romo coming back then?

― js (honestengine), Monday, 12 September 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

i remember synth pop, new rock, and new wave, but not new pop.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 12 September 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

YO MAN DID YOU COPY THAT ARTICLE FROM MY BOOK I FINK U DID SO ME AND MY BOY WOEBOT ARE GUNA CUM ROUND PITCHFORK AND KICK YR FREAKING ASSSS!!!!!!

LUV GRIMEY SIMEY

ps
SCOTTY SEWEAERD YOU WERE PROABABLY LISTENING TO NEUSROSIS WHEN NEW POP WAS COMING ALL OVVER THE WORLD (FULE!!!!!!!!!"!)
pps
BIG LOVE TO ALLL MY FANS ESPPECIALLY BIGGIN UP TO MY MAN DOM P KEEEP KICKING THE BALLAS IN THEM LOLOS!!! lol lol lololllol (: (; (:

― GRIMEY SIMEY, Monday, 12 September 2005 23:33 (twenty years ago)

the strokes are totally new pop revivalists without even realising it.

― tr 505, Monday, 12 September 2005 23:50 (twenty years ago)

did the article mention the 12"/80's box sets? that list has lots of overlap from those sets. my guess is the writer recently got copies. did p-fork review those compilations?

― biz, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)

jess did iirc

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:11 (twenty years ago)

2005 isn't such a scary place to live, dude.
-- strng hlkngtn (hm...), August 30th, 2005.

― weako wankington, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:13 (twenty years ago)

i almost want to say that the long version of fade to grey is the best thing on that list, but i dunno, i can't really compare it to bow wow wow or adam and the ants. you know? actually, what am i talking about, confusion is the best thing on there. no wait, blue monday. it's not really fair to have BOTH confusion and blue monday on there.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:13 (twenty years ago)

"Hard to believe the band responsible for this slice of proto-twee synth-pop had released a single called "Dead Pop Stars" a year earlier, but these were clearly interesting times."

they were interesting times! and they kinda sucked too. but there was lots of great music to listen to. i woulda picked the 12 inch mix of i could be happy though. it is godhead.

i never ever remember hearing or hearing about josef k. back then. and orange juice were pretty non-existent here too. you should scratch the josef k. song and put "oblivious" or "walk out to winter" on there instead.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:20 (twenty years ago)

christ i get the weakest haters on ilx

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

sign your work, limp dicks!!

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

hey, i did!

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

haha scott i didnt hear any of this except for abc and culture club and wham and duran duran because i was in grade school, so i'm not much bothered by not hearing josef k.

xpost, not you, dammit!

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

josef k was kind of an 11th hour pick becuz i had one space left to fill and it was either that or write about another goddamn abc or art of noise track

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

im a noise dude!

― weako wankington, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

no!

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i know, i was just speaking from personal experience. i listened to tons of it on the radio and on tapes and i bought a lot, but josef k. were never on my radar. but, you know, lots of stuff wasn't. it's just that a lot of stuff on that list WAS on t.v./radio/etc. it's funny what doesn't make it over.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

but they were on a teeny label too. that explains it all actually.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

i downloaded that song when i wrote about it, but i havent heard their other stuff in ages. the nu-wave of punchy british guitar things has kind of made me exhausted with the whole "we're tense and know a disco hi-hat pattern"

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:42 (twenty years ago)

how about bands that sound like metallica?

― weako wankington, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

wait until the brits wake up. "What, no Lotus Eaters!!??"

haha, they won't really say that, but it would be funny if they did.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

jess, is it fun getting ilm's patented pitchfork fish-eye lens pointed in your direction?

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

replace Blue Boy with Rip It Up and Josef K with Haircut 100 and everyone will be happy. Especially Simon, as all the Pitchfork readers are surely ordering his book as we speak...

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 01:06 (twenty years ago)

so, i've read the article and it's very good. if pitchfork hasn't reviewed those 12"/80's boxes, you could change a few tracks and have a whole new review with little effort! easy money.

― biz, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 01:13 (twenty years ago)

Wow, what a shitty list of shitty songs.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 02:46 (twenty years ago)

:-(

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 02:46 (twenty years ago)

What a shitty emoticon.

― President Busch (dr g), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

haha scott i am used to it by now

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)

Jess is the Cliff Richards of interweb music-crit shit magnets.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:39 (twenty years ago)

Or Richard.

