How to explain the popularity of "Uptown Funk"?

Hello, long-time reader, but I don't post very often.

I am a huge fan of the early 80's electro-soul sound that "Uptown Funk" is emulating (well, besides Parliament and Prince) and I find it quite strange that it has turned into this absolutely massive #1 in the U.S. I mean, how long has it been in the Hot 100 now, two months? Anyway, I am curious how people feel about it as a popular song. I would imagine it is partly novelty, and partly this deep familiarity for listeners without knowing exactly where they heard this sort of thing before. It is a decent song, but I am guessing novelty is largely the appeal. It sort of reminds me of the pure stylistic exercise of "Treasure" and "Get Lucky" from the year previous. Thoughts?

I think it's quite gruesome. (Not big on the genre in general.) It strikes me as exactly the kind of song that a) wins Pazz & Jop, and b) no one can figure out why five years later.

"What really puts me off about [Robert Cray] is that you just can't do blues in the self-conscious way you can do a lot of other things. You can't get up and say, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, now I'm gonna do a blues song,' without immediately sounding ridiculous."

Greil Marcus...I'll leave aside whether that's fair or not to Robert Cray. But that's what I think about when I hear something like "Uptown Funk": "Ladies and Gentlemen, now we're gonna do a funk song."

It's totally "Get Lucky" pt 2. Maybe I'M the one who's getting old, but mainstream culture seems to be all about old shit. Music that sounds like peppy, modern sensibility covers of old music (see also Megan Trainer), TV shows based on films I liked as a teenager, films based on comics my granddad liked as a teenager. Maybe it's to do with money because the more something is safe and familiar to the larger amount of people the wider its appeal, and old people are more likely to buy a song instead of just rip/download it.

Or I dunno, maybe it's a really good song, I've only heard it in passing.

Sounds good, real good, at a wedding.

What's not to get? hugely familiar, extremely catchy, popular artist, memorable lyrical hook - even more so than Get Lucky, it's a recipe for a big hit.

Maroon 5's "Sugar" (#2 in America this week) is also a part of this trend. Wedding music otm - certainly the "Sugar" video acknowledges that unabashedly

It's the greatest Was Not Was hit of the 21st C

"What really puts me off about [Robert Cray] is that you just can't do blues in the self-conscious way you can do a lot of other things. You can't get up and say, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, now I'm gonna do a blues song,' without immediately sounding ridiculous."

Greil Marcus...I'll leave aside whether that's fair or not to Robert Cray. But that's what I think about when I hear something like "Uptown Funk": "Ladies and Gentlemen, now we're gonna do a funk song."

― clemenza, Thursday, March 19, 2015 5:27 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I feel like this is a mounting complaint about 'new' music in recent times, and not without reason. A review of the US hipster-metal band Liturgy in Wire magazine this month was arguing that compared to the original Scandinavian black metallers, this band are very self-consciously 'doing' black metal and that even their more leftfield tendencies felt tokenistic or forced, whereas a band like Ulver at the time were genuinely pushing the boundaries of their abilities and what the genre could do.

The first few seconds of it before the song turns into sludge.

It's not a bad imitation, and by far my favorite Bruno Mars song. My favorite part is how spare it still manages to sound.

good use of live or at least live-sounding instruments too, without losing any polish, which is prob quite refreshing to radio listeners who are attuned to more processed production. I'm quite a big fan of the brasswork going on in the coda.

"What really puts me off about [Robert Cray] is that you just can't do blues in the self-conscious way you can do a lot of other things. You can't get up and say, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, now I'm gonna do a blues song,' without immediately sounding ridiculous."

I don't understand these sentences. When does Cray announce he's going to do a blues song (he was always a blues artist, not approaching electro funk secondhand like Mars)? And so what if he did?

and I consider the affection for "Smoking Gun" and that album one of the great wtf's of P&J history.

Driving around yesterday, heard "Uptown Funk" on a rap/r'n'b station, then changed the dial to an older folks urban contemporary station and heard it there too. Got home and started watching a public access hand dance tv show for an article I am writing, and yes the 60-something African American swing dancers were spinning and twisting to "Uptown Funk" (before the dj switched back to their usual old-school and southern soul)

Some Dude wrote elsewhere re "Uptown Funk" that it:

topped the Hot 100 this year during a monthlong stretch in which no African American artists had a top ten hit (although Trinidad James got a check for his lyrical inspiration for the song).

