Mika, Just Jack, The View: worst top three ever?

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Like you didn't know this thread was coming.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

pretty sure there's been worse but i have to say the appeal of just jack eludes me entirely. mika and the view are crap too but i can see why a certain sort of loser would like them.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

jamie t in the top 10, christ.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

I don't dislike that Mika record. Dislike him, obv.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

Mika wrote all the inflight muzak for BA, if you need any other reasons to hate him.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, other than him being an Arab.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

he seemed alright on popworld

no-one should be allowed to say 'Freddeh!' tho.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

I hate people on class lines, not ethnic ones.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Sunday, 21 January 2007 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

mika being posh is the least unappealing thing about him

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

bastard went to westminster school for fuck's sake. BURN

― ;-) (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

dom's original post probably pretty close to being otm, incidentally.

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

what was no 3 when 'roll with it' and 'country house' were at the top? that's worse right there.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

I like him. But I have yet to really hear his music. He looked great in i-D though!

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

where did 'baby cakes' get to, i wonder

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

Baby cakes was #1. It was also a pretty great record.

― Tom (Groke), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

say it ain't so

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

'baby cakes' was a strange and beautiful pop song indeed.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

No, I do like him. I could do without the Freddie Mercury affectations though. Still in a "British Popstar", OMM way, he's pretty great.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

"Baby Cakes" is roughly 1000 times better than any other record named on this thread.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

17 (-) Billie - Honey To The Bee

what?!?

i can't disagree with the original post.

― Merdeyeux Merdeyeux Merdeyeux (Merdeyeux Merdeyeux Merdeyeux), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

Honey to the Bee is the greatest song ever. EVER! I hope your not taking the piss. Please.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

Christmas 2003:

1. Mad World Gary Jules
2. Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End) The Darkness
3. Changes Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne

And then, just to put the icing on the cake:

4. Proper Crimbo Avid Merrion
5. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) Pop Idols

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

WE HAVE A CONTENDER: The UK Top 40, 22/8/04

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

u r wrong louis. go back and listen to 'baby cakes' again.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't heard Just Jack or The View, so I just checked them. I managed 9 words of The View's song. His hair alone made me quite batey.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

xpost: it's not as bad as paolo nutini, i'll give you that.

meh, maybe i was too young and closed-minded to the delights of '2-step'. i shall give it a re-listen.

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

2-step is like the greatest genre of the past decade!!!!!!

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

but that top 3 has goldie lookin' chain and natasha bedingfield in it as well, so my argument stands.

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

next you'll be telling me you've got no love for artful dodger or mj cole or 'sweet like chocolate' or 'flowerz' or amira or that amazing victoria beckham excursion into 2-step

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

And Doctor Who star Billie Piper's 1999 hit Honey to the Bee appeared at number 17 thanks to new chart rules after a campaign by BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles.
Moyles asked listeners to download the song to see if he could influence the new charts.

Rules changed at the start of January to mean all downloads count towards the chart - no matter when they were released or whether a CD single version is out.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

re: the view - why isn't cornershop suing?

― danzig (danzig), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

The Guardian turned in the Weekend NME: An article on dull Lad Rock, with The View on the front cover. Is 00s Lad Rock worse than 90s Lad Rock?

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/01/19/GuideCover.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/features/story/0,,1993345,00.html

The View - a bunch of twunts

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

I really like that Top 3 Louis. That is all.

xpost

Is there a setting where I can get subtitles on Martian's posts?

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

Is 00s Lad Rock worse than 90s Lad Rock?

YES.

and lex, i don't know much about those artists, so i'd have to check them out. if there's one thing ILM is doing, it's teaching me to be more open-minded about pop!

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

Was there some hidden hilarity behind the Moyles thing or was it just Conscientious DJ Checks New Rules Work How They're Meant To?

― Tom (Groke), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

It was a thinly-veiled attempt for Moyles to get Billie Piper into the studio so he could try his Jabba the Hutt routine on her.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

Louis you were still in primary school a decade ago, so how do you remember? where you subjected to TFI Friday? Lammo on the radio? did you see the ghastly NME in the mid 90s?

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

It's not half as bad, or at least its easier to ignore in any case.

