Are Ideas Enough?

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

A thread that's currently languishing over at ILC[omics], could work here too.

Is just having ideas enough in pop? The answer is probably, "No", but it ties in with the Rachel vs Sugababes thing on the other thread: I think Rachel has more/better ideas than the Sugababes, but I'm not sure it's the reason I prefer the former. Similarly, for Lex, who prefers the latter, is this prefence based on the fact that the ideas on th RS don't hang together or make it muddled?

Thing is: "hipsters" into pop tend to go mad for the IDEAS; does the ordinary public, dya think?

Comments

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

On the last point: maybe not ideas per se, but novelty is a very strong force in general pop consumption.

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

I actually really like the idea that today's trail-blazing ideas are yesterday's pop gimmicks.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's clear what is meany by ideas in this context - well not to me :-(

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

Schnappi is still rubbish though.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether I prefer Sugababes to RS! I definitely think RS's is the better album, it's just that I'm listening more to the Sugababes one (and their back catalogue), poss more to do with where my head is at.

The ideas/success axis is dependent on where one is in one's career, I think. Sugababes couldn't have released an album like Taller In More Ways instead of 'Freak Like Me', no one would have cared. But it's exactly right for where they stand in the British pop firmament in 2005 (ie approaching status of National Treasures).

This trajectory probably holds true for all types of career.

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

What about bands who attempt to build a career out of ideas or An Idea?

The Beatles are funny here, because I think their career wavered from gimmicks to ideas and back and forth. They're best when they're gimmick-y though, I think: ie I prefer a pastiche-y thing "I Will" to labourious patchwork like "Happiness is A Warm Gun".

Gimmick = pop. Ideas = something more rock-ish?