To add to Last Christmas by the Wham! that I have mentioned earlier, "out of this world honor" for pop song has to go to Paloma Blanca by George Baker Selection. If you had been there, you are singing it in your head now just by reading this mention of it. Don’t pretend you are not. Enough time has passed, you can admit it now. For those few who got reminded, here it is in all its glory... GEORGE BAKER SELECTION - Paloma Blanca (1975) Original Single! - YouTube |
"(produced by Mickie Most, who believe it or not also did Jeff Beck’s first album, Truth)" Oh, man, you do pull them out of the far corners of my mind. Mickie Most, the man who produced nothing less than...Living Next Door to Alice. Twice. Believe it, or not (at least it is what Internet says somewhere). The well-known one... Smokie - Living Next Door to Alice (Official Video) - YouTube And the original one... New World "Living Next Door To Alice" - THE ORIGINAL (AND THE BEST?) - YouTube Sure, if Alice is not carved in your genetic code by trillion plays, this one will not touch you. If it is a part of you, don’t you wish you had been at Gompie... Gompie - Alice, who the X is Alice - YouTube |
Nice to see someone mentioning Lighthouse. And Gary Puckett with Lady Willpower or Young Girl ? Oh man!
I loved One Fine Morning by Lighthouse. — 13 piece band chock full of talent,
Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)
Green Eyed Lady — Sugarloaf
Tin Man. - America
Got to Get You Outta My Life - I like Earth Wind and Fire’s version
And When I Die - BS&T
It’s Too Late — Carol King
Aint No Woman Like The One I Got. - Four Tops
These Eyes. - Guess Who
and of course who could ever forget the best song ever recorded . .
. . . .
wait for it . . . .
Disco Duck by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots.
you can thank me later😜🤘🏼💪👍 |
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For my Thursday Evening offering I could choose nearly any song on Elvis Costello's "My Aim is True" that I'm spinning on the TT right now. But my nomination goes to....... Elvis Costello - "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS8oaMFsBEk |
pop is short for popular last time I checked.
We all know what popular means, right?
It’s not very complicated.
Popular means a lot of people like it. The most popular are the ones the most people like to listen to the most.
According to popularity ratings for songs in my Plex music library the most popular song there with 15 million + votes is “Smells Like Teen Spirit’” followed closely by Viva La Vida, Wonderwall, Karma Police, and Creep. Not too shabby!
Disclaimer: no Taylor Swift in my music library though Adele and Lady Gaga make an appearance or two and rank high. |
What happenned to Margaritaville?
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ABBA made music considered to be Pop. Their records sold a lot, so were indeed popular. If they DIDN'T sell well, would they therefore not be considered Pop? Of course not. Yes, Pop is short for popular, but the use of the term Pop for a genre of music uses that term in a less-than-literal sense. The 3 Tenors album sold more copies than most non-Classical albums. Are we to consider well-selling Classical albums Pop music? |
Under the "popular" banner, I'll add:
"The Look of Love" - ABC. A brilliant synthesis of new wave, Motown and Bacharach styled orchestral ballad. The Bowie & Ferry styled crooning is the icing on the cake.
"Walk On By" - DIONNE WARWICK. Speaking of Burt Bacharach.....
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Under the "Pop" genre, I'll add:
I'll Be the One - Badfinger
You Got Me Anyway - Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
Idiot - Robin Lane & The Chartbusters
Tiger Nights - The Bongos
Torn in Two - Shoes
That is Why - Jellyfish
Just because a song doesn't become popular, many of the songs people have mentioned in this thread should've been popular. In the case of the Beach Boys, listed below are the highest chart positions of some of their best songs:
God Only Knows - # 39
Don't Worry Baby - # 24
In My Room - # 23
Surfer Girl - # 7
If you want to know about the taste of an average American popular music fan, I'll rest my case on those numbers cited above.
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"I Died in Your Arms" Cutting Crew
"Driver’s Seat" Sniff ’n’ the Tears
"Voices Carry" Til Tuesday
"Long Line of Cars" Cake
"Hey Men" Men Without Hats
"Don’t Mess With Dr. Dream" Thompson Twins
"Be Good Johnny" Men at Work
"California Dreaming" Mamas and Papas
"Monday Monday" Mamas and Papas
"Just Dropped In..." Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's |
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I love this thread! Discussing actual music is refreshing.
"Time After Time", Cyndi Lauper
"Lebanon" J.S. Ondara
"Everything I Am Is Yours" Villagers
"Roses At The End Of Time" Eliza Gilkyson |
@widmerpool,
You're welcome to join the "What's on your turntable tonight" thread. |
@slaw How on earth did it take over 60 posts before someone (you) remembered to include California Dreaming? "Just Dropped In" was also an excellent choice! |
I don't know @mitchagain, just startin' to get in the groove. |
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"Ballad of John & Yoko" The Beatles
"She’s Gone" & "Lady Rain" Hall & Oates
"Candy" Jackson Browne |
reubentI’ll see your offering and raise you: General Public - Tenderness Saw them in concert back in the day. Great stuff! |
Would Lou Reed be considered “pop”? He might be turning in his grave on that one. But “Sweet Jane” and “Walk On The Wild Side” are well known. |
Beach Boys - Kokomo
Paul Simon - The Boy In The Bubble
Beausoleil - Zydeco Gris-Gris
shout out to all the accordion lovers out there. Hello. Anyone...
