Rolling Teenpop 2006 Thread

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Anthony, my interest in Evanescence was evanescent, though I still own one of their albums, and I may give it another spin of these days.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 7 January 2006 05:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

I'm so glad glad to hear appreciation for Lohan.

If she doesn't self-implode, she'll be a great, great actress. Her sense of timing is impecable--she nearly blew Jamie Lee Curtis off the screen in Freaky Friday--no easy feat. And how many Disney queen-ettes jump from Herbie to Robert Altman or a David Chapman bio-pic?

Her voice has a fascinating timbre; she's singing from her throat which lends it that elastic-about-to-snap quality that makes it blend wonderfully with overdubbed Lohans.

And yeah--I always felt like Cheap Trick did their song like they were embaressed at having come up with such a confection. Lohan totally nails it.

― Ian in Brooklyn, Saturday, 7 January 2006 05:49 (7 years ago) Permalink

I don't know if you'll find this relevant, but Popular has now made it to where, as a twelve-year-old, I started once again listening to pop music. So as Rolling Teenpop 2006 Thread rolls along here on ILX, my own adolescence will be developing over at Freaky Trigger. (Currently topping the chart: Reg Presley's perky chirp.)

xpost

I barely remember the Cheap Trick original, to tell you the truth. I suppose it's possible to like the two versions easily, but apparently this is not likely.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 7 January 2006 05:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

In fact, it's probably easy to like the two versions easily, but I meant to say "equally."

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 7 January 2006 05:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

Evanescence is a little one-note for me overall, but "Bring Me To Life" blew down the doors so hard that its not easy for me to get excited about "Fly," which sounds like the lite version, and Hilary doesn't make that particularly worthwhile for me. I miss that kaBOOM. Both that and "My Immortal" pull emotion out of me in a way that Duff and Lohan never really achieve on their ballads.

― Zwan (miccio), Saturday, 7 January 2006 06:14 (7 years ago) Permalink

also is "Bring Me To Life" the hardest rocking song to make the adult contemporary top 10? It even has faux-rapping in it!

― Zwan (miccio), Saturday, 7 January 2006 06:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

I'm slightly tripping out here at the news of a Lohan cover of "I Want You to Want Me" -- at the same time, it's NOWHERE near my fave Cheap Trick song so by all means improve it if possible, Ms. L. (Who I have no particular feelings about otherwise.)

Smashmouth always sucked. I am filled with hate.

I admit I am dulled by the thematics/presentation of most mainstream pop as such these days, beyond what musical weirdness can be used to spike the punch. At the same time nothing could be duller than the NPR/KCRW/Pitchfork 'quality' cloud of horrors -- I will always hate the Arcade Fire more than 50 Cent (or for that matter Dylan, though not Springsteen). I don't need a recreation of a twenty-year-old 'entryism' in the charts because that would be mere nostalgic frippery designed to assuage my soul instead of intrigue it but I'll be damned if I can sense a flashpoint that works for me at present.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 7 January 2006 06:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

(btw, Lohan doesn't fade the song like CT do on the record; rather, she uses the same wind-up ending they use live. So she has, like, cred.)

I had to review both a Duff film (sheer horror, and Christian too) and Herbie. They sent writers to a test screenings. Median age: 10.

My GF's niece is 14. She likes new goth stuff. And that's all I know of (literal) kids today and their listening habits.

― Ian in Brooklyn, Saturday, 7 January 2006 07:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

I wd love to hear that Jessica Simpson remix Frank is talking about - "I Think I'm In Love With You" was a massive song for me when it came out, I;d never heard Jack And Diane which probably helped.

― Tom (Groke), Saturday, 7 January 2006 13:12 (7 years ago) Permalink

my nearly ten yr old son like a lot of this stuff. my bonafide teenage nieces and nephews wouldn't be caught dead listening to "teenpop" they like GrnDay/Sum41/Charlotte punk and/or Velvet Revolver-style vintage hardrock. It should really be called preteen pop or in Freudian terms a sountrack for the latency years. (Perhaps I should write something about this?) Anyway, just for the record.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 7 January 2006 13:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

For the record, I like both the Bowling For Soup song Anthony likes and the Bloodhound Gang song Anthony likes okay -- probably both more than anything by Blink 182, who I'm guessing he might like more, though I might be wrong. Bloodhound Gang are kind of interesting in that they have no qualms about using synths as catchy and bubblegum as the ones Depeche Mode used in "Just Can't Get Enough"; i.e., catchier ones than Depeche Mode ever used since. "Bad Touch"'s electropop hooks could almost pass for Italo-disco.

