Cleverness In Pop

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Do you appreciate what I'm going to call 'cleverness' - wordplay, allusion, non-standard structures, etc. - in pop music? Is it something you look for? Who does it well?

Do you think there's an opposition between cleverness and directness (in emotional or physical impact)? Should pop be cleverer?

(Qn arising from today's Popular entry)

Comments

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

There should be a thread about "stupidity in pop" sometime - is there an appreciation of this?

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Yes. As with all genres sometimes pop does not need to think, however, since clever and stupid are subjective and often bear no relation to an artist's original intentions, I think they're both difficult things to assess. [ie: the Fast Food Rockers may have thought the whole thing was a hilarious and clever joke, which it wasn't and in contrast, Alisha's Attic probably reckoned 'Alisha Rules The World' was just a pretty good song, whereas I think it's fvcking genius etc.]

Err, that made no sense now I read over it. Nevermind.

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

See, I think that Fast Food Rockers song might have been aiming (apart from trying to making a good song out of it) for a stupidity that actually pays attention to what's clever in pop - so as to reverse it. The joke wears out but whenever I hear it I like it well enough.

Pop thinks all the time, as everything else, just that the thoughts may not be 'profound', but again many things that might be thought as profound aren't at all.

Don't worry about not making sense, there is actually quite a lot to unpack - and not time, as usual.