Diva Canon #7: DIANA ROSS
Dec. 1st, 2006 12:03 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
katstevens.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
poptimists
DIANA FACTS:
The original diva (if you don't count Marie Antoinette) made sure she had a separate credit on pretty much every song she appeared on for maximum importance. As such, I have only included singles where Diana is named separately. I nearly made this a smaller, Supremes-only poll, but the whole point of canonizing is to weed the wheat from the chaff, and there's certainly a lot of chaff down here. EIGHTEEN ticks? Ndoobedoobedoo!
[Poll #879379]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 12:08 pm (UTC)PUB QUIZ MOTOWN CURSE
Date: 2006-12-01 12:14 pm (UTC)There are moments in my life when I think Can't Hurry Love is the greatest pop song ever written. Like wandering out of Carl Craig at The End last Saturday to hear it being played, anachronistically, in the other room.
Re: PUB QUIZ MOTOWN CURSE
Date: 2006-12-01 12:21 pm (UTC)Re: PUB QUIZ MOTOWN CURSE
Date: 2006-12-01 12:25 pm (UTC)The Supremes pick-only-three was MUCH harder than the Solo Diana try-to-remember-18.
Re: PUB QUIZ MOTOWN CURSE
Date: 2006-12-01 12:43 pm (UTC)Re: PUB QUIZ MOTOWN CURSE
Date: 2006-12-01 02:41 pm (UTC)Chain Reaction
Date: 2006-12-01 12:46 pm (UTC)Re: Chain Reaction
Date: 2006-12-01 02:47 pm (UTC)[apologies if this is a double-post: live journal is glitching on me today]
Upside Down
Date: 2006-12-01 12:48 pm (UTC)Scariest UD moment: Diana & Jay Kay out of Jamiroquai duetting this at the Brits about 8 or 9 years ago...
causality re-established
Date: 2006-12-01 01:03 pm (UTC)AND AS A RESULT
she once served a two-day jail sentence
My Old Piano
Date: 2006-12-01 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 01:29 pm (UTC)UK vs US
Date: 2006-12-01 01:31 pm (UTC)"Some Things You Never Get Used To"
"I'm Livin' In Shame"
"No Matter What Sign You Are"
All of these songs are missing/have been lost from the Supremes canon in the US (also to a lesser extent, "The Happening," which may be my favorite little known classic).
Re: UK vs US
Date: 2006-12-01 02:05 pm (UTC)Re: UK vs US
Date: 2006-12-01 02:40 pm (UTC)Re: UK vs US
Date: 2006-12-01 03:24 pm (UTC)Upside Down
Date: 2006-12-01 02:22 pm (UTC)Re: Upside Down
Date: 2006-12-01 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 02:38 pm (UTC)Anyway, the four that made my all-time hundred are "Where Did Our Love Go," "You Keep Me Hangin' On," "Love Hangover," and "Swept Away" - the last of which is a great great great Arthur Baker production, extremely sexy but also an intense everything breaking loose dance rave-up, the sort of thing Baker did a couple of times with his wife Tina B and that Lewis Martinée specialized in with Exposé and Sequel. Which is to say that I'd probably like the track just as much with any old disco backup singer standing forth and singing lead (which isn't to say that Diana doesn't do a fine job but that it's just irrelevant to me that she's the one doing it). "Love Hangover" is as anonymous to me as "Ring My Bell" - anonymous in the good sense, meaning that what I'm hearing in the song is Diana Singing the sound of all those yearning back-up singers and one-off girls and scenesters and hos on Sunset that Donna Summer sang about.
As for her peaking with Chic, I don't agree (Rodgers and Edwards are slightly overrated, though I like them quite well). Of my four top tracks, two are written and produced by Holland Dozier Holland, "Love Hangover" is written by Pam Sawyer and Marilyn McLeod and produced by Hal Davis, "Swept Away" is by Arthur Baker. My next favorite solo track, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," is written and produced by Ashford & Simpson.
It Doesn't Matter 'Cause Nothing Lasts Forever
Date: 2006-12-01 03:07 pm (UTC)bom bom bom, bom-bom b-bom bom
Date: 2006-12-01 02:57 pm (UTC)(1) A Martha & the Vandellas track whose name is escaping me.
(2) Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil."
(3) Iggy Pop "Lust for Life"
There may be scores that are better than those three, but my mind is a blank today. Next History of Jop will have one of the worst ever, though: Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl."
Get Out Of My Life Why Don't You Babe
Date: 2006-12-01 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 06:28 pm (UTC)And the unsung Supremes song that wasn't in the bonus section is "Love Is Like an Itching In My Heart". Terrible title, but an amazing track.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 11:11 pm (UTC)