(188 comments)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The recent Now polls have been total blockbusters in terms of comments - and lots of votes too. This runs us up against the technical limits of LJ, i.e. that an over-50 comments thread is a chore to read, and a 2-page one requires particular dedication even beyond that. Not much we can do about that, other than pass the thematic ball forward more often (i.e. start new threads).

So why's it happening? Well Poptimists is bigger now, and this is a period we all remember, and a lot of us were online then and fighting various crucial ideological pop battles (ahem) and so there's an urge to either defend territory hard-won - or complicate history by asking questions which Pop Fervour made us less likely to pose at the time.

It's interesting* that there's a definite hard kernel of a 00s Pop Canon there - after poll after poll with winning scores in the 70s, Britney, Kylie, S Club, Destiny's all post scores of 90%-ish, and I can think of a few more tracks that are likely to do similar. (Obviously a lot of this is a quirk of demographics - we've set up a community where ppl who like that sort of thing can wander in.)

*especially cos of the relative lack of majority-votes and high-scorers for the current month polls stevem runs - has pop got worse, or just more diverse?

Comments

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Just let me do a couple of concurrent Shine polls. WE'LL GET THAT READERSHIP DOWN.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

I have no evidence for this, but does pop usually only get really good in Summer, every year?

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Tom, methinks now would also be a good moment to get a picture of the poptimist age distribution, because I think that would suggest something as well. The age brackets would have to be fairly narrow (i.e., none of this 25-34 nonsense).

[celentari.livejournal.com]

I'd be lying if I said the age I was for some of these high scoring Britney/Kylie hits didn't affect my affection for them. But for me, nostaligia, even nostaligia as recent as last week, is a big part of my Pop Love. Whereas more "serious" music I'm more likely to have listened to alone and it thus seems more objectively judgeable.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i think more time needs to pass perhaps. i wonder if 'Crazy' would get over 50 ticks, 3 or 4 years from now. not that my polls attract that many people :(

as discussed last week this is partly because people seem to have trouble keeping up to date with the chart and it's contents now. because they've grown increasingly intolerant of radio and press practices and because they're older/busier it seems.

but i think we may be in a period akin to a 'middle of album dip' - many of the bigger stars are in decline now inc. Britney, Beyonce and esp. Eminem. GA, Madonna and Sugababes released album tracks from '05 this year. There's been no real massive anthems from big stars (old or new) this year, yet - but i suppose that does tie in with Summer aspect.

[juliet]

NB: anyone who uses Firefox, there's a Greasemonkey script called LJ Thread Unfolder, which on (most, but not quite all) journal styles will give you an extra link entitled 'Unfold'. Clicking this unfolds the thread in place, rather than opening a new page.

Another useful Greasemonkey script for navigating LJ comments:
http://pw201.livejournal.com/54000.html
This one changes the 'X Comments' link into 'X comments (y comments new)', & when you open the page, allows you to hit 'n' & 'p' to navigate to the next/previous unseen comment.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I think pop IS worse at the moment, actually: or at least pop defined as 'what's in the charts / on radio 1' where with a few exceptions Koganesque teenpop is largely absent. I also think this was a predictable development, and I don't think it will necessarily last.

Reasons: more and more, increasingly narrow niche markets develop, with own systems of distribution, and critical forums. Hence the centre ground is evacuated and becomes full of lowest common denominator, allowing gatekeepers (BBC, mainly) who have learnt to adapt and ride the repetitions of the pop marketplace, to have a stranglehold. LCD at moment = indie; rock; some urban crossover, but not half as much as say 2000-3. The space for novelty records is still there, but they depend on Radio 1 approval e.g. Elton John and Leo Sayer revivals. There seems to be a strict rationing of how many banging trance / house hits get in the charts, presumably related to rationing of slots on various radio playlists.

Not sure why I think it won't last -- probably lingering belief in dialectics.

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

More diverse, I think. There's a lot more of what I still think of as indie bands troubling the charts now - unfortunately I don't think most of them are much cop.

[koganbot]

The problem with the current month polls is entirely due to Lohan's "I Live for the Day" not being a hit single anywhere (in fact may not be a single at all, though at the moment it's the first song they stream on her MySpace page).

[koganbot]

I have never heard an S Club 7 song. Therefore S Club 7 = classic.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

we could have more control over the appearance of longer discussions if we bounced discussion over to FT. If only FT could be revamped with better commenting...

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

It might also be that the newer Now polls are more American friendly, and lots of people who might like anglo stuff never had the oppurtunity to hear it

[darkpigeon.livejournal.com]

this is the age of teh internets and the underground hits and random not-allowed-to-use-major-label-tracks podcasts