Jun. 29th, 2007

[identity profile] byebyepride.livejournal.com
[[personal profile] koganbot  has been answering this question, originally posed by [profile] poptasticuk , in his column here, and talking about it on his journal here. I thought it might be in order to continue the conversation today. Personal anecdotes welcome! I'm off out, but I'll be back to talk after 2.]

When I was 12 I was a member of a Scout troop based on a housing estate a little way from the comfortable middle class suburb where I lived. I was just discovering music, and particularly loved the Beastie Boys. (Obviously my mum never let me steal a VW badge, but I was allowed to write and ask for the little replicas they gave out in an attempt to keep kids away from their cars.) For a while I was allowed to share this enthusiasm with other members of the group, until one day they decided that as a 'square' kid from a posh school, I wasn't supposed to like the Beastie Boys, and clearly was only doing it to 'fit in'.

Around the same time my dad was a director at a merchant bank in the city. One day he overheard a much younger colleague saying 'you know Mr T******? You'd think he was into, you know Vivaldi or something. But he likes Iron Maiden!' (And WASP, Helloween, etc. it transpires. Partly because he was lending money to a company that was involved with those acts, but hey, why spoil a good story!)

A year or so later I was in my first year at boarding school, and I had (via my dad -- not how this is supposed to happen!) got into metal. I remember one of the older boys (who subsequently ended up as a maths teacher at the school, I wonder where he is now?) walking past, noticing that I was listening to 'Kill 'em All' and saying 'Metallica: pretty hev (heavy) for a junior'. This time not liking what I was supposed to like was a good thing, and he let me have free run of his cassettes to learn up on all that other heavy stuff. (Result! Cheers Simon!)

Obviously this still goes on -- I think a large chunk of the 'poptimist' experience is about this: deliberately liking what you're supposed to dislike; finding yourself in transgression of 'supposed-to's of various sorts; and of course encoding new 'supposed-to's. (Aren't all the polling and games intended to recognise and disrupt the natural formation of 'supposed-to's?) Most of my IRL pals in Edinburgh like what they're supposed to like (although I think everyone has a couple of things they like that don't fit -- maybe this is the limit of the 'supposed-to' model), and are happy like that. [But I was playing tunes when we had people round for C's birthday and pretty much every track prompted a 'what! you can't play this' from someone -- but there was always someone else who thought it was ok to play it, so clearly all sorts of 'supposed-to's were clashing in the room.]

Anyway what annoys me most about music radio for example is how obviously it enshrines 'supposed-to's: you know, Radio 1 is for 'new music', as long as that doesn't include too much dance music etc.; 6music for 'music that matters'. But then I guess that 'supposed-to's are how the cultural industry works -- fixing and solidifying the 'supposed-to's that are already there in the social world. So the battle for autonomy is the battle against 'supposed-to's?
[identity profile] miss-newham.livejournal.com
Can any of you help out my friend [livejournal.com profile] offensive_mango with her search for a certain version of 'Blue Moon'? She wants to know:

"Who did that version of "Blue Moon" that isn't the doo-wop version, but instead the soft, slow, romantic version that you sometimes get on the radio? It's definitely a male group rather than a male soloist (or indeed a female soloist).

Here are some people it definitely isn't:

The Marcels (too doo-wop)
Mel Torme (too non-traditional)
Elvis Presley (male soloist)
Sha-Na-Na (too jazzy/fast)
Frank Sinatra ((too jazzy/fast))
Nat King Cole (too jazzy/fast)
Ella Fitzgerald (too female)
Billie Holiday (too female)
Cowboy Junkies (too recent)
Showaddywaddy (too doo-wop)
Sam Cooke (too jazzy/fast)"

None of her friends list have come up with the right answer, but surely one of you knows...
[identity profile] freakytigger.livejournal.com


It'll be like a great night out in the pub - BUT WITH POP!

It will also be FROM SEVEN in records-playing terms, not from 8! And from six you will be able to come along and meet poptimists in their NATURAL HABITAT.

Because this won't be just a room full of the usual mob who already know each other this is an EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY to come to your first ever Poptimism, if you were feeling shy of it.
[identity profile] katstevens.livejournal.com


Disco Donna has racked up 29 UK top 40 hits, and you get to choose your favourite NINE. Remixes are included because dammit, remixes are what Donna Summer is FOR!

[Poll #1012305]
Bee Gees: (link)
=1. Stayin' Alive
=1. Tragedy
=3. Night Fever
=3. You Win Again
5. Jive Talkin'
6. How Deep Is Your Love
7. You Should Be Dancing
8. Massachusetts
9. New York Mining Disaster 1941
10. I've Gotta Get A Message To You

Simply Red: (link)
1. Holding Back The Years
2. Money's Too Tight To Mention
3. Fairground
=4. Stars
=4. Something Got Me Started

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