Perfect Pop Songs

I tried to stay away from non-English ones, but there may be more pop there than imagined.

Lambada

Macarena

99 Luftbalons

Falco output

Safe choice. And a perfect one, I guess.

Ok, then pick between Dancing Queen and Stayin' Alive.

At the moment I was writing my previous post, Kiss and I was made... came on the radio. Then it continued with a string of, what I consider, pop hits.

Thinking about Mellow Yellow and Dancing Queen, maybe good pop songs are those that kids latch on quickly.

dayglow,

Did you just describe Dancing Queen?

Every 4-year-old girl would agree while spinning her tutu.

Or, maybe even...

Men’s Grande Pink Tutu Costume | Oriental Trading

(I just bought ABBA The SIngles - The First Ten Years. It arrived yesterday.)

Would I Was Made For Loving You by Kiss qualify for a good pop song?

"To Love Somebody
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"

As good as Bee Gees were, and good they were, these two songs have (to me) even better interpretations.

Rod Stewart and To Love Somebody (with Booker T. and you will know it without me saying it).

Al Green and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. Not to go into vinyl/digital debate, but on the record is even more touching. Once my record develops clicks and pops it may become the ultimate version.

Maybe with In the Summertime and Mungo Jerry?

"...laughing his off on the way to the bank thinking about just what you can sell to people during a fad."

I think you posted this on the wrong Audiogon thread.

fmpnd,

I sheepishly admit that I had never heard Disco Duck before. Music may not be my ultimate pop song, but I truly admire the presentation.

Another puzzling bit of pop history is the video for ABBA’s Super Trouper song. It starts, and intermittently continues, with Silhouette and not Super Trouper itself. There is no Super Trouper in sight, I think. I really wish I knew the reason for it. It is, sort of, like Leave Your Hat On without the hat.

Regarding Stayin' Alive, from the American Heart Association website...

Elowson recognized that Maimone was in cardiac arrest, pushed hard and fast on Maimone's chest, and hummed a familiar tune:

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive.

Elowson had learned my technique from watching a demo on a morning news program. Why "Stayin' Alive"? We wanted to get the word out that pushing hard and fast on the center on the chest to the beat of the song the Bee Gees made famous in the 1970s classic movie "Saturday Night Fever" could give a victim of sudden cardiac arrest a fighting chance.

Helping people 'Stay Alive' is easy with Hands-Only™ CPR | American Heart Association

"...Staying Alive which was disco .. and pop, and you know everyone likes it even if they won’t admit it :-)"

I admit it. Proudly.

The only strange thing, or that may be deeply premeditated, is that falsetto of "you can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk". I do not know if Lee Marvin could sing it, but his voice may suit those lyrics better. (Lee Marvin I was born under a Wandering Star remastered - YouTube)

Pop Corn by Hot Butter! Pop it.

Hot Butter - Popcorn - YouTube

"Not much from the last 30 years."

How about Katy Perry and Last Friday Night? It does not get much poppier than that.

What happenned to Margaritaville?

fmpnd,

Thank you!

I may disagree about it being the best song ever recorded, but stage impression surely makes up for any imperfection...

Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots - Disco Duck TOTP ( 1976 ) - 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

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

"I always found it a little odd that my audiophile friends would tend to look down on pop."

I have no idea if it is pop, or not, but my system-testing track is Victims by Culture Club. Drum around 2:15 is make-it-or-break-it moment. I compare everything to the way it sounds in my 

Last Christmas by Wham!

It has been easily repeated for decades.