Canon to the left of them

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yesterday's Now poll spawned an interesting subthread w/Lex, Cis and Stevem discussing the emergent 'Poptimist canon' coming out of these Now votes, esp. with reference to trip-hop, and the pendulum swing between the Big Hit eurodance singles which get a ton of votes and the lesser-known ones which suddenly get zero votes.

The trip-hop thing doesn't entirely surprise me because there was a point at which EVERYBODY I knew liked Portishead (and then totally forgot about them by the time the second alb came out), but then I'm a good 5 years older than the people who were discussing it and they were quite a student-friendly band in many ways. I have been a little surprised by the shape of the Now winners, because I simply didn't think there was THAT much affection for big 90s dance-pop hits - again this is an age thing, they were so despised by a lot of people I knew at the time.

The weird skew on europop though is simply down to most of the voters not really thinking of Culture Beat, Corona etc as more than one-hit wonders, for whatever reason I think a lot of people aren't motivated to check out other tracks by someone who did a massive dancepop hit they loved.

I remember saying to Mark S in the pub a few weeks back that it'll be interesting to see at what point the canon really starts breaking down, when the nostalgia effect wears off. I'm not totally sure I can articulate what I mean by that though.

Not about NOW Polls:

The Official List Of Things "Teenage Life" By Daz Sampson Has Reminded Tom Of

Pink Floyd - "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2"
Coolio - "Gangsta's Paradise"
ARSE Weapons - "Hey World"
Denim - "It Fell Off The Back Of A Lorry"

It's ONE WEEK to the pop quiz!

The Pop World Cup: Group H

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

After eight weeks of thrilling competition the group stages reach their conclusion, as we decide who the final two qualifiers for the knockout stages will be. Gypsy punk, Iberian electropop, North African hip-hop and Saudi subtlety vie for your attention and votes. After some poor attendances at the previous matches we're looking for big crowds here!

You can find all PWC entries here. If you can't download or are having trouble let me know either in the comments box or at freakytrigger@gmail.com.

So here are the four Group H contenders, with exclusive team talks from their managers.

( Group H )

So how will matches be decided? HERE'S HOW.

( The rules...and THE POLL )

Initial results up tomorrow. Next week there will be a special poll designed to find the player of the tournament so far, and then the first of the round of 16 clashes....Germany v England (sbp and zenith be warned!)