Fuck, now I'm going to get it.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:39 (twenty years ago)

Aw, gee Ned.

Taking another's dislike of your favorite band as a deep personal insult - C/D?

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 04:40 (twenty years ago)

What no Red Box??!!???!!

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 08:57 (twenty years ago)

Here's my New Pop Top 50.

1 - Poison Arrow - ABC
2 - Party Fears Two - the Associates
3 - The "Sweetest Girl" - Scritti Politti
4 - Duel - Propaganda
5 - Love Action - Human League
6 - Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
7 - Temptation - New Order
8 - Ghosts - Japan
9 - Poor Old Soul - Orange Juice
10 - Reward - The Teardrop Explodes
11 - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell
12 - Time (Clock Of The Heart) - Culture Club
13 - Our Lips Are Sealed - Fun Boy 3
14 - It's Going To Happen! - The Undertones
15 - Candyskin - Fire Engines
16 - Promised You A Miracle - Simple Minds
17 - Videotheque - Dollar
18 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing - Heaven 17
19 - Cambodia - Kim Wilde
20 - Souvenir - OMD
21 - C30 C60 C90 Go! - Bow Wow Wow
22 - Video Killed The Radio Star - Buggles
23 - Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) - Haircut 100
24 - Sorry For Laughing - Josef K
25 - My Camera Never Lies - Bucks Fizz
26 - Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
27 - Wham Rap - Wham!
28 - Stop That Girl - Vic Godard & The Subway Sect
29 - Baby It's True - Mari Wilson
30 - Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant
31 - Save It For Later - The Beat
32 - The Story Of The Blues - Wah!
33 - Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat
34 - Fade To Grey - Visage
35 - Ever So Lonely - Monsoon
36 - Buffalo Gals - Malcom McClaren
37 - Outdoor Miner - Wire
38 - Forbidden Colours - Sylvian/Sakamoto
39 - Ghost Town - the Specials
40 - Snobbery And Decay - Act
41 - Chant No. 1 - Spandau Ballet
42 - Dog Eat Dog - Adam and the Ants
43 - Beat Box - the Art of Noise
44 - Our House - Madness
45 - Only You - Yazoo
46 - Liars A-E - Dexys Midnight Runners
47 - Don't Talk To Me About Love - Altered Images
48 - I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - Elvis Costello
49 - Cruel Summer - Bananarama
50 - A Song From Under The Floorboards - Magazine

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:14 (twenty years ago)

is it me or does 'the "sweetest"/sweetest girl' stick out a mile?

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:17 (twenty years ago)

Yes indeed KIM WILDE.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:19 (twenty years ago)

I sort of feel like the Tori Alamaze to the collective Pussycat Dolls of the rest of the music blogosphere at the moment...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:19 (twenty years ago)

There's still a music blogosphere??

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:20 (twenty years ago)

Postcard wasn't "New Pop" and neither were the Fire Engines, Dexys, Elvis Costello. Wire - definitely not!!!!! But later Undertones - definitely!

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:20 (twenty years ago)

cabaret voltaire: wither?

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:21 (twenty years ago)

withered and died.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:22 (twenty years ago)

Never exactly pop were they? Despite Paul Morley's (failed) attempts to promote Stephen Mallinder as the handsomest man in Britain.

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

in 'riuasa', the cabs are said to have gone pop.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:32 (twenty years ago)

Morley has had some weird crushes in his past. Cabs didn't really go New Pop until The Crackdown, which was slightly too late to go New Pop (1983), although Gary Davies thought that album was the business.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:32 (twenty years ago)

Well, they did a bit, but almost anything would sound like pop "Voice of America" or "Three Mantras". Why not Psychic TV then as well?

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:33 (twenty years ago)

almost anything would sound like pop after "Voice of America" or "Three Mantras

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:34 (twenty years ago)

The Fall went pop too!

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:34 (twenty years ago)

if new pop ended in 1983, 'dr mabuse' and 'two tribes' have to go too.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:34 (twenty years ago)

ZTT was the Blood On The Tracks of New Pop.

Force The Hand Of Chance was the illogical conclusion to New Pop and the litmus test as to why New Pop in the Morley sense could never really happen, i.e. by the autumn of '82 the carpetbaggers and locusts (Wham!, Tears For Fears etc.) were taking over and diluting as appropriate, while PTV were laughed at loudly in my JCR when they went on whatever the BBC2 youth show of the time was called.

