Rolling Teenpop 2006 Thread

Each member of the group is an honor roll student, as well as a star in his own mind. Each has an alias, the first of which is the singer, ten year old Austin, aka “Piper”. His vocal abilities are truly rock and roll. The bass player, nine year old Garrett, aka “Soul Man” holds down the bottom like he was born in Motown in the early sixties. Add to this mixture eight year old lead guitarist Kevin, aka “Shredder” who’s manic adventures onstage are truly a joy to watch. And last, but not least nine year old Rodney, aka ”Sticks” beats the skins like he’s mad at his bigger brothers, but with a little more rhythm. Put all this together and you get the smokin’ sounds of a truly remarkable “little man” band.

Here's what I know about Rock School:

Gene Simmons had this reality show on British TV where he takes a bunch of kids and turns them into a rock band and they get to open for someone big like Anthrax. First series he takes some classical musician types and gets them to go rock. Second series he goes to a poorer school and recruits a number of kids and initial lead singer goes on vacation so they choose another one but then first one comes back and they have a quarterback controversy and finally first one gets the nod and second one gets the boot, the concert airs, a week later first singer gets a call from a major label and they get to work on a single; meanwhile second singer forms a band with other members of the rock school crew and they go indie rock. First singer's name is Lil Chris, whom you know about (and he's not a classical musician; they were in the first series). Second singer is Ellie, and they call their band Upraw and here's their MySpace. Chris is better. He can't really keep in tune, so he's found a way to sing where this doesn't matter, basically swallowing his tongue. It works, though listening to it may get tiring over the course of 12 songs. Anyway, his style is his own invention, I'm sure. You can't teach someone to sing like that. His album's due in October sometime.

So, I disagree about no career for Chris.

Oh God! The poor kid!
I dunno, she's got like nine siblings to share insults.

I myself believe that the hoku-haiku dialectic can be transcended.

Friends fear LINDSAY'S ELOPED

(Also, Nicole and Lindsay gloat over Paris's arrest.) (What arrest? How come nobody tells me anything?)

(Got the link to "Don't Cry Your Heart Out" from the Teen Cultural Revolution blog.)

Of course, that's no match for the Coop at his finest.

(Of course on Radio Disney the "confessional" sound has mostly given way to HSM's and Cheetah Girls and Hannah Montana's rah-rah.)

*can't tell if it's the same as the one posted on Sept 11th as you have to register to view that one now

The soundtrack LP hits UK record stores today incidentally.

The album is a downer. Musically and lyrically. I was prepared for the excitement and orgiastic sound from the last album ("My God - My Tourniquet," she shouted, matching her ecstasy over Jesus with a personal element of frantic singing). Instead most of the songs seem purposely underwhelming. If Amy Lee was aggressively overt in the first album, she's withdrawn and reserved on this album. Some of that might be due to the absense of the rap-metal singer Shaun Morgan (unsure if rap-metal is the precise musical term, but --), both in content ("Call Me When You're Sober") and musically - the aggression is missing.

HSM is everywhere in the UK at the moment (frequent TV adverts for the film and CD, big posters and people wearing HSM t-shirts in the Disney store) but I can't tell if all this advertising is working. I guess we'll see when the album charts and viewing figures for its UK premiere (this Friday on the now free to view Disney Channel) are revealed. I do hope it takes off and am looking forward to seeing it on a proper TV screen (I first saw it by the miracle of YouTube just after it was on Disney USA).

Has anyone managed to acquire the full Fefe or Lillix album yet? I'm desperate to hear them, so if you have them I will trade whatever you like.

Ashlee's Autobiography

A compilation that came out last month on Hollywood Records called Girl Next
...or rather Smackers® (All the flavour of being a girl™) presents Girl Next

The comp is bookended by Frank's two favourite teenpop songs of the year - albeit in remixed form in one case - and in between it has all the rising girl stars of the Hollywood & Walt Disney Records rosters plus a handful of licensees from the majors. Includes several exclusive tracks, allegedly. Well, they were exclusive to CD a month ago at least. I dare say you can find all the songs on the interweb somewhere, not to mention on Radio Disney. Anyway, it's not a bad overview of what's big in 2006 if, like me, you're starting from scratch and don't have much opportunity to check out myspace or CDBaby. (Plus you get a Smackers lip gloss 'buy one get one free' coupon!)

