There's tons of pop music out there that's good, well written, and intelligent. I write some songs that would pretty much be classes as pop, but they definitely have some extremely intelligent stuff within them.
Is there such a thing as intelligent Pop?
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Originally Posted by Bid-tv:
“There's tons of pop music out there that's good, well written, and intelligent. I write some songs that would pretty much be classes as pop, but they definitely have some extremely intelligent stuff within them.”
“There's tons of pop music out there that's good, well written, and intelligent. I write some songs that would pretty much be classes as pop, but they definitely have some extremely intelligent stuff within them.”
Go on... give us a link then! It can't be a successful plug without one!
Originally Posted by jlrob:
“Pet Shop Boys.”
“Pet Shop Boys.”
Originally Posted by girojim:
“Pet Shop Boys and the Smiths”
“Pet Shop Boys and the Smiths”
Agreed - some of the best lyrics ever, IMO
Originally Posted by Midiboy:
“Agreed - some of the best lyrics ever, IMO”
“Agreed - some of the best lyrics ever, IMO”
The Smiths had it down to a fine art!
My question is why does it seem like you have to be under the age of 25 to launch a career in popular music?
Originally Posted by stupidflounders:
“My question is why does it seem like you have to be under the age of 25 to launch a career in popular music?”
“My question is why does it seem like you have to be under the age of 25 to launch a career in popular music?”
The first thing that literally springs to mind is sex appeal.... but shouldn't people be using their ears????
I agree totally. But then some over 25's make it ie Ray LaMontagne...
Originally Posted by Inkblot:
“I'm not sure I agree about Brian Wilson, though. Some of his lyrics were dreadful.”
“I'm not sure I agree about Brian Wilson, though. Some of his lyrics were dreadful.”
Brian Wilson wasn't always the lyricist. He used others to put words to his music. They were successful at articulating his moods and ideas; this happened with Gary Usher on In My Room. Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks also wrote lyrics for Brian on songs like Wouldn't It Be Nice and Heroes And Villains. Intelligent pop at it's best
The problem here is labeling there are loads of great pop acts out there today but fans and the bands themselves won't label themselves as pop due to the links with cheesey manufactured acts which somehow commandeered the term in the 90's. Generally I think 'Pop' as a genre describes upbeat songs that can widely appeal and defy the more introspective barriers of their originating genre be that rock, dance or r'n'b. 'Pop@ songs genereally follow the formula of verse, chorus, verse chorus, middle 8 chorus (key change)_ chorus, or formulas that are very similar. At the moment artists who are putting out great contemporary 'Pop' are Goldfrapp, Roisin Murphy, Rhianna, Girls aloud, MGMT, Hot Chip, The Feeling. Most of which many would not class as 'Pop' acts. Pop should not be a dirty word, 'Pop' can encourage the majority to go out and discover acts that they may not know anything about, the prime example being Hot Chip, who'd have thought 3 years ago that's they'd be getting top 10 singles?
Originally Posted by stupidflounders:
“My question is why does it seem like you have to be under the age of 25 to launch a career in popular music?”
“My question is why does it seem like you have to be under the age of 25 to launch a career in popular music?”
Because the radio, TV and media dictate what you hear and what you will probably end up buying and they believe that as an artist if you are over a certain age you are no longer relevant so could not possibly appeal to their target audience which seems to get younger and younger with each year.
They only allow the likes of Madonna and U2 to be played as they are so huge that they can't ignore them, however much they may wish to.
Originally Posted by brunolover:
“...their target audience which seems to get younger and younger with each year.”
“...their target audience which seems to get younger and younger with each year.”
This is a funny point as statistically it's the 50+ group that spend the most money on CDs concerts etc...
I'd call anything by Natalie Imbruglia intelligent pop
Kylie's music from 94-2000
Some of Madonna's 90's material
And of course Goldfrapp in their recent years
Kylie's music from 94-2000
Some of Madonna's 90's material
And of course Goldfrapp in their recent years
Originally Posted by stupidflounders:
“My question is why does it seem like you have to be under the age of 25 to launch a career in popular music?”
“My question is why does it seem like you have to be under the age of 25 to launch a career in popular music?”
Because good pop songs have always been about the joy and the pain of real life and your teens and early twenties are the times when you are most in touch with those emotions. I'm not being ageist - I'm very old myself - but we all gain a different perspective on life as we get older and that tends to mean spending less time agonising over what colour of teeshirt to wear or whether to ask someone out.
As someone else pointed out, it doesn't mean we stop listening to music, of course we still buy albums and go to gigs, but I wouldn't say there's much new intelligent pop being made by artists in their fifties or older. Unless anyone knows different...
Originally Posted by Inkblot:
“we all gain a different perspective on life as we get older and that tends to mean spending less time agonising over what colour of teeshirt to wear or whether to ask someone out.”
“we all gain a different perspective on life as we get older and that tends to mean spending less time agonising over what colour of teeshirt to wear or whether to ask someone out.”
I know what you mean! If I was single again, I might still agonise a little, but all those years of being married give you a better chance of coming close to understanding women - something that is utterly impossible at that age.
I see as many acts as I did although not as spread out through the year and still find new acts to like.
Originally Posted by Inkblot:
“Because good pop songs have always been about the joy and the pain of real life and your teens and early twenties are the times when you are most in touch with those emotions. I'm not being ageist - I'm very old myself - but we all gain a different perspective on life as we get older and that tends to mean spending less time agonising over what colour of teeshirt to wear or whether to ask someone out.
As someone else pointed out, it doesn't mean we stop listening to music, of course we still buy albums and go to gigs, but I wouldn't say there's much new intelligent pop being made by artists in their fifties or older. Unless anyone knows different...”
“Because good pop songs have always been about the joy and the pain of real life and your teens and early twenties are the times when you are most in touch with those emotions. I'm not being ageist - I'm very old myself - but we all gain a different perspective on life as we get older and that tends to mean spending less time agonising over what colour of teeshirt to wear or whether to ask someone out.
As someone else pointed out, it doesn't mean we stop listening to music, of course we still buy albums and go to gigs, but I wouldn't say there's much new intelligent pop being made by artists in their fifties or older. Unless anyone knows different...”
That's a really good point! I'm glad to no longer be worrying about what colour t-shirt to wear etc.. those days were agony! I still wish that mainstream pop, as it does reach a young audience would have something to say rather than having mainly arbitrary lyrics!
I think if you just listen to chart music you;re not really a fan of great music, I get my intelligent lyrics from bands that never get any airplay.
The fact that you ask the question 'Is there such a thing as intelligent Pop?' tells me that you are not a music fan, music is just an outlet to project certain connotations about yourself to other people by attaching yourself to bands that make you appear 'intelligent'
Of course there is the pop music of Spice Girls, Steps and the rest of the 90s lot which seems to cloud everyone's judgement as this is the image they think of when hearing the word pop. But this is not relevant today.
Like what you like because you like it, not because what other people might think.
Of course there is the pop music of Spice Girls, Steps and the rest of the 90s lot which seems to cloud everyone's judgement as this is the image they think of when hearing the word pop. But this is not relevant today.
Like what you like because you like it, not because what other people might think.
Girls Talk was one of my favourite singles of 1979.
As was this, even though it only peaked at #17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y8JKBFQ0MI
As was this, even though it only peaked at #17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y8JKBFQ0MI
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