Music for Pleasure: Essays on the Sociology of Pop
Following the criminal disregard that British record labels showed their previous album Medazzaland you could have been forgiven for thinking that Duran Duran were over and done with, reduced to touring a greatest hits package to nostalgia fans who survived the fashion crimes of the 1980s. Yet the start of the new millennium saw them bouncing back with another studio album, and with it a few hints towards a new direction. There are some tracks that are undeniably Duran Duran–the sublime wistful balladry of “Pop Trash Movie” and the rousing choruses of “Mars Meets Venus”, but these are countered with some bizarre shifts in style–to the shades of Elliott Smith on “Starting To Remember” and an attempt at Smashing Pumpkins light on “Last Day On Earth”. It all makes for a very mixed but highly likeable bag, with the notable exception of “Hallucinating Elvis”, complete with appalling fake American accents, but this is the exception to the rule. Pop Trash is a return to form with some unexpected extras. –Helen Marquis
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Customer Review: Mmmmmm?………this ain’t good
Nearly 3 years on from the disappointing ‘Medazzaland’ album, Duran Duran released ‘Pop Trash’, their first album of the 21st century. The pre-release gossip about this album was that it was going to have a much heavier guitar sound. That sounded very appealing to me, but would it work? Answer: Yes (once)….and….er….mainly no?!?! Waiting with great anticipation for some grinding and loud guitars….!!!???…..No, there not here. The opening track and first single ‘Someone Else Not Me’. This is not a great start. The song was played to death on Radio 2, but it couldn’t really help the single, which stormed into the UK charts at #53 and didn’t go any higher. This song was NOT a good choice as a single. A nice pleasant enough song, but should only be listened to whilst drinking Horlicks. It has absolutely no punch. If you can’t sleep, stick this on. Languid and totally uninspiring and if I may suggest……DULL. [Interesting to note that on the Japanese version of the 'Pop Trash' album, Simon LeBon sings this song in French and Spanish!?!?] Up next ‘Lava Lamp’ and this is just horrible. This is in my Top 5 least favourite Duran Duran songs. The melody is cheesy and nasty and the lyrics are dire. “Lava lava lava lamp…I’d love to turn you on”. MMmm? thanks for that Simon!? ‘At this point ‘Medazzaland’ is sounding like a masterpiece. No sign of the guitars?!?! ‘Playing With Uranium’ hurts my brain. What is that noise?? Is it a guitar or maybe a cat being strangled underwater?! I tell you what this is. It’s ‘Big Bang Generation’ slowed down and it’s even worse. I need a doctor! ‘Hallucinating Elvis’ is up next…..and it is just fabulous!!! No, no sorry not fabulous. The word I was looking for was ridiculous!. “I was hallucinating Elvis, Hawaii to Las Vegas, Special treatment all the way”. Okay, that’s great!. This is truly awful. On the bright side when they played it live Simon LeBon dresses like Elvis?!, nice. We do here AT LAST have some guitars!!!!! And then like a bolt out of the blue we have a tune!!! ‘Starting To Remember’ is a laid back, acoustic and dare I say Beatle-esque strum. Love it. Hang on, things are looking up. ‘Pop Trash Movie’ was written by Nick Rhodes and Warren Cuccurullo and originally given to and recorded by Blondie. Simon LeBon loved it and they used it here and it’s a great song. Only downside is the cheesy “Yeah!” that LeBon gives out near the end that makes me cringe. You get the feeling that when he says it he punches the air at the same time. Worrying. ‘Fragment’ [Instrumental]…….50 seconds of not much. Nothing you can say really. ‘Mars Meets Venus’ is a strange attempt at an upbeat catchy song, that doesn’t really work. A song about love, planet alignment, frogs and meeting people. Sounds great? No? Suffers from dodgy lyrics and cheesy melody. Very odd. ‘Lady Xanax’ sees Duran Duran go all dark and mysterious. I actually think that this is a bit ‘Bowie’. One of the better songs on the album. Here it is…..’The Sun Doesn’t Shine Forever’. Oh yes, for me it is the worst Duran Duran song of all time. It is so bad that I actually enjoy listening to it. [*** Note to Bryan Adams fans. You will absolutely LOVE this song ***] ‘Kiss Goodbye’ [Instrumental]…….a minute or so of not much. Nothing you can say really. ‘Last Day On Earth’. At last the guitars have finally shown up!!! It’s easily the best song on the album. Crunching and grinding guitars and a great LeBon vocal. Duran Duran have never sounded so good. It is one of those songs you want to play to someone and say “You’ll never guess who this is?”. Finishes off a poor album in style.
Customer Review: Blown away on the first listening
How anyone can slag off Big Thing is a complete mystery to me, but anyway… I’ve finally gotten hold of this CD and all I can say is, wow! This is as good, if not arguably better than Astronaut. The track that hit me the most first time around was Playing with Uranium. There aren’t any massive singles on this album, like Come Undone on the Wedding Album, but every track is of such a high standard, that doesn’t matter one bit. All in all, one highly polished and recommendable album.
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The unlikely but nevertheless welcome winner of Pop Idol 2003, the Scottish Cass-Elliot-like Michelle McManus is ill-served by some of the material and an awful lot of the presentation on her debut album The Meaning of Love. But that’s surely par for the course: depending on one’s viewpoint, Pop Idol’s “viewer’s choice” methodology is either a healthy, consumer-enfranchising democratisation of mainstream popular music or merely another way of cynically spoon-feeding the masses the opium they’ve already grown accustomed to. In winning Pop Idol, McManus defied existing stereotypes and thus deserves something a little more inventive than some of this prescriptive whitewash. She’s been let down.
Every potential nuance of individuality and spirituality on The Meaning of Love (standard themes are make-ups and break-ups, but this is no Pet Sounds) is smothered as the songs are shoehorned into an easy-listening straitjacket. So, poor Michelle can only sound polite when singing “Sometimes I’m mad and break something” on “Emotional” when she ought to sound like she’s hurling the crockery around in a fit of anger. While the tunes are serviceable (it isn’t hard to imagine the Bee Gees performing “Say It Isn’t So”) and the production is as smooth as an infant’s rear only the hit single “All This Time” and the title track (slightly gospel, slightly Caledonian, slightly Lena Martell) fit her personality. –Kevin Maidment
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Customer Review: I cant believe how poor this CD is.
Sorry Michelle I’m sure your a lovely preson but from a musical point of view this CD is terrible, devoide of all soul, meaning and worth. However it is an oustanding example of how TV manufactured ‘musical’ acts are killing real music. Another nail in the coffin of popular music.
Customer Review: What a fantastic album!
At a time when the British public were so inundated with great music to listen to, the timeless cultural vision that is “Pop Idol” produced this highly naturally talented queen of pop to come up with this piece of work which will be remembered alongside The Beatles and Mozart as a fine tribute to the wonder of great music. How lucky we all are to live in an era when such important musical statements as “The Meaning of Love” are not instantly forgotten, along with those who sang them, the platform on which they achieved credibility, the people who liked them, and the media which made it all possible and allowed it to happen. Hooray for reality TV. More please, Michelle!
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Institutional Economics and the Formation of Preferences: The Advent of Pop Music (New Horizons in Institutional & Evolutionary Economics)
Single hit “Pop Music” from M, 1979 a lot of pornographic tunes I tell ya, from back in the days, you could fuck the nite away with these jams..those cool times will never come Read more..
british pop music and rock music: uk (english, scottish, welsh, irish) rock groups or pop stars INTRODUCTION This section gives practical information about how to enjoy pop Read more..
Music for Pleasure: Essays on the Sociology of Pop
