"Not much from the last 30 years."
How about Katy Perry and Last Friday Night? It does not get much poppier than that.
Perfect Pop Songs
Those with the kind of music, lyrics, performance, arrangement and production that you could easily repeat all day.
How about starting with this one? Somewhat outside of her usual cannon and none the worse for it. Perhaps also a contender for the sexiest vocals ever?
Louie Louie by Julie London
How about starting with this one? Somewhat outside of her usual cannon and none the worse for it. Perhaps also a contender for the sexiest vocals ever?
Louie Louie by Julie London
197 responses Add your response
Motown was the epitome of great pop songs. Especially pop songs with amazing intros. Two that come to mind are ‘Love Child’ by the Supremes and ‘Tears of a Clown’ By Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. I think a great pop song has a certain balls-to-the-wall feel. The Crystals ‘Then He Kissed Me,’ Eric Carmen ‘Make Me Lose Control,’ Mr. Big ‘To Be With You.’ Crank up the volume and sing along. Sure, a lot of pop songs are not ‘audiophile’ recordings. But played on a good system, they sure sound great! |
Off the top of my head....some of the better 3-minutes of power pop (sometimes you just catch lightning in a bottle): "There She Goes" - The La’s; "Train in Vain" - The Clash; "Lazy Eye" - Silver Sun Pickups; "What I Like About You" - The Romantics; "Praise You" - Fatboy Slim; "Save It For Later" - The English Beat; "Is It Any Wonder?" - Keane |
My late Friday Night offering: The Bobby Fuller Four - "I Fought The Law ( And The Law Won)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0sI6eFarFE Thank you very much, and good night! |
a personal favorite... John Hiatt and the Goners - "My Baby Blue" (featuring Sonny Landreth on guitar) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaG3bmAQ79o a great driving-down-the-road song... Sonny Landreth - "The U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4c8tQIjvr8 |
Here's my Friday afternoon offering: The Go-Go's - "Our Lips are Sealed" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3kQlzOi27M&list=RDQ7kHpsQuN-o&index=11 |
Check out Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians cover of "Walk On the Wild Side." It's very faithful to the original. If you don't melt when she sings "Holly came from Miami, FLA....," you might want to check for a pulse. "Fool If You Think It's Over" is a great song; but, Chris Rea's voice sure has changed over the years. However, he's continued to make good music (albeit, less poppy). "On The Beach" is a pretty sweet track. |
reubent I’m a big (English) Beat fan from way back. After they broke apart, I followed the members to their next bands (General Public, FYC, etc). I am concerned that if we get competitive we might attract a certain member who has been active this week. This forum has been fun and informative so far. Oh, heck, life is nothing if not risk! The Clash - Rock The Casbah Rockin’, energetic, great beat I could dance to (back in the 80s...) 90 |
Every time I hear this, I fall into a spell (song-as-drug): Irma Thomas, "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_K9xsSdgMs |
Happy Friday morning! Here's my morning offering: The Kinks - "Picture Book" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjDu3E5zDks |
"I Died in Your Arms" Cutting Crew "Driver’s Seat" Sniff ’n’ the Tears "Voices Carry" Til Tuesday "Long Line of Cars" Cake "Hey Men" Men Without Hats "Don’t Mess With Dr. Dream" Thompson Twins "Be Good Johnny" Men at Work "California Dreaming" Mamas and Papas "Monday Monday" Mamas and Papas "Just Dropped In..." Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's |
Under the "Pop" genre, I'll add: I'll Be the One - Badfinger You Got Me Anyway - Sutherland Brothers & Quiver Idiot - Robin Lane & The Chartbusters Tiger Nights - The Bongos Torn in Two - Shoes That is Why - Jellyfish Just because a song doesn't become popular, many of the songs people have mentioned in this thread should've been popular. In the case of the Beach Boys, listed below are the highest chart positions of some of their best songs: God Only Knows - # 39 Don't Worry Baby - # 24 In My Room - # 23 Surfer Girl - # 7 If you want to know about the taste of an average American popular music fan, I'll rest my case on those numbers cited above. |
