Formations In Pop: Sweet-Voiced Lady / Gruff Dude

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Lee and Nancy
The Sugarcubes
Aqua (these two are the same band)
Evanescence

WHO ELSE? Which bands would be improved by a GRUFF DUDE?

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Black Eyed Peas!

[avv.livejournal.com]

Architecture in Helsinki?

http://www.vimeo.com/247919

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Er... Nick Cave & Kylie?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I don't think duets should count b/c this is the basis of COUNTLESS duets over the years! But if they do let's go with ODB/Kelis, and J-Lo/Ja Rule as well. God 'Ain't It Funny (remix)' is good. Have we had a J-Lo canon yet incidentally?

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

1999 by Prince manages to combine Gruff Bloke / Sweet-voiced Lady and Prince, who fits somewhere between the two. But closer to the lady, obv.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

And all those voices are Prince's apparently.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Nope, as far as I know that's just a rumour - Gruff bloke is Dez Dickerson (bass player in the revolution) and lady is Lisa Coleman (keyboard player). Allegedly the song was orginally recorded with Prince's lead vocal throughout with Lisa & Dez's lines as harmonies, but late in the recording process Prince decided to split them out.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Lisa is now doing the music for Heroes, along with her old mucker Wendy

[sbp.livejournal.com]

If duets count - Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl in "Fairytale of New York"?

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

this means we can't have nancy sinatra & lee hazelwood :-(

[infov0re.livejournal.com]

I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Sugarcubes *so* aren't the the same band as Aqua. "Hit" is my nomination for best pop song *evah*.

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

I AGREE WITH THIS COMMENT.

OBJECTION!

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

that would be LOLLIPOP (CANDYMAN) (http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2006/08/the-ft-top-100-tracks-of-all-time-noinsert-nohere/)

Re: OBJECTION!

[sbp.livejournal.com]

but that's only #70. "Hit" is bound to be #1 in the countdown from 50 to 1 :-)

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

Does Meatloaf count?

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

But who is which on that Meatloaf/Cher one?

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan's album is a delicious sweet'n'sour confection.
There's quite a few Tindersticks duets 'twixt croony Stuart Staples and various guest singers (Isabella Rosselini, the singer from the Walkabouts whose name I can't remember).

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think what I want is a BARKING gruff dude - i.e. someone who disrupts or interrupts the sweetness rather than obviously complements it.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Bez? :-P

[sbp.livejournal.com]

B52s?

Did June Carter ever do stuff with Johnny Cash, the ultimate gruff dude?

What about sweet voiced lady + dude rapper? I'm sure there's lots of those.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Fugees? Beautiful South!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Bootiful South are an interesting one cos in say "A Little Time" it's the sweet lady who is the disruptive element breaking up Heaton's dudeness (though PH isn't really very gruff)

erm

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Spiritually they are all Paul Heaton!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Carter and Cash was during his (very long) Actually Singing phase.

[koganbot]

What about sweet voiced lady + dude rapper? I'm sure there's lots of those.

Ashanti w/ Fat Joe and Ja Rule (two dudes for the price of one) on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?"

Mariah and ODB (don't know if ODB is exactly gruff; he is beyond gruff and nongruff).

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

In Aqua news, the twins off Big Brother are going to release a cover of 'Barbie Girl', apparently.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This is what inspired the post!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

It will be classic. There are also tentative plans to do a version of "Jingle Bell Rock" in time for Christmas, which probably won't be classic.

What the twins should really do though is make an album of their acapella pattycake rhymes.

Shabnam's also trying to get a record out, I gather.

[thenipper.livejournal.com]

I like the Communards version of 'Don't Leave Me This Way' partly because it has a GRUFF LADY and a, ahem, "sweet voiced" dude.

Incidentally, not being a fully paid-up poptimist, I can't start topics, but funnily enough Momus's latest post: http://imomus.livejournal.com/315200.html has some proper pop bar charts and may be worthy of discussion by you lot.

SPEAK NOT OF SUCH THINGS

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

This will be the only time I will EVER say this but there could be quite a good gratuitous Elephant Man verse in a Lily Allen song.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Oh and The Sounds.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Yeah I was trying to remember what that group were called.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Dido/Eminem?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

A definite contrast there - smooth bland sad Dido and spiky nasal angry Eminem.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

PUSSYCAT DOLLS.

[epicharmus.livejournal.com]

Does Stephin Merritt count as gruff? If so, the Magnetic Fields.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

No one has mentioned Len yet, who was the first example that came to my mind and is to me the best possible example of this. Was "Steal My Sunshine" not a hit in the UK?

[avv.livejournal.com]

well, does he like butter tarts?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It was a hit, but I don't remember there being a bloke on it for some reason...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I don't remember there being a lady on it!

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

The bloke sang the first verse and sounded gruff/scratchy, the lady sang the second verse and sounded sweet, and they shared the chorus. Pop genius!

Mouth & MacNeal.

[wwolfe.livejournal.com]

"How Do You Do?" was #8 in America in 1972. A one-hit wonder, this duo - part of the otherwise nonexistent Dutch Invasion - might be the ultimate example of the type in question.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

No mention of Toy-Box (http://youtube.com/watch?v=P0aXY2pM2sA) yet? (Or did I miss it?) There must be a few acts on the Bubblegum Dancer (http://www.bubblegumdancer.com/index.htm) site that fit the description...

[(Anonymous)]

captain hollywood project!

oops

[impudentharlot.livejournal.com]

forgot log-in

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

one of the best things about the new (amazing, have to hear it) teddy thompson album is a duet with emmylou harris--so its a sweet dude/sweet lady combo, which i dont think ive heard before.