Binary Friday III

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Pop Trumps is indisposed so for the third Friday running...

[Poll #1154062]

Last week's verdicts:

ARETHA beat James Brown 22-14
REMIX CDs thumped Live Albums 28-10
ORGAN SOLO is the best of all the solos (surely some etc.)
CANADA beat Australia 26-12
AUTOBAHN is king of the road.
FFWD trumps RWD 21-14
THE 70s beat The 60s 23-15
2-STEP just beat Two-Tone 19-18
ROCK beat Soul 23-19
GIRL POWER and RIOT GIRL drew!! and are scientifically identical
"SAFE" thrashed Bland 30-7
PASSION pulverised Fashion 29-7

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Oh noes I have put ticky boxes on the emo fite. Please don't love both. Unless you really can't help yourself.

[ms-bracken.livejournal.com]

It was hard but I have revised.

I'm sorry Gerard please forgive me <3

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

some v hard fights here!

Biggie v Pac - went with Biggie because I juuust prefer 'Mo Money Mo Problems' to 'California Love'. Plus, Lil' Kim factor.

American Idol has given us better pop stars than Pop Idol and X Factor COMBINED - plus when it comes to the crunch American contestants tend to go into diva hysterics whereas British ones either get unfortunately 'wacky' or remain dull.

FOB v MCR - preferably NEITHER but Ashlee's bf is out of FOB right?

Badges v T-shirts - only the latter can be non-indie

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

WHERE OH WHERE IS POPSTARZ?

i want my lovely kym marsh

[koganbot]

No one will be surprised to learn that my criterion for choosing FOB over MCR was identical to yours.

yrs, grandma

[catsgomiaow.livejournal.com]

27. Huh?

31. Wha?

[koganbot]

I'm still not understanding how Aretha trounces James. But then, I voted disco over funk (but I'd say disco is closer to funk and James than it is to Aretha, so...).

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

james brown's time is never yet -- he is an unresolved conflict as you long ago pointed out!

[koganbot]

I'm also curious if there will be a lot more Brits than Americans voting '90s, that being the decade when the two musical landscapes were at their most dissimilar, you with all those electronic dance subgenres (and unless you love Dre and alternative and grunge, as I don't, the U.S. '90s didn't really get strong until the end).

[koganbot]

a lot more Brits

I mean greater percentage of Brits, since obv. there are a lot more Brits voting, period.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

ISTR the US 90s was pretty strong at the beginning.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think the 80s/90s vote will be split fairly definitively along age lines.

Safe v Bland

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that Safe won so handily as it didn't seem to be a poll between two obviously different things - both adjectives are kind of used in the same way. I went with 'bland' because there's a kind of blandness in pop which can be very satisfying - a lot of my favourite music (eg Sade) is often called 'bland', but the blandness is kind of the point - it's mood music.

'Safe' can hardly ever be good though, right? I hate it when artists rest on their laurels and don't take risks.

Re: Safe v Bland

[koganbot]

Oh, I was just writing over on the Rolling Teen Debutante thread that I hope Brooke White and David Archuleta resist all advice for them to "take risks," since they're both beautiful staying within their comfort area, whereas David gets harsh or ungainly whenever he goes for big effects (Brooke so far has resisted the big stuff, in fact has managed a beautifully understated version of "Let It Be" that I actually am willing to pay attention to!).

Tussles

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

- Is there a good 2Pac compilation, or indeed a good 2Pac album? I ticked Biggie just cos I know his stuff better (Cali Love aside)

- Went for X Factor because I like the extra layer of orgafun involved in the mentoring system. AmIdol EASILY winning in terms of outcomes surely?

- Bassline is NU and NOW

- I am an 80s kid.

- Vaguely surprised Laughing Len vs Smiling Scott is so close! Not cos one is obviously *better* than the other but SW in his younger days was more 'pop'.

- Pretty much knew disco was going to win.

- FOB don't have MCR's ambition but they're funnier and campier and generally write better hooks.

- Bad rhymes over good beats are fine, good rhymes over bad beats an effort.

- Robyn/Rihanna more a mismatch than I thought it would be.

- Despite being afflicted by the likes of Wasis I still prefer ambition to conscience or resentment in my pop stars.

- S-s-s-s-Saigon. Saigon.

- I wouldn't wear badges but I like their roundness. With T-Shirts it's MY roundness that's the problem.

Tupac

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

The 1998 Greatest Hits (http://www.google.com/musicl?lid=bPOmrpR0NiP&aid=vHILptVe5yK) is probably the most complete collection.

But I'd go for an album to get a real feel for his talent... he was probably at the peak of his career on 'Me Against The World' or 'All Eyez On Me'.

Re: Tussles

[koganbot]

but SW in his younger days was more 'pop'

But LC is more pop, even if not more 'pop.' He wrote "Suzanne." He lifted the chords from "Remember (Walking In The Sand)" for "Famous Blue Raincoat."

(Actually, I barely know Scott Walker old or new, except for "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore.") (Also, have any other American artists had such a disproportionate share of success in UK as opposed to US? Maybe Scissors Sisters. Anyone else?)

Re: Tussles

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I've still never heard any early Scott Walker. I really love both of them, and right now SW is obv a lot more interesting, but Leonard Cohen just seems like...a better songwriter? 'Famous Blue Raincoat', 'Suzanne' etc are standards in a way that I don't think any SW song is (well, they can't be, otherwise I'd know them).

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

On what grounds did Canada thrash Australia so convincingly? Brian Adams and Celine Dion vs Kylie Minogue and Holly Valance? Even accounting for Peaches and Feist, Australia should still be an easy winner.

Come on Poptimists, explain yourselves, I demand answers.

[koganbot]

Well, I voted the Aussies, but there are Neil and Joni and Avril and Skye and Lillix and Alanis and Shania and...

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

The fite I suggested made the cut: The one on TV singing competitions.

FOB v MCR was REALLY hard. MCR at their very best is better but FOB has more songs that I like, so I went with them. I voted 90's cause that is the era in which I grew up and I have an emotional attachment to the popular music of that era, even the stuff that wasn't that good. I imagine there's a similar rationale for a lot of people that voted 90's.

Robyn Rihanna

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I just found out that Rihanna's actual name IS Robyn!!!! Rihanna is her middle name so that poll is basically Robyn (Good) vs Robyn (Bad). V pleased and impressed at how it's panning out.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

FOB are faux-emo! I hates 'em!

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

Canada wins coz of Sebastian Bach!

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

Last week:
Still surprised that Passion trounced Fashion! Shame on you poptimists, u r all emo-ists!!

This week:
Abstained from quite a few - don't recall enough Biggie or Tupac, do not remember any Fall out/MCR, never spent enough time with reality pop in its television forms.

If you rule the world you can also save it!

The hardest ws Cohen-Walker, didn't vote on Rhymes-Beats by mistake so I will go for rhymes, as I'm reading a bit of poetry lately.