Blur and Oasis were pretty unavoidable. So were the Charlatans, Bluetones the Verve... it just seemed to be everything. All I ever seem to hear now is that Beyonce song. Teenage girls scream along to it on their mobile while taking the Raheen bus out to the Crescent Shopping Centre.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

And yeah, in primary school it was everywhere. I can vouch for that. I honestly remember Oasis doing Roll With It on TOTP,

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:39 (nineteen years ago)

Teenage girls scream along to it on their mobile while taking the Raheen bus out to the Crescent Shopping Centre.

am i going to wind up making louis a 2-step primer?

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:39 (nineteen years ago)

I'd like to read it if you do.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

i don't think we ever had one for the ILM Rough Guide amazingly

― vita susicivus (blueski), Sunday, 21 January 2007 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

what was no 3 when 'roll with it' and 'country house' were at the top? that's worse right there.

Michael Jackson- You Are Not Alone

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

*shudders*

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:11 (nineteen years ago)

You are not alone is better than Roll with it and Country house though, yeah?

― jimn (jimnaseum), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

oh for sure.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

I'm pretty sure even at its lowest point Jackson's career has never turned up anything as bad as "Country House"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

xpost Oh, its all the same.

Lex, who do you prefer, Oasis or Blur?

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

xpost, Earthsong came pretty close.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

I am so sad, I don't know why.

Maybe it's because you're Damon Albarn and you've just managed to write the worst song ever.

― jimn (jimnaseum), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

lex will give the correct answer, I know this for certain. he may namecheck William Orbit as he does so.

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

Cute and colourful indigenous people > Keith Allen

xxp

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

these top 3s from 2005 are pretty bad top 3 imo:

01. (N ) Oasis - Lyla[]
02. (-1 ) Akon - Lonely[]
03. (N ) The Black Eyed Peas - Don't Phunk With My Heart[]

01. (-) Crazy Frog - Axel F[]
02. (N ) U2 - City Of Blinding Lights[]
03. (-1 ) Akon - Lonely[]

01. (N ) 2Pac Ft Elton John - Ghetto Gospel[]
02. (-1 ) Crazy Frog - Axel F[]
03. (-1 ) James Blunt - You're Beautiful[]

― vita susicivus (blueski), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

01. (N ) 2Pac Ft Elton John - Ghetto Gospel[]
02. (-1 ) Crazy Frog - Axel F[]
03. (-1 ) James Blunt - You're Beautiful[]

This one is horrid.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, I'm not going to rip the piss out of the videol. It was great. The bit with the little girl's tricycle is priceless.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

xxpost and xxxpost: steve and especially dom OTMFM. a whole summer of heart fm in the workplace *shudders*

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

My manager still has Lonely as a ringtone. STILL.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

Bellydancer was a great follow-up though.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

From 14/01/95:

1. Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe
2. Celine Dion - Think Twice
3. Boyzone - Love Me For A Reason

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

Lex, who do you prefer, Oasis or Blur?

there are a few blur songs i actually like! whereas oasis are the worst band to have ever existed.

'lonely' by akon is awesome! the chipmunk voice! and i don't know how you can hate on the crazy frog, really.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

Best tracks of all three acts.

xpost

― Tom (Groke), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

xxpost: i liked 1 and 3 of those when i were a nipper! not so otm, alas. dom, you've slipped to a 67% strike-rate...

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:26 (nineteen years ago)

so not the best céline dion - good but it's no 'it's all coming back to me now' or 'misled' or 'falling into you'

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

Best tracks of all three acts.

"IT'S ALL COMING BACK TO ME NOW", man. Plus I gotta lot of time for Boyzone's cover of "Baby Can I Hold You", Ronan's histironics are nearly as good as Tracy C's.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

xp, obv.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

xpost,, they're better. I love that version, great nick knight ripoff on the video too...

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

There's an amazingly bad period of 1-2s in the chart where Robson and Jerome's "Unchained Melody" is #1, and U2's "Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me" is #2. Annoyingly, Baby D and The Outhere Brothers, who were both greaet, were the #3s for those weeks.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:35 (nineteen years ago)

and louis, I like to think I am still a nipper. It doesn't help my cause if you reminisce about it.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

Hold me thrill me kiss me kill me is brilliant. Brilliant. Was the outhere brothers that basketball song with the mothership line? I've been trying to get someone to tell me what that was for fucking ever... youtube maybe...

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:38 (nineteen years ago)

whay-OH!

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:39 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, yeah!

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:39 (nineteen years ago)

MY NIGGAZ IN THE HOUSE I TURN YA BODY INTA FLUID

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsGVLEzC5kA

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

you're 19 like me, right? 19 != nipper. I'm talkin' 8 or 9!

