The Friday Canon: NO DOUBT & GWEN

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The runaway winner of the last week's Canon Selecta was Gwen & No Doubt, whose first eponymous album has been priced at £3 in HMV for the last ten years! 18 hits overall, SIX ticks to dish out for our yodelling princess & her ska-punk chums.

[Poll #1097759]
Stevie Wonder: (link)

1. Superstition
2. Living For The City
3. Uptight (Everything's Alright)
4. Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours
=5. For Once In My Life
=5. Higher Ground
=5. Sir Duke
8. He's Misstra Know It All
9. I Was Made To Love Her
10. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

Comments

[martinv.livejournal.com]

Really difficult... That's a very good list of singles, that is.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is. I've been agonising over this list for a good 10 minutes before deciding which two of my 8 favourites to leave out. I'm not too upset about not having to tick 'Hey Baby' but I absolutely love 'Spiderwebs' so I'm gutted it had to miss out. For the record, the 6 ticks ended up going to 'Just A Girl', 'Don't Speak', 'Ex-Girlfriend', 'Hella Good', 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind' and 'Hollaback Girl'.

'Tragic Kingdom' was one of the defining albums of the 1990s. Discuss.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Despite hearting Tragic Kingdom loads and loads I RLY didn't like Don't Speak. I hated it! And still kinda do! Just A Girl was so completely different that I mentally removed Don't Speak from No Doubt history.

I think my dislike was a combination of the following factors:
- difficult to play on the guitar, esp if the only bar chord you can do is F
- AWFUL video w/ Gwen sticking her chin out even more than usual
- TOTP playing the same 'live' performance every week for 10 weeks, with the ivy wrapped round the microphone and Gwen in a terrible flowery dress. I would CRINGE when those opening notes sounded and run away.

I couldn't believe it when Just A Girl was completely amazing after that! And the album was full of reggae! And fairground noises! I totally wanted to move to California and jump up & down a lot.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Don't spk is aces though.

[cis.livejournal.com]

same for me -- and I'd heard 'just a girl' first (was orig the first single off trag king), so 'don't speak' was this absolute LETDOWN because it was so GIRLY and totally went against everything 'just a girl' was saying, omg. also all ballads suxxored. I like it now, a would-sing-at-karaoke amount.

[ms-bracken.livejournal.com]

Don't Speak is far from great, I was in high school when it came out and it was the song that everyone seemed to be applying to their teenage tragedies, all looking sad and saying "I feel like this song is about when [name] [performed action]".

Also on TOTP, Gwen looking super-sad and frowny, just to show that she was having SO MANY EMOTIONS YOU GUYS.

[credoimprobus]

Yay I am not alone re: Don't Speak! (I kinda really thought I might be haha.) Conversely to you, my dislike of it's only grown with time, because it's the one that still bloody gets played on the radio a decade later. Dislike + unavoidability = BURNING HATE in my world, and all that.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The only song there I would've liked to tick which missed out is 'Rich Girl'. Maybe 'Hey Baby' but not really. No idea how No Doubt stumbled upon 'Don't Speak' and 'Hella Good', the rest of their material just doesn't match up!

Gwenny Gwen Gwen obv is awesome on her own despite filler last album and refusal to release the only great song on it.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Early Winter's timetabled for release next year I think - if had been on the schedule for before xmas I would have included it here but sadly not :(

[zenith.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of shocked that 'Rich Girl' is doing so badly - I wonder if it's the sentiment, the supposedly annoying "interpolation", or something else?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah Cis seconded on 'Bubble Pop Electric'! Also lost gem on LAMB = 'The Real Thing'.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

And 'Danger Zone', and the studiously faithful early Madge homage 'Serious'...

[cis.livejournal.com]

Also note that gwenny-gwenn-gwen's successful integration into rnb -> no doubt tracks becoming suitable sampling fodder -> Miss Dade County, 'just a girl' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts4TJ8sLzMI&feature=related) (photo montage: no real video yet it seems)

Re: ALL OF THESE ARE RUBBISH

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

ooooh that's a good (use of) sample

[datura800.livejournal.com]

'Cool' is the best Gwen/No Doubt song EVAH.

quite an interesting canon

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

it seems like everyone is as conflicted about this as i was

Re: quite an interesting canon

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It is! Well done poptimists for voting for it. I think the relatively few ticks & broad(ish) range of musical styles is always good for tick-discussion :)

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

my ex-girlfriend vote is solely because it appears on the underrated ps2 game "frequency".

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

That's why it nearly got my vote, I mixed the sh1t out of that song.

Does what it says on the tin

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

'Hella Good' - I couldn't believe this was by the same band who did Spiderwebs etc when I first heard it! I admit I hadn't been paying much attention since TK but berlimey this was one of my pop-renaissance songs. Electro good! Indie guitars boring! Well they were in 2002, anyway.

Re: Does what it says on the tin

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I don't have an mp3 of it for tomorrow night - go slsk go (I might need one gmailed too)

ALL OF THESE ARE RUBBISH

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Except 'Cool', which is tremendous.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Let Me Blow Ya Mind [w/Eve] (2001)
8 (27.6%)

an ABSURD lack of love despite the stinginess of ticks. Cahm aaaahhhhn.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Why is everyone ticking What You Waiting For? I've never heard (of) it.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Rly? It's awesome - totally boshing Linda Perry Alice-in-Wonderland effort. Seek it out on youtube!

[koganbot]

I changed my votes three times (so far).

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

This was probably the hardest canon for me to pare down yet. Either this, or Beyonce/Destiny's Child or Adam Ant.

Hurray for me and Dansette

[koganbot]

I'm one of two people who voted for "Can I Have It Like That." Hurray for me and dansette.

(Sorta like the Neptunes and Gwen decided to be the Contortions, but in a pop way. Pop no wave.)

Re: Hurray for me and Dansette

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

Oh so THAT'S WHY ppl don't seem to like that one :-)

"Can I have like that" is an oddly annoying, un-oddly catchy, ultimately lazy lyric to put in a song.

(I Love "Early Winter") But I'm Disappointed By The Video

[koganbot]

I love "Early Winter," but I'm disappointed by the video.

Red leaves falling early inside the mansion is a nice touch, but the video is basically the same scenes of happiness, conflict, and brooding, interspersed over and over. So what if it's in a mansion? (Oh, the irony, pain in elegant circumstances.) LeAnn Rimes did elegant video unhappiness much better last year.

I wish there'd been some interesting peculiarity, such as things going well until the guy discovers that Gwen makes her living as a goatherd.

[ghettofuture.livejournal.com]

I miss the summer where all I did was listen to "Simple Kind of Life" in a moving van SO MUCH.