What is pop music to you?

[MetalDog]

My job allows me copious amounts of time for frivolous mental pursuits.  What is my next move in Civ IV?  What happened, or what will happen, in Fantasy Football for me this week?  And music.  Lots and lots of music.  It's never a full song, always just the hook that draws me.  And that led me to think, where has pop music gone?

Don't get me wrong, I haven't listened to one second of a Top 40 station in 25 years at least, so it could be alive and well and I'm missing all of it.  I don't think so though.  I keep up to date enough on who the popular music figures are: Taylor Swift, Jay-z and Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Pharrell, Lady Gaga and on and on.  And I occasionally flip over to YouTube or Rdio and check some of their material out. And it's good, but, it all seems to be...light.  A lot of flash and dancing and pump you up anthems, not much substance.  Lyrically or instrumentally.

Another part of why pop music has been on my mind is, I've been letting past favorite albums of mine and then letting Rdio pick similar stuff.  I'm discovering stuff from the last 50 years that I heard of and never listened to or never heard of and just dig the shit out of now.  And I'm finding artists whos stuff I like in a similar vein.  And, to me, it sounds like the pop I would listen to if it was on the radio.  Here are some examples:

Now.  You don't have to agree about my definition of pop or whether what I like is good or not, but, what I want to know is, what's pop to you?  IS it Top 40?  Why?  If something else, what, and why?

[Huw the Poo]

In the UK, the charts are constantly filled with absolute shite of the lowest order.  We'll quite often have the radio on while eating dinner on Sunday evening when the top 40 countdown is happening so, although I know nothing of these...bands...I certainly know what they sound like and I hate it with a passion.  It's all just manufactured, autotuned crap.

But there is what I would consider to be good pop music still being made today, it just doesn't chart because the drones aren't told to buy it.  I like plenty of Europop; not usually enough to seek out the bands and find more, but occasionally I'll discover some gems.  Lykke Li is a good example.  She's a singer/songwriter from Sweden and her first album is filled with decent pop music.  Here's an example:

From Israel, Yoav.  This guy is awesome.  He actually supported Lykke Li on tour which is how I discovered him.  He performs alone, sampling himself making weird and wonderful noises on his guitar then looping the samples to form the backing tracks while he then plays lead along to it and sings.

And every now and then, exceptionally rarely, a gem will somehow work its way into the British chart.  The last time this happened it was My Type by Saint Motel:

Now that is pop music done right!  Fantastic song.

Bonus: I can't remember how I discovered Beauty Queen Autopsy, a decidedly counterculture collaboration between Erica Mulkey of Unwoman and Matt Fanale of Caustic.  Their music fits into the pop category but couldn't be further removed from the garbage that litters the British charts.  Here's a typical example of their work.

[MetalDog]

That Saint Motel is very Brit pop.  I hear George Michael, a little Culture Club, and any number of antecedents in that song.  Danceable and catchy though.

[Huw the Poo]

I couldn't believe it when I heard it played on my local radio station.  I think I'd have to go back years to find the last time I heard a good song on the radio. :)

[mirth]

This is good stuff. Good tune, fun video.

[Gusington]

Iron and Wine is absolutely awesome. My buddies love Band of Horses but I couldn't get too into them. Bastille is a band my daughters and I enjoy listening to together. Their breakthrough single from last year 'Pompeii' is really good and is on a wide variety of playlists and radio stations. Sam Smith too. And Dawes. Hard to really define pop but some of it, like Hozier, I love. Even One Republic is decent. And I even like some Bruno Mars (shut up). But there is a vast world of crap and schlock that I dare not enter. You know what I mean.

[mirth]

But there is a vast world of crap and schlock that I dare not enter.

As I've told you, never open that trunk in Star's bedroom closet. Never.

[Staggerwing]

^"The Star, the Mirth, and the Wardrobe: the Chronicles of Blarnia"

[mirth]

^"The Star, the Mirth, and the Wardrobe: the Chronicles of Blarnia"

The Chronicles of Carnia

[Staggerwing]

Even betterer.