The Pop Open Group F: RESULTS

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The first round of the Pop Open comes to an end with the religion results. We'll now take a break - I've posted the final list of qualifiers at the end of this post, and I'll post the list of who is in which Round 2 groups tomorrow, and the deadline for tracks for that.

Thanks to all who submitted tracks, and the (actually rather lower!) number of people who voted.

FIRST PLACE: Candie Payne - "By Tomorrow" - inhibitorylinks wins. (6 first-place votes, 33% of total points)

SECOND PLACE: Amy Grant - "Come, Thou Font Of Every Blessing" - justfanoe qualifies. (5 first-place votes, 25% of total points)

THIRD PLACE: Army Of Lovers - "Israelism" - umlauts qualifies. (4 first-place votes, 23% of total points)

FOURTH PLACE: Genius/GZA - "B.I.B.L.E" - zenith is OUT. (2 first-place votes, 12% of total points)

FIFTH PLACE: Me'Shell Ndegocello - "Leviticus - Faggot" - blue_russian is OUT (1 first-place vote, 6% of total points).

Inhibitorylinks gets to choose between the 80s, 60s and 50s/Before groups, and also gets to place the other two qualifiers.

The winners and qualifiers - in order of % of points gained

CANDI STATON - "Sure As Sin" (SEX, 52%, mcarratala)
KAVINSKY - "Dead Cruiser" (DEATH, 45%, kill_yr_idols)
MIRA CRAIG - "Someofdathomemadepie" (LOVE, 37%, anatol_merklich)
MAYBEE - "Teen Mita Varn" (PASSION, 34%, credoimprobus)
CANDIE PAYNE - "By Tomorrow" (RELIGION, 33%, inhibitorylinks)
AIMEE ALLEN - "Stripper Friends" (MONEY, 31%, piratemoggy)
BONEY M - "Silent Love" (LOVE, 30%, w3ft)
MOTOR - "Black Powder" (VIOLENCE, 30%, katstevens)
MS DYNAMITE - "Don't Stop" (INJUSTICE, 28%, alexmacpherson)
DERRICK HARRIOTT - "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys" (INJUSTICE, 25%, hauntedballroom)
AMY GRANT - "Come, Thou Font Of Every Blessing" (RELIGION, 25%, justfanoe)
PIZZICATO FIVE - "One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Barbie Dolls" (VIOLENCE, 23%, skillextric
ARMY OF LOVERS - "Israelism" (RELIGION, 23%, umlauts)
LATRYX - "Lady Don't Tek No" (SEX, 22%, infov0re)
GREGORY ISAACS - "Loving Pauper" (MONEY, 21%, martinskidmore)
LORETTA LYNN - "Fist City" (VIOLENCE, 21%, lisa_go_blind)
BAPPI LAHIRI - "College Girl I Love You" (PASSION, 20%, cis)
JEWLIA EISENBERG - "Dream Of Me" (PASSION, 20%, mcatzilut)
HARPERS BIZARRE - "Witchi Tai To" (DEATH, 18%, mackromackro)
LUTAN FYAH - "Equal Share" (MONEY, 17%, byebyeride)
SIOBHAN DONAGHY - "12 Bar Acid Blues" (INJUSTICE, 17%, lockedintheatti)
SEX BOOTS DREAD - "Tickle Tune" (SEX, 16%, carsmilesteve)
BOB MCFADDEN AND DOR - "I'm A Mummy" (DEATH, 15%, stevem78)
NAT KING COLE - "Quizas Quizas Quizas" (LOVE, 13%, xyzzzz_)

Well done to them all! The highest-ranked non-qualifier was (somewhat inevitably) me, with 19%, so if anyone drops out in this round I will be stealing their place by MORAL RIGHT.

Which were your favourites?

Comments

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

ha ha -- you have ljuser = byebyeride, which would I guess be a shoegaze fan who has been unhappy for many many years!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Or some kind of twee break-up shag.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

'sorry love it's not you, it's me. So do you fancy a byebye-ride or what?'

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

but my fave off that list was 'College girl I love you'

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I have still not even listened to the religion ones, but I am disappointed that one of my favourite Wu tracks was a flop. Did lots of people know it? It was a single.

How soon will we know what groups we are in for the next phase? And will we have themes as well as eras? I don't much fancy finding a 1950s song about the internet, I must admit.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The eras are the themes! (i.e. you can treat the era as a theme if you like)

Next phase groups up tomorrow - you're already in the 50s and Before one, with Steve M, Hauntedballroom and one of this lot.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! I have a clear advantage, having been born in the '50s!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The two tracks that I'm really glad I heard thanks to this are the Harpers Bizarre and the Loretta Lynn ones - lots of the others I enjoyed but the "OMG WOW" hitrate wasn't that high for me. This was the same for the League of Pop too, so I worry sometimes that my ears are getting ossified and less open to hearing new voices.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I had lots more OMG WOWs in the LoP than this - wonder if that was anything to do with picking for one person's tastes rather than trying to pick to appeal to a whole group of people?

My favourites here are Candi Staton, Motor & the Army of Lovers one (which I already knew). Favourite non-qualifier was Destra's "Independent Ladies" which was ace, gutted it missed out.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Destra was in the League Of Pop!

The LoP was 6 times the size of this, tracks-wise - I think my relative WOW/like/mmmkay/NOT WANT ratios were about the same. There was so much to choose from though - POP OVERLOAD!