I like the *idea* of Evanescence, enjoyed seeing them at Webster Hall in '04 or so, but I will probably never get over them sounding to me like a thinner, clunkier, less beautiful, and therefore compromised version of my fave Dutch new age goth-metallers The Gathering. (For thin, clunky, less beautiful, and therefore compromised versions of The Gathering, I prefer Lacuna Coil. Or Lana Lane. Or Lullacry. The last couple of whom kind of suck, so I am obviously a sucker for the sound somewhat. Wish I liked the Top 40 version more.)

― xhuxk, Saturday, 7 January 2006 16:21 (7 years ago) Permalink

(Or, oh yeah, Nightwish, who are like the Evanescence of Europe apparently, or even bigger -- I think their album and singles went #1 all over that continent last year.)

― xhuxk, Saturday, 7 January 2006 16:27 (7 years ago) Permalink

Question re Kelly O's "One Word" to those who have it on cd: is there any reference to the obvious "Fade to Grey" ripoff in the credits, or is it different enough to sneak past any copyright issues?

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Saturday, 7 January 2006 16:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

I don't think there are any Blink-182 songs I like more than "1985" or "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo" except maybe "Dammit" and "Always," but if so its by a small degree.

― Zwan (miccio), Saturday, 7 January 2006 18:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

Smashmouth were a dumbed down Rocket from the Crypt.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 7 January 2006 18:46 (7 years ago) Permalink

They were mentioned upthread but James ex-Busted Bourne's new band Son Of Dork sound better than McFly to me, with a bit more of the hint of rawkusness that Busted had (just a hint mind). Their "Ticket Outta Loserville" is worthy of Busted's second album.

Also Bonnie Pink, who i got from Edward's blog I think and I seem to remember is Japanese. Perhaps others can provide more info but I'm liking her at the moment.

― Nick H (Nick H), Saturday, 7 January 2006 21:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Was "On A Rope" a hit in the US? It got to #12 over here, and RFTC are subsqeuently regarded as some sort of Andreas Johnson/New Radicals style one hit wonder.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 7 January 2006 21:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

RFTC hasn't had anything close to a hit in the US. I love RFTC but I have no idea how Smashmouth could be considered 'dumbed down' in comparison. Unless its because their singer enunciates.

― Zwan (miccio), Saturday, 7 January 2006 21:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

Son of Dork are probably more interesting in theory than they are in reality, because they're like Simple Plan on uppers really, but it's weird to hear how different they are to Fightstar, who couldn't qualify as teen-pop under any definition of the term, at the first single level there really wasn't that marked a difference between, say, Gary Barlow RObbie Williams and Mark Owen, was there?

I want to like our new power-pop overlords in the UK, but the majority of them are in hock to complete shit (Son of Dork and Simple Plan, Rooster and Aerosmith, Freefaller and whatever the fuck it is they're listening to in order to sound that bad). I was hoping that The Faders would have songs as good as "No Sleep Tonight" in their repoirtoire, but it looks like we're never going to hear them now considering how little that and "Jump" sold. Love Bites aren't gonna happen either.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 7 January 2006 21:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

A dumbed down aesthetic, anthony.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 7 January 2006 21:52 (7 years ago) Permalink

The cartoonification of something that was already kind of cartoony. (Oh, the humanity.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 7 January 2006 21:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

the real question here
is which thread will be larger,
this one or country

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Saturday, 7 January 2006 23:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

By number of posts: This one
By column inches: That one

― xhuxk, Sunday, 8 January 2006 00:40 (7 years ago) Permalink

Country less taciturn than teenpop?

vs.

Country less snappy than teenpop?

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Sunday, 8 January 2006 03:10 (7 years ago) Permalink

One Word

Writer: Linda Perry, Stuck in the Throat/Famous Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Produced and Engineered by: Linda Perry at Royaltone, North Hollywood, CA
Assisted by: Chris Wonzer and Andrew Chavez
Pro Tools Engineer: David Guerrero
All Instruments and Programming: Linda Perry
French Spoken Female Voice: Alephonsine de Chambure
Mixed by: Bernd Burgdorff for Empire7
Assisted by: Shawn Parker

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Sunday, 8 January 2006 03:17 (7 years ago) Permalink

On the launch.yahoo.com pop video chart, Aqua's "Barbie Girl" is Number 20, sandwiched between "Since U Been Gone" and "Boyfriend." This I can't make much sense of, though I like the song fine. What's it doing so high NOW? Is it on a new Disney soundtrack or something? (I still way prefer "Lollipop (Candyman).")

