The History Of Pop Part 11 aka In my imagination there is no hesitation

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

If you're like me then you'll be feeling a bit fatigued by your first day back at work. What better way to de-cobweb than with a NOW poll from the first half of 1988: The Year Pop Changed (Again). An intriguing Now, this - a disc and a half of classics rubbing shoulders with barrel scrapings, and then suddenly BANG ZOOM Now goes DANCE CRAZY. Beats! Samples! Sudden eruptions of Slade-style spelling! The best house pun title ever! Spare a thought for Climie Fisher, the victim of sequencing circumstance. Also GOTH ALERT, let's see how the Mish do on this one.

Now 10 saw M/A/R/R/S and "Pump Up The Volume" winning near-universal acclaim, and Europe's "The Final Countdown" wrestle through from the mire of Now 9. Now it's time to once again take up the burden of democracy:


[Poll #644631]


Debate, despair and debilitation in the comments box pls...

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Given that some people are still away this will most likely be the least-voted-in Now poll ever so yr votes especially count!

Has there ever been a more descriptive band name than Two Men A Drum Machine And A Trumpet?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

was there not a "twomexicansapuertoricananda[somethingelse]" as well?

also i have recently seen a band listed in the graun guide with a wimilar name involving "hos", tut, these young people eh?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

OF COURSE, stutter rap is the only truly indefensible song on this compilation.

having said that i still know all the words

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Nobody's making a very good fist at defending Candle mind you.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

he was going to throw a bottle he was gonna

chuck a can
chuck a can
chuck a, chuck a
chuck a can

how we larfed

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

Was it a real trumpet tho?

was there a specific remix that had "i know you gonna dig this" sample at the start of the Climie Fisher? I know i've heard a slightly less erm "beat-y" versh of it, and assume that that was the original that got spiced up with Bomb Da Bass style phat dope gubbins.

what a great 3rd batch - minus minor. i bet "jack and chill" is great, i just don't recall, so left that unticked.

this is of the era of the best run of #1s ever (inc the first two tracks here)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I have the Jack N Chill on a 7" at home, I am pretty sure it's amazing but can't actually remember (also I may be thinking of "Jack To The Sound Of The Underground").

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

YES, the disky "more greatest hits of 80s" versh of RTTO is SAPPY and beatless, whereas REAL ACTUAL uk chart versh was aces.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

All the ones I've heard on this are pretty good yknow, except Elt-ron and Morris Minors. Hurrah for Jack n Chill!

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Exactly why was Candle In The Wind out at this time? Diana hasn't been dead that long, surely?

I have a colleague who looks just like the very annoying Tony Hawks of Morris Minor and the Majors notoriety. Fortunately he is not inclined towards rapping.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

This isn't the Diana version of "Candle", it's a 'live version' - I think Elt had a live LP out in '88. According to Wiki, this version went Top 5.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I can't remember that Bananarama song AT ALL? Dorsalstop?

Song on this that needs more love: "Mandinka".

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yes!

though dreadful 'candle in the wind' is by no means the worst thing on this. jesus christ surely MORRISSEY is more off-putting!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I remember the Nana song. Belinda Carlisle, yes, god yes. Best thing on this compilation by miles and considering the second best is "Always On My Mind" that makes it very bloody good indeed.

Jellybean ft Elsa Fiorillo - Who Found Who

Is this the same El(i?)sa Fiorillo who did the cracking "On The Way Up" from about 1990?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I guess so! My source for her name (and for all track names, details etc.) may well have spelt it wrong.

[thenipper.livejournal.com]

I kind of regret voting for the PSBs now - they're going to win with what was clearly their worst single to date.

I would love to hear Krush again, if anyone can YSI it.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think I've got Krush at home and will attempt to provide.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Requesting Dollar on mp3, if anyone has that. I heard it for first time on the radio in a Berlin taxi recently, and wasn't that impressed. Would like to hear again tho'.

That run of tracks from "Beat Dis" to "Rok Da House" is awesome, yes. Cookie Crew to win!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

not enough love for Eddy Grant btw. I wanna know are you deaf, poptimists! blind, jo'anna!

[juror8.livejournal.com]

The lack of Dollar-love disturbs me.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

Climie Fisher currently only on 4 votes to Dollars 10. madness

[nicolars.livejournal.com]

I knew before I even filled out the poll that PSB were going to win!

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Harlequin dreams!?

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Joe Le Taxi' is funny in that every time someone covers it they manage to make it sound better.

WHAT THE WORDS SOUND LIKE WHEN YR A TINY

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Sher-ler-taxi!
Sess-arsey!
Oh no, Columbo!
Ammer-tay-ash!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

This Mel n' Kim song may well be SAW's MOST formulaic, lazy production ever, incidentally (with the exception of Jason Donovan's 'Nothing Can Divide Us'). I mean it's good because it's Mel n' Kim but otherwise 'eeh'.

[(Anonymous)]

Fairly sure the chart version of the Climie Fisher song had the samples on it, because I have a vivid memory of them on ToTP miming along to the snatches of dialogue, which struck me as oddly stupid. But people still do it on Top Of The Pops occasionally, I think. Other than that, this was a terrific moment in pop history, with stuff like Beat Dis. Surprised there's no love for Come Into My Life – has the Mantronik revival passed? – Mark M

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

http://www.stockaitkenwaterman.com/interv/hc01.htm

has a bit on how Ian Curnow and Phil Harding at SAW made that "rise to the occasion" remix that became the official UK single

[darkpigeon.livejournal.com]

now 11 is the best pre-94 now in my not-knowing-all-the-nows-in-between opinion

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

i really like all of the versions of candle in the wind--and i cant exactly pinpoint why, i think it might be because Sir Knight is so fucking shameless, his lurid taste for melodramatics, his faggy tastes for "dead blondes", all of that, has this kind of panto qaulity, this silly sad thing, where he is the most genuine in the world, but also completely fake, there is no tension between inauthentic and authentic, between real and commerical...

it reminds me of vegas era, bad taste, elvis, singing the America triology:silly, overblown, odd, and lurid, obv. almost done, but everytime i hear it i get a lump in my throat and i believe in a country where the poor boy from tupelo can get to this point in is own decay...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I like this reading. Doesn't make me want to hear the rekkid tho.

I think it's interesting that they put Morrissey next to Elton, though Moz at this stage wasn't full-on into his street-fighting, death and sentimentality kick.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

so what is the Jermaine Stewart track like? it's the only one i don't think i've ever heard.