Songs which are new genre craze cash-in songs but which are not actually in that genre.

I'm a bit obsessed with these right now, have tried posting on Twitter but only got tumbleweeds, so here's the description of this thing

Been thinking about an odd micro-genre, records which come out to cash in on a new musical craze but which are pitched at people who simply aren't ready for new music. These are generally pretty lame affairs but in terms of cultural history they are fascinating.

The great granddaddy of this is Irving Berlin's 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' - a decent Tin Pan Alley / Vaudeville tune about a ragtime band, featuring exactly no resemblance to actual ragtime. Here is the earliest recording, from Collins & Harlan -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9VGvaDRxNQ

and here are Collins and Harlan again from 1916, singing a song about "Jass" a good three months before the release of the first jazz record. Actually the instrumental breaks might be considered the first recorded jazz, if such a thing wasn't a bit embarrassing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pKzVD0zfbw

Skipping forward to the 1950s, here is a song from 1954 which is about rock & roll without showing the slightest hint of being influenced by it. This is perhaps the squarest song ever recorded with "rock & roll" in the title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJcJIK5olDo

I am positive that there are similar things out there for punk and rap in the late 70s, and some misfire psychedelic parodies from the 60s, but can't think of any. Does anyone have anything to add to this list?

Good display name, been in my head for days that

While I gather that it's a bit tongue-in-cheek, Roger Miller's 1965 hit 'England Swings' comes immediately to mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I7yAC1Pz6Y

I'm on record as having a good deal of affection for Paul Nicholas and this song but really

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXRuWshJH0c

Feel like this Kinks song fits the bill for Punk, although more of a putdown than a cash-in. Think it was the B-side of “Father Christmas” which is way more punk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M5DBMkgU-8

Ha, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" was the first thing I thought of. It is a good song, just not v ragtime! Looking forward to listening to more of these.

The Kinks, 1980, and the Paul Nicholas, 1977, songs are not really about new genres though.

Bound to be some for disco I would have thought.

“Disco Mystic”?

Search: the episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show with a strained sing-a-long to “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.””

rapture?

I always found "Jingle Bell Rock" odd in this way.

For the authentic RagtimeDixielandRock and Roll feel, try
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLKO4mIey88

Certainly sincere rather than a cash-in, but certainly not techno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W88tEYCETv8

Don’t think this is quite what Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo had in mind. Xpost!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-gJA928XlQ

sultans of swing?

sorry that's not exactly "new genre craze"

rapture?

― ooga booga-ing for the bourgeoisie (voodoo chili), Monday, February 24, 2020 9:49 AM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think I'd give this one a pass inasmuch as, feeble as it may be, there is actually some nascent rapping on the track, it's early in the genre's history, Debbie Harry actually was engaging directly with the scene, etc.

Really hard to meet all the criteria of corny contemporary cash-in though, sorry.

Not in response to a new genre, but this one always gives me the giggles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqY35SYsyfQ

Oh, yes, it's quite clear that you do indeed 'dig' that 'rock and roll' music.

Chuck Woolery of the Avant Garde is definitely not a narc, guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy8gkv3e0fM

I do love T. Rex's "Metal Guru" but was it meant to have something to do with metal?

i don't think so. i think he meant metal in the literal sense, like copper, platinum, and such.

It's Marc Bolan, it's not supposed to make sense.

The reference to Harry Belafonte in the Joe Strummer song reminds me of Belafonte's Calypso album, which does feature Caribbean songs but generally not calypso ones.

Prince - Girl 👁️ Got 2 Grunge U (1992)

Feel like there must be 100 drum n bass examples of this.

A song about punk(?) that would fit right in on the rolling 80’s boogie thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UFtTuNTJ88

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XpWOBEZLEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v9iinRs4Ck

Miss - Hip Hop (excellent french boogie tune from 1984, has some electro elements but it hip hop it ain't)

Bob Marley (& Lee Perry)'s Punky Reggae Party is about as punky as Strummer's Techno D-Day is techno, though its celebration is likewise sincere

Debbie Harry's rapping is merely underwhelming - this example featured no good faith attempt at rapping whatsoever, and relied on Pat Benatar for its celebrity cameo, rather than the likes of a Fab Five Freddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLGxWPtgodo

2 Unlimited go “techno techno techno techno” on Get Ready For This, which was a house track. Or rather, what was then referred to as house, definitions of house/techno/trance have significantly changed over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrTjLfFTKTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFqn8m_dOZY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psXRw8hAQ0k

(Sorry, kinda stretching the thread mandate to incorporate various manifestations of this general phenomenon.)