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Sunday, 8 January 2006 06:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

I am so glad this thread exists.

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 8 January 2006 07:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

I think "Barbie Girl" is just a perennial video people must like to look at for some reason I'd rather not fathom. Linkin Park's "In The End" is always at the end of Yahoo's Top 100. It's probably a Dark Side Of The Moon thing.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 8 January 2006 08:15 (7 years ago) Permalink

Oh, I can fathom it. Might have something to do with it being one of the funniest music videos ever made. I've got it on a VHS tape, and I definitely looked at perenially for years, usually when people were over who I wanted to show it to. But now it's in storage, along with all my other VHS tapes, for instance the Tox Box and Dr. Bombay and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs ones I also liked to look at perenially for reasons others might not fathom.

― xhuxk, Sunday, 8 January 2006 16:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

Talking of Aqua is there any news on anything new from Lene Nystrom? It's been a couple of years since her solo album and I still really like it.

Agreed "Jump" was nowhere near "No Sleep Tonight" in quality terms.

― Nick H (Nick H), Sunday, 8 January 2006 17:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

I think a while ago Launch had a "Look at these crappy videos! Which is the most hilariously crappy?" competition, something along those lines. Barbie Girl won and hasn't left the top 100 since.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Sunday, 8 January 2006 17:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Except it's not hilarously crappy at all. It's hilariously great. It is what all videos should aspire to. Or lots of them, anyway,

― xhuxk, Sunday, 8 January 2006 18:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

Oh, I know. Rene's growing irritation during the "Come on Barbie, Let's go party!" bit really is rather magnificent.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Sunday, 8 January 2006 21:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

I know xhuxk has already chimed in on this, but any other thoughts on the veronicas. i really *listened* to "4ever" yesterday and it really is pretty f***ing transcendent. I put it on a mix with some Go4 Return the Gift tracks, and I spent the first five seconds trying to figure out which riff was. And then the vocals play out pretty much every possible variation in the melody line over the course of the song, what seems like every rock-pop vocal hook ever. I totally buy it everything they say, and when they're saying "come with me tonight we can make the night last forever," well, that's an impressive cliche to pull off.

What about the rest of the album? (Proving tough to find on s1sk this morning.)

― Mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 15:33 (7 years ago) Permalink

I've been seeing many copies of Morningwood at semi-discount in BestBuy and Tower. For an act that has a young girl as frontperson, this has to be of the most humiliating names, ever. Backing her up, guys who look like Simple Plan caught in mid-leap in front of colorful and sparkly amplifiers. Title of first song on LP: "Nu Rock." Stickers makes claim Morningwood is big on MTV. I would have been more impressed if there had been a title: "Broke my johnson on the bathroom door."

Anyway, xhuxk, get 'em to send me a copy! What's this sound like?!

― George the Animal Steele, Sunday, 15 January 2006 21:17 (7 years ago) Permalink

Mitya, the Veronicas album's pretty damn good, except for an ill-advised cover of Tracy Bonham's "Mother Mother" at the end of it. If you liked "4 ever" and are generally down with Avril, Ashlee etc you'll love it to bits.

― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 15 January 2006 21:25 (7 years ago) Permalink

I saw Morningwood open for Gang Of Four. One of the most horrifying live music experiences of my life. I hate when singers demand crowd enthusiasm when they haven't earned it and the audience clearly would like them to get their damn set over with. This woman (who didn't look that young at all, I assumed they were all Meredith Brooks/sessions vet types) was going insane, screaming at individuals to take their clothes off and made me hide in the corner out of embarassment. I think she may genuinely have mental problems. Nothing on the album is as zippy as the single, which at least is exuberantly corny.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 21:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

This is maybe the wrong thing to say at this point, but Morningwood seems to have at least some roots in the NYC indie community, by which I guess I mean that Bryan from Man in Grey seems to know them pretty well. I would say more but "Feeling on Your Booty (Rmx)" just came on.

― Eppy (Eppy), Sunday, 15 January 2006 21:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

Isn't one an ex-Wallflower?

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:00 (7 years ago) Permalink

just checked elsewhere and another guy in the band is ex-spacehog too.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

In case he's lurking, I just want to publicly shun Keith Harris for claiming the song "Take Off Your Clothes" 'regularly instigates audience strip-alongs' in his SPIN review. He was at the Go4 show and he KNOWS that shit ain't true.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

I think it did actually happen at their non-opening-slot shows, though.

