The History of Jop Part 3 aka If you start me up I'll never stop

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Part 3 of the series takes us to 1981, and really an awful lot of great singles from which you must pick ONLY NINE.

Procedural notes: Laurie A. and the Stones were joint winners this year. Also, "Ghost Town" topped the separate EPs poll but I threw it in here anyway. I may do this with some future EPs too.


[Poll #813728]


And now the Joptimists Top Ten of 1980:

1. Blondie - Call Me (45 votes)
2. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (37 votes)
3. Lipps Inc - Funky Town (35 votes)
4=. The Clash - Train In Vain/London Calling (32 votes)
4=. Diana Ross - Upside Down (32 votes)
4=. The Dead Kennedies - Holiday In Cambodia (32 votes)
7. The Vapors - Turning Japanese (31 votes)
8=. Martha And The Muffins - Echo Beach (29 votes)
8=. Joy Divison - Atmosphere/She's Lost Control (29 votes)
10. Devo - Whip It (25 votes)

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This was a hard one.

Never knowingly heard: this Deniece Williams, Roseanne Cash, Frankie Smith.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I struggled to tick 9.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I wanted to tick about 18, but there were a lot where I thought "I bet not enough people know this".

[the-roofdog.livejournal.com]

Tom, I think you and I differed only by one vote and shamefully this is because I couldn't resist ticking CARNES.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

There is no shame in ticking Carnes! I rly want to hear that now. (and loads of others) (what time is Poptimism again?)

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

mmm, carnes. i assume there is 1 x bosh BDE?

it is possible that my set could have both the least and the most tracks in (ie pwl megamix = 1 track or 8 tracks depending which way you look at it) EVER.

great elvis stars on 45 too, will go down a bomb with the oldies on sunday i reckons.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

So you ticked strategically then, not for "the best"?

I actually found this year kind of iffy after ticking my favorite, despite there being several songs that on paper seem magical and therefore quite strong (e.g., Every Little Thing, Super Freak, Genius of Love). Are any of them really better than Tempted, which is just a solid, classic piece of songwriting?

Is "Tainted Love" really the best song here, or just the one that spans the broadest audience?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

No I ticked for the best, but some of my ticks were with a heavy heart (i.e. Taana Gardner).

Tempted is amazing, yes!

I think Tainted Love might be the best song here though - I honestly never tire of it.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

perhaps unfairly tempted got no tick simply for being one of my less favoured SQUEEZE songs (ie it alone was demoted in comparison to songs NOT ON THE LIST)

i have grown a bit bored of "tainted love" i think

i couldn't

[zmachine.livejournal.com]

I've not heard 9 of them, at least not knowingly, so I managed to tick only 6. I'm quite surprised that at the moment Prince has fewer votes than the Police though esp. as Controversy is one of my favourite early Prince tracks.

[spittake.livejournal.com]

poor double dutch bus :(

[kill-yr-idols.livejournal.com]

Frankie Smith = URGENT & KEY!

"Double Dutch Bus was a 1981 funk song by Frankie Smith, made famous for its extensive use of the "izz" infix form of pig latin slang. The song title represents a portmanteau of two institutions in Smith's Philadelphia neighborhood: the double dutch game of jump rope played by neighborhood kids, and the SEPTA bus system that was a backbone of the local transportation network (and for which Smith had unsuccessfully applied for a bus driving position). Smith persuaded contacts at WMOT Records to finance the song, and it was recorded in summer 1981, engineered by Gene Leone. The song rocketed to popularity in a matter of weeks, landing on the Billboard Top 40 charts on July 11, 1981.

The song was sampled in Missy Elliott's 2003 single Gossip Folks."