2 Unlimited go “techno techno techno techno” on Get Ready For This

^ fake geek girl

does moaning about musical crazes count as cashing in?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXGTCdYiaMM

Tippa Irie - Sleng Teng Finish Already

The Prodigy's - 'Ruff In The Jungle Biznizz' sounds nothing like what ruff jungle bizness became a year later, but things were changing pretty fast back then tbf.

In the vein of OL's last two, check out this album of classic punk covers

Mencap reminded me of this Tippa Irie tune:

https://youtu.be/drukQYgpgK8

Tippa Irie & Daddy Rusty - Acid

Surely there has to be an early song with trap in the title which isn't trap

Similarly, the “Trip Into Drum & Bass” remix of Charlie is definitely not very d&b.

Other pop songs about dnb that aren't dnb:
Puretone - Addicted To Bass
Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground

istr someone saying We Call It Acieeed by D-Mob is not actually acid house, probably because they didn't use a 303 on it, but that seems a bit of a stretch imo

there are lots of punxploitation songs from the late 70s but most of the ones I can think of at the moment are pretty decent approximations (Jilted John, Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, Plastic Bertrand, Pork Dukes etc)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81QrWpJe8xL._SL1200_.jpg

The various KLF “trance” remixes are not trance at all.

Half Man Half Biscuit - Children Of Apocalyptic Techstep

;)

I thought of D-Mob as well, that’s a straight example. There must be more “acid” tracks without a 303.

Yes, the brand new metal genre in 1995 Xxxpost

Pantera’s “Power Metal” album is definitely not that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmxSMIN3-WI

Two birds with one stone, right there.

Unless it's supposed to induce the blues, in which case mission accomplished and I retract my 'two birds' commentary.

Puretone - Addicted To Bass

This song is not about drum ‘n’ bass (also, FP’d you for racism)


The various KLF “trance” remixes are not trance at all.

This is just another case of a genre changing and developing more rigid characteristics after its early years.

'Addicted to Bass' is iirc the anthem of an overzealous pescatarian

my fav Robert Palmer song

Not really, I don’t think anyone considered KLF as trance even in 1991.

Was trance both a functional and widely understood genre as such in 1991?

Not fully, but even as proto-trance (like for example D-Shake, The MacKenzie, “Stella”, etc) it doesn’t fit.

imo no, also their Pure Trance series dates to 1988

I mean, like, I don’t think Harthouse even got going until 1992...

I think drum and bass / jungle is in a similar category until 1994. Orbital doing “Are We Here?” in 1994 is a deliberate jungle tribute, but the Prodigy referring to loosely jungle before that is fair enough.

> there are lots of punxploitation songs from the late 70s but most of the ones I can think of at the moment are pretty decent approximations

The Monks (not the US/DK band, but the Strawbs associated band) "Nice Legs Shame About Her Face" is snotty and pub-rock jittery, but comes off wrong-headed and certainly feels like a cash in.

KLF Communications printed up all the Pure Trance sleeves by mid-‘88. therefore anyone who made a trance record that sounded different later on got it wrong, not them

Yeah there could be sub-thread for usages of terms that seem inaccurate only in retrospect.

“We Call Is Aciiiid” may be a liminal case in that (at least based on what I have read) the (mid)understood limits of “acid house” were considered much broader in the UK initially than when the sound originated in Chicago, but ultimately the Chicago definition won history.

A further tangent: when it’s the critics who get it wrong. I remember reading a heap of reviews for Craig David’s “Seven Days” which were like “if this is UK garage I don’t understand what is supposed to be so novel and interesting about it???”

Lots of interesting suggestions, but afraid many are different sorts of things. I'm not looking for respectful tributes or parodies, I'm looking for naff cash-ins. For rap, for example, I'm looking for the real version of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR8qtxts1jY

“I’d Rather Jack”?

Buffalo Gals?

i considered mentioning "Rappin' Rodney" earlier but i listened and decided it was in fact hip hop

Parody stuff is a whole different thing than what we’re looking for, no?

“Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” sounds like nothing Detroit was/is famous for.

Parody is ok, but only if it is wildly unsuccessful.

Maybe this, kinda, tho it does feature "rapping"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBsyDvzhaMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4z__lCCBX0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR3BaMQ0bBM

There is an absolutely non jackin' Living In A Box tune that has popped up on the 1989 TOTP reruns recently that totally fits this thread...

4/4 Kick Drum / Synth Bass / House in the title:

https://youtu.be/J9WgB22QwO0

That's wild, it's like a Radio 2 version of Chakk.

only recently found out that Richard Darbyshire of living in a box was once in a band with vini reilly