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

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

"Vessels" is probably a bad way to put it -- talk about damning the stuff with faint praise, etc. I need to think this through some more. Beyonce is obviously a singular figure in a way Rachel Stevens isn't, but though I can only think of one Rachel song I think is pretty good (and love at least a couple Beyoncé songs, and have some affection for almost ALL of her singles), the truth is, my own ears -- at least re: r&b and teen-pop -- have definitely tended toward the anonymous-could-be-anyone side of the divide. I'm not sure why. (Unlike you, however, I would put Cassie in the latter camp. And "U & Me" is a serious contender for my single of the decade. I also don't hear much in the way of distinguished voices in Girls Aloud, Danity Kane, or Sugababes, but I like how their voices work in their music just fine.)

I did say in my first post btw that I was kind of troubled about all this!