Mondeo Pop

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Ford_Mondeo.jpg/800px-Ford_Mondeo.jpg

The Beautiful South - Song For Whoever

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Wet Wet Wet - "Goodnight Girl"

queen - breakthrough

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication

Mondeo Pop [Started by acrobat, last updated 1 minute ago] 5 new answers
I Killed Razorlight With My Big Fucking Dick [Started by AAARGH, last updated 2 minutes ago] 1 new answer

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Del Amitri - Nothing Ever Happens

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Deacon Blue - Real Gone Kid

http://www.litterboxcam.com/scalegraphix/images/mondeo01.jpg

Oasis - Cast No Shadow

the dermot o'leary show on radio 2.

I'm not sure Mondeo Pop exists anymore. It's more about SUV-Core these days.

Zing zang zong aside, is Mondeo Pop the British Yacht Rock? This spreads from a conversation myself and less-published music writer acrobat had over MSN as to why America seems to love a good old fashioned critical reappraisal of bands (Steely Dan, Toto, Hall and Oates, Doobie Brothers), but nobody's turning up in the UK to go "Actually, Deacon Blue had a couple of really good songs, y'know?"

We've done that for most of our 80s pop though?

You mean "sophistopop"? Isn't that more American Anglophile critics than actual British ones?

Anyway, Keane - Everybody's Changing.

Are Steely Dan etc really in the Big American Canon like I dunno Bob Dylan or R.E.M. or Public Enemy are? Or is it more a niche "hipster" thing?

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Spandau Ballet - True

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Former Mondeo Pop favourite, fell out of Virgin Radio favour in recent years.

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Prefab Sprout - The King of Rock 'n Roll

Aztec Camera - Somewhere In My Heart (the point where indie and Mondeo Pop jacknife)

This thread is missing The Pinefox.

Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World

http://www.fordmondeo.org/

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain. And many others. This feels broader than yacht rock really.

I was thinking of this kind of stuff - a bit rockier but there's definitely a crossover:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/61reufFNo1L._AA240_.jpg

Disc: 1
1. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
2. Bat Out Of Hell - Meatloaf
3. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
4. Golden Earring - Radar Love
5. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
6. More Than A Feeling - Boston
7. Jessica - Allman Brothers
8. Turn It On Again - Genesis (1)
9. Long Train Runnin' - Doobie Brothers
10. Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
11. Black Betty - Ram Jam
12. All Right Now - Free (1)
13. Highway Star - Deep Purple
14. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
15. Silver Machine - Hawkwind
16. Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
17. Gimme All Your Lovin' - ZZ Top
18. Ace Of Spades - Motorhead

Mondeo Pop is a little less J. Clarkson, and a little more C. Evans. Which reminds me, Texas were the kings of 90s Mondeo Pop.

hmm but it is just as much:

http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EHXCE6MYL._AA240_.jpg

Disc: 1
1. James Blunt - You’re Beautiful
2. Michael Bublé - Home
3. Daniel Bedingfield - If You’re Not The One
4. 10cc - I’m Not In Love
5. Damien Rice - Cannonball
6. Craig David - All The Way
7. Daniel Powter - Bad Day
8. Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me
9. The Corrs - Breathless
10. Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer
11. Paul Weller - Wild Wood
12. Bangles - Eternal Flame
13. Linda Ronstadt feat. Aaron Neville - Don’t Know Much
14. LeAnn Rimes - How Do I Live
15. The Judds - Love Can Build A Bridge
16. DJ Sammy & Yanou Feat. Do - Heaven (Candlelight Mix)
17. Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World
Disc: 2
1. Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
2. The Isley Brothers - Summer Breeze
3. The Stranglers - Golden Brown
4. UB40 - Red Red Wine
5. Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere
6. Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun
7. Blondie - Denis
8. Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall
9. Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is
10. The Cars - Drive
11. East 17 - Stay Another Day
12. Simply Red - Stars
13. The Bluebells - Young At Heart
14. Pretenders - Don’t Get Me Wrong
15. Aztec Camera - Somewhere In My Heart
16. Tears For Fears - Sowing The Seeds Of Love
17. A-ha - Take On Me
Disc: 3
1. Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
2. Otis Redding - (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay
3. Randy Crawford - One Day I’ll Fly Away
4. Gabrielle - Out Of Reach
5. Al Green - Let’s Stay Together
6. Beverley Craven - Promise Me
7. Atlantic Starr - Always
8. Dawn Penn - You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)
9. Bee Gees - You Win Again
10. Chaka Khan with Rufus - Ain’t Nobody
11. Chic - Le Freak
12. Sheryl Crow - Everyday Is A Winding Road
13. The B-52’s - Love Shack
14. Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time
15. Shakespears Sister - Stay
16. Andreas Johnson - Glorious