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

I wanna hear a mash up of BOOMBOOMBOOM and Farmerin the City.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:42 (nineteen years ago)

xpost We were younger than that! Love me for a reason was one of the first singles I ever bought.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe the first. Whitney's I will always love you being disqualified on the grounds of being a gift.

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:44 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=796fhy8oPwE

― from The ends of your fingers (prosper.strummer.), Sunday, 21 January 2007 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

From 14/01/95:
1. Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe
2. Celine Dion - Think Twice
3. Boyzone - Love Me For A Reason

Frank Kogan is going to be so pissed with you Dom.

I love the Mika single, never heard the other two. The View definitely need a good hair cut.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Sunday, 21 January 2007 22:23 (nineteen years ago)

1. Mad World Gary Jules
2. Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End) The Darkness
3. Changes Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne

And then, just to put the icing on the cake:

4. Proper Crimbo Avid Merrion
5. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) Pop Idols
------

that causes an actual physical pain.

― pisces (piscesx), Monday, 22 January 2007 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

The View are to the 00s what Cast where to the 90s - innit

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 22 January 2007 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

what was no 3 when 'roll with it' and 'country house' were at the top? that's worse right there.

Michael Jackson- You Are Not Alone

Second week only; in the first week it was "I Luv U Baby" by the Original.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 22 January 2007 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

"I Luv U Baby" is a pretty great song, all things considered.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

see, my ting is, if i don't listen to any music, i am spared this stuff. i haven't heard it but what are the odds of it being any good?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

you don't listen to music in case it's rubbish?

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

not entirely, but when i do make the effort, it is usually pretty bad.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

I listen to most music and can confirm that this top three is no damn good.

However, UNQUESTIONABLY the worst top three in chart history stems from the week ending 27 March 1982, at the height of New Pop:

1. Goombay Dance Band - Seven Tears
2. Tight Fit - The Lion Sleeps Tonight
3. Julio Iglesias - Quiereme Mucho (Yours)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

enrique what was the last #1 single you liked a lot?

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

god knows.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

usher's 'yeah!' probably.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

x-post

K. Sanneh kinda liked The View in the NY Times (Jan. 7th):

"Soon the band’s reputation spread far beyond Dundee. Two rousing singles, “Superstar Tradesman” and “Wasted Little D.J.s,” both reached No. 15 on the British pop chart. The British press piled on. (NME, the excitable rock weekly, called the band “bloody marvelous.”) And now, with the anti-View backlash in full swing, the band is preparing to release its first album, “Hats Off to the Buskers,”

As more than a few Internet-accessing fans have already discovered, the album is scruffy and quite likable. Mr. Falconer knows how to evoke teenage heedlessness. (Especially in the giddy, pig-Latin chorus of “Wasted Little D.J.s”: “Asted-way ittle-lay eejays-day/I wish everyone could dance like them!”) But at other times, he sounds like a weary barfly twice his age....

Part of the View’s appeal is songs that sound familiar and exotic at the same time. Familiar because the band’s influences (the Beatles, the Clash and Oasis, for starters) won’t surprise anyone, and neither will the band’s obvious debt to the Libertines. (Pete Doherty — formerly with the Libertines and currently with Babyshambles, Kate Moss and/or the police, depending on the day — was an early supporter.) Between the band’s bright melodies and Mr. Falconer’s gloriously rolled r’s, many listeners have detected hints of another cult band: the Undertones, from Northern Ireland, who were responsible (among other things) for the sublime 1978 hit “Teenage Kicks.”

As for exotic, well, non-Dundee listeners are likely to be perplexed (and, with any luck, charmed) by the group’s Scot-centric lyrics and thick accents. ..."

― curmudgeon (DC Steve), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

Someone please stop Americans writing about British indie bands.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, that Arctic Monkeys review was "Ah yes, I recognise the accent particular to the suburb of Sheffield these guys come from" was bad enough, but that is just "PLEASE CUT YOUR HANDS OFF SO YOU CAN'T WRITE ANY MORE" levels of bad.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

Just Jack on Later... was one of the most vile pieces of music television I have ever witnessed:

(2:45 onwards is where it gets particularly gruesome)

― Rob O'Brien (igotmadskills), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

dom unusually otm, and kelefa sanneh is usually good!

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Monday, 22 January 2007 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

the view are more like the culture show approved mcfly. well that same jeans song is. skins-core or summat maybe.

