The History Of Jop Part 8 aka It started with a little kiss, like this

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Away from the Hip-Hop Wars the Pazz and Jop poll moves smoothly onward to 1986 - some great singles here but very few names that had not previously appeared in P&J. You get NINE ticks from these 25 tracks.


[Poll #829550]


1985: The Joptimised Version

1. Into The Groove (45 votes)
2. How Soon Is Now? (40 votes)
3. Raspberry Beret (37 votes)
4. Running Up That Hill (35)
5. Walking On Sunshine (24)
6. The Boys Of Summer (23)
7. Money For Nothing (22)
8. And She Was (21)
9. Smooth Operator (19)
10. I Wonder If I Take You Home (18)

Surprising mass support for VER STRAITS there!

Comments

Re: Anger is an inner G

[koganbot]

Well, remember, that's me 20 years ago. And I think I hit on something four months later when I wrote "Why Music Sucks" that I'd only touched on in this prelim: that the problem isn't so much a lack of real inner outrage, but rather that settling into the "Outrage" stance seemed to undercut the drive for simple competence. So it isn't just that Sonic Youth are "held back" by a constricted social space, but rather they're comfortable enough in that space* so as to not get good enough rhythm and not get a compelling front person. Which is to say that competence is an issue. (And in many ways SY were plenty competent.)

(*Of course, this is my projecting a psychology onto them in order to explain what I perceive as a lack in the music. But I think it works, even if I've gotten Kim's and Lee's and Thurston's actual psyches wrong.)

Re: Anger is an inner G

[koganbot]

Also I was undergoing a shift in what is "me" that, um, maybe has subsequently allowed me - albeit reluctantly - to tick "Smooth Operator" in the previous Jop poll and to get all enthusiastic about Toby Keith's unassuming "That's Not How It Is" (his quiet storm move) and Paris Hilton's unassuming "Stars Are Blind" (her smooth dance move) - to pick two exuberant personalities who are not generally regarded as "unassuming." I'd still criticize "Smooth Operator" as imparting a bogus (or genuine, who cares) sense of control, whereas letting go vs. holding back simply isn't an issue in what I like about "That's Not How It Is" and "Smooth Operator."

(But it is an issue for me that, say, Snow Patrol and the Fray and Panic! At The Disco don't move nearly as well as the three aforementioned smoothies. But is the problem that Fray/Snow Patrol/Panic! are "held back" by something, or is it that they're not propelled by anything? Or is it that they're simply not all that good?)

Re: Anger is an inner G

[koganbot]

whereas letting go vs. holding back simply isn't an issue in what I like about "That's Not How It Is" and "Smooth Operator."

Grrrr, my fingers don't know what they're saying. I meant to type:

Whereas letting go vs. holding back simply isn't an issue in what I like about "That's Not How It Is" and "Stars Are Blind."

But holding back certainly feels like a defect in "Smooth Operator," which obv. has some virtues as well, or I wouldn't have ticked it.