A quick track-by-track:

1. Aly & AJ - "Rush" (Steve Augello remix) - Augello gives the song a house beat and strips out all the rock guitars. Also a more uniform dynamic; it doesn't have the slow build and sudden explosion of the original. But it's a pretty good version even so.

2. Cheetah Girls - "Cinderella". This song is off the Girls' first soundtrack album. Reminds me of early Christina Milian; I really like it.

3. Kelly Clarkson - "Breakaway (exclusive acoustic version)". Kelly sounds almost geriatric in this company. I've been completely indifferent to her music thus far (that DJ Earworm remix excepted) and this doesn't change things. Interested to see however that Avril co-wrote this - with Matthew Gerrard, who pops up again twice more on this CD...

4. Hilary & Haylie Duff - "Material Girl". From their summer movie. They slow it down a bit (I miss the driving drum beat of Madonna's version here) and they turn the bass line into a "la la" chant. Otherwise very similar to the original.

5. Everlife - "Real Wild Child". Chick-rock trio. No info about Everlife (ugh, what a generic rock band name) on the CD, just a picture of the girls, which suggests Josie & The Pussycats (1990s update). The song is pretty rockin' though, with nice Dave Grohl-like drumming.

6. Vannessa Anne Hudgens ("Gabriella from High School Musical") - "When There Was Me and You". This is her solo spot from the HSM soundtrack. Typically dreary Disney sludge, especially compared to the company it's keeping on this CD. This isn't on her imminent solo album, thankfully. She's got a great voice, though, and she's really pretty.

7. Joanna - "Ultraviolet". This is the 'other' Joanna mentioned upthread, the one signed to Geffen, and the song's from her album that came out recently. Glossy mid-tempo rock. Perfect for an episode of The OC.

8. JoJo - "Baby It's You". An anti-materialist love song with a reggaeton beat. From her first album. I hate to say this given it's 2 years old now, but this the best thing on the CD.

9. Hannah Montana - "Best Of Both Worlds". One of the songs from the HM Disney Channel TV show and forthcoming on the soundtrack album. Excellent power pop song - another Matthew Gerrard co-write (with Robbie Nevil). The lyrics basically explain the plot of the show. I love Miley's singing on this, it sounds like she's not taking life or the record remotely seriously.

10. Marié Digby - "Fool". No, me either. One of the exclusives, suggesting this is a new name. But don't get excited, this song is very dull.

11. Jeannie Ortega feat. Papoose - "Crowded" Any relation of Kenny perchance? Still, this is a bumpin' R&B tune, with a really good guest rap. According to the profile in the CD booklet (not everyone gets one), "Crowded" is 'a massive hit!' So there! Official website: http://www.jeannieortega.com/

12. Hayden Panettiere - "Your New Girlfriend". Child actress, "the current fresh face of Neutrogena" and having just turned 17 she's moving into pop. This is her debut single, album due in 2007. She's got quite a high, squeaky voice but that sits well on top of this power pop song. Another Matthew Gerrard co-write, with Bridget Benenate and Hayden herself. No myspace yet it seems, but her official site is http://www.haydenpanettiere.com/

13. Jordan Pruitt - "Outside Looking In". The "featured track from Disney Channel's Original Movie 'Read It And Weep'". I like this a lot. Jordan totally sells the "you don't know what it's like to be a teen outcast" lyric, and she has a really mature voice for a 15 year old.

14. Veronicas - "4Ever". Y'all know this obv. To be honest, I'm kinda bored of the Max Martin/Dr Luke sound now, but this is OK. Check out all the angry moms complaining on the Amazon page I linked to above about the lyrics to this!

I've got the Lillix but in copy-protected form. It's out in Canada and maybe Japan, won't be out in the U.S. until next January at the earliest (Maverick's no longer an entity, so they're on mother-label Warners, and this has held things up). You can get it from MapleMusic, presumably with shipping charges tacked on.

Have only listened a few times; a reasonably tuneful rock band, when you come down to it, nothing else remotely as catchy as "Sweet Temptation." There's a very good song called "Get Off Easy" that's got a '60s organ going, though the tunefulness gets a bit buried in the overall sound. That's what I'd say about the album as a whole, actually, though I haven't found a way to analyze what goes wrong in the arrangements. If I could afford to buy albums this one would still be borderline. (But then, "Sweet Temptation" is worth a lot on its own right, and if this were the only way to hear it...)