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 22 January 2007 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

Man, what is with you Brits and your fucking class system hate? I can't believe some of this shit I'm reading. "I hate people on class lines, not ethnic ones."??? "bastard went to westminster school for fuck's sake. BURN"???

Fucking hateful cunts.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 22 January 2007 23:56 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/01/08/ukelly108.jpg

"Man, what is with you Brits and your fucking class system hate? I can't believe some of this shit I'm reading. "I hate people on class lines, not ethnic ones."??? "bastard went to westminster school for fuck's sake. BURN"???

Fucking hateful cunts."

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 22 January 2007 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

Could an enlightened British person spell out what's off about the Sanneh thing, not counting liking-them vs. not-liking-them? I feel like there's some kind of cultural claim in there you guys are being annoyed by, but I can't find any such thing.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

HI DERE Mr Snrub.

Some of my best friends are Middle Class. One does still cling to the horrid politics of envy one learnt as an oppressed working class youth, tho. Sorry.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 00:21 (nineteen years ago)

actually i think this is maybe the one time in his life snrub has been anywhere near right - sorry nv, but the chip on yours and dom's shoulders is really fucking tiresome, and also pretty stupid.

nabisco, there is not one sentence in that sanneh article which is right about...ANYTHING AT ALL. it's incredibly bizarre.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

Lex, I love lots of what you say but I know the chip on my shoulder is wrong and a joke.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 00:26 (nineteen years ago)

i) are you implying i have a chip on my shoulder? i don't
ii) if yours is a joke why is it never funny?

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 00:44 (nineteen years ago)

a) Seriously, do you not think "ohmigod this band has guitars/is a bit indie therefore I'm not even going to listen to them but will repeatedly post about how much they suck" isn't even slightly chippy?
b) It's not funny, agreed. It's a prejudice built up over years and years of dealing with idiots, and like any prejudice it's unfair and inaccurate.

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 00:48 (nineteen years ago)

in his introductory post here dom expressed a deep-set hatred of all things Oxbridge, so i never really stood a chance!

my only prejudice is against the unreasonably religious, but that's all i'm saying for now.

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 01:05 (nineteen years ago)

Lex, you're going to have to be a lot more specific about that. (Better still would be if someone who isn't you were a lot more specific about that.)

I mean, I know the Jayson Blair thing hit the NYT's fact-checking credibility a little, but I'm assuming he's not wrong about their singles hitting #15 on the chart, and I assume he's not misquoting the NME with that "bloody marvelous."

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 01:07 (nineteen years ago)

"unreasonably"

xpost

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 01:14 (nineteen years ago)

unreasonably = when their religion makes them evangelistic, repressed, sanctimonious or arrogant. okay, that's really enough for now. don't post when sozzled, jagger.

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

Countdown to detourned Louis post in 5...4...3...

― God Bows to Meth (noodle vague), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 01:20 (nineteen years ago)

Nabisco - it follows a common problem that a lot of American writers have when writing about British culture (it's probably exactly the same problem that British writers face when writing about American culture, I dunno, I'm looking at it in one direction) which is it tries to suppose a knowledge of what's going on which to the unfamiliar might look good, but to anyone who actually experiences what's going on that he describes regularly looks foolish.

Things like claiming that their subject matter is Dundee-specific (The View sing songs about dancing, drugs, the usual everyman bullshit that most indie bands ply their trade with these days that isn't specific to anywhere), "barfly" is a ridiculous word to use with regards to anything British, "the Undertones, from Northern Ireland, who were responsible (among other things) for the sublime 1978 hit “Teenage Kicks" is a horrid sentence that appears to have been included solely to bulk up word count, and the band don't have thick accents at all. They sound Scouse at some fucking points.

Again, not as bad as whoever it was that did the Arctic Monkeys review and managed to pin point their exact accent down to an area of about 1,500 people, but still pretty bad.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 01:21 (nineteen years ago)

Fair enough, Dom, though I'd defend two points.

One is that I'm not sure why an American writing in an American paper wouldn't say a British person sounded like a barfly -- why wouldn't you make similes to American types? (No different from a Brit saying "Cleveland is a bit like Sheffield.")

