Pop-Eye 1/9/02

(Maybe two excellent - two good - two okay and four lousy is a better summary).

Why should I bother?

I think Pete's professed disdain for AK's jolly-autocue lyric readings doesn't mesh with his professed love for Althea and Donna's jolly-autocue lyric readings, but on the other hand "Uptown Top Ranking" has better lyrics.

Incidentally I think Pete's reading of the lyric (aor at least one of the two wildly diffierent lyrics) as a "misogynist dumping song" is off the money. It makes more sense to me to think the song's saying "you don't want me now but I'm not giving up" which is either lovely and romantic or scary and stalkerish according.

Oh unless Pete was referring to a well-known contemporary of Ms Harry's who might have written a good dumping song?

Tom, what is "the idea" of Blazin' Squad?

I think it's a good record too actually.

Tom have you heard Fallacy & Plus One's "Special"? You will love it. Rodney P's "Trouble" too.

What's happened to The Space Cowboy's "I Would Die 4 U"? I love it. Also good future hits: Shakira's "Objection", Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty".

"Dy-na-mi-te" = best moment on Dynamite's album, obv.

Depending on mood I prefer "It Takes More" to "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee" though the latter usually wins. There's something that annoys me about the album which I can't quite articulate, though I do like it a lot.

Wot I love about "I Would Die 4 U" - or one of the things anyway - is how it's the first third party to "get" "One More Time".

More good pop: Mr. Trife is *so* right about the Kurtmasta Kut remix of Linkin Park's "In The End". Likewise Sterling w. Amerie's "Why Don't We Fall In Love?"

Does 'Starry Eyed Surprise' sample 'Everybody's Talkin''? The guitar loops seems naggingly familiar...

Like a Prayer is a much better song than The Tide Is High anyway. And I think you're right about Starry Eyed Surprise. Would have been a lot better if it had sample Re-Educating Rita by Carter.

I think their are miles of difference between Atomic Kitten's indifferent vocal stylings and Althea & Donna's posed indifference by the way Tom. One wears a hat because it has been told people will like it - the others just wear the hat.

Atomic Kitten: Graham this is not a personal attack (on you anyway), but I cannot see how this band have any redeeming features. Please tell me what they are. It's a lacklustre cover of a song that not even Debbie Harry could kick into shape properly, and in a Debbie Harry vs Natasha Kitten fight of the pop godesses Debs would win hands down.

I love that Truth Hurts record, but agree with Pete in that it should propably have been credited to 'Producer feat. Truth Hurts'. I think 'he turns my pages' is a wonderful thing to say about someone.

Also Madonna's "Like A Prayer" is shockingly rubbish up close. Before I heard it properly I thought it was the greatest thing ever, but it just isn't, it's just boring.

this could be the most songs i've liked in a top ten this century for what its worth

its weird how Ms Dynamite, Blazin Squad and Bedingfield are all tagged as garage even tho none of their current singles are remotely garagey....not even Romeo and Harvey's singles are either...whats happened to garage???

Rethinking my reading of The Tide Is High I'm sticking with the creapy stalker version - that said its one of those Blondie tunes where she is a little bit too interested in appearing cool.

Adding your own verse (toasting is putting it a bit far) can be a good thing if you are making your own stamp on the song, but the Kittens verse adds absolutely nothing. (Nice point about dilution above too Tom).

Is it really? Gutted.

Hang on, it doesn't make sense like that though.

wossee on abaht ehhhhh?

Next on was "Automatic High" by the S Club Juniors and that sounded much better to me. Oddly controlled.

Pot, meet kettle.

(OK sorry I will stop this joke now.)

It is a cover yeah, with garage MCing in the verses.

what annoys me about the current covers crop is that it feels like they are just admitting 'OK we know this is actually quite an insult to the original song and we cant do anything to better it or even match it but on the plus side we do get another number one hit so dont take it so seriously please" esp. with Blazin Squad and the new Liberty X (its so similar to the Mantronix original so a total waste of time)...Atomic Kitten's covers are merely 'stylised' by Stargate's slinky hiphop beats but strip out whatever spark the originals had in the process - shame...but the kids seem happy. is it time for a new thread on GOOD cover versions already?

Re Truth Hurts lyrics: She definitely says "returns my pages". I can't believe in this hi-tech mobile phone world that people have forgotten that the pager is still going strong in the low-cash demographic. (If you don't buy that explanation, I have a second one; a lot of people have pager service on their cell phones.)

As an aside, I think that the Mo Thugs Family (Felecia feat Krayzie Bone)'s "All Good", is not just one of the great songs of the 90's, but also a missing link between UK Garage and US Rap. Blazin' Squad would have been much more convincing covering this rather than a song about meeting your dead homies in the afterlife. I just realized I was waiting for Dr Evil to come out during their performance to tip a 40.

This is because Bone, Thugs 'n' Harmony are, like, the US blueprint for archetypal gararge-kru mc-ing.

No one has answered why there are eight thousand of them! Was this an afterschool program that got out of control?

Strength in numbers obv. = surely you must like one of that eight thousand at least.

(this sort of thing was also why Pay As U Go's "Champagne Dance" video was so cool - bored with this member? here's another!)

pop meets kettle...
too much coffee and swedish berries.

My favorite was the thirteenth from the left.

It's obvious to me that all those members are needed to protect the one who wears the jacket emblazoned (emBLAZINed hehe) with "HARLEM".

That lyric is definitely "returns my pages", though I admit it doesn't make much sense. Maybe she's doing it with the R in deference to Rakim.

"He keeps [her] guessing" because he is "spontaneous".

Special Pop-Eye Supplement now up!

That's odd, archives not updating - anyway here's a link to the main site.

Is this the only time we will ever see Tom doing star ratings for things?

It's the fact that they're meant to be garage andsuchandsuch, yet they do appear to be in possession of a Token Black Member.