I was recently asked to blog about 1981. I made a start but got bogged down even more quickly than I did with 1974, so I probably won't take it any further. The writing just doesn't seem to be coming these days... :-(

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:36 (twenty years ago)

haha I didn't know this stuff was offically called "new" pop!

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:41 (twenty years ago)

that makes me feel young again, thanks ilm.

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:42 (twenty years ago)

are Disky sponsoring pitchfork?

― Britain's Jauntiest Shepherd (Alan), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

Postcard wasn't "New Pop" and neither were the Fire Engines, Dexys, Elvis Costello. Wire - definitely not!!!!!

I was going by the song, not the artist.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

But "Outdoor Miner" was 1978, how could it be New Pop?

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 09:52 (twenty years ago)

January 1979! Proto-new-pop!

Yeah OK, I was pushing it with that one.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:08 (twenty years ago)

grimey simey otm.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:13 (twenty years ago)

You can't really have New Pop before May 1980, since the single most important triggering factor in the genesis of New Pop was the death of Ian Curtis. Although arguments could be made for both Off The Wall and Off The Coast Of Me...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

"There Goes Grimin' Simon"

― Raymond Douglas Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 10:15 (twenty years ago)

>>>>Although arguments could be made for both Off The Wall and Off The Coast Of Me... >>>>

I'm glad Off the Wall is mentioned here. As a Canadian reading the occasional Smash Hits and NME at the time--whenever I could afford to shell out the import bucks--my entire context for what I didn't even realize was called "new pop" until many years later, was mostly just what I read (and saw) in those two mags, and one defining moment in my own thinking about pop music was seeing a comic strip in Smash Hits (almost done in a deadpan Mad magazine style, if I recall correctly) about the story of the Human League. In the strip, a key moment is their disocvery of Off the Wall and ABBA--for some reason, seeing that really clicked for me. Thereafter, that album (and yeah, the Kid Creole stuff as well) has always been part of the "new pop" context I created for myself.

― s woods, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

Ha! I remember that Human League comic! There was a frame w/a drawing representing the oakey/marsh-ware bustup, showing phil oakey chasing ian craig marsh down the street, throwing his stilleto heeled shoes at him! Classic!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

is it me or does 'the "sweetest"/sweetest girl' stick out a mile?

Nah, you're right, but the Associates leads quite the chase behind Green Gartside, and I'm not going to dismiss the majority of the other songs listed.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: Let this bastard out, and you'll get whiplash! (Eastern Mantr, Tuesday, 13 September 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

ammonia soul!

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 08:08 (twenty years ago)

So where are WIN in this???? For everyone pulling 'I'm your critical father' crap on this thread, do you not get the whole Freaky Trigger thing... Personally, I'm all like been there done that got the postcard, which is why Simon's book left me cold...

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 09:56 (twenty years ago)

I mean I guess if there's a cycle: Ft -> ILM -> articles on new pop in Pitchfork then our work here is done and I'm emigrating to New Zealand and becoming a free jazz fan.

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 09:57 (twenty years ago)

Win were a bit late on the new pop scene I fear. You might as well put in Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 10:04 (twenty years ago)

ha ha well I am pleasantly grumpy / curmudgeonly this morning. But aren't they even more pop through being late?

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 10:06 (twenty years ago)

ps is this the thread for oink invites kthx bye dudez

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 10:07 (twenty years ago)

TS: 'new' pop (this is rock) vs 'old' pop (this is also rock).

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 10:08 (twenty years ago)

oh and ha ha omgwtf dom re: Wears the trousers, the unhilarious thing about which is that almost all the contributors are... trouser wearers.

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 10:23 (twenty years ago)

Don't worry. Only another half an hour to wait before your dealer turns up.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 10:25 (twenty years ago)

I'm embarrassed about including "Outdoor Miner" now.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 12:15 (twenty years ago)

another nudge up for WIN. both albums were totally in line with the list/article.

didn't Freaky Trigger get 10/10 in NME ?

was Urgh ever actually released on cd ? my tape copy disappeared/died ages ago and had loads of lovely extra tracks than the vinyl.

i loved em.

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 12:23 (twenty years ago)

Win were New Pop after the fact. If you include them you'd also have to include the Pet Shop Boys.

