POPTIMISTS REVIEW OF 08: Most Horrible Pop Thing

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

As before* this is being done canon-style - you get THREE picks plus! whether you pick the X-Factor or not in the main poll you can take part in the special sub-poll.

[Poll #1312786]

*all polls will be open until the end of the year when official results will be posted.

And remember - send yr list of 10 top tracks to leagueofpop@gmail.com before the end of the year too.

Comments

Re: Hi-5...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I flipped back and forth between them and Perry for my third tick, before settling on Perry, for the reason that the hotel I stay in each week at least never plays the Ting Tings album when I'm trying to eat my breakfast in peace.

Re: Wow.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Thought of the minute: Is High School Musical indirectly responsible for the possibility of Scouting for Girls escaping any given performance without getting a wedgie?

[koganbot]

But still a relatively lame year on the pop charts, considering.

Re: Dilemma

[koganbot]

I nominated her but didn't vote for her.

I still have to figure out what to do with my third vote, though it's got to be for something that isn't going to beat Scouting For Girls.

(I won't vote for Katy Perry. I like her more than I dislike her, and at times she's a breath of fresh air in relation to the surrounding torpor, even if she is grating as all fuck. Max and Luke and Cathy know how to write a tune.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I love digital promos. They have basically saved me from being buried alive by jiffy bags and CDs this year.

Katy Perry has a very strange attitude to/relationship with/obsession with homosexuality, but it's not really offensive, and there are many many more things to dislike her for.

Re: Dilemma

[koganbot]

I'd accept a View victory, seeing as I nominated them both this year and last year.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Hi Chuck. Nice to see you here. I'm sure "All Summer Long" works just fine in the US. Brits of a certain age pretending it has some resonance for them is what earns it its place in the nominees. But it's not in the top 3 most horrible things on the list, I'll grant you.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Scouting for Girls are an 07 hate really. Shes So Lovely has almost reached Place Your Hands status for me, when even a snippet of it makes me laugh for no reason.

Ting Tings for the victory.

[koganbot]

Also, I don't know about that list of No. 1's. Flo Rida has never reached me - is sort of just average southern hip-hop, in comparison to engaging stuff like V.I.C.'s "Wobble." And there's way better Wayne than "Lollipop" and way better Mariah than "Touch My Body" and way better Rihanna than "Take A Bow" (and better "Take A Bow" than Rihanna's, i.e. Taylor Swift's) and way better T.I. than "Whatever You Like" and "Live Your Life" and way better Britney than "Womanizer" and way better zillions of things than Coldplay.

Re: Hi-5...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

- her voice which is really grating, really mannered and really characterless all at once
- the stupid awkward pose she does to go with her stupid awkward voice
- the totally rudimentary, incompetent music
- AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS AND THE DRUMS etc being maybe the worst and most unlistenable moment in any song I have ever heard in my life
- except EEE-EEE-EEE in the same song (why would you even DO THAT)
- their boring boring fans thinking they're being "fun" and "edgy" by listening to tedious self-conscious indie

Re: Hi-5...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

AND THEIR FUCKING NAME

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I might switch to MGMT - they're not one of the three worst things on the list, but they are pretty boring, and the barrage of end-of-year lists means they have a sadly prominent place in my brain right now.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

I was thinking it's that thing she does with her bottom lip when she sings. Which I will vote for, gladly, because STOP, ADELE. STOP. JESUS.

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

It works fine in the U.S., yeah. But it works GREAT in suburban Detroit, where I was over Thanksgiving weekend. Believe me, in suburban Detroit these days, memories of long-lost summers on the lake in Northern Michigan is about all that's left to live for.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

How dare anyone nominate High School Musical.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

No, no, I'm pretty sure it's offensive.

Re: Hi-5...

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i'm just sort of relieved it's a girl and a guy and not the usual bunch of nobheads. i think they are generally 'a bit crap', i can't muster feelings stronger than that. glasvegas and other more 'conventional' bands seem far worse.

one good thing about them is that they're from manchester BUT don't shout about this much - hopefully we'll get more manc bands that don't set themselves out as part of some revered tradition of 4 miserable blokes with terrible voice and clothes. at least it's a different kind of meh, for me.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Do it! The fact that a large chunk of the BBC's "Sound of 2009" long list appears to consist of acts aiming for 'next MGMT' status is another reason.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i would've thought the Alabama connotations would spoilt it for them if nothing else

[koganbot]

Well, Brits getting resonance from stuff out of the U.S. south is a good part of the great music of the last 55 years or so, and the Lynyrd Skynyrd track that Kid was referencing wouldn't have existed if the Rolling Stones for whom the U.S. south had great resonance hadn't themselves resonated in northern Florida. That said, and though "All Summer Long" doesn't belong on this list (and its supposed horribleness isn't getting ratified by the voters), I'm meh on it: just doesn't have the bite or dance that I wanted from it. I do love "I Wanna Fuck You Like I'm Never Gonna See You Again," however.

Re: Hi-5...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

They stand out more than the four-blokes Glasvegas/MGMT/whoever rabble, so annoy me more; plus, there is the unfortunate matter of people I know - people within this very circle! - being pro-Ting Tings, while I can't say I know anyone who gives a toss about Glasvegas at all.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I sacrificed Katy Perry on the same bonfire.

Re: Hi-5...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

With Glasvegas it's simply a "price of keeping Alan McGee bands at bay is eternal vigilance" kind of thing.

I might switch The View vote though to the Ting Tings, having read your all too convincing summary.

MGMT I believe is two blokes not four. They use those newfangled computer things for the other two.

[martinv.livejournal.com]

:( I really like the BBC list!

It's certainly better than last year's. (Little Boots/ La Roux/ Frankmusik vs. Adele/ Duffy/ etc/ yawn)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'In The Ayer' emerged from the dust as my favourite Flo Rida jam of 08, thanks in part to my hip-hop dance teacher constantly playing it for us. I basically agree with you on all those songs but it's still better than the UK!