poptimists | Another Year In Pop: 23

The charts really are uninspiring these days! Botherd to all of those.

(NB why does THIS appear to be Boringhead's most popular track? 'Street Spirit' is much much better and I would have ticked that.)

Uninspiringness of chart = reason it took me a while to get round to posting it!

That Alex Gaudino track has somehow got even worse since I first heard it a few weeks ago.

2008 has been a pretty wretched year for the charts so far.

I dunno we had a glorious few weeks when Estelle, Wiley, H Two O, Flo Rida et al were doing well - really heartening. There seems to have been a complete lack of big releases in the past month or so though I note 'No Air' preparing to flatten all in its path at no 74.

2008 >>>>> 2007 by far music-wise, bizarrely this seems to have been manifest most in ALBUMS (or half-albums in Santogold's case).

Gaudino - terrible Pigbag bosh that saps all the energy of the original and puts clanky samba and Mousse T type vocals over the top. URGH.

Morrissey - Moz appears to have joined a GAY SHED SEVEN (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElemRKA9r1c)! This is kind of funny but not funny enough for a tick.

Mystery Jets - this dude is trying SO HARD to be Neil Tennant it's kind of sweet. Song is ok, good chorus in a The Cure type of way. Not very interesting though.

Maroon & Rihanna - this has been floating around for a while, hasn't it? The video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK-H76JeFpA) seems familiar, anyway. Song is a strange ode to underachievement. No tick.

Scooter - HURRAY we are paging Mr Baxxter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kL8xmHotu0)! Relentless Bonkers-style hardcore jumpstyle. Tickety-tick.

Radiohead - Possibly my least favourite Radiohead song. I can see why T.Yorke was sick of it, anyway.

Elbow - hmmm, not as good as their last single. It's all gone a bit Spiritualized. I don't really like Spiritualized.

Edited 2008-06-09 13:21 (UTC)

Realised what Maroon/Rihanna reminds me of for no particular reason : Tom Jones doing that Talking Heads cover with Nina Cardigans.

What's the original of the Gaudino?

1982 original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8FXuvuCCxw)
1995 bosh mix (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLNtxBEWeus&feature=related) (pretty good compared to Gaudino's effort, video features flying skellingtons)

Oh, I remember this, though I wouldn't have associated the Gaudino with it. At the time, when this stuff came along, and Blurt, I recall thinking, "Lucky us, we got the Contortions, and you guys only got Pigbag."

original = 1981! [/sad Bristol-scene spawn-of-The-Pop-Group punk-jazz head]

I think I've said this before but I have to listen to the Mystery Jets' album every day at work (or did till I moved offices; now it's just every other day). 'Two doors down' is the only song I can still bear to listen to, so there must be something right about it.

I'm sorry I don't like Scooter! Maybe one day I'll learn...

Don't worry, I don't like Scooter either. It's just...too silly to enjoy. You can't even dance to it.

Another mediocre week. Best song is "Creep," the oldie, which is the only Radiohead track that's ever made me feel anything, in fact is the only Radiohead title I can name. It doesn't get past my rule against ticking oldies, however.

Morrissey "All You Need Is Me": Initially, back in the Smiths' heyday, I underestimated this man's sense of command, his ability to dominate an arrangement. So does his voice here have authority that I'm somehow missing? This just seems to be a walkthrough against a noisy but pedestrian backdrop. Lyrics are supposed to be funny, I think, making a comic claim that the character is on our mind, but the joke has no bite if the singer can't make the conceit plausible. NO TICKS HERE.

Alex Gaudino f. Shena "Watch Out": Horn riff w/ dance beat! From Alex Gaudino! I like the formula, but I'm not feeling the groove. Deep-in-the-mix synth chords have the potential to be a massive mudslide rolling up from the underneath, but he cuts it off before it gets its roll. LEFT OUT OF THE TICKING.

Mystery Jets "Two Doors Down": Have we done this song before? Has the same problem the Fratellis had a couple of weeks back. It feels like a song embedded within disparate sounds, rather than a song making everything subservient to its demands. This is fine with me in principle but from indie bands almost always seems like a failure to commit. In any event, the singer here lacks the natural presence to pull off this sort of half-ambient stroll. For self-effacement to work there has to be enough of a face to begin with. DOOR SLAMS ON TICK AMBITIONS.

Maroon 5 f. Rihanna "If I Never See Your Face Again": Without Rihanna this had been a nondescript attempt at '80s bleached funk, like Phil Collins without Phil's casual force. And that's what this version is too, when Rihanna is off mic. But when she sings this becomes focused and sensual. Borderline, but it's a TICK.

Scooter "Jumping All Over The World": The silly chipmunk voice is worse than a nuisance on this one, which doesn't trust its own catchiness. The track is saved by Baxxter's compulsively emphatic delivery of "hardcore hardcore rock me down to the core" and by the hard chords that accompany it. Track struggles for a victory that should have been easy. Borderline TICK.

Elbow "One Day Like This": The rock bass and rough manly voice sabotage what should have been a light, smooth melody. And the inspirational sing-along that ends this makes it worse. NO TICK LIKE THIS.

W
T
F
with this video trend

(mystery jets that is)

actually - they seem to be taking the piss, but at no expense. so even more marks off

not seen the vid, but since the song is 100% PURE 80s pastiche, doin the same with the video is appropriate, no?

I'm feeling generous today, so it scrapes a tick. I prefer their last single though, the one w/ Laura Marling

OK, I realize that for a couple more weeks it's only going to be available as a download, but still, why is "Disturbia" only 47? WHY ISN'T IT NUMBER ONE?

It's not a single! It's not been promoted in its own right at all - in fact even this much success is kind of amazing and a mark of how huge Rihanna now is, that a non-promoted bonus track of a reissued album - which clearly people are only buying because they already have the album and love it so much that they're willing to pay for a new bonus track - is so high up.

I assume the Maroon 5 thing has charted for similar reasons.

Seems to be a single (however one defines that elusive term), in that Polydor posted its video last week. "The new single from Maroon 5 (featuring Rihanna) released in the UK on 30th June."

Is a single in the U.S., though doesn't get its official push for another eight days, on June 17.

That is, Wiki says it's a single, though the Def Jam website is still all about "Take A Bow."

i listened to the real actual chart countdown for the first time in a few months, so it must be my fault that a song i like got to number one. nothing to do with "britain's got dancing dogs"

Oh god, a week when I have only ticked The Mystery Jets. :(

Why is Rihanna demeaning herself by working with Maroon 5. Who I have never been able to think up a decent scatalogical rename for but feel that there ought to be one.

ma-poo-n 5, obv.

Another Year In Pop: 23

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more 80s pastiche videos

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What's wrong with me?

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ps sorry

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