The other is that Undertones sentence, which isn't about word count: it's about the fact that, in the newspaper of record, you can't just mention the Undertones without explaining who they are. (The only thing wrong with it is that the parenthetical should technically be on the other side of the "for.") SFJ used to get tripped up on this when he started at the New Yorker -- you could tell he written stuff like "sounds kind of like the Undertones" and his editor had called for more explanation to be shoehorned in there.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

the mika single is the first in a while to be a radio 2 number one. (I Don't Feel Like Dancin' and Razorlight were to i think a lesser extent) i think everyone here is being a little harsh on it. it's kind of annoying but kind of catchy, like lots of pop singles. yeh it has a smug factor but clearly not one that's actually putting off people who buy records / mp3s.

― acrobat (elwisty), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

Why all these qualifying "buts"? "it's kind of annoying but," "it has a smug factor but." It's annoying. It is smug. It is corporate dreck. End of story. Next!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

it's kind of catchy but annoying

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:22 (nineteen years ago)

Just Jack on Later... was one of the most vile pieces of music television I have ever witnessed:
(2:45 onwards is where it gets particularly gruesome)
-- Rob O'Brien

you should watch more telly, clearly. perhaps less jools holland though.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

I like the Mika song. Plus, he's totally hot.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

"Grace Kelly" is 2007's "Bring Your Daughter...To The Slaughter" and that's that.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

More "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)", surely?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

Mind the gap!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:25 (nineteen years ago)

I don't feel like reading this whole thread... what problem do you guys have with the Mika song? It's so delightfully camp...

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:29 (nineteen years ago)

Because it thinks its Liza Minelli sings Supertramp, but it's actually a douchebag singing a shit song.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

I like all three records in this week's top three, but I did not know they were in the top three.

I heard the Chris Moyles campaign (when I was checking to see whether I was right or wrong re the Lollards of Pop (I was wrong)) and what happened was each member of the Breakfast Posse had to choose a song to promote without actually checking whether it was available for download or not and this was indeed supposed to be hilarious. Sadly I can't remember the other choices, but at least one of them wasn't available.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:35 (nineteen years ago)

Bring back Housewives' Choice.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

also, i like "seven tears"! and the lion sleeps tonight has its, er, charms

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

moderator delete club poptimism plz

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

Why all these qualifying "buts"?

i think it's interesting to understand why something has become popular and yes i couldn't get it out of my head for a bit i.e. it's pretty catchy. it's also tapping into something thats really been waiting to be exploited for a number of years with the blatant Queen referencing.

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know if you remember a wee indie group from a few years ago called the Darkness. They had a couple of minor hits...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

aah but that was rawk freddie not pop freddie. i don't see Mika getting big love from Kerrang! somehow.

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

Like Curtis Mayfield said, Freddie's dead; move on, people.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

The Lion Sleeps Tonight isn't a patch on "Fantasy Island".

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

bah x-post

i can't be at the next poptimism, but i might now lobby to get The Lion Sleeps Tonight played

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

ppl will be hating on Tarzan Boy next!

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

ok why is the mika single so very different from these lauded poptimist treasures? is it purely musical or as suggested up thread because it is "It is corporate dreck"?

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

because of HIS FUCKING ANNOYING VOICE. mika is not interesting enough to merit all this analysis!

(nb queen are the second worst band of all time)

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

The thing about Goombay Dance Band and Tight Fit was that this was the month of Poison Arrow and Party Fears Two and Ghosts and Christ knows how many other GENUINE pop treasures and they were all being prevented from getting to the top by cynical lowest-common-denominator SHIT like "Seven Tears" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

Things like Mika are arguably worse because they PRETEND to be on our side whereas they're just a newer symptom of the same problem. The equivalent of the Eurythmics.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

I really like Queen but I don't like Mika much (he's better than the View and Just Jack though) - I think it's a bit weak of him to feel the need to go "listen I sound like Freddie!!" in the actual lyrics! Also the chorus is kind of annoying.

Poptimists luv us some corporate dreck, in general.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:03 (nineteen years ago)

I think Marcello's point about Mika being a kinda pop double agent is something that's never been touched on on ILX before... I mean, does the conscitentious fan about town have to watch out for this kinda stuff, or is it just a more developed form of "production lines = bad". I'm leaning heavily towards the former, tbh.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

I don't like Mika much (he's better than the View and Just Jack though)

Equivalent Christmas 1966 top three comment: I don't like the Seekers much (they're better than Tom Jones and Val Doonican though).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:07 (nineteen years ago)

Things like Mika are arguably worse because they PRETEND to be on our side whereas they're just a newer symptom of the same problem.

UH-HUH - lily allen the same, also all this rubbish indie (kaiser chiefs, killers, futureheads) which gets to the top 10 and gets called 'pop'.

haha i think marcello and i may be talking about different sides though!

