Friday Canon: Sugababes

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I can't deny it, consensus interests me: I like knowing what people like. I also like doing polls (never!!), so here's a new Poptimists 'thing', based on ILM's old POV (Pick only five) threads, which were fine but NOBODY EVER TABULATED THEM (and there wasn't a lot of discussion either).

(I would not have thought of this were it not for my getting drunk last night and forgetting to YSI the winner stays on tracks)

Here's the rules: from a list of an act's top 40 singles (UK), you pick your favourite five. No more than five, but you can pick less. That's it. What we get out of it - an idea of how the sample poptimists view the contours of a career, a list of top tracks to check out, and the opportunity to waste some of Friday afternoon talking about pop stars we like. HERE GOES:


[Poll #670562]

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The first two voters have picked exactly the same tracks, which suggests that maybe this wasnt the best act to start with!

[spittake.livejournal.com]

Well, I voted for the only two tracks I know.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

But they haven't released 40 singles. Or did you mean an act's Top 40 singles.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Ah yes.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Do a Spice Grrls one!

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

spicers will surely be even more consensus than this!!

(all the same DO IT DO IT)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'm shocked that 'Run For Cover' apparently isn't part of the SugaCanon!

Is this a ploy to lure Barima out of whatever internetless hole he has fallen down this year?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Haha well if it has that effect I'd be delighted of course!

Run For Cover and Soul Sound would have been 6th and 7th picks for me I guess. They have weaker singles than I thought they did.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

run for cover was on the first compilation cd i made for emma, and it's a fave of mine obv

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Really? I've always thought that they were one of those pop groups who usually got the singles unerringly right - my top 10 of Britney or GA would probably be mostly album tracks, whereas while the SugaAlbums are all pretty good I think their strongest material is definitely the more known stuff. Apart from the Three singles but I don't remember what anything else on that album even sounds like anyway.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

I'm listening to Three right now and it's ACE. Much, much stronger than the last one.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I will dig out Three when I get home! But it's definitely not as good as Taller, it has too many clunkers and not enough MASSIVE TUNES

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Damn thing is COVERED in massive tunes. I've found getting into Taller v.hard. It all sounds a bit too samey.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It's covered in polite washes of synths, is what it's covered with. (which is why Three ballads > Three bangers.)

Taller is all over the place stylistically! It's the most varied SugaAlbum of them all!

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Polite synth washes? Dude, seriously, I think we must be listening to different albums!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think we are, I think you have gotten Three and Taller mixed up somehow

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I agree with The Lex (about Sugababes singles picks).

Heh, every one of the songs nobody has picked so far are grebt. Sometimes I don't get the poptimists kru AT ALL.

It's doing it for me

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Whatever Makes You Happy is second only to Some Kind Of Miracle in the 00s girl band 'why on earth wasn't it a single?' stakes.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

ooh, is Red Dress the next single? Fantastic!

[genie22.livejournal.com]

Run for cover is my fave not on the list.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Yes it is!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

For once, democracy seems to be working.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

AMAZED at no Soul Sound votes.

Other really good obscure track - "Someone In My Bed"!

[zenith.livejournal.com]

I do not understand the lack of love for 'In The Middle'. I seem to remember everyone hating it at the time, too. It is great! It has a 'WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP' bit!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I love it, but it is really good rather than great - I've v. possibly only voted for it out of ignorance of Push The Button.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

Is there going to be an Iron Maiden poll??

Sugababes were okay, never really floated my boat.

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

I second jel's Iron Maiden suggestion, if only to make an attempt to hear them all AT ONCE. Other mostly ilmist mostly oldies suggestions: Madness, Snap!, Kate Bush, Eminem, a-ha, Terry Hall (all bands + solo allowed), Oasis, All Saints, teh Missy.

[(Anonymous)]

If there's an Iron Maiden poll, then I vote for Lil Wayne's "Best Rapper Alive."

Of the four/five listed tracks I've heard (a couple are slashed together, like Kirk and Spock), I cheerfully would click "Freak Like Me" and "Round and Round," I would give a half click to "Stronger/Angels" (finding Kirk stronger than Spock in this instance), and would only click "Ugly" if offered a sum greater than $200 to do so. [I'm sure the song has a beautiful personality, however.]

Of the non-listees, "Blue" would get an enthusiastic tingle.

The Tingalator

[(Anonymous)]

A point that I tried to make over on one of the P&J threads to no avail, but "consensus" used to be a perfectly good word meaning "collective opinion" and "general agreement" and the like; i.e, it means near unanimity. It doesn't mean "the median choice" or "gets a plurality/majority of the votes" or "more people think this than not" or "an average of all the scores" or anything of the sort. George W. Bush was not the consensus choice as man most qualified to be president. He merely won an election (the second time around).

(Of course "Freak Like Me" may well be a Poptimist unanimous choice. Most tracks won't score so high.)

Pedantic Spice

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

tom said pick five tracks and [as of when i just counted] 127 votes out of a total 172 have gone to the top five = 74%

(hmmm does this way of summing the votes actually measure anything?)

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Yes this use of "consensus" bugs me too.

(Though, to nitpick even on Pedantic Spice, it *does* mean "gets a majority of the votes" *if* it is agreed beforehand that everyone gets behind the majority vote, and this agreement is honoured)

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I've heard "Shape" too. Might accept a bribe as low as $150 on that one.

Corrupt Spice

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I love "Shape". Hurrah, somebody has ticked it.

Only "Ugly" now w/ no love at all. Like all the best Sugababes songs it is An Grower, I think.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I like 'Ugly' but it's hard to imagine as one of the top 5 SugaSingles, it's kind of 'Unpretty' redux. In fact I only think one of the SugaSingles is crap and that's 'Shape'!

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

I can't believe no one else picked 'Soul Sound'. That makes me sad. Look: :(

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

'Freak Like Me' is overrated.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

the most popular songs always are ;)

[steviespitfire.livejournal.com]

oh, you

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Red Dress' would've been my sixth pick.

there's a terrific remix of 'Too Lost In You' - it's hard to imagine i know but it really is great, i'm just not sure which one it is.

'One Foot In' from 'One Touch' would be my other non-single fave.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I am likewise distressed by the lack of "Run For Cover" love, it's miles better than bloody "Hole In The Head" which is a bloody ska song in a not-very-convincing disguise.

Best ever Suga non-singles: "Supernatural" and "Million Different Ways", the latter is the best song off "Three" by absolute miles.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised how many people have picked Freak Like Me. I don't know if I'm just being contrarian in not liking it that much. I have ticked 'Soul Sound' -- I remember spotting it as a potential single when I first heard that album, and I was glad when they finally released it. Perhaps I should have picked 'run for cover' and 'ugly' which also deserve more love than they're getting.

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Damn I think I invented the POV (http://ilx.wh3rd.net/thread.php?msgid=3435643) OUAT.

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

OUAT = once upon a time. Sorry, litre of white wine.