Pop and the idea of bands

[mostlyconnect.livejournal.com]

I don't really listen to bands or groups. I think poptimists has something to do with this - I certainly don't see many bands featured here, and I think they still get a bad press even among those who have rehabilitated pop to themselves? Maybe even rightly!

Do you? I feel these days like having more than one focus distracts and confuses the focus of music, making it weaker - but then I'll make exceptions for moments like golden-age Girls Aloud, when it sounded like 5 solo artists all recording at once, leading and pulling in different, exciting directions. Or at the very least - you knew who they were.

What do people think?

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

lol, and "MC who likes it on an E" a not-so-coded reference to Mel C's past as a raver, I guess.

Thinking about it, I guess one real industry sea-change is that acts now need to have a big hit right away, and if they don't they get dropped. This really mitigates against groups - Spice Girls were really quite anomalous in that they arrived with pre-formed personae and were immediately hugely successful. I definitely remember a period of time with Take That, All Saints, even Destiny's Child where I didn't know who was who - the distinct personae took time to emerge (say a few singles, or one album campaign). Whereas with a solo artist it's so much easier to imprint one persona on the public consciousness - cf Lady Gaga.

Which might be why expecting Electrik Red or The Saturdays to be as immediately distinct as the Spice Girls were might be too much of a stretch - if either hang around for the long haul, I'm sure distinct personae will emerge unbidden.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

The Spice Girls was about five totally distinct and different, larger-than-life personalities right from the start. They were like five different manifestations of the Lady Gaga idea of image.

Girls Aloud, on the other hand, won't, ditto Destiny's Child. Electrik Red and The Saturdays are similar in the way that they may or may not emerge as different personalities, depending on how they play in the tabloids and celeb mags, mostly.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Girls Aloud probably prove my point - they were an interchangeable gestalt at first but with time have become pretty distinct in most people's minds.