Article Response: 81 vs 00

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― Tom, Friday, 9 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

fun to read .... even if i don't know most of the songs from 81 i'm sure they're dreadful though :-)

well pop music is a zeitgeist thing isn't it ? i've always liked the present best. i wonder if that will change with getting older ... most people seem to get less receptive/less interested / content with what they have / nostalgic / living in the past ( in that order )as time goes by others keep listening to new stuff i think it's wonderful how nusic is capable of preserving feelings that went along with it in the past

it's obviously always a good thing to have scientists put theories to the test .

― marie, Friday, 9 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dude! What's going on? It's funny but the songs I can remember like Joe Dolce and the Baha Men you guys gave really poor marks to! Oh well, I think if you did 1986 vs 2000, 1986 would win by a knockout...I mean Berlin and Europe produced two of the greatest songs ever! Plus I hope that Artful Dodger will be remembered as the new M-People in years to come. Also, 1981 scored three 10's and 2000 only 1, so ideally I'd like to see the scores plotted on a graph. (just kidding! :)But, anyway a cool article! bye!

― jel, Friday, 9 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's official I can't count...that shoula been two scores of 10 for 2000. I blame chaos theory.

― jel, Friday, 9 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

fantastic article, this is the sort of truly obsessive and at the same time hilarious piece i really like :)

is this where i say keep up the good work?

― carsmilesteve, Friday, 9 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As brilliant a corrective to the sad and faintly self-parodic "state of pop" articles that the Guardian has come to specialise in as could be imagined. Perfect.

― Robin Carmody, Friday, 9 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The process can be used to determine the greatest year in Music Ever.

― JM, Sunday, 11 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Out of interest, Jimmy, which year would that be, in your opinion?

― Robin Carmody, Sunday, 11 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

brilliant. this feature shows that the problem with todays music isn't with the pop (which is as good/bad as it ever was), it's with the shit that masquerades as decent music.

― nick greenfield, Monday, 12 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The FT article was quite amusing (and interesting, if only for jogging my vague memories of when Shakin' Stevens used to be a STAR). The original Guardian article was simply awful and deserves further ridicule.

― Ally C, Monday, 12 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think the best aspect of the article is its ruthless fairness. It's a quality lacking in Raven, obvious from her strange belief that she can compare Samantha Mumba with Joy Division and from that draw any meaningful conclusions from about the state of music (except the *obvious* meaningful conclusion, which is that David Bowie has something for everyone).

― Tim, Tuesday, 13 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gosh. Not only have I read Raven's silly piece, I have polemically, tiresomely shown it to other people till they were ready to swat me with it and make me spill my pint. And yet I have just been brought to the realization that I didn't fully understand it. When Raven referred to a 'Samantha Mumba' I had to assume this was some club that she and her pals frequented in the early 1980s. But from the response above, I'm not sure that this can be the case (can it?).

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 13 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Samantha Mumba = Irish r&b-inflected pop singer. Not entirely unpleasant (her second single "Body To Body" was based on "Ashes To Ashes", and I found it amusingly irreverent), but not particularly pleasant either (her first single "Tell You This" was irritatingly mediocre radio fare; her latest is by all accounts deplorable). I object to Raven's references to her because I hardly see Mumba as having earned a prominent place in pop's cultural pantheon circa '01. Of course, even if she'd used a better example (All Saints, maybe?) I doubt that she'd have liked the music anyway.

― Tim, Tuesday, 13 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I hardly see Mumba as having earned a prominent place in pop's cultural pantheon circa '01.

Nine months to a year ago I would have agreed with this. She seemed like another parochial UK/Irish attempt at watered down R&B/Pop. However her more recent singles have shown a marked improvement. I have a feeling she will become very successful *worldwide* (unlike most current UK/Irish Pop artists).

― David, Tuesday, 13 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I thought the sample of "Ashes To Ashes" on "Body II Body" worked incredibly well - partially the irreverence (reverent Bowie fans irritate me like little else), partially the fact that it is such a great hook from such an indisputably great song (Bowie's best ever single, for me). Even the Spice Girls could have used that hook ***on their last album*** and couldn't have made it completely unlistenable.

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 13 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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