Bar Humbug

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I wrote a lengthy piece about bar DJs only to have it wiped out when like an idiot I clicked on a link in an email. The gist of it is that they may have a thankless job playing music nobody really cares about it but they're still twunts who seem to think their tasteful funky house music is the most exciting in the world. I say 'funky house music' and of course I really just mean 'bar music', it has long since become its own genre.

Anyway it's Tuesday and the barometer of orgafun points to WIZZO. Three wins in a row for "Biology", increasing its average score to 7.68 and seeing off Kelly Clarkson's 6.96. So "Biology" stays on and its new challenger, still raiding the '2005 pop' drawer, is "Be Mine!" by Scando act Robyn, "this year's Annie" if you believe the pigeonholers. This one suggested by juror8. Which one will go through to Friday's meeting with the Frog? (or whoever else you suggest) YOU DECIDE.

[Poll #632917]

ALSO ALSO advent calendar bonus: THE SINGING DOGS! (direct MP3, not a YSI)

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Jaysus this is horrendous: mediocre song from Best Band Of Our Time vs unusually amazing song from Chancer Cow. Gotta go with 'Be Mine' though.

I like being a bar DJ (at Lovelife mostly), it requires far less concentration than being a dancefloor DJ, and the pay-off if people do get up to dance is far greater. I don't play tasteful funky house though.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah this was more like a bar/restaurant so the chance of any dancing was much less.

In fact there wasn't even a dancefloor come to think of it.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think "Be Mine!" is Robyn at her worst really - horribly sugary vocals and a very flimsy production, if it wasn't for the OK chorus I'd have given it a 1.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

:O

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

if it was Avril you'd all bloody love it! Pah.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

If it was Avril it would be sung by someone with a bearable voice.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

If it was Avril it would sound EXACTLY THE SAME! Because she has exactly the same voice. Be Mine is no Who's That Girl though.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Although I remember Stevem scoffing at that Avril comparison in the pub....

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

& it might rock a bit rather than pirouette prettily to not much effect.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I think you have gone MAD WITH POWER.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

i think it's the only one of her songs with genuine emotional impact - the lyrics are really, really brilliant. and by comparison to, oh, the entire rest of the album (especially 'konichiwa bitches'!) the production is verily monolithic.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

i do hate that ridiculous exclamation mark at the end of the title though, and refuse to acknowledge it

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

but the point of the exclamation mark is that ! is used to signify a COMMAND, and this is in ironic contrast to the lyric "you never will be mine". so it's a GOOD exclamation mark

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

i never thought of it like a command! i always assumed it was kind of overly and inappropriately excitable. this makes more sense

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I've never paid attention to the lyrics at all, maybe I will try a bit harder, all I can remember is the old Motown tears/rain trick.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

i love the line about how "there's a moment to seize every time that we meet, but you always keep passing me by" - perfectly captures a moment slipping away from her. also the certainty with which she sings "you never will be mine", and it's not just cos of the other girl, it's because of her own indieness shyness and self-doubt.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

If I want woe-is-me indieness I will listen to, you know, indie.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

but 'be mine' isn't woe-is-me! she's just stating facts, but she doesn't expect us to feel sorry for her. fiona apple does this very well too.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think this is where that horrible voice comes in - there's something so "please wuv me" about it that the matter-of-factness just doesn't come across for me. ANYTHING Robyn sings is either going to sound smug or passive-agressive.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

i completely agree on most of her other songs (fucking 'handle me' aargh terrible)

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

this song does have cliched indie passive-aggressive love-lorn lyrics

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Anytime You Like' has some emo impact. Maybe even 'Keep This Fire Burnin' too.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

is 'anytime you like' one of the acoustic ballads? i don't even remember the other one.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

!

This is CRAZYTALK!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I am genuinely stunned that so many people like this drippy record.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

But you like countless drippy songs!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, probably. This one just seems so weak somehow. Like I said above, if I want indie, I'll listen to indie.

Now I know how The Lex feels about those GA songs :(

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

If I want indie I will listen to it amalgamated into other more desirable forms ;)

[pot80.livejournal.com]

"Chancer Cow" - you're such a charming fuckhead, Alex.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

i've said worse about people with better albums.

[pot80.livejournal.com]

Well, my problem with your comment has got nothing to do with whether or not the music is good.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

surely it's spelt 'CAH!' as the only people who say this now are in Eastenders.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

well my comment is entirely based on her crap music

[pot80.livejournal.com]

Ha, Girls Aloud are 2006's Robyn, who was 2005's Annie.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Um, some people live in the United Kingdom.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

What on earth are you talking about?

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Things are different in America. As far as I can tell, this has its downsides - there's something satisfying about the Aloud being as big as they are (in the UK) as well as as good as they are - but also its upsides - Goldfrapp and Rachel Stevens are both unheard of, so there isn't this whole thing of their respective profiles affecting who likes who etc.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love this Robyn track - the music is great, reminding me of all kinds of things including Annie and vintage Kate Bush. I can see her voice cloying over the course of an album, but I don't have a problem with it on that track alone.

[dorsalstop.livejournal.com]

This whole thread is CRazEE TalK! Best Song of the 05 vs Best Song of One Of Best Albums of the 05. 9-8.

"If I want indie I'll listen to indie"??? hell no! Let Robyn's sugar drip into my ear, but keep the gooey phlegm of Doves away from me!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the YSI of Robyn. Another one I'd not even heard before!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, a good way of bumping off "Biology" is to pick one of the few singles of 2005 that beat it hands down. I have never written about "Be Mine!" is any great length, but shall be doing so SOON, when I do my Top 150 Singles of 2005. (Ho, this'll kill me).