ABBA made music considered to be Pop. Their records sold a lot, so were indeed popular. If they DIDN'T sell well, would they therefore not be considered Pop? Of course not. Yes, Pop is short for popular, but the use of the term Pop for a genre of music uses that term in a less-than-literal sense. The 3 Tenors album sold more copies than most non-Classical albums. Are we to consider well-selling Classical albums Pop music? |
pop is short for popular last time I checked. We all know what popular means, right? It’s not very complicated. Popular means a lot of people like it. The most popular are the ones the most people like to listen to the most. According to popularity ratings for songs in my Plex music library the most popular song there with 15 million + votes is “Smells Like Teen Spirit’” followed closely by Viva La Vida, Wonderwall, Karma Police, and Creep. Not too shabby! Disclaimer: no Taylor Swift in my music library though Adele and Lady Gaga make an appearance or two and rank high. |
For my Thursday Evening offering I could choose nearly any song on Elvis Costello's "My Aim is True" that I'm spinning on the TT right now. But my nomination goes to....... Elvis Costello - "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS8oaMFsBEk |
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 |
Nice to see someone mentioning Lighthouse. And Gary Puckett with Lady Willpower or Young Girl ? Oh man! I loved One Fine Morning by Lighthouse. — 13 piece band chock full of talent, Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) Green Eyed Lady — Sugarloaf Tin Man. - America Got to Get You Outta My Life - I like Earth Wind and Fire’s version And When I Die - BS&T It’s Too Late — Carol King Aint No Woman Like The One I Got. - Four Tops These Eyes. - Guess Who and of course who could ever forget the best song ever recorded . . . . . . wait for it . . . . Disco Duck by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots. you can thank me later😜🤘🏼💪👍 |
"(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 |
@mitchagain: The Dwight Twilley Band! Their first album (Sincerely) is full of great Pop-Rock. It's like Elvis crossed with The Beatles. Bill Pitcock's flurry of guitar notes in the break midsong in "I'm On Fire" is astounding! Their second album (Twilley Don't Mind) is great too, but then drummer/singer Phil Seymour left the Group to go solo, and his absence really hurt. Future albums were no longer credited to The Dwight Twilley Band (their name was originally going to be Oyster), but just Dwight Twilley. Phil's albums on Boardwalk are real good too. By the way, Pitcock and my ex were a couple for a few years, and he offered to teach our son guitar. What a missed opportunity! An early DTB video (on American Bandstand, I believe) shows Tom Petty playing bass. Speaking of Tommy James (as someone did above), his "Mony Mony" is a great one. In a similar vein is The Guess Who's version of "Shakin' All Over", my favorite rendition (superior imo to The Who's). @reubent, do you like the Paul Collins (U.S.) Beat? Their s/t debut is killer Pop-Rock, and they were one of the best live bands I ever saw and heard (at The Whiskey Au Go Go in late '79/early '80). Bristling with kinetic energy, at The Who levels! Pre-The Beat, Paul Collins was the drummer in The Nerves, a trio whose other members were Peter Case (later in The Plimsouls) , and Jack Lee (writer of the Blondie hit "Hanging On The Telephone"). Their single release--a 7" EP, has become collectable, selling for close to $200. My copy is staying in my collection. ;-) Here's a great one: "Shake Some Action" by The Flamin' Groovies, produced by Dave Edmunds. |
@reubent , Wow, my favourite Beat record. Great video but muted sound. It normally sounds a lot more punchy. Here's a slightly cleaner version with lyrics. https://youtu.be/uAQ5JatwGrE The early 80s were a great time for UK singles. Here's one that went straight to number 1 in its first week by the group that were being seen then as the new Beatles. The Jam - Going Underground https://youtu.be/JeZuku6GijA |