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

In reply to Dom: I've always instinctively been inclined towards the former. I think one has to be ever-vigilant, though the ambulance chasers/carpetbaggers are usually easy to spot, i.e. back in the New Pop days you just knew that the Human League and the Associates "meant it" whereas the Durans and Spandaus of that world were costermongering spivs through and through.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

i know. i'm just endlessly perplexed by the continual this is "pop", this is POP, this is Pop back and forth and the sheer resentment directed at songs that y' know people actually really, genuinely like.

sort of x post

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

I don't see double agents everywhere - I just see cruder or more interesting marketing.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

What hell are you guys talking about with this "double agent"/"real pop"/"assembly line" thing? You guys are sounding an awful lot like ROCKISTS.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

I think we need to adjourn this debate and renew it on top Goth messageboard Dissensus.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

Spandau and Duran weren't marketed to the 1981 equivalent of The Fly and Playmusic though, were they? Mika is.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

confirmed! i want less people who "mean it" please - the trouble with allen and mika is that they "mean it" too much! role models to follow here include j-lo and the pussycat dolls.

(i like duran duran the best, of the people marcello listed)

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

the marketing angle to watch out for is "[x] is an antidote to all that manufactured POP PAP/black americans with their evil big budgets sidelining the UK" - nothing sold with that angle will ever be any good

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

Sort of a Jade Goody marketing angle, that.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

is the marketing always taken into account when one listens to music?

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

Not always when I listen to music, almost always when I think about a pop star.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

Mika is marketed as a pop star first and someone who makes pop music second.

Same as Just Jack and The View, for that matter.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

clearly you can 'mean it', be great AND be popular at the same time. at least, we have seen examples of it in the past. it is probably a lot more difficult now despite download democracy (still being fucking dictated far too much by Moyles & co. alas - regardless of 'Honey To The Bee' being good/bad, i don't see the need for it to be top 40 again).

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

yeh but i bet the majority of people who have bought / downloaded same jeans or grace kelly have done so because they heard them on the radio or on mtv or something. (not mentioned just jack because i'm not sure i've heard it) i think the read about them in g2 or saw them on the culture show demographic is a red herring. i think both songs are mediocre but it's pretty obvious why they are so popular.

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

role models to follow here include j-lo and the pussycat dolls

'here' could be anywhere and this would still always, always be wrong.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

The Culture Show is one of the bigger dangers to British society these days.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

....which isn't a bad way to do things necessarily, but the music/product has to live up to what the star/brand is promising. Or at least I think it has to, and I don't think Mika's hit does.

xpost to Dom

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

Mika is marketed as a pop star first and someone who makes pop music second.

Same as Just Jack and The View, for that matter.

How then did Just Jack bubble under for so many years before finally lucking out with this one song?

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

The Culture Show is one of the bigger dangers to British society these days.

I nearly wrote in to complain that Lauren Laverne's 5 top tips for this year were of course ALL white male rock bands and that they should've asked different people (e.g. Trevor Nelson, Nihal, Annie Mac) for one tip each.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

He's the Dane Cook of shitty British indie musicians.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

culture show = a demographic and it seems one whom (unfairly?) are presumed to prefer these sort of bands.

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

maybe acrobat, but it's still fucking bollocks however you try and justify it.

i am prepared to give Just Jack a teensy amount of benefit of doubt purely because at some very very fleeting points he does remind me a little bit of MC Mikee Freedom.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

culture show = a demographic and it seems one whom (unfairly?) are presumed to prefer these sort of bands.
-- acrobat (p---_s---...), January 24th, 2007.

pandering! anyways it's supposed to broaden minds of said demographic. and indeed broaden its reach.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

But the problem with The Culture Show is that it seperates music into two camps. STUFF WORTHY OF CULTURAL DEBATE, which takes in yr Mikas, yr The Views, yr Jamie Ts, and STUFF THAT ISN'T WORTHY OF CULTURAL DEBATE, which is everything from Fall Out Boy to Mastodon via Lemar.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

As I said somewhere else, this is the New Year, quiet time for big name releases and therefore ideal time for bargain basement clearouts of underperforming acts in need of good marketing.

