PoPinions: October, 2001

THE FUTURE'S SO BRIGHT… '…the world's got enough good pop songs…'

Alan Moore, acclaimed comic book writer.

I want to reclaim the word 'pop' and remove all the negative connotations commonly associated with it. For me 'pop' is a time capsule that has captured for all eternity (and beyond) the timeless music created from 1964 to 1969. That era forms the basis for all artistic pop since. Of course, the pop music of this epoch carried with it the rich history of decades before, whether it was the European melodic tradition or the American cultural contributions of jazz, hillbilly, gospel and the blues.

The art of pop involves the mixing of colors to create fresh palates that although draw heavily from what exists, is able to cast distinct and different perspectives and shades on the past. Contrary to what many modern rock journalists may believe, nothing comes from a vacuum. After four decades of what I would term as 'artistic pop', it has become increasingly critical for the modern day pop artist to present pop music in fresh colors, distinct perspectives, alternate textures and different contexts. It is often too easy given the expanse of material available simply to mimic the form of the past without adding value or substance.

Current pop artists like The Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Mercury Rev, Lambchop, The High Llamas, Super Furry Animals, Wondermints, Pernice Brothers, Wilco, Steve Wynn, Joe Henry and Jason Falkner refuse to take this path of least resistance and instead choose to ply their craft on the razor sharp cutting edge. Like their spiritual forbears - the Beatles, Beach Boys, the Byrds, Love, Todd Rundgren, Queen, David Bowie et al - these artists, and many others, open their hearts and minds (and souls) to the models of the past, utilise the same for foundations in order to build a solid structure and throw in that extra ingredient (sure, mixed analogies are fine) to make the pop music we know and love so extraordinarily.

The late Albert Goldman characterized the zeitgeist-defining late-sixties rock as acting 'like a magnet, drawing into its field a host of heterogeneous materials that has fallen quickly into patterns. No other cultural force in modern times has possessed its power of synthesis'. Alas, this astute observation no longer applies to rock, as we understand it in this modern era. However, I would submit that the new art pop certainly could lay claim to these traditions.

My main beef with the so-called 'new' genres of rock & pop music, be it trip hop, rapcore or ska punk, is that they are largely one-dimensional. Hearing one song encapsulates that specific genre's entire experience - that is not an accusation that you could ever level at the Beatles or the Beach Boys - and that should be considered a severe limitation and not an asset.

As today's mainstream rock and pop successes become increasingly marginalised works (ironic when you consider pop's original catholic concept) and artistically vacuous, the future development of pop music lies not in the discovery of the latest big thing but in the deserted highways of the pop underground wasteland.

Already in the last few years, the new art pop scene has witnessed masterful pop albums like The Soft Bulletin, Rings Around the World, The World Won't End, Snowbug, All is Dream, Nixon, Here Come the Miracles and The Sophtware Slump, to name but few. These masterpieces represent the best that the new art pop has to offer, holding up melody and experimentation as virtues and serving as living tributes to the classic pop of the past.

So to Alan Moore, I say - yes, the world's got enough good pop songs but there's always room for more GREAT ones!

___________________________________________________

To reach any other page contained in this month's update on Fufkin.com, read the home page for the appropriate link and click on it. You can also search the site from any page using the search box located at the top of each page. Merely type in the word, phrase, name of the band, recording, name of the Fufkin writer that you are looking for or Whatever in the search box, and then click on "Search". If you would like to e-mail us, go to the About Us page for a list of e-mail addresses.

Go back to the home page by clicking here

____________________________________________________