(nb: "You've Got The Power" was the biggest selling single in Scotland in 1986 due to its use in a cod-Escher McEwan's Lager advert)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 12:26 (twenty years ago)

oh the irony, seeing as my cousin used to see Dave H around the bars in scotland totally wasted in 86 when he lived in edinburgh - guess the adverts helped pay the bar tab.

still, classic of-the-time pop music.

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

Freaky Trigger got a review from Stuart Maconie, he gave it 0 and 10 (sort of).

This was before the NME's crackdown on high marks.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

xpost: Anyway, if you want Dave H included then "Candyskin" will do nicely.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

The JDs played Northern Soul, not disco- that's why they paid up for using someone else's bassline on Unknown Pleasures.

Whoa! Tell me more!! What song was it???

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

our children: "god, not 'no diggity' AGAIN!"
-- strng hlkngtn (hm...), September 13th, 2005 3:33 AM. (link) (userip)

In twenty years' time the Pixies become classic rock without ever getting much airplay over here at all! Now that's success!

-Ned

---were these jokes? Strictly? This has all halfhappened already

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:38 (twenty years ago)

I should check them songbysong IN DEPTH maybe but Mike's list looks way better than Jess's (it has Simple Minds on it, for a kickoff) (also "Poison Arrow" eats "All of My Heart" alive)

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 13:39 (twenty years ago)

Now then, now then: Jess has Simple Minds at #37 and "Poison Arrow" at #16. I merely removed duplicates from the same artist, and made a few substitutions of my own.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Oh fine I'll start by learning to read

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

was Urgh ever actually released on cd ?

Do you mean Uh! Tears baby? If so it was released on cd, which now goes for £150+ on an ebay site near you.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

I still like yr list better tho, for pretty much the same reasons, not that I blame Jess for maybe trying a bit of proactivity visavis any prospective revival crosspost.

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

Pash, I could have sworn that frame showed Phil chucking milk bottles, and ICM protecting himself with a bin lid. Ah yes, I remember it well.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

I'm guessing this is the cartoon you speak of

http://www.humanleague.dk/content/downloads/cartoon/cartoon2.jpg

― leigh (leigh), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

YO MAN DID YOU COPY THAT ARTICLE FROM MY BOOK I FINK U DID SO ME AND MY BOY WOEBOT ARE GUNA CUM ROUND PITCHFORK AND KICK YR FREAKING ASSSS!!!!!!

LUV GRIMEY SIMEY

― GRIMEY SIMEY, Tuesday, September 13, 2005 1:33 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ miss this dude

― ACTION BABY (special guest stars mark bronson), Thursday, 26 February 2009 18:43 (sixteen years ago)

I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS THREAD FOREVER!!!

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 26 February 2009 20:25 (sixteen years ago)

Where is the thread discussing Pitchfork's "Now That's What I Call New Pop" feature on the British New Pop movement of the early 1980s? The thread title was something like, "Now that Gang of Four and PIL have gone through a revival, isn't it about time Pitchfork started talking about New Pop?"

― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, July 6, 2008 3:05 AM (7 months ago) Bookmark

still looking for that "New Pop" thread :(

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, July 24, 2008 2:59 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark

HOLY SHIT, SEVEN MONTHS!! I'VE BEEN LOOKING SEVEN MONTHS!!!!

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 26 February 2009 20:29 (sixteen years ago)

I typed in "new pop" (with quotes) in the search function box just now and found this thread on the second page.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 26 February 2009 20:30 (sixteen years ago)

"I Will Follow" and "Ghost Town" both stick out like sore thumbs and really don't belong on this list, i'm ho. I'd've replaced them with "New Song" by Howard Jones and "Sorry for Laughing" by... was it Josef K or Orange Juice?

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 26 February 2009 20:43 (sixteen years ago)

Huh. I didn't know that searching for "new pop" with quotes yields different results than searching for new pop without quotes. I guess I should start using quotes when I search for a thread from now on!

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 26 February 2009 20:45 (sixteen years ago)

three years pass...

It took half a dozen years, but there's some stuff that has a definite new-pop feel. Off the top of my head:

Ice Choir – Afar (Underwater Peoples)
Heavenly Beat – Talent (Captured Tracks)

― Fastnbulbous, Monday, 21 January 2013 15:59 (thirteen years ago)

just been sent a link to a soundcloud stream.

as it played all i could think was how similar to WIN it sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4qcYLCyTH4&feature=youtu.be

― mark e, Monday, 21 January 2013 16:54 (thirteen years ago)

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