Anyway, are we actually saying they're teenpop? They seem more like a 90s nostalgia act to me. (Although a nice one.)

― Eppy (Eppy), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:10 (7 years ago) Permalink

Did you read the same promo sheet or something? I refuse to believe that song could inspire actual insanity.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

Well, by "inspired audience stripping" read "the singer brought an audience member on state and took some of their clothes off."

― Eppy (Eppy), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:12 (7 years ago) Permalink

Er, "stage."

― Eppy (Eppy), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:12 (7 years ago) Permalink

yeah at the Go4 show she pulled two people from backstage and screamed 'STRIP! STRIP! STRIP!' at them, eventually getting a goddamn jacket off one but there's a long fucking road between that 'inspired audience stripping.'

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:13 (7 years ago) Permalink

its like saying Pete Yorn has 'buzz'

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:14 (7 years ago) Permalink

They were probably afraid Go4 would make look at them dismissively.

― Eppy (Eppy), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:15 (7 years ago) Permalink

haha dude Jon King was dancing like a goddamn Space Invader and thrusting his hips while wearing in a jacket with no shirt underneath. And people were dancing. I think they would have been happy if Morningwood actually inspired anything other than boredom and horror.

― Zwan (miccio), Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:16 (7 years ago) Permalink

Actually, I couldn't find this at the Voice, although their press kit reprints it. They were in anecdotal mention viz. Siren and a Howard Stern radio show but that don't count.

"Morningwood are an energetic and impressive bunch that have certainly speant lots of time with their Buffalo Daughter, Le Tigre and Breeders records, but not so much as to let in infringe on their own innovative sound and style."
Village Voice

But the Morningwood album also includes more than a few songs that are unnecessarily, even perversely, awful. The next record executive to complain about slumping CD sales should be forced to spend the day playing "Babysitter" on repeat, listening to Ms. Claret moan, "Your mama, mama, mama shouldn't let me baby-sit." At the Bowery Ballroom, she worked overtime to entertain: she brandished a baton; she climbed up to the balcony; during "Take Off Your Clothes," she invited a suspiciously well-prepared woman from the audience to strip onstage. When Ms. Claret sang she often rolled her eyes, and she wasn't the only one.

-- The New York Times, yestiddy

This energetic combination of glam, garage, and new wave has been cooked up by something approximating an all-star lineup of musicians. Morningwood bassist Pedro Yanowitz used to rock it with (Jake) Dylan in the Wallflowers, and guitarist Richard Steel was in Spacehog. The ringmistress of this motley crew is singer/frontwoman Chantal Claret, who has a sexy voice that can go from raspy and husky to over-the-top cooing, and an alluring look, if the album's cover is to be believed. All the assembled players seem to be giving it their all on every track here, and their unbridled enthusiasm is contagious.

What's more impressive, however, is the way Morningwood trips from style to style over the course of the eleven assembled tracks. "Nu Rock" kicks things off with a totally thrashing garage rock sound that wouldn't have sounded out of place coming out of Sweden a couple of years ago. Two tracks later, "To the Nth Degree" borders on disco, or at least dance-pop, ratcheting up the glam factor...um, to the nth degree, I guess. "Jetsetter," meanwhile, is reminiscent of Weezer's "Hash Pipe"-era stuff, and "Everybody Rules" has a jazzy swing that makes me, honestly, think of Gary Glitter.

-- ugo.com

New York Magazine called them "one of the hottest bands changing the New York soundscape," while the Village Voice and Entertainment Weekly offer similar praise.

-- Some college wrapper, seeing New York Mag praise something vaguely rock and roll would generally be a warning to steer clear, much like being recommended through, say, NPR. Maybe worse.

Morningwood, "Morningwood" (Capitol) You can't stop the unflinching rock 'n' roll of Morningwood. You can't even hope to contain it. It's bursting with sexual energy and so much testosterone that you have to hand it to singer Chantal Claret, who can rock out under the moniker Morningwood with the unbridled enthusiasm of Andrew W.K. and unhinged eroticism of Peaches

-- Denver Post

It's amusing that the reviews, including stuff I didn't excerpt from Lex-Nex are all over the place. Business-wise that tells me the label is spending a lot of money on promotion and artificial priming that's not even close to being recoupable.

In any case, that the NY Times basically hates Morningwood is like Rolling Stone "red book" rating. Quite possibly I'd like it.
Impossible to tell really from most of the press which is standard garishly-painted boilerplace.

xpost

And that album cover definitely screamed "teenpop."

― George the Animal Steele, Sunday, 15 January 2006 22:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

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