(NB: I am of course aware that Frankie Goes To Hollywood, among others, would have fallen under that category - the genius of Morley's marketing being to persuade the dithering consumer that this was for an as yet unspecified Greater (aesthetic) Good which the Joneses and Kershaws of that 1983-4 world clearly weren't providing, and on recent re-listening I do think the FGTH singles trilogy one of the greatest schematas in all of pop)

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

none of those people are worthy of cultural debate

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

I agree. It tries to dabble in 'pop music' but largely fails because of Laverne's indie bias. I'm not sure they are quite so conservative and narrow-minded when it comes to other arts covered tho? Perhaps they are, it tends to be quite Britcentric after all.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

It pains me that FGTH are never cited in 'marketing literature' - I should pitch a piece to the trade press on Frankie!

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

taking sides: caring that they "mean it" v hating that they "mean it" v really not giving 1x stuff either way

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

isn't "I don't care whether they mean it" a bit like saying "I don't care what it sounds like"?

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

yes it is, it's a pretty fundamental PART of what it sounds like! unless of course your entire attitude towards pop music is one of not listening too closely

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

still no.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

back up yr ludicrous assertion

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the whole point was that if the music was good, you like it.. regardless of whether it was manufactured or has a lack of "credibility" or they don't play their own sinstruments or other stupid shit like that. Hating an artist because they "mean it" and loving an artist because they're manufactured just seems terribly contrarian to me...

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

lex... terribly contrarian?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

back up yr ludicrous assertion

-- lex pretend (lexusjee...), January 24th, 2007. (lex pretend) (later)

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

i don't need to back it up. "I don't care whether they mean it" is nothing like "I don't care what it sounds like".

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

isn't "I don't care whether they mean it" a bit like saying "I don't care what it sounds like"?

no! not caring whether they mean it or not just means being happy to take the song/artist as they sound/come across, particularly judging the song on it's own merits. if anything it suggests you DO care what it sounds like far more than most.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

of COURSE i care what it sounds like, it is after all music, it appears that no one else actually cares about this though so w/vs

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

ie of course i care what it sounds like, what effect it has on me listening to it. the matter of "whether they mean it" can often make something work or not, but there are so many other factors to take in to consideration along side it. but in the end what it sounds like is the given, the rest is up to you.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

alan are you seriously suggesting that you can't hear whether a singer "means it" in their music?! xp

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

i wouldn't care that the Pussycat Dolls didn't mean it if they actually made what i considered to be 'interesting' (or for me entertaining because they were interesting in some way) or stimulating records.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

"what a song sounds like" is a massive umbrella encompassing everything we've been talking about on this thread, pretty much! saying "all i care about is what the song sounds like" tells us nothing.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

no i'm not saying i can't hear it. i'm saying that it is not a trump card over whether i like how it sounds.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

I am curious to hear Alan's defence of the permed-chested German fire-eater at the very least, or maybe we'll have to wait until Tom gives a shock 10 on Popular...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

but lex would you like the PCD if they meant it? what if they do mean it after all?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

it's not whether they mean it (intentional) but whether they sound like they mean it

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

no i'm not saying i can't hear it. i'm saying that it is not a trump card over whether i like how it sounds.

what i'm saying is that it is PART AND PARCEL of "how it sounds"

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

but lex would you like the PCD if they meant it? what if they do mean it after all?

i would probably like them even more.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

yes it is. but so are lots of other things.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

All of you* except Alan, Tom and Steve are falling for the classic Curse Of The Modern Rock Fan which is to value the process over the product, something I thought we'd thrashed out of this kind of discussion years ago.

Problem with this discussion is that the product being discussed is crap in all three cases.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

*Especially Lex.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

the classic Curse Of The Modern Rock Fan which is to value the process over the product

Blumenthal pop?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

actually i do like the process a bit. we can't be all "death of the author" all the time. i like to know something about these ppl making me lovely choons

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

Does 'what a song sounds like' encompass your entire reaction to a song? I think not.

― a nuclear-powered carrot (braveclub), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

it's not really the *modern* rock fan though is it matt? surely since punk this kind of stuff has been on the agenda. i think it must take long training not to care at all about the process.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

i like to know something about these ppl making me lovely choons

it can be interesting after the fact, but I personally prefer to know absolutely nothing (if possible) when listening to a new atist for the first time. good music shouldn't need to come with ready-made context in order to seduce virgin ears.

― m the g (mister the guanoman), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

Alan - but the people are part of the product though, surely?

(We're getting dangerously close to one of those 'debate the nature of Poptimism' things so I'm going to step back from the brink now).