Nevermind...😞 |
@16f4,
Check out Suzanne Vega’s version of "Take a Walk on the Wild Side".....maybe more of a "pop" version? |
"Baker Street" Gerry Rafferty
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@16f4
General Public - Tenderness
Definitely a pop song. And pretty popular too, if I recall my mid-80's radio listening. We should go head-to-head - American Bandstand Rate a Record style. |
"Let’s Dance" David Bowie
"Fool if you Think It's Over" Chris Rea |
reubentI’m a big (English) Beat fan from way back. After they broke apart, I followed the members to their next bands (General Public, FYC, etc). I am concerned that if we get competitive we might attract a certain member who has been active this week. This forum has been fun and informative so far. Oh, heck, life is nothing if not risk! The Clash - Rock The Casbah Rockin’, energetic, great beat I could dance to (back in the 80s...) 90 |
@16f4 and All,
I was just kiddin' about going head-to-head. The last thing I want in this thread is a pi$$ing match about what's best.
Let's keep it fun for everyone.
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I’m all about the fun...and accordions! |
Check out Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians cover of "Walk On the Wild Side." It's very faithful to the original. If you don't melt when she sings "Holly came from Miami, FLA....," you might want to check for a pulse.
"Fool If You Think It's Over" is a great song; but, Chris Rea's voice sure has changed over the years. However, he's continued to make good music (albeit, less poppy). "On The Beach" is a pretty sweet track. |
"Walk Away Renee" The Left Banke |
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"High on Sunday 51" Aimee Mann |
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Driving songs! My favorite is Steve Earle’s “Guitar Town. Used to listen to it all the time driving between San Antonio and Austin on Interstate 35. |
I Am an Astronaut by Ricky Wilde
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She's Not There--the Zombies
Spooky--Classics Four
Come Softly To Me--the Fleetwoods
Walk On By--Dionne Warwick
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Off the top of my head....some of the better 3-minutes of power pop (sometimes you just catch lightning in a bottle):
"There She Goes" - The La’s; "Train in Vain" - The Clash; "Lazy Eye" - Silver Sun Pickups; "What I Like About You" - The Romantics; "Praise You" - Fatboy Slim; "Save It For Later" - The English Beat; "Is It Any Wonder?" - Keane
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Perfect pop. Military intelligence. Jumbo shrimp. |
Motown was the epitome of great pop songs. Especially pop songs with amazing intros. Two that come to mind are ‘Love Child’ by the Supremes and ‘Tears of a Clown’ By Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.
I think a great pop song has a certain balls-to-the-wall feel. The Crystals ‘Then He Kissed Me,’ Eric Carmen ‘Make Me Lose Control,’ Mr. Big ‘To Be With You.’
Crank up the volume and sing along.
Sure, a lot of pop songs are not ‘audiophile’ recordings. But played on a good system, they sure sound great! |
+1 Love Child
remarkable (albeit Motown) sound |
I am not surprised that "power pop" has dominated this discussion so far. So, now that Motown and R&B classics are starting to get mentioned, here's a few more:
Schoolboy Crush - Average White Band
Until You Come Back To Me - Aretha Franklin
I"ll Take You There - Staple Singers
Use Me - Bill Withers |
Herring Boats by Mickey Katz it ROCKS. |
"Manic Monday" The Bangles |
Not much from the last 30 years. Says something about us. Or did 'pop' music die 30 years ago?
We used to call pop music stuff that wasn't 'hard'. For instance the Archie's, Monkees etc were Pop. The kinks and yardbirds, police were Rock. |
"Not much from the last 30 years." How about Katy Perry and Last Friday Night? It does not get much poppier than that. |
@bdp24 , "Are we to consider well-selling Classical albums Pop music?" I would. At least certain variants. Here in the UK Classic FM chart often has themes from, wait for it, computer games and films in it. Even their top 300 Hall of Fame features some very well known music. Often much to the purists disdain. Everyone here in the UK will remember Nessun Dorma (World Cup theme 1990) and Freddie Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caballe Barcelona (1992 Olympic Games theme). https://halloffame.classicfm.com/2020/@desktopguy, "Every time I hear this, I fall into a spell (song-as-drug):" That’s a great point about the trance effect. I think the average music listener is drawn to pop before all else just for this reason. They want to move and they want to escape their immediate reality, of only for 3 minutes or so. Certain records with this quality seemed destined to be instant worldwide hits upon release. The obvious 2 ones that I can think of were the following. The Police : Every Breath You TakeThe Bangles : Eternal Flame @slaw, The hypnotic Walk Away Renee" by The Left Banke has somehow achieved the near impossible by replacing the also brilliant Four Tops version as my favourite. The Left Banke Walk Away Renee https://youtu.be/9_QVUfZv92U |
Richard Marx - Don't Mean Nothin'
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"Walking in Memphis" Marc Cohn |
