THE POP OPEN: Group D - MONEY

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Five tracks for you on the theme of Money. You don't have to judge songs by how they fit the theme, just pick the two you like most - BUT! you can't vote for one you already know ("know" doesn't include "know a remix of" or "know a version of" or "know what it must be but haven't actually heard it before"). You don't have to use both your votes - you can just use one.

And you don't have to be a player to vote - anyone can!

The songs are all in a zipfile here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ia51px (23 Mb)

And you can get them streamed here: http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2007/06/pop-open-week-2/ (NB if you just hit play you get Track 5, not Track 1, for some reason, so make sure you hit each play track link separately) ALSO: if possible download the zipfile - the streaming tracks are on FT's bandwidth :)

Here's the poll:

[Poll #1005867]

You have until 12noon (UK time) on Monday next week to vote - revelations as to what each track is will be on Friday. I don't think any of them are by Keith Allen this week. Don't forget to vote - I'm sure we can improve on the total of 24 voters for the Sex group!

And last but not least - what would YOU have submitted?

Comments

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I assume we can't vote for our own tracks, on the grounds that we've already heard them?

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

But I think my votes are constrained by having heard one; don't like one; one is mine = leaves two. Just need to rank them now.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Remember you don't need to vote for two tracks - last week for instance several people voted for Staton and no others!

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

true, but I think I like both the others, and it doesn't seem worth playing games and depriving someone of a second vote!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes, the letter and spirit of the rules align on that one :)

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

also a certain amount of mind-meld amongst the participants in this group, but I remember you saying in the pub that there was a lot of reggae in the open.

Reggae owes me money

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Most of it in this group! Three reggae (of nicely different styles though) plus one with ragga-style toasting, plus one which has nothing to do with reggae.

Are there many reggaephobes on Poptimists I wonder?

Re: Reggae owes me money

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Yeah I was counting four, including the one by [REMOVED] that you mention.

At least there's safety in numbers, if everybody else hates reggae we're all screwed!

Re: Reggae owes me money

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha I would probably have submitted reggae too - Lady Saw's 'If I Were A Rich Girl' (samples Fiddler On The Roof in the same way as Stefani did, Saw did it first though).

No one seriously hates reggae though do they.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I dunno how many people hate it but I think there's probably quite a few people who like it occasionally!

Re: Reggae owes me money

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It's a v safe choice because it's not a sound which would turn anyone off immediately (which could be the case for nearly every other genre I can think of) but it's also not a genre which many people on Poptimists really delve into very deeply

Re: Reggae owes me money

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think you're underestimating potential anti-reggaeness Lex! Certainly before I actually got into reggae (which was really pretty late), I found the perceived same-ness of it really offputting. It's not as dangerous as country or metal but I don't think it's a safe option by any means.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Lots of reggae has strong enough melodies to overcome the sameyness thing though, and often v funny lyrics - and also in isolation the sameyness isn't really a factor anyway. It's not airtight obv but I can't think of any other genre which would be safer.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I hate reggae.

I might have submitted "Money" by the Ragga Twins, which isn't reggae but the word is kind of similar.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've seen you praise reggae songs before. Why on earth do you hate it?

Re: Reggae owes me money

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I know this guy who hates Ska...

Re: Reggae owes me money

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I dislike Ska intensely and find I don't like most reggae, although I do like it very selectively and I think my dislike is based on the truly awful event that is Reggae Night at the Angel, Aberystwyth which my friend Helen is very keen on and which I TRULY DESPISE due to all the horrifically pretentious people there.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[koganbot]

I would say that even the one furthest from reggae has something to do with reggae, since it's sensibility is that of a mashup (even if the track is not strictly speaking a mashup), and it was the Jamaican DJs who really set the stage for the modern fuck-with-tracks-and-styles sensibility. Or at any rate I used "recombinant dub" as my overall term for the modern sensibility in a piece I once did for the Voice.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

also, the production. (?)

my first thought on realizing how much reggae (and AFRO-CUBAN DIASPORA music or whatever) was in the group was, oh, when british people are asked to think of a song about 'money' (or that directly mentions money, perhaps in the TITLE which they can SEARCH FOR) is reggae! (just like the first thing i thought was: rap!).

if the contestants in the pop open were not primarily british this time then my theory will admittedly fall apart immediately.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

'the first thing they think of'

Re: Reggae owes me money

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Nope, you're right, it's all Brits.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I would have thought RAP immediately as well - however I'd have been far less confident about submitting a hip-hop track as there are known hip-hop haters among us (more fool them), and I suspect the kind of hip-hop they hate most is the stiff with money/guns/bitches lyrics (MORE FOOL THEM). On the other hand while we have uncovered a couple of reggae haters in these comments, it's a much safer choice if you're going for widespread appeal...

Re: Reggae owes me money

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well yes unless FOUR OUT OF FIVE PEOPLE submit a reggae track!

As you can imagine this group is very very close.

Re: Reggae owes me money

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Is it because people think of money or because everyone is going for obscure tracks they hope others don't know and therefore reggae seems like a good bet?

Re: Reggae owes me money

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I immediately thought of political songs but this is probably because I am a big commie.