Any yea, its got that sound that will do well at weddings and elsewhere

it's great for commercial bumpers during sports

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/michelle-obama/11476599/Watch-Michelle-Obama-dances-to-Uptown-Funk-with-Ellen-DeGeneres.html

As with Get Lucky, the richness of the production counts for a lot. Even though it's a busy record there's a spaciousness and range that you don't hear much in the Top 10 these days. (I realise that I sound about 83 but it's true)

What type of person would be mad that a song that sounds like Morris Day is all over the place?

it's a crazy song that references all gold everything and has the lyric "got chucks on with saint laurent" aka it's fire

It's so wild that "All Gold Everything," a song that barely broke the Top 40, ended up spawning the Number One song in the country and an old lady screeching the N-word on CNN in the same month

it's almost like mere chart positions are unreflective of wider popularity or cultural impact!

also i completely loathe "uptown funk" but am baffled that anyone would require an explanation of its popularity

I've had it in my head since reading the thread this morning. please help.

call the poh-lic and the fireman

there are like a million hooks and they all work

hooks + retro signifiers + EDM-like build for the kids (which is the worst part of the song)

I love The Time/Prince/electro-funk sounds and songs that inspired it but I really hate "Uptown Funk".
There's something so cynical and cold about it (the fact that I really dislike M. Ronson's approach of music and production doesn't help, of course). Also, I don't think there's much of a song behind the signifiers. And I don't know much about B. Mars but he seems like a diet coke entertainer to me.
bref, it's a shame that this kind of funk and sounds didn't get a better revival hit than this...

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN MAMBO NO. 5 FIVE TO ME!?!!?

Sometimes I regret there wasnt an internet around to log the teeth-gnashing over, like, the macarena

ILX would have raved about La Lambada.

I did!

the forbidden dance!

"get lucky" is basically the macarena right

diet coke entertainer

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vc4x9Q3F_ew/T6RtS73Xt-I/AAAAAAAAAY4/N-hKtVYjFiE/s1600/pepsi-michael-jackson.jpg

ahah. I had a summer crush on the girl (I was very young !).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyLdoQGBchQ

"Uptown Funk" sounds like it was written and recorded using the exact process described in KLF's The Manual: How to Have a Number One the Easy Way.

diet coke entertainer

yeah I had that in mind too !

Ronson's *last* album was great. especially this with Rose ex-Pipette singing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rktagwzW3XQ

and from the new album, Daffodils wipes the floor with Uptown Funk IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OWkLF2HLp0

he's basically something of a genius i think.

I love Daffodils (sounds like he's been listening to Mary Jane Girls on that one) but I can see why it's not the ubiquitous smash UF is.

the forbidden dance!

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, March 19, 2015 11:23 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

SHHH jesus fucking christ do you want to get this msg board shut down???

vive la resistance ! (secret sign is : the forbidden dance)

*draws lambada symbol in sand, winks, wipes it away*

remember when Ronson had D'Angelo on his album a few years ago?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOAD0gu18wk

starts of very promising, almost like a Lone track or something, but ends up as a mess. the vocals and the music never mesh, even though D sounds great.

"lambada symbol" : 4 legs intertwined ?

even before clicking i thought 'this must be that thing i hear in every dr's office and supermarket'

btw is this the project that has michael chabon guest writing the lyrics?

nah, ronson feat mars credit aside, it's from the same team that made others mars hits like "locked out of heaven"

I've really come to love a lot about this song, even - or maybe especially? - the build, because unlike all these half-assed EDM clowns like Calvin Harris, Zedd or Avicii or whomever, it doesn't just build to some louder, wall-to-wall amplification of already established lazy minor key riff, it builds to this totally ecstatic horn chart that actually, per Avicii, lifts you up, not in a pat bite-your-lower-lip-in-anticipation way, but in an honest to goodness celebration of upbeat release. I did end up making a mix for the family of many of the aforementioned "Uptown Funk" ingredients and influences, and darned if I'm not happy to head back to "UF" again when they get tired of Earth Wind & Fire. Though hilariously, my younger one has been walking around the house singing her own mash-up of "Uptown Funk," "Ladies Night" and "Walk the Dinosaur."

It's also better than "Crocodile Rock."

I remember when bounce was young

I unreservedly love Crocodile Rock

As you'd expect, I've heard Uptown Funk quite a lot at this point, but somehow every time I try to remember how it goes Young Guns (Go For It) pops into my head instead.

I haven't tired of it yet.

is there a spotify playlist of that mix you made josh? anyone done one with the influences listed here yet?

I haven't tired of hating it yet. Eventually I do.

Clem, do you listen to the acts the song alludes to? No ulterior motive in the question. I can understand loking The Time and Gap Band and not a pastiche.

I have some albums that I would have played once. As I acknowledged in my initial post, I'm not a fan of funk in general. But there's '80s stuff I like: "Word Up," "Crazay," a few Prince songs of course. Even as an outsider, though, "Uptown Funk" strikes me as this really bad and bombastic imitation, tantamount to having someone get right up beside me and yell in my ear for four minutes. I'll be interested to see how people feel about five or ten years down the road.

