Pop Star Showdown: FITES 1 and 2

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I realised this morning that because I won't be on the web tomorrow there is zero chance of the Ultimate Pop Star Showdown actually finishing on Friday, so instead of overwhelming you with polls I'll be putting the pop fights out a couple at a time and make this a slightly longer term bit of orgafun.

Anyway the preliminary round is over and the results are in:

KATE BUSH beat Celeste.
SERGE GAINSBOURG beat Joan Jett.
CHER beat Paris Hilton.
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD beat Phil Oakey.
NENEH CHERRY beat Kelly Clarkson.
BILL DRUMMOND beat H Steps.
MICHAEL JACKSON beat Dr Alban.
LILY ALLEN beat Thom Yorke.

We'll be meeting all of those qualifiers again - in fact we'll be meeting two in the poll under this very cut, along with two stars who have actually teamed up on the same (very good indeed) record! Which will make it through to round two? You decide!


[Poll #766696]

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

These fights seem fairly clear-cut. I am not surprised Dusty is beating Cher - though I voted for Cher because I love "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" so much.

But ODB shouldn't be being so trounced by Kelis, surely?

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Whether he should or should not be, he was always going to be on Poptimists, no?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Maybe - BUT I think this is an area where poptimists should examine itself a bit more!

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Agreed!

it is too late

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

POPTIMISTS HAVE ALREADY DISGRACED THEMSELVES x at least 6

Re: it is too late

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

ALL SIX OF THOSE TIMES INVOLVING PARIS

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

is ODB really that good on his own tho?

i don't really know any of his other solo singles i must confess. i never really bothered with Wu-Tang solo albums even tho they all seemed to get good reviews every time.

Kelis has so many good singles this IS a clear victory as far as i'm concerned.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I'm not doing it on 'count of good singles', in that case The Beatles beat Kelis and plainly none of them do.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Well Kelis > ODB in the 'famous boyfriend' stakes. Police called due to noisy sex with one of world's greatest rap stars > smacked out freak nicked in parking lot.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

And if we're voting on sex appeal Kelis > ODB.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Reasons why ODB might beat Kelis then?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

It just feels right. (This is my method on all of the votes).

Also I like the idea of disgusting tramps being pop stars (other than Tom Waits obv.)

10

[zenith.livejournal.com]

1) He was the "talisman" of his group despite often not bothering to turn up, or not being able to turn up due to being in jail.

2) He once explained that he was going to stay on the run from the police by "being like a bird - I'm a live on birdseed!"

3) Shimmy Shimmy Ya.

4) "Me and Mariah / Go back like babies with pacifiers."

5) Storming the stage at that awards ceremony to declare "Wu-Tang is for the babies".

6) N***a Please - a whole album produced by The Neptunes before the hype, also one of the earliest appearances of Kelis- he GAVE us Kelis.

7) The cover to that album.

8) "This is dedicated... to all the pretty girls! To all the pretty girls... and the ugly girls too! 'Cuz to me you're pretty anyway baby..." [CLAP CLAP]

9) His verse on Reunited.

10) There's actually loads of good stuff on the posthumous Osirus album, eg. Pop Shots and Go Go Go.

Re: 10

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

These are all great reasons why ODB was brilliant!

But it all comes back to no. of good tracks by Kelis for me in the end.

Re: 10

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Tom has (deliberately) been vague about what this Poll is about.

FWIW though I have taken it to be about personality, enviability and all-round star quality (in a pop music context) not about no. of good records made.

Re: 10

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly - as usual with me "finding out the criteria people use" is as interesting as "the decisions people take using them" :)

Re: 10

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

well people can use whatever criteris they want, presumably.

you could argue that ODB is a better pop star than Kelis for whatever reason but i'm choosing to stick to a conventional inclination that Kelis has more good pop songs than ODB.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

They certainly do not! 9 > 1

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I have a CD best-of ODB, but I cannot remember anything by him apart from the duet! Whereas I can sing several Kelis hits.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think I'm just a bit bored with Kelis.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

ODB is v g on his own ('Shimmy Shimmy Ya'!), but still not as good as Kelis.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

BOTHERD about both these fites tbh

Only Cher is really a STAR out of these four, and more the Hollywood Boulevard sort than the [whatever the pop equiv. of HB is] sort.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

That's why I think she's the best star of the bunch, but she's had the length of her career to earn that. Its possible - although it seems unlikely - that Kelis could go the distance.

eyes be a rolling

[zenith.livejournal.com]

"go the distance" and be accepted into a CANON, perhaps?