Paths

An example - listening to the various CDs of West African pop I've been buying it strikes me what a disservice was done to the vibrant, fluid ways of playing guitar I'm hearing on them. They could have invigorated the pop mainstream - instead they were, when used at all, a blood transfusion or cred-by-assocation for rockers trying to look cosmopolitan.

West African pop gives me headaches. Very strange.

'Future Music' (hi-tech muso mag) complained recently that virtually every demo they receive consists of, broadly speaking, dance music. Non-Dance acts engaging with new technology at the core of their sound, as oppossed to a mere garnish, are few and far between. The Young Gods abandoned guitars for the sampler 13+ years ago, but seem largely without progeny.

Young Gods - no progeny? What about Fear Factory, Godflesh etc. (I didn't say any of these had to be GOOD, btw)

I did write 'largely without progeny' dave. Justin K. Broadrick's of Godflesh's influences are apparently Swans, early Killing Joke, SPK, Suicide, The Stranglers, Black Sabbath and especially Throbbing Gristle . 'Songs about Love + Hate' + 'Pure' I did quite like btw, but if they contained any samplerdelic morphing of rock riffs a la the Gods, I must have missed it.

As for Fear Factory (of whom I've never heard a note) they list: Faith No More, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, The Police, U2, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse + Pantera.

Besides I was using the Young Gods as an illustration rather than a case in point. Where are the non-dance acts abandoning trad-real- time instruments for the hard-drive. Radiohead's recent departures perhaps?

After seeing the young gods live maybe they should have abandoned music instead

Sorry Tom, I seem to have unintentionally hijacked the thread + turned it into a Young Gods debate. The original question was:

What parts of pop music remain underexplored? Which paths were not taken, or at least not fully followed?

Lloyd Cole has never been fully followed. He hasn't even been half followed.

I think more could have been done with the kind of alt.rock hip-hop hybrid that featured on the Judgement Night soundtrack.

"Lloyd Cole has never been fully followed. He hasn't even been half followed."

pinefox you have often said this and now i find myself believing it even tho i not heard a note of the um divine LC's since rattlesnakes and perfect skin: but i do not think you have ever given concrete specifix-ah?

Pinefox I've been meaning to suggest that you do an article on the other divine LC for Freaky Trigger - how about it?

I could try, though as you know, I've already written one in 99 - might be in danger of repeating myself.

(Me? Repeat myself?? On Lloyd Cole???)

Mark S: it is nice of you to say what you say though I probably don't understand it. I don't think 'Perfect Skin' is that great, really.

Any large music phenomenon seems to close down other options that are beginning to ferment.

I think there have been several speculations already about 'like punk never happened' and its pretty interesting to pick up on mid 70s mavericks (Split Enz for instance).

But probably more all encompasing were Elvis and the Beatles. There is something very very strange about early 60s pop, Blue Velvet for instance as used by Lynch or creepy little novelty hits like Santos and Johnny's 'Sleepwalk'. I wish I knew more about pre-Beatles pop and could work out if it is only strange by association or if there is something lurking in there

That's a fair point well made.

Is Mr Blair famous, or did I just dream it?

Famous? Me? No. Never.

Blue velvet=proto reggae.

There's a path that runs through Beefheart, Can, Hex-era Fall, and the first two PJ Harvey albums that could use a little more following as far as I'm concerned. US Maple tread close, but I'm thinking less mathy. Smart loud guitar-based rock rock that's maybe a little bit blues-based. Feedtime! Somebody develop this for me. It's important.

I'm with dave q on no wave. So much can be done with alternate tunings and guitar preparations that hasn't been touched. (Really, Sonic Youth haven't been pushing this area much since Evol.) I'd like to see a rock band really seriously approach the possibilities offered by microtonality.

Mmm, I still the think the theory of A.R. Kane is excellent, they just weren't the band to pull it off in practice, IMHO. So dubby dreampop with large helpings of Miles. Also 'Loveless' remains something of a dead-end instead of the opening of new paths it so clearly is.

They could have invigorated the pop mainstream - instead they were, when used at all, a blood transfusion or cred-by-assocation for rockers trying to look cosmopolitan.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you're talking about Paul Simon here. If so, I think you do him a disservice. Though neither a musical rape or a true collaboration, Paul Simon did a great job of combining elements of Western and Southern African pop into his own songwriting vision. Including that skittery, inventive guitar style you are so enamored of.

As for your question proper; how about involved, complex "epic" pop, like early Billy Joel and Elton John, Queen, 10CC, early Wings and a multitude of others. "But your listing of artists shows that the style has hardly been underexplored," they sneered, but what I specifically mean is a merging of todays hyper-textured synthetic pop production of today with the hyper-textured and involved pop music of days past?

Disco Inferno

Freestyle

Young Marble Giants is the classic example I think.