The 'perfect' pop single

[griels]

Shamann, is Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo`ole the (sorry for the inept description ) Hawaiian sounding version? -I love that version! it is amazing!

Yes, that's a stunning song... I'd say that was perfect pop.

[skipscada]

I think it's useful to think of pop as a genre. "Perfect pop" could be considered a subgenre, based on a very simple and typical structure, with a balanced mix of obvious melody lines and original twist, an obvious lift in the chorus, and of course instant recognition when you hear the first chord. Some of Saint Etienne's efforts qualify as perfect pop. The singles off New Order's Republic are also very perfect pop-ish. More perfect than "True Faith", although the last one's better.

My candidates, then:

New Order - Regret
New Order - World

Saint Etienne - Nothing Can Stop Us

[Chris Berlin]

Black - Wonderful life !
Perfect.

[aMUSEd]

Perfect pop

Embrace - All you good good people

Wannadies - You and Me song

Buzzcocks - Ever fallen in love?

[Stupid American Pig]

Spice Girls---->If You Wanna be my Lover

A perfect pop song that make me lick myself!

[Stupid American Pig]

...seriously, if I were on a deserted island and only could hear one song the rest of my life, I think that would be on my short list if I did not pick that one...

So a vinyl record of Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" is probably out of the question then?

To be sure, picking only one song to play for the rest of your life would be a tough choice. I might opt for Kashmir, by Led Zepplin. Then again, White Christmas offers some nice imagery for someone stranded on a tropical island. (You didn't say whether this island is tropical or not. That might make a big difference.)


take care,
McLilith

White Christmas? I think that would turn it into suicide island

[Wopelka]

the perfect pop beat... well sorry... track, or rather the perfect pop song is:

(drum roll)

life is life (lala la lala)

[griels]

Perfect pop

Embrace - All you good good people

A fine pop song, not a big fan though, I prefer 'Come Back To What You Know'.

Wannadies - You and Me song

Buzzcocks - Ever fallen in love?

Top notch

[clueless]

the perfect pop beat... well sorry... track, or rather the perfect pop song is:

(drum roll)

life is life (lala la lala)

ba-da-bap-bap-ba life?!

[Wopelka]

the perfect pop beat... well sorry... track, or rather the perfect pop song is:

(drum roll)

life is life (lala la lala)

ba-da-bap-bap-ba life?!

Life (lalala)
Live is life
…
When we all give the power,
We all give the best

Every minute in the hour
don't think about the rest
And you all get the power
you all get the best
When everyone gives everything
and every song everybody sings

Live
live is life
live
live.

When we all give the power
we all give the best.
Every minute of an hour
don't think about a rest.
Then you all get the power
you all get the best.
When everyone gives everything and every song everybody sings.

Then it's live
live is life
live is life
live.

Live is life - when we all feel the power.
Live is life - come on
stand up and dance!
Live is life - when the feeling of the people -
Live is life - is the feeling of the band.
When we all give the power
we all give the best. . . .

Then it's live
live is life
live
live is life
live.
Live
live is life
live
live is life.

And you call when it's over
you call it should last.
Every minute of the future is a memory of the past.
'Cause we all gave the power
we all gave the best.
And everyone gave everything and every song everybody sang.
Live is life.

[aMUSEd]

Perfect pop

Embrace - All you good good people

A fine pop song, not a big fan though, I prefer 'Come Back To What You Know'.

Wannadies - You and Me song

Buzzcocks - Ever fallen in love?

Top notch

They all bring a smile to my heart

[Wopelka]

[paul minot]

As usual, I have TOO MUCH to say about this subject.

IMHO, the perfect pop single has a number of elements that make it so:

1) HOOK(S) and PRODUCTION--goes without saying--we are talking POP, after all

2) A GREAT INTRO--something that grabs you the first instant you hear it. For example--"The Hustle" (f**king beautiful!), "Jumping Jack Flash", "Strawberry Fields"--hell, think of all the great songs that START OUT great!! The Beatles were the unequivocal MASTERS of this element--"Help", "Hard Day's Night", "Paperback Writer", "Lady Madonna"...jeez where do you stop???!!

3) A BALANCE OF NOVELTY AND FAMILIARITY--A song that sounds comfortable in its familiarity, but adds a new twist. In some cases, the artist itself can provide the familiarity--for example, The Beatles ("Strawberry Fields", "Eleanor Rigby", "I Am the Walrus") were able to pull of unbelievably daring singles, because of their personal familiarity to the audience. Eminem does it nowadays, to a lesser degree of ambition.

4) LYRICS that fall into at least one of four general categories, and succeed at their goal(s):
a)IDENTIFICATION--like a role-playing videogame--think "Jumping Jack Flash", "Born to Be Wild", any of Eminem's songs, Abba's "Dancing Queen" (which makes ME feel like a 15-year-old girl!)
b)SEDUCTION--for the ladies, usually--Hall and Oates' "One on One", lots of others
c)CONFECTION--i.e. ear candy, such as Beck's "Loser", Outkast's "Hey Ya", Roxy's "Virginia Plain", Eminem's stuff, other nonsense that's too much fun to resist
d)COMMUNICATION--more difficult to pull off,
and at risk of killing the "pop" feel if not done with the right touch. "Imagine" makes it. Many try but don't. Sentimentality helps, unfortunately.

5) A CLIMAX--Reflective, I'm afraid of my own generational prejudice, since a climax seems to be much less important in the post hiphop era. Still, it works for me--"Dream On", or Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Eminem's "Lose Yourself" lots of others.

6) BREVITY--not by a strict number such as 3 minutes, but by subjective experience--never overstays its welcome, even with repetition. I've always thought "Hey Jude" failed in this respect, despite its other strengths.

So, some of my other faves?

"I Wanna Hold Your Hand"--Incredible intro, VERY climactic, seductive, NEVER sounds old to me. DAMN that's a good song!!

"Jumping Jack Flash"--Makes me feel like one tough son of a bitch--actually, Charlie Watts, to be specific.

"Yummy Yummy"--Makes me feel stoopid all over! Is it innocent, or is it sexual?! It's BOTH??!! Cool!!

"Sugar Sugar"--Same sort of attraction to me, except classier song. Steven West, I second your nomination.

"One on One"--I like Hall and Oates, and to me this is their greatest single. Simply beautiful, thoughtful words about setting aside our differences and getting it on. "That's all you need to know now..."

"Loser"--My favorite single of the early alternative era. The Breeders' "Cannonball" is a close second. All the elements--check it out!

"Born to be Wild"--It's summer, I'm behind the wheel.."Get your motor running..."--and that f**king great jam at the end, AWESOME!!

"Without Me"--Jesus, Eminem is great at this shit. For three odd minutes, I am the skinny white king of hiphop, and I feel like pissing on Moby too!!

"Respect"--No, I'm not Aretha, but I WANNA be!! (Well, I'll settle for her BAND!!!)

"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"--Or HIS band!!

"When Doves Cry"--uh oh, I'm being dragged off stage now...

[Stupid American Pig]

nice post Paul- Agreed. But thanks to you I am going to have to pull out my Breeders CD now.



The beatles were masters of the catchy intro- Day tripper and Lady Madonna are great examples of this.

I think that Becks 2 turntables and a microphone is also a nice catchy intro.

[CypherOne]

i'd have to agree with the late and great John Peel - Teenage Kicks is pretty damn perfect to me.

For me, Teenage Kicks - Undertones.

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

damn stalkers...