poptimists | Radio 2 attempts Pop Science

Radio! For about 6 years I hardly listened to the wireless at all since I didn't have one in the house and the only access to radio stations I had was through the Sky Digibox. But I recently rescued my old Ferguson portable radio-cassette from my Dad - just in time for the start of Freaky Trigger's show on Resonance FM hurrah - so have been re-acquainting myself with public service broadcasting in the round. More often than not the dial ends up at Radio 2.

The documentary strands are usually worth a listen; there's been decent efforts on Alex Harvey and Joe Meek in the past few weeks. Last night I caught the end of the first episode of this five-part series, in which Robbie Williams's ex, Guy Chambers, tackles that ever-controversial old chestnut, "the perfect pop song". The grand claim here though is that the series will consider the 3-minute* pop song analytically - future episodes will consider in turn intros & first verses, choruses, bridges, "moments" etc. Whether or not this will prove to be Science of a kind the Freaky Trigger crew recognises is questionable. More likely it will just be a roll call of great records, and chat about same, the aural equivalent of one of Channel 4's Top 100 shows. But I'm ready and willing to be proved wrong.

As with all R2 shows, you can Listen Again online if you miss the broadcast.

*A bit of license involved here. Next week's show will inter alia discuss the intro to "Like A Rolling Stone".