Haven't heard five of those tracks on the Disney comp. As I've been saying, this hasn't been my favorite year for Radio Disney. Best 2006 songs on the playlist (not counting "Chemicals React," which I'm warming to) are JoJo's "Too Little Too Late," Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," and the Tashbed's "Unwritten." This does not speak well for the state of teenpop. "Too Little Too Late" has stalled in the second tier, spins in the mid-thirties (as opposed to Vanessa Hudgens' boring "Come Back to Me" at 79 spins). Most of the rest is OK, but...

Rising tracks: Belinda "Why Wait" (I have no idea who, what this is), Hannah Montana "If We Were a Movie," Ashley Tisdale "Kiss the Girl."

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When I was in England I don't remember extra shipping charges aside from the overseas rates, but I could be wrong. You could also contact the above PR people if you think you might be able to cover the album somewhere.

(Though when I pay attention to the lyrics - "I'm hanging on today/Nothing's gonna stop me anyway/I'm holding on, I'm strong/I'm the only one who can make a change" - I so get the sudden urge to go listen to "Sister Ray" or "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.")

*The term "anonymous confessional" coined by Dave Moore.

Aly & A.J. can be really good.

So my conclusion about Cheyenne Kimball is that she's best when you run across her in snatches in the background, but full-on she's a bore. </being generous and open-minded about a mediocrity who's being used to bash my beloved Ashlee>

If you count something like Jessica Harp's "Perfectly" as confessional, that might be a good contender for interesting idea/execution...it was literally anonymous, done by Huckapoo on the Disney Pixel Perfect OST, and just as good as any confessional song by a bigger personality/star. That one was performed by a member of Huckapoo (the original "Joey Thunders") who left the group soon after "Perfectly" was recorded, so who knows if she had star potential.

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"Perfectly" struck me as good but not great, but I take it that the Jessica Harp version I've got isn't the Huckapoo original.

Speaking of furture Wrecker Harp, maybe "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch is the anonymous confessional masterpiece (a great sounding voice but not a distinctive one, and the "you" the song is apparently addressed to seems an utter blank). (The "maybe" in the previous sentence is deliberate, since I really don't know Branch's work all that well, so I may be totally and completely all wrong about her.)

Floating asterisk meant to be "*Just as Merry Clayton and Martha Wash didn't deserve to be stars." (Clayton and Wash had great big soul voices that were effectively used as soul tropes on rock and disco and house music; Clayton the gospel-like voice on "Gimme Shelter"; Wash one of Sylvester's backup singers, later half of Two Tons Of Fun/Weather Girls and then the big voice on "Everybody Everybody" and "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)." And once again I don't really know either Clayton or Wash's careers at all well enough to really make the claim I just did, but if my claim is right IT'S A SPOT-ON ANALOGY. Cheyenne is best as a trope. But compared to Aly & A.J. she's a nebbish.)

Aly & AJ as personalities kind of creep me out to be totally honest, but given the individualism it is an interesting ambiguity that there's two of 'em.

I'm wondering if teenpop does this "I'm going to be OK on my own" in the sound, while often enough the words refuse to cooperate. I'd say that Ashlee, Lindsay, Kelly C., and Aly & A.J. are pretty sure they won't be OK on their own, 'cept Ashlee complicates things (of course) by saying that self-assertion and independence is the precondition of her not being alone, and maybe believes that she may well end up alone and will have to live with it. Think of the arc in her songs that goes from "Right now I'm solo but that will be changing eventually" (album 1, track 1) to "There's no way back/And what if there was/You'd still be you and/I'd still have to say goodbye" (album 2, final track).

Um, that "pretty sure they won't be OK" in the last sentence isn't quite right. Their songs cover a range of moods and prospects just as people in their day-to-day lives shift moods and prospects, and a pop album usually covers many different parts of the romance cycle, heartbreak and joy and despair and re-assertion all getting their licks in.

xpost, but what I said seems to fit, except there's a hint of a shadow in "Rush," exhorting the kids to understand that their life isn't over, which means they know damn well that some kids (or many kids in some moments) are ready to turn their face to the wall, no joke. Just as way back in the teenpop when, the Dixie Cups singing in "Chapel of Love" "And we'll never be lonely anymore" are sneaking in the thought - well, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich are sneaking it in - that loneliness is the base of teen existence.

Chemicals React in SIMLISH with subtitles

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