16. Andreas Johnson - Glorious

RIP

Wow. From the sublime to the ridiculous, and back again, half a dozen times per disc. xp.

I'd've loved to be a fly on the wall at the meeting where they were ironing out the concept for that album cover

I think Mondeo Pop is more of an aesthetic than ledge would have it. It's not always what Soto and co would call Sophisto-Pop but it is similar. I don't think Sade, who epitomizes Sophisto-pop is Mondeo Pop at all but The Beautiful South are the kings of Mondeo Pop and they are not Sophisto-pop. It is a style that takes inspiration from the hot indie sounds of a few years prior and makes it a bit classier.

http://www.fordmondeo.org/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF4260_Small_2.JPG

James - Sit Down '98

I think Heaton is quite an interesting character, and for a year or two in the mid-80s I was quite a fan of the Housemartins. I still quite like things like 'Flag Day' or 'Build' and I think he was a touching singer once upon a time. I suppose the bloozy Radio 2 sound of the BS is the sound of Heaton forgetting Marx and forgetting Jesus and forgetting Hope and discovering beer and boredom and bitterness. He seemed to despise everything about pop music and life, but somehow became incredibly successful from doing so. You would think this would make for an interesting tension in the music, but it doesn't seem to have done.

The Beautiful South vs Simply Red as a post-socialist, pre-Blairite battle for the suburban car stereo of Mondeo Man is a topic worthy of Robin Carmody, though.

-- Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, August 18, 2003 8:52 AM (4 years ago)
Defend The Indefensible: The Beautiful South

He was pretty good, that JtN geezer...

the mondeo was only launched in 1993 but the many of the quintessential mondeo pop tunes predate this. i did not realize that yacht rock was actually a tv show. if mondeo pop was a narrative based television progam the main protagonist would have to be paul heaton.

James - Sit Down '98

paved the way for schaffel

Isn't Mondeo Pop just chart indie with a mortgage?

Mondeo Pop Or Not:

Dubstar
Crowded House
The Lightning Seeds
Alisha's Attic
Badly Drawn Boy
Delays

Deacon Blue were named after a Steely Dan song, fyi, so there's your Yacht Rock/Mondeo Pop link.

Dubstar NO
Crowded House YES
The Lightning Seeds SOMETIMES
Alisha's Attic NO
Badly Drawn Boy SOMETIMES
Delays BIG NO

"Not So Manic Now" isn't Mondeo Pop? That song got rinsed on local radio back in the day.

So not Mondeo Pop. There are many factors. Local radio play is but one. I do not know all the factors.

The other factor is Soul. Mondeo Pop is not soul but must have a soul element, I think. Wet Wet Wet are overlooked but crucial. In fact Mondeo Pop is fundamentally anti-rockist, maybe not in a 1986 sense but certianly in a 1996 or 2006 sense.

Crowded House have a soul element? Someone ain't gonna like that

i was thinking about Wet Wet Wet the other day and how long it's been since they could NOT have happened...if that makes sense.

Dubstar = Micra Pop

I think you should think more about Wet Wet Wet, blueski.

Almost pinefoxian.