The 00s Group Should Be Interesting

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

7 out of the 8 group winners in this round are 00s tracks! How modern we are!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Phew. Just made it. I really thought that I was going to come a cropper as a lot of people would have known my track. No denying that the Amy Grant is DIVINE though. Oh, to be a queer Catholic boy... oh wait, that's right... and the Candie is a stormer.

I remember liking the Me'Shell when it came out (tho I preferred some of her other singles) it really doesn't have much of a lyrical punch to me now.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

My favourites (apart from my own): Candi Staton, Motor, Bappi Lahiri, Jewlia Eisenberg

Surprised at poor showing for Me'shell here!

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Me, too, especially since it was the only one I liked in this round. (What really surprises me is that the thing I worried about - a relatively large number of people knowing it - didn't matter at all.)

Thanks for your vote!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ha if I'd been submitting Me'shell I wouldn't have worried AT ALL about poptimists knowing her. Mine was the 1st place! Must remember to get that album - Bitter is the only Me'Shell I own.

She used to be a backing singer and bassist for Madonna, you know.

[koganbot]

I think I voted for Me'shell too (2nd place); which is good because I'd been under the impression that I didn't like her. Seemed to me that the rhythm and style would have been received well here, so I'm also surprised by the poor showing.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

My favourites were probably tracks I already knew: "College Girl", "I'm A Mummy". Of the ones I hadn't heard before, easily the best was "The Magic Key", which sadly didn't qualify. I also like the Candie Payne song a lot.

I think I've saved around 16-20 of these Pop Open tracks for posterity, enough to fill an 80 minute CD. However - unlike in the League of Pop, during which I burned FIVE CD-Rs of top notch pop that I'll be returning to often - this time it's not a CD I'm very excited about making. Maybe I'll wait to see if any gems surface in round 2...

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I agree that the nature of this event, picking tracks for a whole group rather than one person, produced safer and generally less interesting tracks than the LOP. But it's still been fun.

I submitted the Amy Grant track on the weekend before it was posted, which surely makes me the very last person to submit. It replaced an earlier track that I decided too many people would know, so it got the axe. When I submitted it, I wasn't really expecting it to go through, but it's a nice surprise, and I'm looking forward to submitting a track for the next round.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I encourage everybody who liked my track to check out the entire album it comes from, called Legacy, an entire track of soft acoustic country versions of old hymns, with arrangements by Vince Gill. Lots of good stuff there.

I zeroed in on Amy Grant pretty quickly once I realized my previously submitted track had no chance. I listened to a lot of contemporary Christian music, by proxy, in high school, and Amy Grant is the only artist from then that's really stuck with me. I think her voice is gorgeous, and she's done several great songs. I take stick from my friends all the time for being an Amy Grant fan. I considered submitting "El Shaddai" or "Breath of Heaven", Amy's best songs, but I thought they would be too well known. Considered submitting "Thy Word", but figured it might be too cheesy. Lastly, I was very, very close to submitting "Ageless Melody", but thought the country tinge of the track I actually submitted might give it a slight edge. Again, I can definitely recommend all 4 tracks.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Glad to see other people have also been non-plused about Pop Open tracks overall, although I still don't quite understand why this format seems too work "less well" than League of Pop did. (Although we may have just been tired.)

The Siobhan Donaghy track is probably the only song here that has/will really get a place in my regular rotation; Aimee Allen & James Kochalka Superstar I liked but were a bit "particular," i.e. there's a certain schtick about them that means I probably will move on; Kavinsky & Motor were techno/electro in my tastes but somehow flawed; Ms. Dynamite, Sticky, Maybee, and Derrick Harriott would probably fill out my list so far. There was a lot of stuff I really have no interest in hearing again (sorry).

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Do we know the groups for the next round yet? In case I, y'know, want to freak out and change my track...

[credoimprobus]

Aw, neither of the ones I voted for made it. (Which is actually the first time that's happened -- every other week at least one of my votes have gone through!) I guess I can console myself with the fact that the one I almost put in second place won, eh?

Overall favourites have been: the Genius/GZA/Killah Priest (seriously weak vs. this type of hip hop), the Speedy J and Pizzicato 5, the Mira Craig, and the Ms Dynamite obv was killer although I already knew that one (was one of the apparent handful that downloaded it on here back when). And an extra special honorary mention to the Jewlia Eisenberg, which I liked enough to vote for although it was my week competing!

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

lolz@me getting the lowest and just just passing to the next round!

[inhibitorylinks.livejournal.com]

That was a little unexpected. I guess out of the remaining options I'll take 50s/before, justfanoe can take the 80s, and umlauts can have the 60s.

Candi Staton, Army of Lovers and Pizzicato Five have been my favourites so far.

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

Completely floored by my success. A brutal second round comedown beckons.

[mackromackro.livejournal.com]

I've got hard and teutonic on the brane, but it was Kavinsky and Motor for me.

[koganbot]

I missed half the rounds but in the ones I was here for the Ms. Dynamite totally ruled: was slamming and throwing fists but totally on the rhythm (and this from someone I'd been ho-hum about previously). I also keep playing the Donaghy, which totally nonplusses me by how much it sounds like poppped-up fake country from right off of the early '70s Top 40. (Think those two were the same week. A good 'un.)