Is Every Band/Artist Capable Of Making A Good Pop Record?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

OK maybe a "quite good" one.

I thought about this in the wake of the "Dakota" controversy earlier this year. There are actually not v.many artists who have managed to avoid making at least one record that works as pop somehow. I think the Stereophonics might still qualify but many wd defend that song at least.

So name some and we can try to think of counter-examples from amidst their oeoeoeuvre.

Obviously this does not count i) people who've only been around for one record and are still getting their fun-hating phase out the way, ii) Wire magazine regulars.

I will be posting an important piece of evidence later today.

Comments

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

i'm marginally confused.

we are picking people what aren't pop and then someone else goes "ah, aaah, but no"

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well yes, my theory is that everyone ends up making pop records whether they want to or not.

(Said records might be something else as well as pop though innit)

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Motorhead

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

"Ace of Spades" is a pop classic by pretty much any measure!

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

oh i thought this was AN TRUTH UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED?

[zenith.livejournal.com]

The exclusion of Wire magazine regulars makes this tricky. If a band or artist achieves your challenge, doesn't the Wire automatically love them?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think it applies to MOST Wire mag regs too but I'm willing to concede that Jandek probably hasn't made a good pop record, for instance.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

But whether they are 'pop' are not has no bearing on whether they are GOOD or not! Robbie Williams, for example (that terrible new single is currently assailing my poor ears), has probably never made a song which isn't Pop, but neither has he made a song which isn't Fucking Dreadful.

[the-roofdog.livejournal.com]

I would suggest those "emo"-ish American rock bands, eg. SMASHING PUMPKINGS and their derivatives, who are so tedious and up their own ar5es that I could never accuse them of having made a pop record.

I am probably being too subjective about this though...

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

yes, I can't see the justification for this one - it seems a kind of circular argument. No bands avoid this! We will prove this by disqualifying any bands who avoid this!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well I like "Radio", "Rock DJ", maybe even one or two others, but yes, of course it's possible to make RUBBISH POP.

But yeah it's an interesting point! I was thinking about good pop I will grant you, or records which "work" on a pop level even if they might not be good in other ways. As ever I'm trying to keep things pretty vague.

[the-roofdog.livejournal.com]

I don't think being up your own as5 stops you from making a pop record, but being tedious certainly does.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

yeah even comedygoth nonsensemonger nick cave has made SOME pop records

there are plenty of established wire types who have i think not even by accident made an pop record (viz derek bailey)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

OK OK leave them in, it was a lame sideswipe at that august publication. I haven't heard any Jandek records anyway.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying "no bands avoid this" really, I'm saying "not many do", and excluded the Wire to try and shunt the discussion into more interesting areas than what the Wire covers.

I JUDGE THAT...

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

... the distinction being made is something like this: there exist a subsection of recording artists who don't make records to SELL, but to DOCUMENT THEIR ART (or some such), and hence don't count as counterexamples to th claim that ALL BANDS WHO MAKE RECORDS TO SELL IN LARGE NUMBERS IF ONLY IF ONLY - but not aimed at bein chartpop - CAN/WILL (BY ACCIDENT MAYBE) MAKE A GOOD POP RECORD

Except U2

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Oh there are many bands I believe to be incapable of ever making a GOOD POP record. Stereophonics certainly qualify. But then those bands I also think are incapable of making good music, ever.

There are probably several people who might be able to make great non-pop but never great pop, though. Diamanda Galás, say.

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

Leonard Cohen?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I don't know enough Laughing Len to know whether he's made a successful pop record - I heard the album he made with Phil Spector and it sounds like a queasy accomodation with pop but not actually a good pop record. So you may be on to something here!

Maybe the first we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin one?

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

First we take manhattan (at least his version) seems quite poppy to me - obv not actually charting (or even released as a single, but...)

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

my first LJ x-post!

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

his spector collab = borin but BIRD ON A WIRE is good pop, and so is SUZANNE

also SISTERS OF MERCY if i recall correctly

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

yet more disproof of your theory viz bands named after songs

Re: I JUDGE THAT...

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

pls explain further USING DIAGRAMS okthxbye

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

more proof you mean