Today I came home from the supermarket and snapped the
radio on, and heard the opening of 'Wishing I Was Lucky'.
And I liked it - it must be my favourite of their
numbers; it has poise and dash; despite all the
gymnasium of the soul business, when those travelling
strings start to accompany Pellow halfway through an
early verse, they bear grace.

Crowded House are more Volvo or Audi (A4 not TT) than Mondeo surely, just feel the restrained quality of them.

Crowded House are a bit of a red herring because they're not British. Mondeo Pop is part of a clear era in British history where the concept of "the left" was being invented.

Paul Young's cover of 'Don't Dream It's Over' = ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/11149

Mondeo Pop hits the mainstream.

I was just coming to mention that, did someone from here write that? (Wasn't Carrie Bradshaw one of Shampoo?)

Carrie Bradshaw: Sex In The City main character
John Bradshaw Layfield: pro-wrestling commentator

nice review! i've only heard 'she's so lovely' but that was enough.

I should note that it's not that I think The Blue Nile are too good to be mondeo-pop, just that there's something specific about the vibe i don't think they share, if i'm understanding it correctly. It starts to become diffuse otherwise, another name for MOR british pop-rock.

In the same way that I wouldn't describe post-"Sledgehammer" Peter Gabriel as mondeo-pop even if there are certain points of overlap.

jokes, bruv I worked for about 16 hours yesterday

xpost

Can any Scritti fans speak on the Wetx3/Scritti connection? Is it fair to say that if Green Gartside had any artistic integrity they would have sounded like Wet Wet Wet?

If you got that idea from what I said that's not what I meant really. Wx3 took their name from a Scrit song, thats all the connections I know. What I meant was more that Scritti were held back by "artistic integrity"...

Maybe worth talking about how Edywn Collins got from "Rip It Up" from "A Girl Like You". The greatest victory of Mondeo Pop?

'a girl like you' is britpop tho!

and 'The Magic Piper Of Love' is Big Beat

Freaky Trigger on the Mondeo Pop bandwagon! http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/pop/2007/09/the-freaky-trigger-top-100-tracks-of-all-time-no-52-joe-jackson-it%e2%80%99s-different-for-girls/
Random youtube commenter also on board
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBikNb5oEcU

Unfortunately I'm really dubious Joe Jackson is Mondeo Pop. Really, really dubious. Cos that would make The Police Mondeo Pop and that would be bad. Rip It Up might be.

Steppin' Out might be Mondeo Pop though.

Too new wave. Surely this is what discounts Squeeze (other than "Pulling Mussels") as well?

Man, I heard Dreams by Gabrielle at the weekend. So, so pure Mondeo Pop in a way say M People aren't. It's got the prettiness and the sort of, this is no slight, smallness. "I'm not making plans for tomorrow, just stay for tonight" consumate Mondeo Pop moment.

Has anyone mentioned that "The summer in city where the air is still, baby being born to the overkill" bit in Somewhere In My Heart by Aztec Camera is GREAT and reminds me oddly of Hash Pipe by Weezer. also "a vision of love wearing boxing gloves".

The new Mixmag or DJ calls Hard-Fi 'Xfm Mondeo music' or something along those lines.

Squeeze: perhaps their after '85 albums have some Mondeo Pop moments, but the first incarnation of the band were NEVER Mondeo Pop.

BTW, are there any other musical styles named by a car?

I was watching "top 100 forgotten gems of the 80s" on the hits the other day. The top 11 I thought was somewhat instructive:

11. Climie Fisher, Love Changes Everything
10. Tpau, Heart and Soul
9. Aztec Camera, Good Morning Britain
8. Alison Moyet, All Cried Out
7. Aha, The Sun Always Shines on TV
6. Abba, One of Us
5. Kim Carnes, Bette Davis Eyes
4. Feargal Sharkey, A Good Heart
3. Philip Bailey and Phil Collins, Easy Lover
2. Laura Branigan, Self Control
1. The Bee Gees, You Win Again

Ok not all MP by any means but some good candidates - Climie FIsher certainly, Aztec C of course, Tpau and Moyet in with a chance. Breathe, Hands to Heaven was up in the 80s or 90s - I always thought they were boyband-esque but the video looked more earnest than that. Anyway I think the idea that these songs are forgotten is telling, and not entirely mistaken.

