How to explain the popularity of "Uptown Funk"?

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"

according to the liner notes on wikipedia, the two tracks featuring a bruno mars credit are the only two not featuring a michael chabon credit

Chris Molanphy wrote about this back in January:

This is why, ever since “Uptown” dropped two months ago, I’ve found it ironic to see so many bloggers, critics, and friends of mine calling it a ready-made smash. Sure, it sounds like an instantly familiar chart-topper to us now. But “Uptown Funk!” is to vintage electro-R&B in 2015 what “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Basket Case” were in the early ’90s to vintage punk: a catch-up. It’s a penance by America for not making an irresistible style the pop success it deserved to be the first time around.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/01/13/uptown_funk_mark_ronson_and_bruno_mars_hit_no_1_on_the_billboard_chart_why.html

i think a better comparison point might be "stray cat shuffle"

it's not like "living in america" and "you dropped a bomb on me" were pixies/buzzcocks levels obscure

strut

my apologies to the cats

ironically "basket case" only made it to #26 on the charts as an airplay only single (admittedly way higher than anything by the ramones)

Disagree strongly with Chris about grouping "Teen Spirit" and "Basket Case" together--I'd draw a very bright line between those two. (Does he mean that "Teen Spirit" was penance for Husker Du not selling millions of records? I don't know what percentage of the people who bought "Teen Spirit" were familiar with Husker Du, or at least who cared about Husker Du, but I'm guessing it was relatively small, even though it only appeared four years later.) Which has nothing to do with "Uptown Funk." Proceed apace.

yeah it's not the best comparison. people weren't buying Nirvana for nostalgic reasons.

also nirvana and green day represented cross-over breakthroughs from indie-based scenes - while it has a distinct sonic template, this is just the latest big hit from an established classicist Top 40 act who's already big enough to headline the superbowl

us chart nerds aside, how many people think of this as a Mark Ronson song rather than a Bruno Mars song?

so actually, forget "stray cat strut," this is more like "Crocodile rock"

The song also appears to have been strongly influenced by songs from the late 50s-early 60s ("when Rock was young"), including Del Shannon's 1962 "Cry Myself to Sleep", and "Little Darlin'" (recorded in 1957 by The Diamonds and The Gladiolas). The chorus resembles "Speedy Gonzales" by Pat Boone. While there was no actual "Crocodile Rock", there was a dance called The Alligator.

I remember when funk was young
Me and Bruno had so much fun

hard times befallin'
the funk survivors
she thinks i'm crazy
but i'm just growin' old

re this being a bruno or a mick ronson song, i should admit the song's profile is undoubtedly different in the UK, where Ronson's first Top 20 lead credit was over a decade ago and he's had four since. Meanwhile in the US, this remains his first and only Top 100. bruno's big in both countries, though.

lol MARK ronson, sorry.

crocodile rock otm

Big Mark strikes again

Haha I thought I was making a very clever reference to a previous Ronson hit, but I guess the Smiths cover was "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before," not "Bigmouth Strikes Again."

I remember when funk was young
Me and Bruno had so much fun

― clemenza, Thursday, March 19, 2015 1:18 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

clearly "me and bruno and the smeezingtons" or i guess "me and smeezy and the mark ronson"

I love how k-pop this song is. It's all the edm.

i hear no EDM or k-Pop in Uptown Funk?

Ambitious, clocking in at 4:30.

It has a million hooks per minute and it mixes old school styles with new school dynamics. The drop into the horns are straight out of the skrillex-schoolbook. Or like Airplane by f(x).

It's basically engineered to make middle-aged people dance and has enough hooks for the kids.

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