WINNER STAYS ON!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

OK you might have noticed that Popt'ists has been much concerned in recent weeks with larnin' the membership on the glorious history of pop (Level 42, Baltimora, etc.). But what of the modern variety, it risks neglect? Yes indeed, so here's the second twice-weekly feature that will see the community into the '06 and double the amount of polls I get to do:

WINNER STAYS ON!

The concept of WSO is childishly simple. Every Tuesday and Friday I post 2 YSI links, which battle it out vote-style for the title of "The Greatest Track Of Right Now". The loser is forgotten and may never appear again. The winner STAYS ON and appears in the next face-off: so for instance whichever track wins today will be present on Tuesday facing a new challenger.

Which tracks can 'play'? Anything you like - we're not formally limiting it but the idea is to favour what's exciting in current pop (be as wild as you like about yr definition of 'pop' and of 'current') and to encourage debates and shouting and that sort of thing.

To start with we have two of the most frothed-over recent singles.


Current UK #1 single "Hung Up" by Madonna (YSI here), ABBA-sampling disco comeback.

VS!!!

Much-loved critics' darlings Girls Aloud and their head-turning pop patchwork "Biology" (YSI here)

NOW VOTE:
[Poll #625080]


Please also let me know in the comments box if you want to nominate the next challenger - first come first etc.

Comments

I JUDGE THAT...

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

GA: imagine the creepy identikit ladies in a ROBERT PALMER video -- they start to move, they break the glass, they step out and take a walk through the city -- they go to a studio and reform ROXY MUSIC, except actually this doesn't work bcz the stompin vaudeville rnr is more like WIZZARD, so imagine the creepy identikit lady on the cover of a ROXY MUSIC lp -- even the greatest stars multiply themselves in the looking glass -- to into a studio and... except the problem is the singing, actually, it's just slightly too blah to carry the strange torque of the "supermannequin as tormented pop art aesthete" concept EP nu-prog-in-three-mins collage effect of the song

M: i like the idea of it as a wedding songsein it's the creepiest stalker-obsession song, nutcase alone in his/her room listening to richard and judy passing messages to him about how his HONEY is being heldf HOSTAGE by ENEMIES and that's why s/he has to pretend to IGNORE him/her, since "every breath you take" (the sample encapsulates the frazzled obsessive irritation; the video the sense of dance-release turned in on itself, a frantic endless prison)

Re: I JUDGE THAT...

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Biology's chorus (apart from the main line) reads "The magic's numbers in front of me / We're going to call it the prophecy" = biggest influence is the TV documentary about Madonna.

Delayed Chorus = the actual secret of U2's Depth.

I agree that Hung Up sounds very Surart Price once you know that it is:) The Abba sample sounds very prog out of context, like something off War of the Worlds.

I picked Biology, basically because I'm more interested in hearing it in the next poll, to see whether I've made more sense of it.

Re: I JUDGE THAT...

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Bah, that was meant to be a separate post.