I guess the Compilation is the natural medium of all Mondeo genres anyway.

-- Noodle Vague, Sunday, 14 October 2007 12:09 (57 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Familiarity is the key here. Most Mondeo-friendly acts don't have whole albums of familiar tracks, apart from Greatest Hits collections. Take the Lighthouse Family as an average representative. Nobody knows what the non-singles sound like on their records, not even the people who played on them. Mondeo Pop thrives on the singalong. Compilations, especially with the word "Drivetime" in the title, are king.

Compilations that come free with newspapers?

Not usually. Too genre-limited. Also the demographic for the Mail on Sunday is averaging at least 10 years too old to get behind Mondeo Pop.

Ah, I see. (just wondering, as I was in someone's place this weekend and those were the only music they owned...)

weird that the lighthouse family's long-player was called 'ocean's drive', after the location of numerous hits in the miami crack wars of the early 80s.

Most everything I said there was rong.

http://www.ukmix.org/images/reviews/2000/s_toploader.gif

http://blissout.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html#9167903617409285069

No answers, no solutions... just further-gloom-inducing inconclusions that all point towards to that bigger sense of impasse and social/cultural deadlock.

(Still at least it has inspired the best ILM thread in many, many a moon)

Posted by simon reynolds at 9:39 AM

kudos guys

Sounds like someone hasn't seen Results 1 - 10 of about 256 for gaydiohead. (0.28 seconds)

"kudos guys"

Ha ha you wish. This would surely be SR's top ten most hated "loonies getting loonier" thread.

Reynolds will come around to Danny Wilson in time.

Virgin Radio still has a lot of Deacon Blue on its daytime playlist

So is someone gonna compile the Mondeo Pop rough guide?

Also this thread has made me feel like listening to Dubstar (I used to drive a micra)!

Counting Crows. Mondeo, yes?

So is someone gonna compile the Mondeo Pop rough guide?

^^^My job for this evening

Public response: MEH.

Public response: Dom, you're one of those guys who whines that people are better/fitter/more networked/richer than you as if there is a vast metropolitan conspiracy against your sorry, provincial, undervalued arse. Your solution: the only way to become memorable is to be hateful. Public response: MEH. When they find you as a pensioner, freeze-dried to a chair three months after your lonely death, wearing a bathrobe and dried remnants of excreta, and with more unpublish/ed/able work than Colin Wilson to burn off, nobody who was here will be very surprised AT ALL.

"Hooray for middlebrow" says Simon Reynolds in "Bring the Noise". Is Mondeo Pop the logical conclusion of what he's desperately groping about for over the course of his writings, the spark he tries and fails to find in dancehall, rave, and grime?

His problems with homophobia in dancehall are similar to the problems Mondeo Pop fans have with the misogyny of the Beautiful South, but in the end we have to overlook these things to appreciate an overall beauty of product.

Birthplace of Mondeo Pop?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JJ7oGHwMTI

Fiction Factory.

has balearic stolen mondeo's thunder?

One of the songs on the new Paul Heaton album has a 60-second burst of what seems to be the big man's attempt at 'rave music', which I found to be one of the more upsetting things I've listened to in 2010 so far.

Were Microdisney Mondeo Pop y/n

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq_F0SKFHHo

related videos of the youtube page for 'Town to Town' by Microdisney:
Curiosity Killed the Cat- Down to Earth
The Commitments- Mustang Sally
New Order- True Faith
China Crisis- Wishful Thinking
Phil Lynott- Old Town

Feel like Car Share - specifically the episode that ended with "Oh Patti" - is, in a funny way, the apotheosis of Mondeo Pop.

Save Tonight is The Passenger if the vehicle in question was a, well