a couple of old UK #1s

[Mr. FOLLARD]

I've been inspired! by this

I've tried to choose songs we haven't talked about too much, songs that maybe we don't have a ready-made response to. 

Choose two you like and say why, attack the others if you feel like it...

[fange]

Hoowee and hot damn, the sight of little Suzi Q in her leathers swinging that bass sure does get my blood pumping still. 'Devil Gate Drive' is better than 'CtC' for me though. Of the rest i probably like the Sugababes tune the most!

[Charlie O.]

If I had to pick two, they'd be the Elton and Sugababes selections. I don't mind them. But they're both pretty forgettable.

The other three are actively annoying, in various ways.

I'll pass, thanks.

[Deleted]

I like Can The Can the best, although it lacks something the very best glam hits have...an element of surprise or theatre perhaps, as it's pretty close to Quo style heads down boogie. But I like its lively spirit.

The Elton and Sugababe tracks are okay without being favourites. The success of the Elton track is more to it being a vintage Philly production rather than a memorable song, whilst The Sugababes leans too heavily on its Numan sample, there's not much going on outside that.

The Chemical Brothers track is a bit of a slog. It sounds like wading through mud, the most memorable thing about it is the siren! Noel "foghorn" Gallagher doesn't help and they'd already done this kind of thing much better with "The Private Psychedelic Reel".

The Ariande Grande track is inane fluff and almost offensive in its Barbie Doll vacuity. She makes Britney Spears seem like Poly Styrene in comparison.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

You're underselling the Chemical Brothers track I think, G! but I agree with everything else, more or less.

[Reactionary Rage]

I think it’s pretty exciting actually

[Deleted]

It's all noise. The Prodigy hits are better because they're more stripped down. SS is too much of a cacophony.

[Reactionary Rage]

Ariana Grande...modern pop music in a processed nutshell. All the life, all the energy, all the inspiration and colour drained away so all we are left with is a desiccated husk. There is something quite depressing about records like this.

[Charlie O.]

I'm bothered more by the fact that the whole lyric/video is based on her celebrity, and her love life, which itself appears to be wholly in service to her celebrity. It's a beast swallowing its own tail. Why does anyone give a shit?

[Mr. FOLLARD]

May 6, 2020 15:38:43 GMT Charlie O. said:

I'm bothered more by the fact that the whole lyric/video is based on her celebrity, and her love life, which itself appears to be wholly in service to her celebrity. It's a beast swallowing its own tail. Why does anyone give a shit?

I know. Mind, it works for Taylor Swift too!

I wonder if people who were born in, say, 1900 were saying the same sort of things about the Stones ('what's that? satisfaction? he singing about satisfaction for?!?') and longing for a time when Cole Porter songs were all the rage. Is that what's happening, sort of? we've been moving away from melody and universal themes for decades? is it a linear trend?

[Charlie O.]

May 6, 2020 15:46:45 GMT Mr. FOLLARD said:

May 6, 2020 15:38:43 GMT Charlie O. said:

I'm bothered more by the fact that the whole lyric/video is based on her celebrity, and her love life, which itself appears to be wholly in service to her celebrity. It's a beast swallowing its own tail. Why does anyone give a shit?

I know. Mind, it works for Taylor Swift too!

I wonder if people who were born in, say, 1900 were saying the same sort of things about the Stones ('what's that? satisfaction? he singing about satisfaction for?!?') and longing for a time when Cole Porter songs were all the rage. Is that what's happening, sort of? we've been moving away from melody and universal themes for decades? is it a linear trend?

I don't know. Those older people - my grandparents, and parents for that matter - I totally got their point, even if I didn't agree.

But I guess that's not the point. The point is, they didn't get what my generation was offering. And maybe that is what's happening here.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

My sister's kid is 15 now and she's been to see Ariana twice now. She's a great kid. I've seen her singing along to stuff like 'thank u, next' and breaking her heart - like, tears falling down her cheeks. And I'm simultaneously thinking 'this is really sweet' and 'what the fuck is she getting from this?!?' - ultimately putting it down to the generation gap.

[sloopjohnc]

I remember when Ariana Grande was comedic relief on one of my daughter's Disney shows so it's interesting to see her career arc. I think she's a great singer, has some interesting ideas, but the songs rarely live up to both. This is as close as it gets.

Suzi Quatro always seemed to get the stuff Sweet threw out. Great Chinn-Chapman production. They sure typified a sound as much as any writer/producer duo.

Not a very memorable Chemical Bros. song and they Sugababes song wouldn't play for me. No loss.

[fearlessfreap]

Sugababes is an inferior version of what American r&b acts were doing a few years earlier, which weren’t that great to begin with. No wonder they never broke here.

Elton John song was pretty forgettable

Chemical Brothers were better in theory than in practice. There was something lumpen about the whole big beat movement

A lot has already been said about the Ariana Grande song better than I could ever put it

That leaves Suzi Quatro which was a great song that should have been a hit here.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

Suzi's still pretty cool. Have you seen the doc?