I Love #1s - 2002

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I know it's early, but wipe the cobwebs from your eyes and crack your knuckles out, it's another Number Ones poll!

Last week the Shadows rocked the bottom with their Apache song to claim the crown of 1960 ticky-love. Poor Me? Poor you, Adam Faith! Not a tick to be had for him. But without further ado, lets find the best number one of 2002! Plenty of Pop Idol action, plus double dosage of Ver 'Loife in case you'd been missing them. And what's this? Blazin' Squad and Atomic Kitten? It's like teen pop never died, kids!

[Poll #973612]
(Daniel Beddingfield was no.1 in 2001 as well so he's been left off here)

Comments

Re: Also:

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

I don't think kids of that age will ever care about that kind of pop again sadly. It's all about bands and R&B once you hit 11 these days, it seems - they seem to be aware of the difference between pure pop and supposedly 'credible' acts a lot earlier on now.

These days I suppose we have the likes of McFly, who probably appeal to the pre-teens up until the point where they graduate to Fall Out Boy and the like.

Nice cuddly pop music will rise again though! They just have to find some way of successfully getting it to the very young kids who will want it.

Re: Also:

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

They already have surely - The Wiggles etc.

There is a big market I think for adults who still want to hear pop but aren't bothered about credibility - The Feeling, Daniel Powter, Dido, etc. The trick is to combine that with more contemporary production and feel - TashBed is aiming for this, so is Bextor, so was Rachel Stevens. Annie and Robyn probably should have marketed themselves to Dido fans instead of club kids, etc etc. Heat magazine pop, basically - multi-purpose pop for 25-34yo women to put on their iPods, hear down the gym, dance to. No derogatory implications meant obv.

Re: Also:

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

> multi-purpose pop for 25-34yo women to put on their iPods, hear down the gym, dance to

Hurrah a demographic in which I am happy to be included! All I need now is an ipod and a gym membership. No The Feeling No Credibility :-)

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[graciousviv.livejournal.com]

Make that 25 - nearly 36 yo women

Re: Also:

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

All the above have a kind of credibility though, apart from Poor Rachel - the basic credibility of writing their own songs which I suspect still goes for a lot. It's not music snob cred but most Dido fans would readily admit to being moved emotionally by Powter/Blunt/Bedingfield/Dido where they wouldn't re Stevens or - as overtly EMO as she is - someone like Simpson Jr. There's always a distinction between music perceived to be for adults (cred or not) and music perceived to be for kids (whether or not the kids are bothered).

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[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think this will change though. And part of the reason why is that the kids who bought Spice Girls albums in massive quantities in 97-98 are now in or reaching their 20s. The emphasis in the spice girls was HUGELY on authenticity of performance, not authenticity of creation: that kind of formative experience doesn't leave you.

Re: Also:

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Though it might be suppressed when you're in hugely institutionalised places like school or further ed.

Re: Also:

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah - witness the massive popularity of nu-Take That.

And of course the reason in the first place for the current indie/band-led trend, which I believe we've already discussed, is that a couple of years ago the kids who were into Britpop were beginning to get into positions of power within the music/marketing industries.

So when the 99-02 generation gets into its late 20s/early 30s, it'll be time for another golden age :D

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[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

I actually think that the big thing that's hit the 00s pop audience is fear of looking ridiculous, hence you get a glut of bands and sensitive singer songwriters and big Hollywood pop stars but the humble all-singing-all-dancing boyband or plastic Europop act look like an irredeemably naff relic of the past. Maybe around 1999 there was just one Vengaboys or ATB too many or something.

Re: Also:

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Shakira and TashBed would disagree! Though theirs is def a middle way, being ridiculous lyrically and a bit crazy in persona, but still tasteful in other ways.

Re: Also:

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

I meant more the music buyer's fear of looking ridiculous, but Shakira and TashBed still fall down on the 'credible' side.

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[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I've tried arguing this to people I know about record companies about acts like those but of couse they'd much rather be marketing stuff as cool stuff for the hipsters rather than targeting 25-34 year olds so they all think I'm mad to even suggest stuff like that.

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[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

which is ridic because hit that demographic right and you = LAFFING ALL THE WAY TO BANK, whereas p!ssing about with hipsters = next to no money ever...

Re: Also:

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

It still amazes me that record companies don't get why they are doing so badly.

Re: Also:

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Poor sales of that last Tash Bedingfield single would appear to disagree with you.

Re: Also:

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Hang on the one which is top 10 on d/ls alone? Babies?

Re: Also:

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Oh right I thought it was released and limped in at like #20 or something.

Re: Also:

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

Well (in my experience) it's this weird disconnect where the people who go to work for record companies now don't really come out of the trenches of the music biz like they used to, they just go right to work for record companies, and since they pay shit salaries, you have to be doing it for the cool factor. But those people are not actually cool, they're buisinesspeople just like anyone else working in an office. But they're unwilling to admit that and actually act like profit-motivated businesspeople most of the time, they want to accrue cool points, and so they're more interested in bands they see as hip (which, ironically, are the bands most actual kids don't think of as cool). Or, to put it more fairly, they sign both cool and can-sell-well bands, but they put way more effort into working with the cool ones, and that's where record companies fuck up.

Re: Also:

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Doing unpaid work experience at a major label for 3 months was quite an eye opener [tho v enjoyable as I was under no pressure and could walk out at any time!] as to how isolated they are from the real world. Especially in the A&R, press and plugging departments that actually work directly with the artists - everyone is totally obsessed with Radio 2 airplay, lengthy articles with lots of pictures in Sunday Times Culture section or getting on Jools Holland. This wasn't just for Amy Winehouse but for the Sugababes and Busted as well! Everyone was so obsessed with good results for current acts that they seemingly paid 0 attention to new stuff (bands, scenes, media, non-music related things). It was very easy to get caught up in the hype.