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

In relation to the three cases under review, the process is as shit as the end product. If you read this thread I am perfectly clear in that regard.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

I honestly can't usually hear if someone "means it" or not. I know whether or not I'm convinced by a record, which is (I think) subtly but significantly different. Though maybe it isn't.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:12 (nineteen years ago)

Surely the very act of not caring about the process is a dangerous notion left over from the Thatcher/rave generation?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:12 (nineteen years ago)

"Thatcher/rave"

― a nuclear-powered carrot (braveclub), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

As long as the process doesn't overshadow or somehow demand (or have thrust upon it) more respect than the result, I'm happy.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Surely the very act of not caring about the process is a dangerous notion left over from the Thatcher/rave generation?

Thatcher no, rave yes I think. But then again it's also a notion for the download generation. A couple of years ago I said that one of the great levellers in the way I consume music has changed is that downloading has caused my interest in the artist themselves to more or less tail off (exception - hip-hop). Somewhere back in the archives I said "it's all faceless dance music to me now", possibly in reference to Girls Aloud when they first appeared. Although it could equally have been the Arcade Fire or one of those other indie bands I like but am unable to name any of their members.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

(As a 'download generation' thing though YouTube has shifted the goalposts yet again so I'm probably wrong)

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

downloading has caused my interest in the artist themselves to more or less tail off (exception - hip-hop)

what's special about hip-hop in this respect?

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

hip-hop artists sometimes write lyrics about themselves... true fact.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

The best track on the new Fall Out Boy album is called "The Takeover, The Break's Over".

CIRCLES WITHIN CIRCLES

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

maybe that's more to do with your age than downloading matt?

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

Possibly, although downloading has certainly been a big contributory factor.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

nah, matt (and many others) are GRANDADS when it comes to keeping up with modern pop! it's nothing to do with downloading, i download and continue to be enthralled by popstars

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

hip-hop artists sometimes write lyrics about themselves... true fact.

only these days i tend to find it far less interesting than i used to (just a personal pref of course).

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

What about pop/indie/rock/zydeco artists writing lyrics about themselevs?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

downloading's impact has for me been offset by the realisation of the vastness of pop interweb universe now that it's theoretically all within reach. this sense of being overwhelmed takes over and i end up not wanting to hear much new stuff, which is a shame because part of me would love to spend hours on myspace etc. discovering some hot new electropop. hopefully i'll manage this by April.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

Actually finding a good band on Myspace is so fucking rewarding its unbelievable.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

basically same here (only compounded) (and resulting in listening to nothing)

xpost

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

nick southall to thread

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

Actually finding a good band on Myspace is so fucking rewarding its unbelievable.

rewarding, followed swiftly by frustrating as you realise that all their songs stop halfway through for no reason and refuse to play again

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

Surely the very act of not caring about the process is a dangerous notion left over from the Thatcher/rave generation?

It seems to me that to derive, in a fairly shallow way, from the critical theory generation, but where's the danger?

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

yeh i don't see/hear any REAL Actual danger either. unless Disco Duck > Crazy Frog because the duck MEANT IT.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

The difference is that Rick Dees wasn't trying to flog a brand called Disco Duck whereas Crazy Frog just sounds like the extended ringtone advert it is.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

A friend of mine knows the guy who recorded the Crazy Frog music, he's Swedish and actually very talented and devoted to his music (although he doesn't talk about the CF thing all the time, for obvious reasons).

― a nuclear-powered carrot (braveclub), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

what is so very "dangerous" about Mika and Lily Allen?

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

Presumably they're "dangerous" to the record company and PR staff who might have lost their jobs if they hadn't gone to number one.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

Is this a deliberate Smashey & Niceyism?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

haha, no!

― a nuclear-powered carrot (braveclub), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

You know... if you cut two minutes off "Starz In Their Eyes", and shot Just Jack in the throat every time he tries to "rap", it would be a pretty good song.

― Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 13:20 (eighteen years ago)

I kinda like Mika.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 14:59 (eighteen years ago)

i am close to the verge of liking 'Love Today'

― blueski, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

Presumably they're "dangerous" to the record company and PR staff who might have lost their jobs if they hadn't gone to number one.

Still dangerous for'em cause I'm very tempted to strangle the bloke who signed Mika. It's in cases like Grace Kelly I wish radio did not exist.

― nathalie, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 16:41 (eighteen years ago)

I like "Grace Kelly" more than ever. Conversely, the Just Jack bloke makes me want to kill.

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

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