The 'perfect' pop single

[McLilith]

Pop is a style in itself, just as rock, polka, techno and blues is. Therefore, Metallica is not pop, neither is U2, Eminem, Norah Jones, Beyoncee or Chemical Brothers, even though they have been no.1.

Thanks Armadillo that's exactly what I meant when I started this thread
I perhaps naively thought everyones definition of 'pop' music would be the same as mine.

Hey guys, "pop music" is short for "popular music". In it's original meaning, probably before you fellows were born, it literally referred to music that was popular. Your more narrow interpretation of the term reflects recent trends (at least in the UK or Europe), but not the true or original meaning of the term. Remember, years before you were born, there was pop music that sounded very different from the music you consider "pop music" today. Pop music isn't really a pure genre like you seem to think it is. Rather, it's a "catch-all" category that includes any musical work that achieves popular success.

Here's a few examples of pop music:
Sinatra's New York
Buddy Holly Peggy Sue
Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel
Sade's Smooth Operator
Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson's To All the Girls I've Loved Before
Pink Floyd's Another Brick in The Wall (part 2)
Buster Poindexter and His Banshees Of Blue - Hot Hot Hot
Prince's 1999
The Cars' Magic

Sure, all of these can be pigeon-holed into various genres, but they are all pop music.


take care,
McLilith

[McLilith]

The Knack - My Sharona

A guitar based band, a simple beat, a riff (it rocks),no solo and a short song. Always puts a smile on my face when I hear it on the radio...

No solo?

I distinctly remember a guitar solo in that song.

I do agree that it's a very good example of a classic pop song.


take care,
McLilith

[Armadillo]

Shamann: true. Loads of artist don't just stay 100% in one style. With Justin and Britney they do have that 1/2 pop, 1/2 RnB sound, but I would still call Destinys Child 100% RnB and U2 a Rock band although you could find songs they've done with just acoustic guitar which could be classified as guitar pop.

I can be bothered to look through the thread now, but someone mentioned Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a perfect pop song. I don't think that's pop at all although Queen has done a few pop songs.

Hey, I've even done a Ragtime tune, but don't ever call me a Ragtime artist

[Kriminal]

Cant be arsed to read the thread (hope its not an old one ive already replied to )

For me, Teenage Kicks - Undertones.

Has to be, it was the only song my old band ever played that sounded good

[cron]

Pop is a style in itself, just as rock, polka, techno and blues is. Therefore, Metallica is not pop, neither is U2, Eminem, Norah Jones, Beyoncee or Chemical Brothers, even though they have been no.1.

You're right, but I don't think it's as sweeping as all that. Pop music has borrowed tropes from every style, I think most of what Beyoncée does, or at least Destiny's Child, is as pop as Britney. And each name you mentioned have written pop songs, even if they borrow on other styles. For instance, Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2, where does that fall in the hard and fast classification? It certainly isn't just a rock song, nor just a gospel song.

Or take a song like Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake. Not purely pop, not purely R&B. And I think it falls in well to a list of perfect pop songs.

I'd argue the complete opposite. As far as I'm concerned, anything cropping up on MTV or any of it's subsidiaries is (or at least was) pop music, regardless of which style it ostensibly appears to be. The 'pop' in pop music purely refers to who is listening to it, ergo it's whatever most folk are listening to at the time.

[McLilith]

I'd argue the complete opposite. As far as I'm concerned, anything cropping up on MTV or any of it's subsidiaries is (or at least was) pop music, regardless of which style it ostensibly appears to be. The 'pop' in pop music purely refers to who is listening to it, ergo it's whatever most folk are listening to at the time.

I agree. "Pop" is not a singular style of music. In fact, it isn't a "style" at all. I know that a lot of people use the word in that sense, but it isn't really correct to do so. It's sort of like people saying that a particular song has an interesting "beat" when they should be saying "rhythm" instead.


take care,
McLilith

[j_T]

Some - admittedly fairly old - tunes that I always considered as good pop songs:

Crimson And Clover - Tommy James & The Shondelles
I Am I Said - Neil Diamond
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Mandy - Barry Manilowe (though I always prefer the original "Brandy" by Scott English)
Spanish Flea - Herp Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

Nothing special, but to me that was pop music

Regards,

Tommy

[donkey tugger]

I Am I Said - Neil Diamond

Oh aye, f**king class song that! 'Love on the Rocks' and 'Hello Again' means I can even forgive him 'You don't bring me flowers' too.

[oldevil]

Steven West wrote: Paul Anka said he made $200,000 in royalties a year for just sitting back and watching Johnny come out as Doc Severinsen played his theme. One man, one show, one theme - 200G's!

Paul Anka also wrote 'Having my baby' - that's not a pop song. That's a capital crime!

[Bunnyboy]

The Knack - My Sharona

A guitar based band, a simple beat, a riff (it rocks),no solo and a short song. Always puts a smile on my face when I hear it on the radio...

The solo in that is massively long!! and sounds nothing like the rest of the song!!

It is marvellous, mind!

[Bunnyboy]

For me, a pop song is something that rocks quickly tunefully and you want to hear it straight away again!

I'll put my 2p in and select for my definitions:

Iron Sky - Mega City 4
That Good One - The Mices

[McLilith]

Has anyone mentioned "Pop Music", by M?

That one certainly deserves to be mentioned in this thread.


take care,
McLilith

[ghost666]

Evermore - It's Too Late...

Prince - What if God Was One of Us

Fantastic!

[TristezaOrange]

The Knack - My Sharona

A guitar based band, a simple beat, a riff (it rocks),no solo and a short song. Always puts a smile on my face when I hear it on the radio...

I hate this song from the depths of my soul. I hate it, hate it, hate it. I don't know why but I feel pretty strongly about this. I absolutely hate it.

[TristezaOrange]

I don't believe nobody has mentioned Good Vibrations yet.