Article Response: Golden Omelettes

Really enjoyable on a first quick read, so nothing more specific to add at this point aside from the fact that you carry off a potential way to consider different media in an overarching format very well. :-)

don't think i agree in a sense -- pop is v. v. history-laden, just not history-faithful. also don't see the connection between "pounding things out" and caring about continuity.

also us soaps care about continuuity a great deal.

Not universally, Sterling. I give to you Luke and Laura.

Really good piece!

The article seemed to imply but then avoid explicitly toying with the possible relationship b/w pop's newfound credibility (which *is* bigger than blogs, my entire generation can now openly admit to liking "Crazy In Love") and its move towards maturity. ie. a bridge b/w this article and "pop is dead" would be nice.

Reminded me of some of the thoughts in Kogan's first "Why Music Sucks", although his concept of "PBSification" is perhaps a relatively specific manifestation of the problem this article discussing.

The connection is that in a 'pounding' environment there's less/no time to worry about i) whether this agrees with existing continuity, ii) what impact it will have on later continuity (i.e. the assumption that 'future writers will have to deal with this' isn't there; in pop terms the assumption is 'future generations will have to deal with these sounds')

The history-laden vs history-faithful was something I was sort of trying to say but I didn't have as elegant a way of putting it.

I'm a bit unhappy with the piece actually - the pop bits specifically, I do think the impact of critical attention on micro-scenes needs examination though.

I liked it, though know nothing about comics or Dr. Who. It ended a bit sharply though, I wanted more!

To what extent does say, manufactured pop fit the sweatshop mould (for want of a better term). I am not completely dubious but isn't it more a case of the producers as comic book writers, and say (trying to think of a wacky or unlikely popstar but failing) the artist as the Silver Surfer, rather than the song itself.

Perhaps that's what you were saying. I agree with the general idea though, I'm often baffled by just how easily people fall into the "singles are a waste of money/time" mentality, as I had myself back in the bad old days. I mean, even to say "I love X album" is kind of a funny idea, does anyone sing albums in the shower, or hum an album walking down the street.

Going back to the point, I also think the rapid production is necessary because I want to hear lots of new (in my case) dance music. I also dislike romantic notions of earthiness and rusticity that go with taking ages to make records like you're making some bloody cider or something.

I think it is kind of an urban thing, not to go into any david brent fast life in the city cliches, but something like Energy Flash for example, sounds rich and deep and I suppose epic in a sense, but it also has a sense of cheapness about the production. I suppose this urban beauty crap has been a theme in techno for years anyway.

Missy Elliott-Silver Surfer

Ronan yes except that pop also cherishes (self-)conscious and sometimes violent discontinuity as artists adopt new images, new styles etc. Which isn't to disagree, it's just a place where pop differs from comics: the continuity a pop audience demands is much less tangible, requires (a feeling of) understanding rather than knowledge.

I totally sidestepped the continuity part actually!

cant there also be a creativity of scrabbled continuity, where you do engage with yr histories but shoddily, pandering winks to form and not just character. cant think of anything like this just yet that doesnt involve utter twats, but still

I think there is a misunderstanding of soaps at the heart of the piece, which I am sure Emma will clarify when she gets back. Soaps are all about continuity, everything is motivated by something we have seen before - the so called realism is neither here nor there, it is inherent in the never ending serial form.

Comics on the other hand never need to be about continuity, which is why the imposition seems just that. The problem when something fantastical takes on never ending serial form is that the only form for it to take is that of a soap. The reset button is not pushed, Superman batters Lex Luthor again not to ever consider why they are constantly locking horns with one another.

(For an example where this is completely turned on its head look at Smallville which the longer it goes on the more it seriously seems to be toying with completely fucking up everything we know about Superman. The tagline to the third series is after all "He used to be the good guy")

Pop musics continuity is its own history, the continuity of real life. There is a continiuity of memory which allows Steps and Justin Timberlake to virtually recreate musical styles of twenty years past, but this bubble will be burst when pops pedants (the continuity watchers after the ultimate no-prizes) point this out to the kids.

I remember seeing in a documentary on soaps that Eastenders utilizes a series historian who checks all scripts for continuity between past and current plots threads, characters, motivations, etc.!

And I agree with Pete that soaps and soap fandom is mischaracterized somewhat in the essay -- but I'm at work now so I can't elaborate.

Tom you're ON about the 'factory conditions' inspiring creativity - look at Steven Moffat's Press Gang (himself the writer of the highly continuity-conscious Doctor Who/Comic Relief sketch). Every episode usually written inside a week, and it was more more elegant, more meaningful, more 'everything' than any of the work he's done since.

The difference is I think Moffat was always aware that what he was doing was more than "nothing' (or in this case more than just another kids show), but was able to flex within the constraints imposed upon him without recourse to the kind of demands you outlined.

A great article.

A possible definition of a fan is as someone who feels they have the right to say a thing has got worse

Ding ding ding! Also overlapping with Dave's excellent article.

I'm uncertain about the claim (if such is present) that EG the Girls Aloud team don't feel that their work will stand the test of time. The explosion of "soundtrack of the 70s/80s/90s" together with GA's own history causes me to think that they must have had at least one eye on posterity.

Yes it might well be that soaps/soap fandom is something I'm just plain wrong about - my only experience of soap watching was watching Coronation Street for about 18 months, and not by any means religiously.

I prefer golden omelettes to love bites.

The fan line is fantastic; it was the part I immediately copied and pasted into IM discussions when I read it.

When you pay attention to continuity, it allows the different aspects of the fictional world to echo against one another, giving everything more depth and meaning. This can allow small events to take on much greater meaning to those in the know. And if you're looking for some fiction (some fixation) to escape into, the fuller the universe, the more continuity, the better (the more tempting, the more it can replace the "real" world).

factory conditions mean less subtlety I think. like the whole thing about outrageous ideas is right on. i think people try too hard too often to be subdued (i.e. elegant) instead of just smacking the concepts out sharply. the more disbelief suspended the better.

Factory conditions: dancehall to thread surely?