Most Embarrassing Pazz & Jop Top 3 Singles 2004-1979

I don't do Spotify, but I essentially used what that Billboard article mentioned, plus "Ladies Night," "Living in America" and "Walk the Dinosaur."

I do think songs like this are helpful in recognizing how relevant production is as much as arrangements. That is, you hear tons of songs in this, but this song, just by dint of being 2015, sounds totally different. Which is one reason my kids looked at me funny when I said this sounded like any of those other songs. Yeah, it sounds like them, but it doesn't really sound like them.

I'll be interested to see how people feel about five or ten years down the road.

Ha, come on, man. Try five months. But hit singles aren't necessarily built to last, they are built to hit. That said, I'm not sure what time traveling this one does that "Treasure" did not, though I do think this one is sharper.

"Treasure" always sounded good whenever I heard it somewhere. There was also some time traveling of a different sort in "When I Was Your Man," with that Otis Redding or whatever the heck that beautiful thing was that happened in the bridge.

(xpost) Yes and no. Whatever they're built for, the best singles last.

Hmm, I dunno. It's splitting hairs, but I think the best songs last. The best singles are not always the best songs, imo.

Add "New Sensation" to the list of potential influences.

a few Prince songs of course.

just a few?!

In terms of his funk side, yeah, just a few; I much prefer poppier stuff like "Raspberry Beret" and "Mountains," and I wasn't really including those. I think the least funkiest guy in the world should voluntarily remove himself from this thread.

oh I see your distinction

would love to see morris day/the time (or other old funkateers) getting some extra bookings on the back of this song.

esp as ronson thanked them during his brits speech

agree

i'm guessing there'll be plenty of opportunities to do performances of this w/ guest stars at award shows over the next year, would be surprised if they don't do something like that at least once

honestly it would be smart for Ronson, if he ever has to tour or a TV appearance when Bruno isn't free, to straight up have Morris Day or someone like that just do all the lead vocals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWhiND2qhZU

No longer #1:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6531861/wiz-khalifa-see-you-again-no-1-hot-100

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BElb7a1CYAIY2N4.jpg

lollll i was just thinking last week that if there was any dark horse out there it'd be the love theme from furious 7

doubted maroon 5's "uptown lite funk" or either of the 50 shades love themes would topple it as all are in maturity as pop hits

Morris Day + Time + "Living in America" >>>>> "I'll Be Missin' You."

yes but dear god man it's been more than 3 months of "Hooray For 80s funk-pop" let people enjoy their paul walker memorial vid

have you seen that tribute? really gets across what an enduring hottie we lost.

this might be the most baffling bit of trivia in that article for me

Flo Rida's "Right Round" holds the record for most weekly downloads sold: 636,000 (Feb. 28, 2009).

i know they have no motivation to do it but i do wish the streaming songs chart could distinguish between people on spotify yearning to hear wiz khalifa rap about brotherhood and people on youtube yearning to see paul walker's beautiful eyes one more time

though I guess the "On-Demand Songs" chart somewhat gets that distinction across as its strictly songs played and requested on streaming radio, and wiz is #1 there too

i know they have no motivation to do it but i do wish the streaming songs chart could distinguish between people on spotify yearning to hear wiz khalifa rap about brotherhood and people on youtube yearning to see paul walker's beautiful eyes one more time

I should solve the problem by creating an "Uptown Funk" fan video with scenes from Paul Walker's beach movie.

"How To Explain the Popularity of "See You Again"?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQE9Bi0-Ra0

Alfred how dare you compare "I'll Be Missing You" to this Wiz garbage.

finally figured out what uptown funk really reminded me of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI9uJbczhiI

leon haywood - don't push it, don't force it

good find! basis for a lawsuit I suppose

Write Haywood's lawyer.

well, I wouldn't wanna push it

basis for a lawsuit I suppose

only when Haywood gets out of court with Blood Sweat & Tears

This song is so many other songs it could single handedly clog the courts. Reminds me of the DJ Shadow frustration/surrender that you can only split a song's royalties 50/50 once.

MJ's "Jam" more than anything else imo... same hook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbHI1yI1Ndk

And anyone defending it hasn't had enough James Brown in their lives to recognize utter vanillatude when it's staring them square in the face.

(sorry, combined... nickB's otm for overall structure)

It's a better song than "Living in America"

what became of that whole "suing songs for being vague soundalikes" thing? I wasn't really following. Was the decision upheld? Have loads of people followed suit? Could massive attack sue over this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhc7Gqr1SwM