The House That Jackin Built

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

There's been no poptimist post or thread on the Jackin' Pop poll, which posted its results this week - I've put the top 30 tracks under a cut, and you can see the alBUM etc votes at http://www.idolator.com/?op=compiledresults


1. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (169 votes)
2. T.I. - What You Know (89 votes)
3. Justin Timberlake ft. T.I. - My Love (79 votes)
4. Christina Aguilera - Ain't No Other Man (51 votes)
5. TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me (49 votes)
6. Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland - Promiscuous (45 votes)
7. Justin Timberlake - SexyBack (35 votes)
7. The Raconteurs - Steady, as She Goes (35 votes)
8. Hot Chip - Over and Over (33 votes) 1 for Solid Groove Remix
10. Lupe Fiasco - Kick, Push (32 votes)
10. Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks (32 votes)
12. The Killers - When You Were Young (29 votes)
13. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade (28 votes)
14. Beyonce - Irreplaceable (26 votes)
14. Rihanna - SOS (26 votes)
16. Clipse - Wamp Wamp (What It Do) (24 votes)
17. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken (23 votes)
18. Kelis - Bossy (22 votes) 1 for Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Remix
19. Band of Horses - The Funeral (21 votes)
19. Chamillionaire ft. Krayzie Bone - Ridin' (21 votes) 1 for NYPD Remix ft. Papoose & Jae Millz
19. Lily Allen - LDN (21 votes)
22. CSS - Let's Make Love (and Listen to Death From Above) (20 votes)
23. Dixie Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice (19 votes)
23. Junior Boys ft. Andi Toma - In the Morning (19 votes)
23. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (19 votes)
26. Cassie - Me & U (18 votes)
26. Clipse - Mr. Me Too (18 votes)
26. Lily Allen - Smile (18 votes)
26. Nelly Furtado - Maneater (18 votes) 2 for remix ft. Lil Wayne
30. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor (17 votes)
30. Prince - Black Sweat (17 votes)


Is this a recognisable 2006? Not if yr a Brit voter, most probably. (EDIT: I stand corrected, yrs Grandad.) I'm not sure I've ever heard TV on the Radio (who topped the JP albums list).

Comments

[koganbot]

Don't necessarily disagree with Eppy's characterization of why rock critics I haven't read like the Hold Steady, but his characterization has nothing to do with why rock critics I have read like the Hold Steady. I doubt that Chuck Eddy, who as a youngster lost one parent to cancer and another to suicide, is intent upon vicariously experiencing all the cool fucked-up stuff he didn't get to do when he was an actual teenager. Anyway, here's what one critic, me, said over in last year's teenpop thread about the Hold Steady:

The Kelly Clarkson album has been getting me back into the Hold Steady's Separation Sunday. Not that Kelly and Craig don't have a lot not in common, but there's stuff they share, too, each telling the other's story backwards. When Kelly arrived she was flying high, but when she left she was defeated and depressed. Separation Sunday is about a girl called Holly who goes down into drugs and addiction but in the end achieves a resurrection*; Breakaway is about a girl called Kelly who claims a resurrection right off and then goes down into codependency and dysfunction, ends either with her crying out in despair (if you count "Hear Me" as the real conclusion and the live "Beautiful Disaster" as an add-on) or with her declaring her love for the thing that's been fucking her up all along. (Well, there's strings attached to every single lover.)** But you wonder where Craig is in all of this; like isn't the subtext that Holly is his beautiful disaster? Where's Craig's story, Craig's resurrection? (The old joke about the codependent is that when an addict is drowning, her life flashes in front of her eyes, whereas when her codependent lover is drowning, it's the addict's life that flashes in front of his eyes, not his own.)

*some ambiguity, though, as to whether Holly's resurrection is a living one or occurs after death, e.g., she stopped loving dope today, they placed a wreath upon her door, perhaps.

**I assume that Breakaway is basically a collection of songs rather than a concept album, and the song order has as much to do with sound and mood as anything; so the story that gets inadvertently told is just the way the songs happened to fall. But even on random play you get the basic story, the anguish is so prevalent. And being good pop music, there's always another story anyway, 'cause there's usually a dance and an enticing come-on no matter what the words are saying, and there's always a voluptuousness of sound, even in despair. Especially in despair.