The Decade In Pop

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My enormous Pitchfork piece on "The Decade In Pop" is up: http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7703-the-decade-in-pop/

Spotify playlist to go with it here: http://open.spotify.com/user/freakytrigger/playlist/6cudPLlniOyOrpX5M5Dnnz

Comments

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

Don't necessarily disagree that women country singers have been able to stretch more into certain pop and dance production areas; just don't think the equation is as unbalanced as Frank suggests -- certainly Phil Vassar, Toby, Alan Jackson (Like Red On A Rose), Brooks & Dunn (one song by whom Frank compared to Londonbeat!), Tim McGraw, Colin Raye, etc, have recorded songs or even entire albums that veered anywhere from smooth-jazz quiet storm to new wavey '80s dance-flirting AOR (John Waite's "Missing You" actually seems to be a fairly frequent sonic signpost in '00s country, and everybody thought Waite in turn wanted to sound like the Police at the time) to (obviously) old-school hard rock. So nah, come to think of it, I'm not sure I agree with Frank at all here.

As for Rodney Atkins' album, I admittedly overrated it when it came out (or at least right now I think I did, since all three singles have irritated me more than grabbing me on the radio), but when I first listened to it (and liked it quite a bit, on first couple listens, at least), I (maybe willfully, who know?) heard as much early '80s Night Ranger-style proto-hair-metal and Cougar-style Stones rips as audience pandering. (Though who also knows, maybe by now those sounds are audience pandering. Though I get the idea that Frank is referring to the lyrics here, more than the music. Favorite track, either way: "Chasing Girls.")

[koganbot]

Yeah, I was referring to the lyrics on the Rodney, but the music didn't grab me nearly as much as his previous music did either, though I don't think that was owing to stylistic choices so much as not pulling the music for best impact (not that I've got anything useful to say about where the music goes wrong for me). I certainly didn't think the music was bad. Did like the song where he goes fishing and meets the G.I. on leave. And "worst 15 minutes of my life" does make me smile when I think of it.

I myself referred to Toby's "That's Not How It Is" as "quiet storm" in my "Quiet Desert Storm" piece. I think even as I was writing my post it was unraveling in my mind, but I decided to keep it anyway and let you come along and contradict it. I do remember on one of my country ballot comments making a crack about LeAnn and Faith roaming the world while Toby tended the home fires, but then LeAnn and Faith were the ones beaten down for it, so this doesn't exactly help my thesis.

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

Well, Toby's certainly got songs where he doesn't tend to the home fires, or maybe he tends to fires in somebody else's home ("Stays In Mexico," "Time For Me To Ride," "Brand New Bow," "Who's Your Daddy" -- as I said in my Voice piece last year, for a supposedly happily married guy, he's certainly not afraid of one-night-stand songs), and there's also guys like Dierks Bentley whose whole persona is about roaming the road and not staying tied to one place. So again (which I guess you're sort of acknowledging), the dichotomy's not as simple as one might think.