Spoiler Spice

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Since the column's actually called "Poptimist", I feel I can pimp it here.

This month's column was inspired by an episode of top radio show Freaky Trigger And The Lollards Of Pop, incidentally.

Comments

[koganbot]

(Reposted 'cause I originally botched the link)
About a year ago on Rolling Teenpop I demanded that anyone who didn't know what Ashlee Simpson's "Shadow" was about had to go listen to it right away because I wanted to write about it and didn't want to ruin the surprise (as it had been ruined for me). And then I never really got around to writing about "Shadow" (which turns out to be about a whole lot of things). [Note to self: write about "Shadow" already!] Also wished I'd manage to come upon Ashlee without having read her being - fairly accurately - compared to [singer of '90s band]. But then, I might not have been so eager to listen if I hadn't read the comparison. I would have eventually, anyway, since what finally got me to actually listen was Rob Sheffield sending me his P&J ballot for 2004 with "La La" on his singles list. And 11 months later, after having reviewed the second Ashlee album and of course heard all the singles from the first, I finally got the first album and my jaw still managed to drop to the floor when I heard the first track, "Autobiography" (a surprise I then subsequently gave away on the Real Punks and Rolling Teenpop threads).

Sometimes when I put early Stones tracks on my all-time best-ofs, I wonder if I'm voting for my memory of being surprised, though the surprise is long gone. And interestingly, the Stones surprise wasn't hearing the tracks for the first time or even the tenth time, but slowly having it dawn on me that so many of the songs weren't about what they seemed to be about. And so by analyzing how the Stones' songs work, I might be ruining other people's joy in figuring it out for themselves. But that's true of all discovery. By writing down my discoveries, I might make it easier for someone to discover what I haven't yet discovered, while I'm still hung up - 40 years later - on the initial discovery.

(If there's anyone out there who's not heard or heard about "Shadow," here's a link to the "Shadow" vid (not sure if the link is Brit compatible), though I think the visuals get in the way, so I recommend you turn off the screen and just listen.)