The Past? Now let me tell you about the past...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in how people think about old pop. We spend quite a lot of our time here doing polls about it, but nonetheless I'm going to start another thread on it and see what happens.

Two thoughts specifically:

- "Older sibling syndrome": I remember a conversation I had with Al (my younger brother WINOLJ) a few years ago where he was expressing envy at my having "lived through" acid house and jungle. Obviously he was alive between 88 and 95 too, but he meant "paying attention to music". I explained that I might have been around then but I'd hardly been taking advantage of my raving opportunities. Anyway it struck me that, even though I don't have an older brother myself, I also had always had a fascination with the years just before I got into music, the stuff I'd just missed or had absorbed haphazardly via the Sunday Top 40 show. Does anyone else recognise this?

- When does pop stop?: Not many people tick anything in the 1952-1953 Number Ones polls. Fair enough - this stuff is quite obscure. But there's no sense of curiosity either, or not of curiosity in the sense of "wow maybe there's some great old stuff here". It's too far beyond pop as we understand it to excite much enthusiasm. Are there other, more recent, pockets of 'old pop' which are like this for you - sounds and styles whose appeal is lost or baffling?

Comments

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Well as far as your first point goes, I pretty much agree. I think I got into pop relatively late (c. 1986, i.e. aged 12. 'Calling America' by ELO was the song which switched my pop-brain on, closely followed by the Beastie Boys.) -- I used to get fed up during Cheggers Plays Pop (1977-1982) when the bands came on, as I was only watching for the games! I can vaguely remember having been aware of a couple of big hits before then -- Bucks Fizz (1981), Pop Musik by M (1979), Video Killed the Radio Star by Buggles (1980). But it's fair to say that the prime years of synthpop i.e. the five years prior to me 'getting' pop, remain almost archetypal for me. This could be strong support for your own experience, but it might just be those years spent hanging aroung the MVE bargain basement buying up OMD B-sides.

I am desperately curious about older pop, and always feel bad about not being able to tick anything in those polls, but just have no idea where to start finding out about it!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes I can't imagine who you might ask to get hold of those early-50s number ones! ;)

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Well there's probably also a question of lacking time and energy. But yeah, a beginner's guide to the 50s would be cool.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Now I have started searching for cheggers plays pop on youtube -- no good can come of this.

First comment here is a classic, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrZ64xPr8YY

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I started properpy paying attention at the same time / same age - being 12 in 1986, and I've always had a similar fascination with all the synth-pop acts that emereged in the early 80s - obviously I remembered first hand massive hits like "Don't You Want Me", but I have subsequently spent increasing time seeking out smaller hits and more obscure stuff. I always assumed it was just because for my personal tastes the early 80s were a bit of a golden age; but perhaps it is the fact that my sister lived through it that drew my attention to it.

On the 'old pop' issue - I love quite a wide range of 70s stuff, but most of the 60s has never grabbed me in the same way, apart from R&B / Motown / Soul type stuff. I've never been quite sure why - it just feels too dated and too far away from my own experience and what I relate to.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Age 12 for me too, though obviously that is before most of you were born - 1972 was when it started meaning a lot to me. Parallel to the above, the glam that I was listening to then (my first single was by T.Rex, my first album was by Slade) still means a great deal to me. I listen to a lot before then, but one difference is that there is less distinction between chart and non-chart tunes, because I am often less aware of their chart status. I mean, clearly I know the Beatles did quite well, but there are records where I have no strong idea whether they were huge hits or not hits at all. This affects how pop they seem, if they aren't mainline pop sonically.

I listen to plenty of jazz-pop stuff from way back. Loads of '50s stuff, and quite a bit before then. I really like old Sinatra, Nat King Cole and so on from before I was born.